A new emotion – Potager envy?

Potager to our immediate left

I don’t think I am an envious or jealous person however this ‘new’ emotion has got a real good grip on me.  Who knew there was such a thing as potager envy.... and trust me I have got a large dose of it.

We always knew that the Jardin Legume would be a challenge the plot that we are able to use has not been worked for a couple of years or so and the weeds are high and solid.  However, not to be daunted we choose a bit to work on and clear which hopefully we would be able to plant some potatoes in sooner rather than later.

Potager to our right

We were lucky as the first day we began the big dig  it had rained the night before which somewhat eased our task but it was still hard going.  We began to dig the larger weeds, then tackling the smaller plants and grass.  In need of inspiration I would glance at our neighbour’s perfectly prepared neat and tidy garden and think one day, our patch could look like that too.

As it was in the beginning...

It took several days of hard digging, pulling, plucking, raking just to be able to begin to hoe some furrows.  I kept the target in sight by glancing at the neighbours neat rows.  After checking the lunar calendar for the optimium planting days; the day was almost nigh when the ground would be ready and the seed potatoes could go in.  I am determined to be as chemical free as possible in all our gardens and if bio-dynamics and the phases of the moon aid and assist, it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.

Pomme de terre planted

So the big day arrives and after a little extra hoeing of furrows we could plant our potatoes, so exciting.  I made an earlyish start as it was a warm day and even after the first hour of fine-tuning I was sweating like a pig.... very attractive I know, but hopefully the effort will be rewarded. Planted and watered we will now have to wait and see how our crop fares, the weather has really been kind with soft gentle rain at night to help our cause.

Lézard Vert  

Looking around the plot I was feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and wonder, so many beautiful things and creatures to see and hear.  The bird song is truly amazing sometimes almost deafening.  There are loads of ‘good’ bugs, worms and lizards and hubby was fortunate enough to see a pine marten lurking under the cherry trees. The garden is directly below the mountain (which has the cross on it) and the potagers on either side are full with straight rows of vegetables and beautiful flowers. The river is not far away and we can hear it bubble and gurgling as we work.

However, we have so far to go, but in the meantime we can and do use our envy for inspiration and just enjoy being in the town but in a beautiful setting surrounded by abundance of life.

Recently, we have also agreed to look after G's town garden, probably one of the bigger gardens attached to a house in St Paul.  It is really big and needs a very good mow but needs to be scythed/chopped first.  It too has an abundance of fruit trees, which are old and established. 

As for the Jardin Cache, hubby has been using the still weather (as in not much wind) to burn much of what we have cleared.  It is a hot sticky job and there is so much to burn and we only really have the rest of this month to do it.  No open fires between June and September by order of The Pompiers! Today he and a friend are tackling the bigger trees with a chainsaw, I hope they both come back in one piece. (Of course they did, with stories to tell!)

We wanted space and gardens we certainly have that, probably a little more than we need and can mange probably but each one is unique and special and fits a purpose, but its the jardin legume that has my attention right now and I hope one day I can return the emotion of potager envy to anyone who may glance at our veggie plot. In the meantime the first crop of cherries need to be picked before the birds get them all.

A bientôt.

One a penny, deux centime.... we have a garden or two...

The beginning of the story of the Jardin cache.

(Firstly apologies to all my loyal readers that I have not posted in a long while, a LOT has been happening but nothing I can really report on yet!)


A while back we asked the then Monsieur Mayor, if he knew of a potager jardin (allotment) we could rent or buy.  On our return from a trip to the UK there is a message from said Mayor giving us details of a lady who may be interested in helping us out.


I met up with G the owner of a garden, a local in her seventies or so, who married an Englishman (shock, horror!). She doesn’t want to sell as it belonged to her grandfather and father but we could ‘take care’ of it for her.  It is however fairly overgrown and there is an issue of water. She took me to the garden a little out of town down a little farm-like track, past an old chestnut horse that looked very quizzically at us.

We got to the garden and negotiated through the petite cabane (little hut) door and through the cobwebs and spiders and through the next door into the garden. As I stepped out into the garden G was not joking this was a jungle not just slightly overgrown.  I however had this weird sensation, the same as when I was watching the Secret Garden and they found the door, this was also something magical. However the comparisons stop there apart from the name we have given it, which the lovely E helped us choose.

When hubby returned from the UK I took him to see the garden and to see if he was up for the challenge.  I stood back to watch his reactions which went from horror, to intrigue and then to possibility; the garden magic was working on him too.

The following Saturday the whole family returned to start clearing and see just what we were dealing with.  This was not for the faint hearted this was a daunting task, there were brambles everywhere, and ivy had invaded all the mature trees and anything else it could find with vines thicker than most ropes I had ever seen. ‘Ma fille’ immediately climbed the biggest of the fig tree and started pulling ivy down.  She had good practice on holiday in the UK when she was helping clearing her grandparents’ new overgrown garden.

‘Le garcon’ and I started clearing around the cherry trees eventually finding ten in all after removing all the growth both under and over. By lunchtime we had managed to find a flattish surface virtually clear, to have our picnic.  The garden is a triangle shape with the rural track along one side with a deteriorating fence, a stone wall along the back and then an irrigation channel with a completely collapsed fence. 


As we wearily munched our sandwiches we realised how peaceful it all was, apart from two fisherman we saw in the morning there had been no human or vehicle traffic all morning and that continued for the rest of the day. With the birds singing merrily and the abundance of butterflies it was a real sanctuary.

As a family we have continue to work clearing the garden but it has to be said that S has done the lion’s share of the work.  We have found five large beautiful fig trees, the shapes they have made are stunning, an old apricot tree (which hopefully we have rescued in time) and a greengage and other yet unidentified fruit trees.  There is a possibility of more plums along the back wall but we are still making our way there.

The main problem for planting any veggies was the lack of water in spite of the river being only 50m away there is no practical way of getting large amounts into the garden.  S and I walked up the irrigation channel to find if there was a source further up the hill (I felt I was in my own edition of Jean de Florette), but unfortunately what once might have been a proper irrigation is now just an overflow storm water drain. We discussed many ways of getting water to the garden and eventually decided to clear a space and plant some low water veggies there and the rest in our garden at home in grow bags. (Part of our letting agreement was not to cultivate our owner’s garden).

The next thing we know J (one of our French grannies) comes a-calling. Are you looking for a potager? Yes, but we have the use of G garden, so we are good. But you haven’t seen my garden and what I can offer you, you must come and see. Ok, S dutifully went along to see said garden. Well, what a surprise and another little jewel. Right in the town not far from where we are living she has a garden with over 30 fruit trees and a large plot for growing vegetables with loads of water!! We could have this bit to cultivate, apologies it’s not very big (only about 50m²) more than enough for our needs.

So effectively we now have three gardens to look after, one at home with the swimming pool and grow bags, one to grow our lovely veggies in and one to hide away from the world.  With imminent homelessness in September at least we will be able to have somewhere to pitch a tent until the ‘real’ winter sets in. 

I am writing this under the old apricot tree in the jardin cache the wind is howling with huge gusts but we are protected from its effects and once again about to have a family picnic under its boughs. If we had been at the house we couldn’t have been outside as it would be too windy. I look around at our progress with clearing and anticipate great things to come, already designing things to suit all. A reading platform in  a tree for ‘ma fille’, a place to throw or kick a ball for ‘ma fils’, a quiet place to contemplate our next move and possibly bring the hammock down, and of course the prerequisite braai and eating area. Not forgetting the all important pétanque pitch for endless hours of fun and family rivalry. This is so much more this wonderful jardin cache has to offer, it probably needs it’s own blog... à bientôt.

Before

with some clearing