Every time we visit Le Pre Vert we try to do something, in and around the house and garden, which is beyond the usual cleaning, gardening and general maintenance. Last year it was to plant more soft fruit.
Figs…
Rhubarb…
Redcurrants…
Gooseberries…
Raspberries…
Blackcurrants…
Strawberries…
Fresh raspberries on our breakfast cereal…
Our priority this year will be to introduce more colour into the garden.
Although Tim is semi-retired he has been inundated with offers of work, which amount to much more than a full time job! He hasn’t accepted all of these offers, but in the short term we are pretty much certain that our lifestyle of choice will be to travel to France and back to the UK several times during the year, rather like we did when we were working, but staying in France for much longer periods. This has an impact on what we can plant in the garden that will not die when we are away during spells of hot, dry weather. In the UK our wonderful neighbours pop round most days to deal with our post and water the plants, although it has to be said that watering is less necessary, even in the summer!!
So, you will be thinking, what on earth does this have to do with mad dogs!
Well…around the house we have a huge expanse of gravel, and we planned to create a small herb garden. Having collected some large and small edging stones from our friends Chris&Sally and Jean&Nick, we set about digging into the rock hard soil under the gravel to make the bed. This was more of an effort than we imagined it to be as the soil was so compacted and full of stones and roots, but also working in full sun didn’t help! We mixed four large bags of compost with the soil in an effort to improve the quality.
The prepared herb bed looking a bit lonely…
Intruders…
With plants laid out, with more to come…
All that remains to be seen is whether they survive out next visit to the UK, and although I wouldn’t wish three weeks of rain on our many friends in the Touraine Sud, the odd bit of rain every now and again would be very welcome…
Looking good... WOT no pictures of you digging Gaynor...
ReplyDeleteThe role of supervisor is a very important one which means that I cannot be distracted by more menial (or do I mean manual?) tasks!! ;o)
DeleteSomeone had to stay on the terrace and have the "over" view of the whole affair...
Deletedid they not, Gaynor?
I would be happy with rain every other night...
ReplyDeletebetween the hours of 03:00 and 05:00...
falling only on the veg, fruit and flowers...
that would suffice...
but an added bonus would be a good drop of rain once a week...
everywhere... again at night...
it would keep everything nice and green...
lovely!!
Like the new bed... and especially the chooks....
Basil suits a cockerel!!
Theres nothing nicer than picking fresh herbs for dinner. The bed looks fantastic but don't plant mint or lemon balm, it will spread everywhere. I inherited loads and I'm still trying to clear it x
ReplyDeleteI'm a natural supervisor too! Your herb garden looks lovely but I can see that it would have been hard work. Growing your own soft fruit is a lovely treat. We too planted raspberries, black currants and gooseberries but the pickings have been few so far. But I live in hope!
ReplyDeleteMeant to say... how about a soaker tube attached to a timer?
Delete