According to author Joy Larkcom, the French word 'potager' is translated as 'kitchen garden,' though the actual manifestations of the potager may vary considerably. In Creative Vegetable Gardens she explains that the word can refer to informal cottage gardens with herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers, but also formal gardens that include edibles. When I began the garden 20 years ago I did not set out to create a potager, but the threat of deer forced me to include all vulnerable plants inside a deer-proof fence and my potager was born. Herbs, vegetables, fruit trees and shrubs, berries, and ornamental flowers all grow inside the 8 foot high protective barrier.
The potager makes sense when everything must be protected and also because it promotes the most efficient use of space. Though mostly sunny and flat, the fenced area has some sloped and shaded parts. I have found that advice for growing vegetables in shade conditions is almost always overly optimistic--it doesn't work for me. However many herbs grow well in partial shade without complaint. Fruit trees do fine on a slight slope and create opportunities for bulbs, flowering perennials, and more herbs underneath their canopy. Having perennial beds with a variety of aromatic and enticing herbs and flowers spaced around the garden helps to attract pollinators and confuse insects that wish to decimate my veggie crops.
The potager in summer provides the perfect place for morning coffee. A large maple to the east keeps the herb bed in shade well into the morning, and makes it a great location to observe wildlife. Goldfinches and hummingbirds are frequent visitors. Box turtles, garter snakes, and black rat snakes also pass through occasionally. Butterflies and the countless flies, bees, and wasps that come for nectar and pollen arrive in hordes as the sun comes onto the garden. Strategically placed arches and arbors mean that there's always shade someplace, a must for comfort in the garden once the heat comes on.
The garden began with no long-term plan beyond a few sketches of veggie crop rotation schemes. As I discovered the local plant sales and swaps, and eventually took took a job at a garden center, herbs and perennials began taking up more space. I tore down some fence to expand the garden, and deployed vertical structures to provide more growing space. I've also learned to make the most of the annual veggie beds. As soon as one crop is harvested, another one goes in. Late carrots or a second showing of fast growers like zucchini follow garlic and potatoes that are harvested mid-summer.
Self-seeders are perfect for the potager. Zinnia, catnip, feverfew, cilantro, and arugula spread themselves around generously. If they claim too much space, I simply pull them for instant mulch. Perennials such as echinacea, veronica, the various berries, and the queen of the potager, the fiber banana, require a little more work to propagate, but divide nicely and provide lots of free plants. Though they don't produce edible fruit, the banana plants add shade, lots of mulch material, and of course a magnificent tropical display, making them well worth the space they take up.
It's nearly spring in the northern hemisphere, and I'm once again working at the garden center. The dangerous combination of a steady paycheck and a close proximity to hundreds of interesting and beautiful plants might make this a challenging year. Luckily, in the potager, there is always room for one more plant.
Comments