Hello from my garden in France.1.

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Hi everyone, having joined GOY a few weeks ago, I finally found some time to write something.
To introduce myself, my name is Mandy and since 2004 have lived in the centre of France with my husband and Teenage son.
Also a dog, two cats, three pygmy goats,two pot bellied pigs, nine sheep and several chickens.
At the risk of being boring, here’s some background.
At least you’ll know what I’m talking about in future blogs.

My property is an old farm that hadn’t been lived in for about 30 years, so you can imagine the state of the place.
It didn’t have any set “garden” though we were blessed with an orchard and lots of very old, mature trees.

The early days.

The land is over 7 acres,encompassing a valley, Loosely divided as:
1: Hay field
2: wooded area,
3: An orchard,
4: Lower field, this has some drainage problems and is boggy in areas.
5: A boggy area starting from our well,going down hill to a stream with runs across the the land.
6: A strip of land that leads to our “Lavoir” ( French washing place fed by a natural spring.)
7: A flat area below our gardens dedicated to our animals.
8: A ”Flattish” area near the house and barn. This is where I started our gardens.
One in front of the house which is finished ( if a garden ever is,) and one in front of the barn which is in very early stages of development.

We ’re working on an area at a time to make it more manageable and less daunting!
Starting from the house and working our way out.

The soil is heavy clay and full of rock. And I mean rock! Including huge boulders of granite. Shame I’m not really into rockerys.

Most of my gardening experience has been with light, very sandy soil in Dorset. So this soil is some sort of nightmare for me.
Plant choices have to be well thought out too as the temperatures here go to both extremes. Hot summers, and guaranteed snow in winter.
Quite often we get surprise late,hard frosts when we think the weather has settled in to spring. I lost quite a few plants this year because of this.
The land has a few natural springs/sources.
Which can be a blessing or a burden depending on where they are.
One of them is below our well making the land very boggy.
I hope to turn this to my advantage and make a nice bog garden there later.
something I have no experience in so I shall be inquiring on GOY for plenty of info from “bog experts”.
At present the pigs are working at digging it over for me, though they seem to spend far too much time wallowing in the stream!

I’ve been trying to think what style of garden is “ my thing”. I’m definitely not in to topiary or knot gardens!
Preferring soft curves and plants that are a bit way wood.
Erring on the romantic,is probably the best description.
Or is it just an excuse to do less pruning!

It’s taken me quite a while to get used to planning out gardens on a larger scale. All my previous gardens have been on the modest side.
Many hours were spent trying to make them seem larger. Now it’s a choice of how much garden do I want or how much can I manage!
Not being a millionaire, I’m always trying to keep costs down.
Obviously large garden = more plants.
Taking lots of cuttings, having friends with exchanges and a gardening Mum helps a lot.
Also rescuing those sad specimens at the garden centre discount bin and nurturing them back to life.

The biggest difference between gardening here and in England, is that here things grow really fast!
Hubby has to mow the grass three times a week. Though at least my shrubs look more mature sooner.

• 8 Jul, 2009
• 20 likes

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