Who has a potager?

I am so excited about having an ornamental vegetable garden this year! Does anyone here have a potager?

Well, I didn't know it until I looked it up, but I guess I'm a potager gardener. I have flowers and herbs mixed in with my vegetables, both for appearance and for companion planting benefits. I've done a rather aggressive expansion this year, and have at least planned for it to both look spectacular and produce abundantly. Now if the performance follows the plan, I'll be smiling.

Also known as a kitchen garden. I didn't know what a potager was until last month. I have a very sunny side yard but I didn't want a rectangular plot with row after row of veggies. I wanted a pretty garden as well as a big year-round producer. I am of the school that veggie gardens go in the backyard. I did some searching for ornamental vegetable gardens and voila! Perfect for Ga , too. We are in a drought level 29 or something crazy but vegetable gardens are exempt from the watering ban. It works out perfectly, interplanting with flowers so that I can't help but water the flowers while watering the veggies. Also, good for confusing the pests. Using the different heights in each bed makes companion planting very easy as well.

Sujo: Sending you some of this Alabama rain for your garden!

Thank you m'aam

I think I am getting there. I have some flowers, herbs for flowers, and have ordered some bolivian rainbow seeds.

I guess I do (or will). In the literal sense, I have a 'pot'ager. Pots full of vegies, herbs and flowers. They will hopefully assist in encouraging the pollinators.

I have raised vegetables for many years, but recently I have created a potager using Georgeanne Brennan's "In the French Garden" for inspiration. In addition to vegetables, flowers and a few herbs (my herb garden is in a different location) this year I have added strawberries and a couple of blueberry bushes. I have 2 fig trees on the way. In addition to providing fresh seasonable food, it is a great way to use my creative energy. I literally spend ours working (actually playing) in the potager. It is still under construction but I am enjoying the process and progress immensely. Last summer my husband built a cute little garden shed and greenhouse. The January ice storm took out the greenhouse, so we will have to rebuild it.

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

I have a potager, in the sense that I include flowers in my vegetable rows. We've got fig trees, a peach tree, strawberry and raspberry patches, a small herb section plus a greenhouse, brick walks and a central brick patio next to the greenhouse for a bench. We had a nectarine but it never did more than provide a vector for brown rot; at least we get some fruit from our peach trees but had never succeeded with the nectarine, so we cut it down this spring. I also grow a lot of French varieties and stake my tomatoes with bamboo poles, as I noticed that they do in the south of France. I've got Georgeanne Brennan's book "In the French Kitchen Garden" as well as her "A Pig in Provence." I'd like to try to do more than just a spring/summer garden and she has some great ideas for that which can be applied to a small-scale home operation. Eliot Coleman is wonderful on four-season gardening but he's talking about a much larger operation and it's hard to apply his ideas to a backyard patch. She gives a very helpful timetable for when to plant various types through the seasons, so I'm hoping that will give me inspiration this year! Usually by September I'm just as happy to let the garden go to sleep but that's not the way to have a true potager.

I have a potager--here is a pic--it is still in the beginning stages, but I needed something functional and pretty since it is in the side yard

rah127,

That is just beautiful! I would love to see your garden as it progresses through the summer.

I'm planning a garden along the lines of a potager, though I won't grow as many edibles as in a traditional potager... Last fall, my DH & sons built 3 raised beds, from recycled concrete - they are in a pie shape with 3 ft. paths in between the beds. Unfortunately, due to California's water shortage, I don't know if we'll have enough water to plant them this year - I may only be able to plant one bed, in good conscience.... but I'm looking forward to the eventual results!

What a gorgeous garden, Rah! Are those teepees for peas or beans or either? And what flowers are you growing to add color and texture to your potager?

I am working on a sign for mine: "Bienvenue à Notre Potager." Should give it that "je ne sais quoi!" I should take some photos.

Leslie

Im looking for what we used to call 'malabar spinach' to grow on one of those tepees.

It has big heart shaped leaves - it grows through the summer heat and climbs a trellis.

Also the little determinate currant tomatoes would climb one of those tepees.

thanks! I am planning on growing cukes and pole beans on the tepees--I have echinaceas and chocolate cosmos in the herb portion to add color--I will add some marigolds and poached egg flowers later to attract pollinators--the outside (hard to see) has espaliered apple trees trained across the front--they are about to bloom--I will plant daylilies, blackberries, catmint, and some other assorted perennials along the outside. I also have some passion fruit vines that I am going to train up on one side...two standard roses flank the gate (they are also hard to see in the pic)--I hadn't thought of the malabar spinach--that would be good too!

I am very excited--any other suggestions?
Becky

Here is a pic of site construction of my baby potager. Rah127...ooooh my...that is yumm-meee!!!

Oooops

Sujo, that is indeed impressive! It's going to be beautiful! Do you have a gardening plan all worked out, and are you going to rotate your crops from year to year?

I'll have to take a photo of mine but it's not that formal.

Leslie

Those garden layouts are beautiful, I hope you will continue with pictures as the growing season progresses.

I agree they are beautiful projects. Keep the pix coming....please.

Thanks for the kind words. I started with a full-scale plan, rendered with colored pencils. It was quite pretty until Reilly did some rendering of her own with a black magic marker. I am working on a new plan today since the outer bed isn't the height that I expected and the inner beds have changed so much. No complaints, though. I LOVE it. Now you can see the brick beds from outside the garden. I will plant over the weekend since I have my girl at home today.
I have starts from seed, some of which were supposed to be sown outside but sprouted just fine (okra, cukes.) I am late on some others (peas, cabbage) but again the starts look great. I plan to install different configurations of bamboo stakes to create various form as well as height throughout the garden.
For flowers I have marigolds (Bolero), sweet pea vines, Bells of Ireland, zinnias (chartreuse Envy :} ),african daisies, dahlias, celosia, foxglove, moonflower, cardinal and hyacinth bean, johnny jumps, poppies, columbines, hollyhocks (black Niagra.) Some of these are located in the shaded bed at the patio foundation parallel to the new plot. I hope to attract hummingbirds since I have seen them in our yard before with seemingly nothing to draw them.
For veggies I have patty pan and yellow squash, okra, sugar and snow peas, pole beans,brussels sprouts, pickling and lemon cukes, cabbage, mesclun mix, arugula and beets
For fruit, tomatoes and cantaloupes so far. I cheated and bought 9" Big and Better Boy for early crop. I also started from seed San Marzano, Early Girl and Sweet Baby Girl. I want to trellis some type of fruit on either side of the filbert but haven't researched it enough yet. I saw Flagpole apples in Park's but don't like apples. Thinking blue berries.
Gotta scoot, crew just arrived!!

Wow, you've got some exciting plans for that potager of yours! Re bamboo stakes, I stake my tomatoes on bamboo tripods, or you could use tripods for your pole beans. Lots of ways to include different elevations in a garden like yours.

We ended up planting our blueberries outside the garden, on the other side of the shadowbox fence, because we found that they don't like sweeter soil or soil where anything else has been grown. They do well there, with lots of pineneedle mulch.

Rah and Sojo, I am very impressed with your potagers. Obviously you have spent a tremendous amount of time planning. It shows! Beautiful!

My potager, much less formal, has more or less evolved, starting with 4 raised beds strategically placed to take advantage of the sparse sun (which is not a problem now, after the January ice storm.) Currently these beds are filled with garlic, snow peas, broccoli, bok choy and a variety of lettuces. Summer vegetables will be planted to follow the early spring ones. We had leftover planks from the potting shed so we added 4 smaller beds this spring. They will be planted with spinach, beets, basil and more lettuce.

I have a Jersey blueberry bush in a small raised bed next to the potting shed. After the greenhouse is rebuilt, we will add a bed along the side to house three Brunswick blueberry bushes. Should be rather easy to keep the soil on the acid side.

At the front of the potoger I am working on establishing a cutting garden. I have a variety of flowers throughout.

My compost bin and tumbler is tucked away almost out of sight but handy between my husband's shop and a fence.

My first exposure to the French kitchen gardens was on a train trip from Paris to Chartres 13 years ago. I marveled at the backyards filled with vegetables (no grass.) At the time I was not familiar with the potager term. It looked so inviting and I knew I would rather plant, pull weeds, harvest, compost, etc instead of mow. Finally I have my dream. There is no lawn in our back yard!

rah & sujo: what an interesting idea!

Climbers. Im making tepees out of the 6 ft vinyl covered rebar sold as tomato stakes. My 4 x 4 raised beds are just made out of salvaged cement blocks. Not as fancy as the formal gardens here!

Climbers. I mentioned the currant tomatoes, and Malabar spinach. Also on my list is Armenian cucumber, Asparagus bean (yard long beans) - or any pole bean and any indeterminate tomato would like something to climb. The french filet beans are also long and thin like the asparagus bean - not quite that long. There are also scarlet runner beans and snow peas. For summer all kinds of beautiful dry beans and the white kidney bean which is not normally available in stores. And also the summer butterbeans and dried peas like to climb. There is also a climbing nasturtium.

Marigolds are supposed to repel nematodes so I am putting them all over the place.
Especially under the new Celeste fig going in this year.

My very favorite is Queen sophia.

A picture of my potting shed and greenhouse taken last fall. As I mentioned earlier, the greenhouse is no longer.

I spend a great deal of time in the shed. I love having my reference books nearby. The blackboard has been quite handy for jotting down things I must not forget to do. Currently I have a garden calendar on the bulletin board. I am in the process of placing pavers in along the front of the shed.

Chrystel, your shed with the red doors is very attractive. Excellent use of doors. My garden is a potager type. spread out tho. I garden 2 acres and am 83 years of age, have gardened most of my life, but arthiritis is really slowing me down.

Donna

Raj & Soho - your garden designs are spectacular!

It's great to hear what everyone is growing - giving me lots of ideas...

Liz

Chrystel, I love your potting shed. I have a Rion greenhouse that I use but most of my planning is done inside at the diningroom table. My books are handy there. A potting shed wouldn't be warm enough for me to do my January garden dreaming! But I really admire your setup.

Leslie

Donna,
I'm impressed--still gardening 2 acres at 83! That's wonderful. I have arthritis too so I appreciate how much more difficult that makes gardening. My garden isn't that big--only about 1/2 acre. But I have a blackberry patch, figs, apples, pears, and plums. I plan to add blueberries and strawberries when I get time. Do you put your garden goodies up? I can a lot and freeze some.

NL1950, no I don't do much canning now, only me, but do keep the freezer full. I think my most favorite fruit I grow is Blueberries, LoveEm.

Donna

I love them too--can't wait till we can get a place worked up for them We will have to put up another fence for the additional fruits I want to plant though. We have lot's of deer come through our yard and they just LOVE all the various fruits! My vegetable garden and all my fruit trees are fenced.

Have you ever tried the wireless deer fence? We used it for a couple of years and it worked well. We haven't put them back up because the deer seemed to stop coming to our front yard, and we now have tigerlilies by the water again!

rutholive: do you dry any of your fruits or vegetables? I find this is a good way to use a small handful of this and that without dealing with a whole can or freezer package.

greenhouse_gal,
It's cheaper for us to use regular rabbit fence for our property. We have 5 1/2 acres so anything else is too cost prohibitive.

NL, sure, if you have to fence in the entire acreage, I see what you mean. We just fence in our garden, and use the wireless fence for specific areas. We also use DeerAway, which works better for us than Hinder. Between all those things we manage to maintain ornamental plants fairly well.

Leslie

apple trees trained on front of garden--too bad it is going to be 27 Tuesday night--probably no apples this year :~(

Can you throw a sheet over it? It looks like a small tree. It would be a shame to lose it or the apples.

What a shame about those apples! They're blooming so beautifully, too. Maybe a sheet or blanket WOULD make the difference.

Here's my garden; you can see some of the fencing. There are a few things just coming up but it still looks basically like winter! The square with the bench and bistro set has a flower garden around it, and zinnias and Victoria Blue salvia grow on either side of the greenhouse, plus I'm going to incorporate a few more patches of flowers in the veggie rows. I usually have marigolds and blue salvia in with the tomatoes, along with basil, and nasturtiums in with the squash. There's a separate herb garden in another part of the enclosed area, plus asparagus, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.which you can't see in this photo. There are fig trees on the far left, along that fence line, too. And I just finished a sign which says "Bienvenue à Notre Potager" which is going to hang in the entrance!

This message was edited Apr 5, 2009 4:39 PM

I will--just don't know how much that will help since they start suffering damage at 30 degrees--might at least save a few that way--I only got 5 last year but they were very tasty!--the tree will be fine, just the apples are in danger luckily