Introduction
Planting the Seeds
Native Agriculture and Plant Use
Canadian Flora
Pioneer Gardening
19th Century Seed Catalogues
Cultivating the Garden
The Cultivators
Reaping the Harvest
Bibliography
Photos by Beth Powning
Other Gardening Sites
Acknowledgements |
Planting the Seeds
Pioneer Gardening
The pioneer era of gardening in Canada stretches over a long period of time and continues even today in the more remote parts of the country. From the 17th century, with Champlain's first settlement at Isle Sainte-Croix and the gardens at early northern Hudson's Bay Company Posts, to the early 20th century on the prairies and in the Northwest, for more than 300 years tenacious pioneers struggled with land - sometimes fertile but just as often rock-ridden or dense with forests - to raise the crops on which their survival depended. Their letters, diaries, books, sketches, and paintings give an idea of just what a daunting task it could be.
| The map of Champlain's earliest settlement in 1604, at Isle Sainte-Croix on the south shore of the Bay of Fundy, included areas set aside for gardens, but the settlement failed too soon for these to be realized. |
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Champlain, Samuel de.
Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, ou, Journal ès découvertes de la Nouvelle France.
Paris: Imprimé aux frais du gouvernement ..., 1830. |
| Louis Hébert, who supervised the gardens of Port Royal, the second settlement established by Champlain, later settled at Quebec and is known as New France's first farmer. His stone house can be seen here at the top of the cliff. |
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Couillard-Despres, Azarie.
Louis Hébert, premier colon canadien et sa famille.
Paris: Sainte-Augustin, Desclee, DeBrouwer & Cie, c1913. |
| As early as the 1670s, the Hudson's Bay Company's northern forts planted gardens with seeds sent from England. The greens especially (mustard sprouts, radish and turnip tops, and cabbages) were an important addition to the diet of the men who often suffered from scurvy. |
Moodie, D.W.
"Gardening on Hudson Bay: The First Century", The Beaver, Summer 1978. |
| The sophisticated gardens of 18th-century France, based on logic, order, discipline, and beauty, were adapted to the potager requirements of the Louisbourg gardens. |
O'Neill, Anne.
"Discipline and Beauty: The Orderly Gardens of 18th century Louisbourg", Canadian Collector, Vol. 20, No. 2, March/April 1985. |
| Pehr Kalm, who visited Quebec City in 1749, noted the flourishing kitchen gardens and listed the vegetables he found there. |
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Arseneault, Celine et Daniel Fortin.
"Grande et petite histoire des jardins potagers québécois", Quatre-Temps, La Revue des Amis du Jardin botanique de Montréal, Vol. 18, No. 1., 1994. |
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