Walls in France: Le Jardin

I once had an garden in Georgia. That was twenty-some-odd years ago, but it was a doosey. I tilled the ground, put in six, twenty-foot long raised beds, built and maintained a compost pile; and of course, it was completely organic. So, since we have the largest back yard in France, I set upon the mission to re-create my success – but on a smaller scale.

Fearing I was too late to do anything this winter, I started to work as soon as we had completed our house settling-in chores. I quickly assed that this 56-year-old back was not well suited for digging in the rocky Provencal soil, so I set out to find a tiller. Not an easy task for an American in France, but a local connection pointed out a rental company (“Locations” as they are called here…) on the other side of St. Remy. So, after entering the coordinates in the TomTom, the (somewhat) trusty Ford Fiesta and I set out for the rental company and obtained the rotor tiller, or as they are called in France, a motobineuse.

Now back to the rocky soil…The last time I did this, all I had to do is start up the tiller and let it do its thing. Oh contraire a la française. This time, the spinning blades hit the rocky ground and took off, pulling me behind it - making me look a bit like George Jetson taking his dog out for a walk on the tread mill. I changed my tactics, regained control and four hours later, I had a 20 X 20 foot square area tilled about six inches deep, and a front bed for roses and strawberries.

Using stakes and string, I mapped out the plan of the garden beds. I then dug in pathways, piling up the dirt to create three short raised beds and one long one. The result was cleared out pathways and beds about a foot deep. Now, the fun part. Jean and I went bed by bed digging and pulling out rocks - only the one-pounders or more at this stage.

We got some wood from a local demo site and placed it in the pathways to better define the beds and make it easier to move around. I also used some extra wood to construct a compost pile (which I had to move because it was too close to the petite maison…)

We then acquired some plants from the street market and through friends and began planting. The bill of fare includes:

- Salade (Lettuce of various varieties)
- Céleri (Celery)
- Persil (Parsley)
- Ail (Garlic)
- Oignons – rouge et blanc (Onions – red & white)
- Chou (cabbage)
- Petits pois (peas)
- Fraises (Strawberries)

The girls made some signs to identify the plants and now we water, weed and pray the mistral doesn’t blow it all apart!

Bon appetit!