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Amanda's Blog

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company

A French Kitchen (Potager) Garden

1/3/2021

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potager garden,French kitchen garden,European vegetable gardens,edible gardens,edible landscaping,The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett,garden websites,Amanda’s garden blog
If you are keen on growing edibles but aren’t enthusiastic about the look, installation or maintenance of a traditional vegetable garden, consider a French kitchen garden, referred to as a ‘potager’ garden. Leave it to the French to come up with an ornamental designer veggie garden that looks good no matter what time of year it is. What makes potager gardens so appealing and attractive is their symmetrical geometric beds. Within the beds, veggies, fruits, herbs, shrubs and even fruit trees are planted formally to conform to the geometric shaped beds.

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The potager garden replaced a weedy lawn and small veggie bed.
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The potager garden extended to the apple tree on the right.

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The Plan. The garden was measured and divided into four quadrants with a square bed in the middle for a focal point.
The beds, referred to as parterres, are usually framed by small hedges such as clipped boxwood, or even herbs such as thyme. Dwarf and espaliered fruit trees, herbs, artichokes and other perennial edibles are not just there to harvest, they are there for their form and elegance.
​
Plants are selected not just for their taste, but for their shape and beauty. Edible and non-edible plants are combined for a functional aesthetically pleasing garden.
​

I’ve always loved the look and convenience of a potager garden, so when it was obvious we needed more gardens space to grow more veggies, reinventing this French Renaissance style of garden seemed like a fun project.

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Chloe, our very attractive black moggy, loves the new garden.
The budget for this French kitchen garden was minimal, so was the labour. Although we would have loved to use pavers for the paths and stonework or brick to make the geometric beds, we took a more economical route with mulch for the paths and wood for the beds. It isn’t as elegant as a traditional potager garden, but I think the essence still prevails.
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Trenches were dug to place the boards.
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Wide paths surround identical shaped & sized beds.
The area was measured and a plan was made to accommodate four beds with a central bed in the middle. The beds are exactly the same shape and size. Generous three foot wide paths provide access, convenience and mimic classic potager garden style. 

I'm a firm believer of sheet mulching, so no grass was removed except to install a trench for the wooden frames for each of the beds. The frames were made from 2' x 10" pine boards, treated with an organic wood preservative. We tried to purchase cedar, but due to the pandemic, it was not available at the time. 

Picture
Sheet mulching was used to prevent the grass from growing through the beds without removing the grass.
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Beds were filled with soil and the paths were covered with landscape fabric.

I watered inside the beds, that were still full of grass then laid an inch of newspaper on top. I was careful to overlap the layers of newspapers to totally smother the grass. The newspaper was thoroughly wetted then compost rich soil was added to each bed. 
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Initially the paths were covered with a coarse cedar mulch, which was not attractive.
Picture
A finer mulch was laid on top of the coarse mulch in keeping with a more refined look.
To make the mulched paths, landscape fabric was pinned down with coat hanger wire that was cut into four inch pieces and curved into U-shapes. Cedar mulch was ordered but when the it was delivered it was too pale, too big and too coarse, and certainly not suitable for what I had in mind. After contemplating it for a while, I bit the bullet and bought bags of non-cedar mulch since I couldn't find any fine cedar mulch locally. The darker and finer mulch was laid on top of the cedar mulch to create a thick 4 inch layer. The cedar should slow down decomposition of the non-cedar mulch (hopefully), prevent the lawn from infiltrating the paths. It will also be nice and soft to walk on. Weeds if they do manage to appear, will be easy pull out. 
Picture
With the cedar mulch.
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The cedar mulch covered with a finer brown mulch.

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Inexpensive plastic roll edging was used between the mulch and the remaining lawn.
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The mulch was extended beyond the parterres to the fence.

Although the potager beds encompassed only part of the back garden, the mulch was extended to the fence. The whole idea of this project was to reduce maintenance, so keeping small strips of grass wouldn't work. Extending the mulch made a more generous garden, which incorporated the two large lilacs, that now are more noticeable and are more of a feature than just background noise. 

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A petite bistro set to view le jardin.
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An arbour acts as an entrance to the garden. A climbing rose is added to each side of the arbor to add colour, blossoms and fragrance.

Picture
Marigolds surround one bed that holds peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and Swiss chard. The rose on the arbour is called Tropical Lightning.

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The layers of the garden accents the central square.
Picture
Newly planted lettuce.

Picture
In September the vine tomatoes hang on to the arbor for support.
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Kale, kale and kale with some more kale.
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The centre is accented by a tall planter filled with a draceana and petunias. Herbs mixed with red salvias surround the base.
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Tomato plants fill up one of the parterres.
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Part of the herb square include parsley at the rear, variegated sage in front, basil on the right and red annual salvia for colour and for the bees.

Picture
A rear side view of the garden.
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From above the central square become a dominant feature.

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On one side of the arbor is the delicate 'Bathsheba', a climbing David Austin rose that is sweetly scented.
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On the other side of the arbor is the very robust and floriferous large flowered scented climber 'Tropical Lightning'.

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The garden was designed so the arbor frames the blue planter in the centre.
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    Archives

    Here are some of my previous blog postings. They cover a wide range of topics from bugs to my botanical excursions and conventions. Click on whichever interests you on the titles below for easy navigation. 
    • ​Building a French Kitchen (Potager) Garden
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Tomato Taming
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvests
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Plant Rusts
    • Dunbar Garden Club Garden Tour 2020
    • Rose Bloom Balling
    • ​Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses Do Exist.. Really!​
    • Easy Vegetable Garden Trellis 
    • Tomato Seedlings to Plants
    • Video: How to Divide Dahlias 
    • Video: How to Plant a Tree
    • Video: How to Prune a Grapevine in Winter
    • Damping Off - A Seedling Killer!
    • Lawns: ​Seeding, Sowing, Renovating
    • Lawn Grub Control
    • Tuberous Begonias 101
    • Dahlias 101
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Dealing With Drought
    • Heritage Vancouver 7th Annual Garden Tour
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Pruning Shrubs into Trees
    • 10 Steps to Festive Planter
    • Christmas Tree Selection 
    • Collecting & Saving Seeds
    • Heritage Vancouver 6th Garden Tour
    • The Dunbar Garden Tour 2018
    • Dart's Hill, A Garden Park
    • VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visit
    • Tall Kale Tales
    • Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Seattle
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Why Christmas cactus Don't Blossom
    • A Quickie Festive Swag
    • Putting the Garden to Bed
    • How to Drain Soggy Soil
    • A Visit to the Arizona - Sonora Desert
    • Banana, Palm Tree Winter Protection
    • Lasagna Gardening, Sheet Mulching
    • Saving Geraniums, Coleus, Bougainvilleas & Other Tender Plants 
    • Spiders Everywhere - Oh My!
    • Tomato Troubles & Soil Solarization
    • Trees That Drip That Sticky Stuff
    • Balcony Bliss
    • June Bugs - One Huge Beetle! 
    • A Summer's Day Harvest
    • The Dunbar Garden Club Private Tour
    • Leaky Birdbaths and Slug Free Strawberries
    • Oops... Wrong Plant, Wrong Place
    • I Had An Ugly Lawn...​
    • ​How to Make a Christmas Elf
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • To subscribe to my blog click here. 

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Photo used under Creative Commons from vwcampin
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
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    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
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    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
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    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
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    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
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