He authored a 1200-page book “Instructions pour les Jardins Fruitiers et Potagers.” published posthumously in 1690. This book, translated into English in 1693 as “The Compleat Gard’ner” by George London and John Evelyn, contains details of what varieties of fruits, roots, vegetables and herbs Monsieur de La Quintinie believed should be in a kitchen garden.  As well as details of the kitchen gardens at Versailles with diagrams, a gardening calendar, a glossary of horticultural terms, the book offers advice and observations on gardening.

  Monsieur de La Quintinie worked in the kitchen gardens gardens of Rambouillet, Chantilly, Sceaux (Home of Mme de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV), and finally at Vaux-le-Vicomte until his master, Nicolas Fouquet was disgraced.  In 1670 he was made “Director of all the Fruit and Kitchen Gardens of the Royal Family.”

  Although there was already a kitchen garden left from Louis XIII’s residency at Versailles when de La Quintinie took on his position as Director, Louis XIV decided that there needed to be a larger garden, as the present garden was not producing sufficient quantities for the royal table.  There was a site with fertile soil was located at some distance from Versailles, Louis wanted the garden to be closer, and so it was created about a 10 minute walk away from the chateau, in an area previously referred to as “the Stinking Swamps.”

  In 1678 the 5 year process of transforming “the Stinking Swamps”  into a gardening wonder began.  Mansart, architect of Versailles, built the walls surrounding the garden, as well as the masonry of the grounds.  The new kitchen garden was laid out over a 22 acre site. A central courtyard featured a water reservoir and fountain.  From this center the garden plans broke the land down into 16 quadrangles.  Radiating out from the 16 rectangles were 29 wall-surrounded “micro-climates” specific to the plants in bed.  The 13’ high walls were themselves all utilized for espalliered fruit trees and other plants, such as grapes.

  To remedy the excessively damp soil, Monsieur de La Quintinie created a system of underground aquaducts to drain the soil.  These underground pipes led back to the centralized reservoir and fountain.  He worked to improve the soil further by relocating dirt from the nearby Satory hills and mixing in warm manure from the royal stables.

  From this meager beginning de La Quintinie produced fruits and vegetables for the royal table regardless of the season.  Louis XIV was partial to figs, so de La Quintinie created a “Figuerie,”  in imitation of the Orangerie, and Louis was kept in figs for up to six months of each year.  Having mastered techniques such as housing plants in cold-frames and using warm manure to warm-up other plants, he was able to produce strawberries in the winter, peas in spring and asparagus in December.    

  One of Monsieur de La Quintinie’s lasting contributions to the world of horticulture was his pruning method for producing greater yields from fruit trees.  He advocated severely cutting back the trees, which were trained to grow in geometric planes, so that while their production was intitially retarded, the trees would eventually return with a vengeance and out-produce normal fruit trees.  This method is still used today in gardens around the world.

  M. de La Quintanie lived in a house on the kitchen garden grounds and was ennobled by Louis XIV in 1687.  He died November 11, 1688.  His son succeeded him in the postion of Director of the King’s kitchen garden.  

  Today, the garden remains virtually unchanged from the time of Monsieur de La Quintinie.  It has become the home of The National Landscape Horticultural School.

The appearance of M. de La Quintinie’s book was part of an emerging trend during the second half of Louis VIV’s reign: the “How-To” book.  In addition to this gardening book, there were important contributions in the world of cooking from La Varenne (originaLe Cuisinier rotla et bourgeois (cooking for the Royalty and for the Bourgeousie) by Francois Massialot in 1691.[1]