Plant Information
The Potager is a formal and geometric vegetable and pot herb garden. In late Medieval times the three main staples of their diet were bread, potage and ale. Potage included oatmeal, pot herbs and flowers.
The cereals were ground at home with a hand quern or in a mortar, which resulted in a bran-like stew thickener into which eggs were sometimes mixed, or saffron to render the colour more appetising. Any vegetables that were available were cooked into the porray until a puree resulted which was then diluted with beef fat. It was then seasoned with various herbs and seeds, and for the well off, meat would be added. The most commonly grown vegetables for pottage were beans, peas, garlic, leeks and onions.
| Botanical name | Common name |
| Allium sativum | Garlic |
| Allium fistulosum | Welsh onion |
| Apium graveolens | Wild celery, smallage |
| Atriplex hortensis | Red Orach |
| Beta vulgaris | Bulls blood beet |
| Beta vulgaris | Red chard/seakale beet |
| Brassica oleracea longata | Tall collard,Tree collard, walking stick cabbage, Giant Jersey kale |
| Brassica oleracea var. capitata | Couve Tronchuda |
| Chenopodiom bonus-henricus | Good King Henry, Mercury, allgood, Roman plant, Smiddy leaves |
| Daucus carota | Wild carrot |
| Eryngium campestre | Eryngo, Field/sea holly |
| Foeniculum dulce var. dulce | Sweet/Florence fennel |
| Lathyrus sylvestris | Narrow leaved pea |
| Nigella sativa | Black cumin/fennel flower |
| Pastinaca sativa ssp. sativa | Wild parsnip |
| Petroselinum crispum | Curled parsley/plain leaved |
| Portulacea oleracea sativa | Purslane |
| Ribes ava-crispa | Gooseberry |
| Sium sisarum | Skirret |
| Taraxacum officinale | Dandelion |
| Viola tricolor | Heartsease |