Le Potager

Jardin potager is French for kitchen garden, or what we usually call a vegetable garden - potager is an adjective that describes plants (but not grains) that are used by humans for food. Here in our yard, we dug up 4 square plots for our first jardin potager two years ago. Each year they get tilled before we plant seeds or plants that we've bought at the market.


This year we have 16 tomato plants (of differing varieties), 12 peppers, 8 eggplant, a row of mustard greens, two rows of runner beans (thanks to British pals Janet & David for the seeds), 2 hills of zucchini, 2 hills of yellow squash, and 2 hills of cucumbers. The first year we planted nasturtiums among the tomatoes and they've been re-seeding themselves and are now regular volunteers in three of the four plots. The yard is fenced, so we don't need to worry about hungry deer visiting us during the night.

Our first tomatoes of the season; we're so proud.

All six of the the yellow squash seeds came up in this hill; three have already been pulled as part of the thinning process.

Nasturtiums come up from seed each year in between the tomatoes and other vegetables; they'll be producing edible flowers soon.

One of the four plots is becoming a "permanent" herb garden (below). I've trained a rosemary plant into a basic shape as the centerpiece, and have perennial herbs like sage, thyme, and chives planted around the plot. There's also a row of rhubarb that I moved and divided from another location this spring - next year it should be ready for harvesting! There are lupens, lavender, and other perennial flowers here and there. Of course, the plot also includes room for annuals like basil, coriander, chervil, and parsely.

The herb garden is slowly taking shape. In the upper right is last year's parsley which has gone to seed; soon it'll be pulled to make way for new plants.