To supplement basic provisions provided by their master, some bondpeople grew their own foodstuffs and staple crops for personal consumption or sale. Enslaved men and women typically tended these gardens or "patches" after they had finished their daily or weekly work for their master.
For some slaves, these gardens provided crucial supplements to an otherwise nutrient-deprived diet. The extent to which bondpeople and their masters relied on slave gardens for basic provisioning depended on the type of labor system employed and the region in which the plantation was situated. In Jamaica, for example, slaves cultivated "provision grounds," which were, according to traveler Zachary Macaulay, their sole means of subsistence. Elaborating on this system, Macaulay explained that "[i]f, therefore, they neglected to employ in their provision-grounds a sufficient portion of the Sunday, to secure to them an adequate supply of food, they might be reduced to absolute want" (Macauly 1824, p. 39).