Plants

The vegetable and herb garden

According to the season, the vegetable garden and the botanical path are more or less bushy. Agriculture originates from about 9600 years BC. During the iron age (500 BC) the Gallic countryside was dotted with numerous farms, and the use of iron tools enabled sufficient yields to make Gaul " the breadbasket of Rome ". They already made the manure to improve the earth quality and the crop rotation which avoids the proliferation of diseases and weed. They cultivated grain (wheat, barley, oat, millet), legumes (lentils, peas, field beans) and oleaginous plants (flax, hemp, camelina, poppy). The Gauls cultivated several varieties of wheat (spelt, einkorn wheat, emmer wheat) the flour of which is used for preparing pancakes.

Domestication of fruits and vegetables began in the prehistoric times and several thousand of years of selection and culture allowed to obtain the current varieties. It seems that the Gauls cultivated plants grown for food such as onions, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cabbages and garlic. They were also keen to pick wild fruits and vegetables. Raspberries, currants, elderberries, strawberries, apples, pears, plums and grapes would also be eaten dried.

They also used plants to treat themselves. Some of them are regarded as sacred and required particular rituals : mistletoe, among others, would be picked by the druid during religious ceremonies.