Louis XIII's vegetable garden having proved too small to cope with the needs of the court, Louis XIV commissioned Jean-Baptiste La Quintinie, a past master in the art of growing early fruit and vegetables, to transform 9ha of marshy grounds in 1678. Completed in 1683, this vegetable garden used innovative methods such as an underground aqueduct and ripening under cloches and provided the king and his court with rare fruit and vegetables (even out of season) such as strawberries in January, asparagus in December and figs in June. Since 1976 it has been home to the École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage.