Rob Cardillo
At Mount Vernon, the goal is to share George Washington’s life and story with the public. That includes the estate’s gardens. This year, Mount Vernon has partnered with Burpee to create a collection of heritage vegetables similar to what Martha Washington would have grown in her own garden.
Rob Cardillo
The pack contains eight seed packets, including Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce, White Lisbon Bunching Onion, Armenian Cucumber, Blue Curled Scotch Kale, Fish Hot Pepper, Danvers 126 Carrot, Early Scarlet Globe Radish, and Georgia Rattlesnake Watermelon.
Rob Cardillo
Melanie Welles Creamer is the senior manager of horticulture at Mount Vernon. She chose the seeds for the packets. One of the three criteria she looked at was edibility. Would the vegetables be something a modern-day gardener would want to eat? She also looked at historical accuracy and ease of planting.
Rob Cardillo
“I wanted them to have a historical connection. So we were really looking for plants that would have a reference to either connect them to Washington, if they were mentioned in a farm journal, or plants that we know that there were seeds for sale because that plant is in this area,” said Welles Creamer. “I also wanted this to be a seed collection that is easy for people who haven’t gardened before.”
Rob Cardillo
The climate today is a little different from what it was in Washington’s day. In 1800, the world was at the tail end of the Little Ice Age, with temperatures on the cooler side. Beyond that, several insects and other pests have been introduced to the ecosystem in the past 200 years. Welles Creamer cited invasive species like the box tree moth, the cabbage looper, the emerald ash borer, and bark beetles.
Dan Chung
One big difference today is the on-site greenhouse. Washington’s greenhouse was a big deal. It was built after he contacted another estate to learn about how they installed their greenhouse and how it worked.
It was not like a modern-day greenhouse. It was similar to a European orangery, a space where one would bring exotic plants, like Mount Vernon’s Sago palms, inside for the winter. At Mount Vernon, the palm trees were typically displayed in the garden from May to October. Then they overwintered inside.
Kaitlyn Prange
“In the early 1790s, he had wings added on either side of [the greenhouse] to house enslaved laborers. There’s a stove room on the other side. So someone had to literally sleep in there to feed the fire, and then the warmth from the fire went through these flues on the floor to heat the greenhouse,” said Welles Creamer.
Dan Chung
Currently, the modern Mount Vernon greenhouse houses cabbage and kale that will soon be planted in the garden. Welles Creamer said that the traditionally Irish plants will move to the garden right around St. Patrick’s Day. While it is a nod to the Irish, it is also a good reminder of when those plants can be moved into the garden.
By planting early, gardeners can get two rounds of cabbage harvests during a growing season.
Kaitlyn Prange
Last year, Mount Vernon harvested about 6,400 pounds of produce from their gardens. Over 3,500 pounds of that food went to local food banks. The rest headed home with staff or were used in cooking demonstrations.
Welles Creamer said you don’t need a huge tract of land to get started with your garden. She said that often, new gardeners try to go too big too fast and become overwhelmed. She recommended a plot about four feet wide, and maybe six to eight feet long to begin with.
“You’d be amazed at how much produce you can get in a small space,” said Welles Creamer. “I really want to encourage people. I always say, you know, just because you haven’t had success before, let’s try again. This is what we do professionally, and, you know, plants still die on us. That’s part of gardening. You’re dealing with Mother Nature, and she does not cooperate.”
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