Start With the Bones of the Garden

Before a single spade goes in, walk the plot slowly and note what the walls are telling you. Old kitchen garden walls are usually brick, sometimes rubble stone with brick coping, and they hold heat long after sunset, which is why trained fruit once ripened so reliably against them. Check for loose coping, slipped brickwork, ivy lifting mortar and blocked weep holes or drainage gaps at the base. Repointing should be lime-based on historic walls, never hard cement, which traps moisture and spalls the brick. Look too at which side of the garden faces south, east, north and west, because that decides everything you plant later.

While you walk, hunt for the original layout. Faint brick edging, a stone plinth where a glasshouse once stood, the ghost of a path beneath the grass — these are clues worth following. Marking them out with canes or string means your restored plan respects the old one rather than fighting it.

Bring the Soil Back to Life

After decades of neglect the soil will be compacted, low in organic matter and quite possibly acidic. Start with a simple soil test kit, or send a sample for proper analysis; aim for a pH of about 6.5 to 7.0 for most vegetables, though a slightly acid corner suits blueberries and rhubarb particularly well.

• Clear perennial weeds thoroughly, roots and all. Bindweed and ground elder need patience, not a quick fork.
• Break up compaction with a fork to the depth of the tines — there is no need to double dig the whole plot.
• Spread 5–8 cm of well-rotted manure or garden compost over the beds in autumn and let the worms work it in.
• Add lime only where the test says it is needed, and never in the same year as manure.

If the ground floods in winter, work in grit and consider raising the beds. Timber or brick-edged beds about a metre wide mean you never stand on the soil you grow in, and you can reach the middle comfortably from either path.

Put the Paths and Framework Back

Paths define a walled garden; without them it becomes a muddy free-for-all. The traditional grid — a wide central walk with narrower cross paths — works because it lets barrows move freely while keeping every bed accessible. A 1.2 metre bed fits two rows of most crops and is easy to tend from both sides.

For surfaces, brick on edge over a compacted sand base suits a period setting, but gravel over a weed-suppressing membrane is quicker and cheaper. Whichever you choose, dig out to about 10 cm, edge with reclaimed brick or timber, and allow a gentle fall so water runs away from the beds rather than into them. Keep any original stone kerbs that survive.

Plant the Walls First

The walls are the garden's greatest asset, so use them. A south-facing wall is the warmest spot on the plot — ideal for figs, peaches and nectarines, and for tender herbs. East-facing walls suit early plums and cherries, which crop better out of strong midday sun. North-facing walls, cool and shaded, are perfect for Morello cherries, rhubarb and shade-tolerant salads.

• Train apples and pears as espaliers or fans on wires set about 35 cm out from the wall.
• Choose self-fertile cultivars or suitable pollination partners; 'Egremont Russet' and 'Discovery' are reliable apples for trained forms.
• Plant bare-root fruit between November and March while dormant, with the graft union about 10 cm above soil level.
• Water new wall-trained trees well for their first two summers; they dry out faster against brick.

Fill the Beds With Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables

With the structure in place, planting can begin. Divide the open ground into a simple rotation — legumes, brassicas, roots, and potatoes or salads — so pests and diseases do not build up year after year. Keep permanent crops separate: a herb bed, a soft fruit cage, and a cutting strip of flowers to bring in pollinators.

Herbs love the shelter and sharp drainage near walls. Rosemary, thyme, sage, winter savory and bay all thrive there, while sorrel, chives, parsley and lovage give you cut-and-come-again leaves right through the season. For vegetables, begin with dependable stalwarts — 'Kelvedon Wonder' peas, 'Rocket' early potatoes, 'Sutton' broad beans — and sow little and often rather than one enormous row that matures all at once.

Water, Feed and a Workable Routine

Walled gardens are sheltered, which means they warm up quickly and dry out just as fast. Install water butts at every downpipe; a mature plot can use 100 litres a week in high summer. Mulch the beds with compost or leaf mould to hold moisture, and water in the early morning so foliage dries before evening. Feed hungry crops with a diluted comfrey or nettle liquid feed every fortnight through the growing season.

Finally, keep the workload realistic. A walled garden can swallow every spare hour if you let it, so cover unused ground with green manure or cardboard and concentrate on what you genuinely want to eat. Restore one section a year, keep notes on what thrives, and those old walls will reward you handsomely for decades to come.