"Of Vegetables and Art - Part 3 - the Finale!"

We are harvesting daily rewards from the vegetable garden as spring becomes summer. Each night now we seem to be having at least five things from the garden. Tonight we ate our zuchinis, carrots, potatoes and chives in a 'zuchini slice' followed by youngberries for desert and cups of peppermint tea. Can there be anything more rewarding than evening harvest time?

So, tonight its the final in the series on potagers (French Ornamental Vegetable gardens) - I had aimed to write but two in this series until my web site had problems, so after describing potagers and delving into their history we're now up to.......

Getting the Balance Right

So from London and France to the backyards of Australia. How to create a potager, a vegetable garden of beauty without losing its essential purpose of producing food. Whether you are starting from scratch or already have an established vegetable garden you might like to add any of the following potager design suggestions. You can decide on the balance you want to achieve between productivity and romance, between order and charm.

Firstly you'll need an orderly pattern of beds. My potager (affectionately known as 'Petit Villandry') contains four beds of around two metres by three metres. A width of two metres will allow you to work from either side without having to trample the soil, four beds also allows for a simple four bed crop rotation.

In the most formal style each bed is edged with a low hedge of box, usually Buxus sempervirans, although other plants that do just as well include lavender, rosemary or even parsley. In my garden I haven't followed this rule as it would limit the amount that I can produce so I just rely on my rustic paths to define the edges and improve the aesthetics.

Your potager design could also include a central feature. It could be as grand as a fountain a la Versailles or quite simple. In the centre of the paved cross in our garden we have a central pot planted with a riot of tumbling nasturtiums.

If you have any vertical surfaces around your garden such as fences or walls, have some fun with the age-old technique of espalier (see an earlier blog on espaliers). Espalier makes harvesting easy, encourages fruit production and looks great! This craft was perfected by Jean de La Quintinye, the vegetable gardener to Louis XIV. La Quintinye had to be able to deliver four thousand figs and one hundred and thirty varieties of pears to his plump majesties table each day, no matter the time of year. Espalier helped him to be able to 'force' plants out of season.

A potager also needs colour. I use dahlias, cosmos, honesty, marigolds, penstemons and roses, although the floral possibilities are delightfully endless. To me, no vegetable garden seems complete without a few tall stems of the iconic sun-worshippers, the sunflowers.

Some striking structural plants will also help to unify the whole garden such as standard bay trees or tall artichokes. In our 'patch' we have a columnar 'Ballerina' apple tree in the centre of each of our four beds.

Louis XIV was so proud of his vegetable garden at Versailles he would promenade with visiting dignitaries along the avenue above the garden admiring all the gloire of his toiling gardeners below. Interestingly, visitors to our place seem to make a bee line (pun intended) for the vegetable garden. Louis was obviously on to something, productive gardens are vibrant, ever-changing places full of treasure. They require viewpoints and paths for strolling, not plots hiding behind the old shed out back. Add a seat or, if you have room, even a pergola resplendent with a whole outdoor setting. A place from where you'll be able to enjoy the work of your hands, your own little oasis of bounty, beauty and order in a chaotic world.

Bon appetit!

The extreme (potager) gardener, Paul.

Further Reading;

1. The Art of French Vegetable Gardening by Louisa Jones; Artisan, 1995
2. Kitchen Gardens of France by Louisa Jones; Thames and Hudson, 1997
3. The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord; Dorling Kindersley, 1996
4. The Ornamental Vegetable Garden by Diana Anthony; UNSW Press, 1997
5. The Sun King's Garden by Ian Thompson; Bloomsburyt, 2006
6. Gardens through the Ages by Roy Strong; Conran Octopus, 1992
7. The Gardens of Villandry by Robert and Henri Carvallo; Editions Plume, 1998
8. Web; www.chateauvillandry.com

"Of Vegetables and Art - Part Two"

Last week I began this topic by describing both the romantic and formal potager (French Ornamental Vegetable Garden) and why I am so extremely passionate about this garden style. Well I tried to get a lot more of this topic down last week but my website just wouldn't let me! My sites health is not the best - how do you fertilise the ether? Well let's begin and just hope for the best....

"Vegetables are a work of art, the vibrant, multi-coloured stems of 'rainbow' chard, the tall, feathery tassels of sweet corn waving in the wind, bright red chillies ripening on the bush. Yet increasing the biodiversity of your plot with flowers, herbs and fruit attracts bees and increases beneficial associations enhancing both the gourmet's palate and the garden artist's palette - voila! 

Sun Kings, Monks and Priests - the formal potager

There is a great deal of debate in France about the origins of such garden artistry. Medieval Monks used a cross to divide their monastery gardens into four, with one quadrant for vegetables and one for fruit, a third quadrant was set aside to grow medicinal herbs and the final quarter was for flowers destined for the altar.

The parish priest was given a small house with a garden attached where he would grow herbs, fruit and vegetables to supplement his meagre wage. His parishioners also provided him with cuttings of flowers to decorate the church which were usually planted in a riotous way in amongst everything else.

Today, French allotments as well as so many French gardens, carry on these traditions. By the end of the growing season they are a riot of dahlias, hollyhocks and apples amongst rows of vegetables.

The Palace of Versailles to the south of Paris, contains one of the best examples of the French formal potager style. The King's Vegetable garden or le potager du Roi was begun by the Sun King, Louis XIV in 1678. It is set out in a symmetrical manner with a central water feature. Vegetables, herbs and flowers all grow together flanked by walls of espaliered fruit trees.

The two and a half acre vegetable garden at Chateau Villandry in the Loire Valley is the world's most famous formal potager. It is divided into nine squares with 100,000 vegetable seedlings planted each year to form intricate patterns or parterres. Plantings of box, pear trees and standard roses all help to unify this garden extravaganza where vegetable growing has truly become art."

........So, next week..... from London and France to the backyards of Australia - how to create a garden that is both productive and beautiful.

PS In 2005 Frances and I spent a month in France filming Versailles and Villandry as well as private gardens and allotments - it was the greatest adventure that this gardener has ever had - so much so, that I cried as we taxied out of Charles de Gaulle airport....

Au revoir!

The Extreme Gardener

"Of Vegetables and Art"

On a cold, wet day in London in the early nineties I was doing what all gardeners do when away from their patch, trawling through the garden section of a large book store. I came across a title that was to change the way I looked at humble vegetables and their plot, The Art of French Vegetable Gardening by Louisa Jones.

The exquisite photography and empassioned text led me into a world where the vegetable garden became not only an area of production but also a thing of beauty. French Ornamental Vegetable Gardens or potagers are places where vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers all grow gloriously together.

In my childhood, backyard vegetable gardens had been so utilitarian with vegetables marking time in rigid soldier straight rows divided by crisp concrete paths, all tucked away at the bottom of the yard.

Louisa's text inspired a rethink in my own vegetable garden: why not add a spiral of Asian herbs, some dahlia tubers or even an espaliered fig? The potager style can be as easy as just recklessly mingling vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit all together (the romantic potager style). Or it can be a very ordered series of plots or parterres with hedging and a central feature (the formal potager).....

"Not Carrots AGAIN!"

Yes, carrots again! and what a year to be planting produce here on the south-eastern coast of Australia. As of this morning we've had 1449mm of glorious rain well over our arguable yearly average of 1200.

Some of my gardening customers have remarked, "Well, Paul I don't know what you've done differently this year but my garden is looking fabulous." A humble gardener would defer to the assistance afforded him by Mother Nature. Yet the "extreme gardener" (ever the shrewd businessman) has been known to attribute the buds and blooms to his hard work and deft fertilising skills!

Last week I discussed a few of the tricks in planting carrot seed, yet, I failed to answer that perennial question, "Why are my carrots forked?" If its just one or two, it's probably that the tap root has run into a stone during its downward journey.

If most of your carrots are branched and misshapen you have the same problem as encountered by the "extreme gardener" - very fertile soil (what a great problem!). Make sure you mix any added fertilisers, manures or compost thoroughly through your soil, don't just dump it on top. You can also do as I have done and resist the temptation to fertilise before planting or even plant your carrot seed after 'hungry' crops such as corn.

Occasionally I will pull a carrot that seems to be eaten through to the core (actually my soils are still in development and are still quite heavy so rather than pulling, I prefer to dig my carrots with a fork).  The vegetable weevil is the culprit, I don't know of any effective organic control for these little blighters other than making sure you keep down their menu choices by regularly weeding your plot (particularly ridding it of 'marshmallow weed' and 'capeweed'). Regular crop rotation will also help by not encouraging a permanent, bounteous haven for the pest in one section of the garden (for advice on crop rotation see the previous blog on May 19, entitled "Crop Rotation - Generations of Experience can't be wrong!"

Next week my passion, well.... another of my passions..... le potager, zee French Ornamental Vegetable Garden - vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers all growing together in an artistic feast for all the senses!

Until then,

John Paul, "extreme jardinier"

Carrots

I just haven't been that regular lately - well you'd think with the amount of fibre in my diet from our home grown produce..... well it's not about what you're thinking, that's not the problem! It's just that in "selling season" (Spring and Autumn - when all the garden shows are on) I just don't get enough time to write a regular blog. In fact my blogging capabilities rise and fall commensurate with the amount of time I spend away from home talking to fellow gardeners and, hopefully, selling them a quality tool or two......So, todays blog short and sweet is on......carrots!

My favourite carrot story concerns one Brian Craswell who won 25 million Euro in the English lotto. When asked what he would do with his winnings he said, "I've been trying to grow carrots ever since I've been there (his allotment) and have never had any success. What I'm going to do now is bring in a professional and sort that out." Now there's a man with his priorities in order - no red lamborghinis, no, just long, healthy carrots!

The biggest problem in growing carrots is getting them to germinate. Carrot seed is very fine and it's hard to keep the soil moist so the fledgling plants can push their way to surface.

I use an old cooking oil container complete with spout. I pour in a packet of carrot seed followed by a packet of radish seed (the small, "breakfast" types), followed by a handful of seed raising mix. After shaking the contents, I "pour" my mix out in rows about  10 - 15cm apart. It's then a matter of watering at least once a day, even twice a day when it's hot.

The seed raising mix provides a fine water holding tilth that the germinated carrots can push through. The radish will germinate earlier and will help to mark out the rows as well as breaking up the soil for the carrots. This way you get a crop of radish, followed by baby carrots when your rows are thinned out before eventually reaping a month or two of regular carrot harvests.

Some of my keen gardening friends prefer to just cover their rows of freshly sown carrot seed (mixed in either seed raising mix or sand) with timber boards, to limit evaporation, after around a week they start checking under the timber, when they see evidence of germination they're removed.

I have been very busy (I refer you back to my problems with regularity) so much so, that I have even tried planting out a punnet of carrot seedlings. The result from this experiment are in and I must say that you do get a lot of carrot seedlings to the punnet without the waste from needing to thin out carrots grown from seed. Yet, I can't say the flavour was as good as from seed and there is, alas, no choice of varieties, no "Purple Dragon, no "Chantenay."

Oh to win lotto and grow more carrots in a plethora of colours,shapes and sizes.....wishful thinking?

Yes! 

Paul "the extreme gardener"