Gardens4People blog

New year

2010-01-13T11:32:00.013+01:00

Well, here we are again. A New year and a new season. Will be interesting to see how the garden here develops.

We managed to get some raised beds placed before the autumn rain and winter chill took hold.

Because the soil infrastructure to the rear of the house was ruined by the dumping of sub soil from the swimming pool by our less than adequate contractors, we have struggled with clay like you would not believe. Sets completely solidly when wet, is impossible to dig (just sticks to the shovel - when you can get the shovel in) not to mention sticking to boots and then in the heat of summer, sets like concrete. Imagine red potters clay on your feet up to your ankles and you will get some idea of what just walking over it is like. I have sworn more at this land than at anything else, ever. It is not only backbreaking but soul destroying and is fit only for agricultural development. Since we do not have a tractor, we can only manage by hand and it is taking a long, long time. Still, I am determined to have not only flowers, which I cannot live without, and a potager for our own vegetables, salads and melons, so we persevere.

We have, with the help of a farming neighbour, managed to move the 10 tonnes of topsoil from the courtyard at the front of the house to the raised beds at the back of the house. No mean feat, as the house is built on a raised platform and rises around three metres from front to back. So, not only are you carrying soil, but having to walk/climb uphill with it at the same time. Good job we eat well, as my grandma used to say "Strength goes in at the mouth" and we do try.

We heard our first cuckoo today so hope that presages an early start to Spring. I need to organise some more topsoil for the rest of the raised beds but cannot put this in place until the ground is a little drier. It will probably be an "all hell and no notion" operation to get everything done and then planted up before we get the real heat.

Hope the photos do justice to the state of the soil and the scale of our ongoing battle.

Happy new year to everyone and good gardening.

Amsterdam

2009-11-16T16:04:00.023+01:00

This is a very belated post.

A couple of months ago, in the middle of October to be precise, I managed to wangle a long weekend in Amsterdam.

I don't know about you but I have a list of gardens, things to see and places to visit all around the world.

Having been to Amsterdam many times before, the Horticultural gardens were still on my list, having been passed over in favour of art galleries, museums etc. The weather when we arrived was not conducive to garden viewing, as it was raining heavily and a sharp wind was blowing in off the sea. Two days later it was completely different; bright, sunny and relatively warm, so off to the Hortus Botanicus we went.

Easy to reach from the town centre on foot, the garden itself is quite small, but, as they say, beautifully formed. Founded at the height of Dutch trading influence in the 1680's with seeds and plants brought back by traders, it was originally started for herbal and medicinal reasons. It has an amazing history of propagating coffee plants, from a plant still in the collection, which formed the basis of all coffee now produced in Central and Southern America. Incredible!

A 19th century curator, Hugo de Vries, lived in one of the elegant houses on the adjacent street. He was rewarded for his devotion to the garden by the creation of a private access and short cut for which he had the exclusive use (and the only key!). Dedication has its own rewards?

Todays' visitors to the garden are welcomed by a bright spacious entrance with a combined gift shop, bookshop and plantstall. Best of all, having viewed the garden and the hothouses, admired the quality and range of the plants and walked the canal boundaries, you can reward yourself with a delicious cup of coffee and, of course, the compulsory and well deserved cake.

Much recommended if you get the time, and a special ambience all its own.

Surprise

2009-10-27T14:13:00.027+01:00

This week's blog features a remarkable photo, taken at the beginning of October, of a "wildflower meadow" and sent to me by a client. I did say I would credit Philip with this shot, so take a bow!

A remarkable photo for several reasons.

Firstly the seed was not set until July, over a month after the latest recommended sowing time, and in temperatures of over 30 degrees C.

It was sown on a mix of stones and very poor soil , which had been almost a sub-soil strata infill to raise the level of a newly completed section of hard landscaping prior to topping with good soil.

It received very little watering as the garden owners were not in residence at this time, so was reliant on the generosity and conscience of occasional visitors.

In all, for more than two months the seeds were subjected to a high degree of neglect.

The late planting was entirely my doing - since the hard landscaping had, as usual for France, taken far longer to complete than anticipated (too much rain to dig out footings, too much sun to mix cement, too hot to concrete pilings in place, non -delivery of promised building materials, etc, etc, etc .

I could not bear the thought of greeting my clients with this hideous patch of weed and stone when they arrived for their well deserved holiday that I weeded, raked and riddled most of the junk out and then manically scattered seed everywhere.

And as they say here - Voilà!

One of the biggest surprises ever - not least of which because the illustration on the sack of seed bears very little resemblance to the plants which appeared!

I cannot look at this photo without smiling at the cheerful display these little flowers have made. And what does it say for the instructions of when, and when not, to plant.

So, maybe the mot du jour should be - just go out and do it?

One for garden and art lovers

2009-10-12T16:21:00.028+02:00

This weekend I took some clients out to see the garden created by Renate and Lutz Hillen-Degenharat at Thermes Magnoac. I was keen for my clients to see some of the outdoor pieces created by Renate and Lutz which were on view around the garden when I last visited at the beginning of summer.

We were only able to see the area around the workshop and shop (which are open all year round) as the owners are creating a lake over the autumn/winter period and the garden will not re-open to the public until May 2010. They did however very kindly spare the time to chat to us and show us a photo of the house and land as it was when they moved in 1991.

Such a transformation - from a lonely looking house standing in isolation, with no surrounding trees or plants, to the interesting and unique place it is today.

We were told that to date over 1000 trees have been planted over the 3 hectare site, a mammoth undertaking even over the 18 year span that Renate and Lutz have been in residence.
Even my husband was impressed by the dedication and work ethic which had obviously gone into creating this garden.

The sculptures I had wanted my clients to see were on view, which added another option to the ideas they have for their own garden. Much better to see items like this in the flesh, especially when it is such a major purchase and feature in a garden. "A sculpture is for life and not just for Christmas!"

Shame they were not able to see the rest of the garden - which is inspirational. This is far and away the best garden I have visited this year.

I recommend anyone who is able, to visit this garden for themselves, to see what I am raving about. Put May 2010 in your diary! And they have a tearoom! Whether you can get or not, look at the website and enjoy.

http://www.poterie.fr/

Plans and ideas

2009-09-29T12:31:00.023+02:00

Well, famous last words (about needing more water) as we had a terrific storm which lasted over the whole of the weekend I was aiming to visit Chateau Bouscasse. Lots of local flooding and certainly not ideal conditions in which to go garden visiting. So, sadly, have missed the opportunity until later. Will check and see if the gardens are open again before 2010 and trust the sculptures are still in situ. Don't know where the time goes, as we are already at the beginning of October and still not got to half the gardens on my list. Do I sense a New Year's resolution coming up?

Our delicious plums are now finished and a friend to whom I sent some returned a jar of plum and lavender jelly - yum yum. Quite like this sort of exchange system. Our charentais melons are still producing but the slugs and snails are also fans of this fruit and it is a constant challenge to see who gets there first. I choose not to use slug/snail pellets unless I absolutely have to and so can blame no-one else for the slightly nibbled produce! Really surprised they have avoided the spring onions though!

Going tree and plant shopping with a client shortly and will take the opportunity to look for winter vegetables and violas. Have already bought a selection of bulbs to put in (when I get the time!). This winter I am wanting to extend my container display and so am using all sorts of odd bits - an empty duck tin, egg basket, old bird cage, enamelled milkjug and bucket, etc some of which I bought from various local vide greniers - the French equivalent of car boot sales - and some of which are now past their best. Conventional containers serve gardeners well but sometimes it is good to break out of the mould and use something different which may otherwise be thrown out. Plus it's good fun and more of a challenge to make use of an object intended for another purpose.

Will post photos when planted up but in the meantime, here is one of my little helper.

Later.........at the chateau

2009-09-07T15:47:00.022+02:00

Chateau Viella

Well, here we are again after a break of more than two months, during which time we have managed to host hundreds of friends and family (not really - just seems that way!) visit the Marciac jazz festival and take in a couple of garden visits too. All play is quite hard work sometimes and apart from a couple of thoroughly enjoyable visits to clients I have simply enjoyed the summer. Very decadent!

Our garden now though is looking in desperate need of water as the grass, and a few of the exposed plants, have been scorched by the sun to a delightful shade of brown. I have never before grown crispy roses. Still, I resist watering, as although this is not necessarily a pretty sight everything comes back after some rain.

The spring onions too still need more water to fill out the bulbs but no doubt that will happen shortly. At least we have not had to mow and the plums, melons, tomatoes, chillies and aubergines have all gone mad. I have arranged to swop our over-production with a neighbour for grapes and figs, so for me, this is a good arrangement, as we have neither on site.

Next year we shall aim to plan our summer produce together to co-ordinate our output and widen our varieties. Less effort and more veg? Gets my vote.

One of the gardens I managed to visit with friends was Chateau Viella, the idea being they could wine taste whilst I went walkabout.

The lovely leaflet, reproduced above, was designed by Josselyne Blanchard,with photos by Alain Alquier and printed by BCR and looked like my sort of place - productive land with various interesting spaces; like the kind of area I am struggling to create here.

I have no idea of the date this leaflet was produced but sadly the reality now did not live up to the promise of this lovely imagery. There were many instances of lack of tlc and maintenance and the overall impression was that once created the features and planting had been left to get on with it. The biggest disappointment of all was the tiny "Jardin des senteurs" (the perfumed garden) which was in such a sorry state I could not bring myself to take a photograph. Bizarrely too was the omission of the most obvious plant in the region - lavender - and whilst my garden also was suffering from lack of water this one had huge gaps in the planting, and shrubs which were clearly dead. So sad.

The potager belonging to the concierge, however, was everything the garden wasn't - full of joie de vivre, colour and productivity and clearly thriving and there is a shot of this!

I am told however that the wine was excellent.

Next year I intend to re-visit all these gardens to see how they are performing but later this month I hope to get to Chateau Bouscasse for the showcasing of the current resident artist and maybe another garden too.

Check out http://www.brumont.fr/ for more information.

Plums and roses

2009-06-27T10:56:00.050+02:00

The gite patio area and plum tree

Again this week we have had heavy rain - thunderstorms in the morning and soaring temperatures in the afternoon - and as you can see our visitors won't have to move far to pick the plums for desert.

Maybe I should trim the branch back just a little?

The grass in front of the gite is sprouting, but sadly so are the weeds and the rest of the vegetation. There has to be a reason why the stuff you don't want always takes off better and quicker than whatever you have planted. Maybe that's why gardeners like a challenge. Will have to try and tiptoe around the grasslings to strim the weeds before the poor little seeds get overpowered. A variation on "Tiptoe through the tulips", maybe?

Don't think the idea of planting in the greenhouse was a good idea. The only things left in there are the tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and aubergine. Have had to move everything else as the heat in there was unbelievable. Sadly the melon turned its toes up in the border so has been replaced by two new plants (so we can have lots and lots of charentaise melons - delicious!) but the spring onions are looking good. Really strange that the locally sold spring onion varieties are the size of golf balls and do not have that lovely bite that we so enjoy. So, as needs must, if you can't find the right variety in seed locally, buy online from the UK.

The Thunbergia regrettably is no longer with us, but I have left it in its pot until I decide if anything else will take this late in the season, or until I see a plant I just can't resist!

However, lots of flowers on the really hot chilli plants which is great. Monitoring their progress with the hope of having some to put in a welcome curry when our friends arrive in July.

The rose garden

When I went to see the rose garden last week to offer some advice/ideas to the new owners as to how they could realise their thoughts, the majority of the roses had finished flowering, so to show the scale of the planting, at its best, I have reproduced a photograph, taken by Philippe Perdereau and copied from the Francoise Dubarry and Catherine Marset book Jardins Secrets de Gascogne. The garden relies heavily on the "room" theme and is really a showcase for the huge number of rose varieties planted there, although there are some herbaceous perennials and shrubs. Unfortunately the garden layout makes one of the new owners feel very claustrophobic and given the wonderful potential for a wildflower meadow on the rest of the land and possibly a maze, there needs to be some visual continuity, a metaphorical and literal window through which not only the meadow but the wonderful scenery beyond can be viewed. Having made some suggestions it will be interesting to see how this garden develops in the hands of its two new owners, as it should, both of whom have different needs and opinions.

Well, back to the drawing board as they say. Summer stepping up its pace and lots of bees and other not so welcomed winged things increasing. Watch out for any bites and apply your usual remedy - in our house vinegar (wine, of course) is a quick, easy and cheap solution.

Discovered we have a fruiting apricot tree to the north side of the house. Will need to wear wellies and protective clothing to try and rescue some of the fruit from the rampant weed and nettle which stands more than 2 metres high. This tree is at the bottom of a very steep slope and has not been taken in hand this year due to other more pressing work. Can see them from the sitting room window and they definitely have my name on them.

Anybody need any courgettes?

Plums, melons and spring onions

2009-06-16T10:19:00.029+02:00

As always, gardeners and gardens are at the mercy of the weather. Too hot, too much rain - we have had all of this within the last week but the upside of this is that the grass seed I was very late in sowing in front ot the gite has germinated and not been burnt to a frazzle. So, hopefully the visitors will have something a little more attractive to look at than the building spoil and clay. Hopefully too the ancient plum tree will have lots of fruit again for them to help themselves to. Not sure what variety it is but the colour is reminiscent of an English Victoria. The size is more of a Damson with the taste being the best of both varieties - sweet, juicy and very more-ish.

The greenhouse produce has been overwhelmed by the heat (again over 30 degrees) so I have transplanted the spring onions into the rear flower border, together with the melon which was looking decidedly unhappy. Neither of these, once planted/sown should be moved but the rain seems to have eased the transfer. We shall see. There is a lovely quote from Vita Sackville West "The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before." Which includes inappropriately moving plants.

Not sure whether the Thunbergia planted in a pot near the pool is going to survive - not looking too happy but then the heat has been difficult to take when you have just moved in. Seems to have been cheered by the rain, so again, the old gardener's maxim of "Let's just wait and see" applies.

Chillies looking good, just about to flower, so well on the way to a curry or two.

Hope to take in a garden this week so will take photos and post details. This is a private garden, not open to the public, but should be very interesting as it was laid out by two enthusiastic gardeners and rose lovers and now has new owners. Like most new house owners, they will want to make their mark on it and there will no doubt be some aspect of it which they want to change.

As the weather settles and we head for midsummer, most gardening as such ceases and it is a case of harvesting salads and fruit, watering where necessary and watching out for all plant predators so you do not lose your valued plants to the molluscs and insects.

So good luck, happy gardening and enjoy!

Weather and gardens

2009-06-10T17:11:00.009+02:00

Chateau Bouscasse

As is the way with most things, the best laid plans of mice, men and gardeners can be thwarted by the weather. Of course, the minute I mentioned cutting the grass it rained.....and rained......and rained. Some sunshine in between but not enough to dry the aforementioned lawn out sufficiently. So - my dilemna now is do I leave it until the end of the month when the lunar calendar is next favourable or do I just do it? Since today it is again sunshine and showers, and predicted to be until the weekend, there is no urgency for me to reach a decision. Will see how things go.

The produce in the greenhouse is coming good, but there has been an outbreak of aphids which I have had to spray. The usual backup and alternatives of marigolds clearly did not appeal to these little horrors. Also, after a superb display of roses, the rain battered the heads and the resultant rot and humidity led to an infestation of greenfly, which again had to be chemically addressed. Not a big fan of chemicals but sometimes needs must. So, watch your roses carefully and check anything still under glass!

Decided to plant under the obelisks a "Black Eyed Susan" - which is actually white, and in the other pot a chilli plant in the hope that these will add extra decor to the pool surround. At least we will enjoy the chillis in time!

Managed at the weekend to visit two gardens. One I would highly recommended - the garden at the Pottery Hillen at Thermes Magnoac. Quite unique and extremely photogenic.

The other was at Chateau Bouscasse, in Maumusson, the home of Alan Brumont who is the largest independent producer of Madiran wine. This garden was designed by Giles Clement, but was in dire need of tlc and replanting. Some of the original design had been altered which I felt spoiled the fluidity and permiability of the various garden areas. A super and original concept, sadly not realised.

June is bursting out all over

2009-06-02T11:03:00.004+02:00

Very hot again today, which is really nice for people but not too good for plants.

Having planted out the large barrique at the bottom of the drive, I now find I will have to replace the centre piece, a Phormium tenax, which the horses originally took a dislike to and threw out onto the ground. It overwintered in a pot near the house but did not look very happy. I discovered why when I took it out of the pot - loads of horrible little grubs had savaged its root system and it had rotted. So, in spite of assuring my husband that last weeks trip to the nursey would be the last, I am going there again today. Did think I might also get a couple of climbers for the obelisks I have at last resurrected. Is there such a thing as plant addiction?

Since our raised beds are not yet operational I have resorted to growing some fruit (melon) salad (lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber) and vegetables (courgettes and aubergines) in the greenhouse either in pots or growbags. Think its getting a bit too hot even for them although there is a cooling through breeze and the doors and windows are left open. They are doing quite well, even though I did not consult the calendar before planting.

I have been reading up on gardening in tune with the lunar calendar, which is far more popular here than in the UK. All French gardening magazines provide information for the year in their January editions to help you sow, plant and harvest. Until next Tuesday, this week is good for harvesting root crops and planting out ornamental plants. If you want to try this idea, cut your grass before 5th June or leave it until the end of the month and it will grow back slower. All interesting stuff - must check how the controlled experiments panned out to see whether there was a noticeable difference in production. Will cut our "lawn" tomorrow and hope it works!