Mon potager - my vegetable garden - is a reflection of our life here. Fairly simple, nothing showy, often a bit untidy and rambling round the edges.... relaxed. We have four squares, each measuring about 3 metres or 12' square. That size is easier to maintain and looks rather pretty. Looks are important when it comes to the potager, that is why flowers are allowed to self seed, rhubarb is left to flower and little boys like to plant in straight lines.
The potager is in the corner of the garden, edged on two sides by the garden wall, and on two sides by a picket fence that I made from scrap wood. I had a brief and uncharacteristic moment of genius when making the fence, and created each section to be lifted off for mowing the lawn. ... pause for maximum effect, my good ideas are so rare, I have to make the most of them ...!!
Our bean frames are home made, and restrung each year with the string that come off the horse's bales of hay. The heaviest task is each spring, when we trundle in wheelbarrow fulls of compost to feed the ground.
One square has a little apple tree and our herbs, the other three rotate each year and we grow tomatoes, beans, courgettes, sometimes red peppers, parsnips, rocket .... Nothing exotic, just the stuff you really want to have an unending supply of close to hand. In the stone wall corner is bordered by raspberries and pumpkins for ground cover. Poppies self seed themselves and we leave them in situ because they are too pretty to pull up. Same for the fennel, whose stalks are great with fish and whose lime yellow flowers are useful in bouquets.
How about you, do you have a potager, pots on a balcony with tomatoes and herbs, or a full size walled garden that could feed an army?!
