Monastic garden

A monastic garden was used by many people and for multiple purposes. Medieval gardens were an important source of food for households, but also encompassed orchards, cemeteries and pleasure gardens, as well as providing plants for medicinal and cultural uses. Many monasteries owned considerable holdings of agricultural land and woodland, which were increasingly worked by peasants in much the same way as the estates of secular landlords, with monks probably more likely to develop commercial specialities such as medicinal plants and vegetables. Gardens within the monastery enclosure were sometimes important in supplying the monks' livelihoods, primarily because many of the plants had multiple uses: for instance, peaches were used for closing wounds.

There is no real evidence for the very common modern idea that monastic cloisters were richly planted, though many had wells. Cloisters were for reading and contemplation, and plants and flowers would have been considered unwelcome distractions here.