# I figured out that Brits call their lawns "gardens" what do they call place where veggies grow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881 "2013-03-03T03:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/21 "2013-03-03T12:59:05Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > Yep the whole thing is the garden, which may contain a lawn, vegetable patch, greenhouse, gazebo, flower beds, shrubberies, trees and the remains of some herring, as it turns out herrings are not very useful tools for doing yard work with. You left out decking, paving and water features 🙂 It’s common for people with particularly beautiful domestic gardens to open them for charity one or two days a year, they attract a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/22 "2013-03-03T13:16:36Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > Yep the whole thing is the garden, which may contain a lawn, vegetable patch, greenhouse, gazebo, flower beds, shrubberies, trees and the remains of some herring, as it turns out herrings are not very useful tools for doing yard work with. Another very similar itemization, but without herring, is of the grounds of Leopold Bloom’s ideal “erigible or erected residence” possibly named Bloom Cottage, or Saint Leopold’s, or Flowerville. It is from the penultimate “Ithaca” chapter of _Ulysses_, which is in what has been called a “scientific,” or “catechistic” style. Although not particularly long, it is in spoilers for neatness of this post. What additional attractions might the grounds contain? As addenda, a tennis and fives court, a shrubbery, a glass summerhouse with tropical palms, equipped in the best botanical manner a rockery with waterspray, a beehive arranged on humane principles, oval flowerbeds in rectangular grassplots set with eccentric ellipses of scarlet and chrome tulips, blue scillas, crocuses, polyanthus, sweet William, sweat pea, lily of the valley (bulbs obtainable from sir James W. Mackey (Limited) (wholesale and retail) seed and bulb merchant and nurseryman, agent for chemical manures, 23 Sackville street, upper), an orchard, kitchen garden and vinery, protected against illegal trespassers by glasstopped mural enclosures, a lumbershed with padlock for various inventoried implements. As? Eeltraps, lobsterpots, fishingrods, hatchet, steelyard, grindstone, clodcrusher, swatheturner, carriagesack, telescope ladder, 10 tooth rake, washing clogs, haytedder, tumbling rake, billhook, paintpot, brush, hoe and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/23 "2013-03-03T20:47:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **njtt** : > > Some British people also maintain an allotment for growing vegetables, but this will be an area of land separate from the house, usually a small division of a large field consisting of many other people’s allotments. You can find something similar in America, where they’re usually called “community gardens”. At the one my mom uses, you can get a 20’ square plot for a year for $10 and 10 hours of community service. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/24 "2013-03-03T22:16:40Z")
I said this on here recently, but both “yard” and “garden” come from the Old English “geard”. Maybe we should just go back to that, keep it simple. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/25 "2013-03-03T22:29:25Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > A paddock is a fenced area of land used to grow livestock or crops. In general, a paddock can range from 1 to 15,000 Ha and beyond. It can be cultivated (think heavy-duty machinery to do so) or it can be just native vegetation which is the fodder for critters like cows and sheep. +1 We’ll leave the distinction of “The Long Paddock” to another day. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/26 "2013-03-03T22:35:25Z")
I must admit that long ago I couldn’t figure out why John was “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.” I also didn’t realize that when Paul found his “way upstairs and had a smoke” he was still on the bus! (You don’t see many double-deckers in North America). ---
**Author:** ![dam0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@dam0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dam0)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/27 "2013-03-03T22:40:09Z")
The patch of grass outside the front of my house is ‘The front lawn’ The mix of grass, trees, shrubs, flowers, decking etc round the back of the house is ‘The garden’. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/28 "2013-03-03T22:40:44Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I must admit that long ago I couldn’t figure out why John was “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.” _That_ was the part of the song you couldn’t figure out? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/29 "2013-03-03T23:13:44Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > _That_ was the part of the song you couldn’t figure out? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/30 "2013-03-04T02:38:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I must admit that long ago I couldn’t figure out why John was “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.” Why? What was to figure out? > [@](#): > > I also didn’t realize that when Paul found his “way upstairs and had a smoke” he was still on the bus! (You don’t see many double-deckers in North America). Do they still let people smoke on the top level? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/31 "2013-03-04T02:48:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Why? What was to figure out? Well, I don’t know where you are but here a garden, as mentioned, is a patch where vegetables are grown. Doesn’t matter, the rest of the song is filled with nonsense so this shouldn’t be a problem. > [@](#): > > Do they still let people smoke on the top level? Well, probably not now, but most certainly 1966 or 1967. Heck you could probably smoke in church back then. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/32 "2013-03-04T02:55:21Z")
You probably wouldn’t be out catching some rays in an American vegetable garden, but I’ve seen plenty of flower gardens in this country with places to sit. Not all of them, certainly, but enough that the concept shouldn’t seem bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/33 "2013-03-04T03:01:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > … > Well, probably not now, but most certainly 1966 or 1967. Heck you could probably smoke in church back then. Standard response: they don’t care if you burn. I wanted a smoke once standing outside a church where I was about to give a performance, and asked exactly this question to someone, and that was his answer. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/34 "2013-03-04T03:19:40Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > Yep the whole thing is the garden, which may contain a lawn, vegetable patch, greenhouse, gazebo, flower beds, shrubberies, trees and the remains of some herring, as it turns out herrings are not very useful tools for doing yard work with. But they do become great fertiliser/fertilizer. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/35 "2013-03-04T03:49:51Z")
[Herring Yard Care.](http://www.manta.com/cmap/mmn928k/herring-yard-care) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/36 "2013-03-04T06:38:06Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Do they still let people smoke on the top level? God no, you can’t smoke anywhere these days. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/37 "2013-03-04T08:45:37Z")
On the other hand an English garden is not just any type of greenery in the neighbourhood of a house in England: [English landscape garden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_garden) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/38 "2013-03-04T08:56:04Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > The rear areas of the typical “Coronation Street” houses are paved with no growing area and would be called yards in any UK area that I’ve ever lived. There may be some regional variation of course. Hmm, good point, I guess back-to-backs do have yards. Or ‘backyards’. I think of yards as being working/functional places, where you wash the car or saw bits of wood. Gardens are more for leisure. You would sit in a garden. You wouldn’t sit in a yard. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/39 "2013-03-04T09:00:02Z")
[What a Brit sees when you say ‘yard’.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/aug/30/jaycee-lee-dugard-kidnap-usa#/?picture=352315434&index=0) [What we see when you say ‘garden’.](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=garden&hl=en&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB503GB504&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UmI0Uez5CeOn0QXMjoC4BQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1499&bih=1090#hl=en&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB503GB504&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=+garden&oq=+garden&gs_l=img.3..0l10.12788.14093.1.14235.2.2.0.0.0.0.56.103.2.2.0...0.0...1c.1.5.img.XrastS8JEMQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.d2k&fp=d55fe55f17aa2a30&biw=1499&bih=1126) ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881/40 "2013-03-04T09:00:26Z")
As a Kiwi, the word garden evokes thoughts of shrubs, flowers, and lawn. Garden tours to visit people’s planting passions are a common summer event. Vegetables grow in a vegetable patch. Usually hidden at the back of the garden but cherished and tended. A yard by distinction is a hard-scrabble place of dirt and gravel, the sort of place we’d turn the car around or place manly stuff to be dealt with later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figured-out-that-brits-call-their-lawns-gardens-what-do-they-call-place-where-veggies-grow/651881.md?page=3)