The Walled Kitchen Garden (gouache style)

Walled kitchen gardens fed the big houses of Britain. The walls kept out wind and animals and stored the sun's warmth, so fruit trained flat against them ripened earlier; some walls were even heated by internal flues. Inside, beds were usually laid out in neat quarters for rotating crops. Many declined after the First World War, when their gardeners left. Some have since been restored, including the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, rescued in the 1990s.

Trained fruit needs regular attention. Prune espalier and cordon apples and pears in late July or August, cutting new side shoots back to three leaves. Plums, cherries and other stone fruit are pruned in spring or summer, never winter, to reduce the risk of silver leaf disease. Clip box edging in late May or June, and check for box blight and box tree caterpillar; if they're a problem, small-leaved alternatives such as Ilex crenata make a similar low hedge.

A walled kitchen garden is shown with neat beds, box edging and fruit trained against old brick walls. The order of it all is what stands out: straight lines, clipped edges and trees held flat to the warm brick. It's a picture of a garden built to be productive, and kept that way by steady care.