Old Fashion Gardens

by Big John Lipscomb

The Antique Garden
Although nearly every European is very familiar with antique gardens, most Americans are left with a smirk when the term is used. There are so many garden styles and types the first mistake a person can make, is assuming a garden is a garden.

The antique garden is most always trimmed bushes and groomed flowers with an orderly and balanced pathway, with the occasional antique furniture and statue. They are usually cleaner that most of our homes and don’t ever make the mistake of stepping off the carefully designed rock pathway.

Antique gardens are the quintessential expression of order and man’s control of nature. The fancy gardens are often found out back of a billionaire’s castle.

The New American Antique Garden
A few Americans are stepping out of the traditional European style and adding a little flair and down-home comforts when building their antique gardens. The first thing is they avoid statues but you might find a scarecrow. Rather than an Iron Gate and bench that has had Napoleon’s rear side on it, you’ll find a rustic wagon wheel and a barn wood bench. The path will almost always meander with options to see new areas of the garden. And rather than groomed flowers you will discover an array of mixed heirloom wildflowers from the region. I plan to be the first to create an antique garden with food stops along the way, where you can harvest heirloom vegetables along the way, eating them as you enjoy the hike.

Heritage Garden
Another old-fashion garden is the heritage garden. Rather than flowers, you will find old-fashion vegetables often called heirlooms. The heritage garden is becoming extremely popular in the western world as people question the validity and nutrition in hybrid vegetables. A heritage garden might or might not be rectangle in shape. It could meander like an American antique garden, with delicious vegetables from rare seeds, the same food our ancestors grew and ate every day.

We have been growing a heritage garden now for twenty years. We usually have raised beds full of heirloom vegetables and flowers alternating our tiny homestead, sprinkled wherever we have sunlight most of the day.

Heritage gardens are a through-back garden to a time and lace me and many of you miss. I urge you to grow one and travel back in time, when the food was awesome and the people even better.

I HOPE YOU WILL CHECK OUT OUR OLD-FASHION HEIRLOOM SEEDS AND REWARD YOUR HOME AND TUMMY WITH FOOD WORTH GROWING.