Tuesday Time Table - The Roman Kitchen Garden

Flowers were generally not found in early Roman gardens as they were used predominantly for vegetables and fruit but the poppy is an exception as its seeds were cultivated for bread making. Unlike today vegetables and fruit were only available in certain growing seasons and as no refrigerating facilities existed, many vegetables were pickled. Here are a few plants found in a kitchen garden:

Cabbage

• Cabbage, including kale (also used for medicinal purposes)
• Asparagus
• Almond
• Anise
• Artichokes
• Beans
• Beet
• Brussel sprouts
• Catmint
• Cherry
• Chives
• Coriander
• Cucumber
• Dill
• Endive
• Fennel
• Fig
• Garlic
• Hazelnut
• Hemp/ Cannabis used to produce ropes and hunting nets ....
• Leek
• Lettuce
• Mallow
• Marjoram
• Medlar
• Mint
• Myrtle was used as a form of pepper, which was not yet widely available as an import from the East
• Olive
• Onion
• Parsley
• Peach
• Pear
• Plum
• Pomegranate
• Quince
• Radish
• Rocket
• Rue
• Saffron
• Thyme

Myrtle

NB: Many plants on the various lists will appear more than once as they were used as a food source as well as for medical, ritual and ornamental uses as boundaries were fluid between some of these categories.

Julie