Every abbey had a vegetable garden. The abbey’s gardeners grew a wide range of vegetables for the monastery kitchen such as onions, leeks and celery but also lesser-known vegetables such as winter radish, parsnip or spinach beet. The Parc Abbey was no different.
Up until the 16th century, important parts of the garden slope were planted with vines. Trained fruit stood against the wall around the garden. Behind the coach house was a hop plantation. Hops were used in the abbey’s home brewery for the preparation of beer. Left of the abbey lane, where the hop garden used to be, stood an orchard from the second half of the 16th century. Further up the hill, in a favourable microclimate, lay the vegetable garden that led to a geometrically designed vegetable garden. The walled vegetable garden (approx. 2 ha), also called the abbot’s garden, was accessible via a gate on the farmstead square. Three linear paths cut through the garden from north to south. The vegetable garden was divided into large areas or beds, surrounded by a hedge.
The current vegetable garden was planted in 2002 in the former abbot’s garden, with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation. De Wikke, an employment of Wonen en Werken vzw, maintains the vegetable garden and grows organic vegetables. Standard trees with old fruit varieties have once again been planted in the orchard. *
*From a signboard next to the garden
This does look particularly organic, Cherie
I thought the vegetable garden looked fabulous
This looks like the ‘real’ stuff. Love the old wall overgrown with plants/trees.
I hope during their renovations the keep the wall looking just as it is
You can’t beat life in the countryside.
This seems to be the best of both worlds.
Not being looked after very well.
It is a rather large space.