I still have some photos from our walk on the island at Saint-Aignan a few weeks ago. This one is another well-tended garden allotment. So many people around here are very talented gardeners. It helps that they're on the island where the soil is so much richer than up here among the grape vines where we live. Our soil is rocky clay, good for grapes, but not much else. Their land is fertile river bottom, nourished by the occasional flood.
A nice, well-weeded garden. Someone does a lot of work here.
Still, we make do. I add our home-made compost to the soil every year along with the decaying leaves that cover the garden in winter. Every few years I add a few sacks of
fumier de cheval (composted horse manure) and work that in. I could probably do more, but there's no point in being fanatical about it. At least my garden is right outside my back door. Trade-offs.
Very impressive. I didn’t know that about grape soil and your soil. You do amazingly well.
ReplyDeleteSince my dad was a poultry dealer, he put chicken manure on our garden occasionally. What a bad smell that was, plus the feathers lol.
ReplyDeletemitch, I'd like to do better, but I'm too lazy!
ReplyDeleteevelyn, Sounds delightful! But I'll bet it made the garden grow!