Potager du Roi, Versailles

The Potager du Roi isn’t a small kitchen garden, but a 25 acre spread with a pond and a fountain in its centre. It grew fruit and vegetables to feed the Royal Family and members of the Royal Court.

It was laid out between 1678 and 1783, commissioned by King Louis 14th and started by Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie, who was the director of the Royal Fruit and Vegetable Gardens.

The Grand Carré was surrounded by a high wall and was made up of 16 vegetable plots. A raised terrace around the walls was erected so that the king could watch the gardeners at work.

On the other side of the wall were 29 enclosed gardens with more vegetable plots and fruit trees. A hollowed out garden protected fig-trees from the harsh winter weather.

Gardens were given over to growing asparagus, melons and strawberries, herbs, cucumbers and 50 varieties of peas. There were also 20 different varieties of apples and 16 varieties of lettuce.

Thirty gardeners worked full-time in the gardens and in the greenhouses where coffee plants and pineapples were grown. During the French Revolution the gardens were separated into small plots and given to the people. The exotic plants were removed.

In 1795 the Convention declared the garden a National Institute and it was restored to its former splendor. Today the garden is managed by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Paysage; it produces 50 tons of fruit and 30 tons of vegetables that are sold in the Versailles Market.