A wet spring at Chateau Brametourte
Christine and Jonathan are doing their best to grow healthy veggies and create an edible ecosystem in spite of (or along with) the rains of a wetter-than-usual spring in Southern France.
The heavy clay in the ground means that turning over the earth is mighty difficult. Up until now we’ve mainly been planting in pots and tending to the seedlings until they grow to their “adolescent” stage. Growing them in pots and then planting them out into the ground when they’re bigger gives them a better chance at surviving the slug infestation we’re battling. We have a surplus of builders’ sand and Jonathan is working to incorporate this into the clay – as long as it’s wet, however, the going is tough.
The land at the chateau is divided into three growing areas, the potager is the main area of level ground for cultivation – the mixed blessing for this land is its location at the lowest point of our little valley. It’s right next to the stream and it’s been very very soggy. Fortunately, we have raised beds to work in but only a few of them have decent soil. Here we’ve planted corn, tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini), carrots, potatoes, french beans, broccoli, and some sugar snap peas. We also inherited a lovely crop of hearty broad beans that were planted before the winter. We’ve just finished harvesting them and prepping them for storage.
Another small plot is the petite potager which is terraced in the shade of the tall pines. In these raised beds we’re planting lettuce and tomatoes and other salad-type goodies. Both of these potagers are suffering from terrible slug attacks. It’s a bad year with the slugs because of the rain and cool temps.
The last area is the Forest Garden, now in it’s third year, which is a permaculture technique for low-effort food production once the plants have reached maturity. Here as well, the heavy clay poses soil quality challenges. The lush green undergrowth here is a “green manure” layer of alfalfa. This will be trod down and become rich humus as it decays, while the roots allow air and water into the heavy ground. In this photo the grey-water pond is in the foreground.
In this sloped strip of land just below the grey-water pond, there are numerous fruit and nut trees – mostly of the medium and dwarf varieties (so as not to block out too much sun) – in addition to fruit bushes like goosberry, raspberry, and currants. Here we’re also cultivating perennials such as globe artichoke, rhubarb as well as self seeding veggies and wildflowers. Hopefully, we’ll get to complete the pond and use it for irrigation of the forest garden, which really won’t need irrigation once established but the water flow will be a nice addition for cooling down in the summer, as well as provide habitat for slug-eating frogs and other critters.
So there’s the usual weeding, sowing, transplanting, preparing beds (better late than never), and the various odd jobs like building a new gate for the petite potager and plucking curly peach leaves. Christine continues to help with the chickens too!
Planting out the corn seedlings – keep your fingers crossed!
We’re scheduled to host a small army of helpers and relatives on holiday this summer so we’re enjoying the proverbial calm before the storm. To hone our taste and skills for the social affairs, we’ve hosted two parties, a fabulous four-course dinner, and a wonderful luncheon on the view, both prepared by Christine (with a little help), and both receiving rave reviews from the guests. Needless to say, both meals were vegan!
We’ve also had some opportunities to see local live music, attend circle-dancing parties and other house-visits. We’re making friends and becoming ingratiated into the local scene and that’s a great feeling that we’ve missed as we’ve changed locations every few weeks this past year! Recently we went to a nearby village called Venes where we took in a great upbeat ska band, followed by some music of our own at a friend’s house.
And at the after-party Christine got to play the drums a bit!
We’re also so grateful to our friends Sonia and John who’ve invited us over to share gardening, good food, and great conversation. On the last visit we were treated by the presence of their visiting friend, a wise woman named Iris, who regaled us with stories of her adventurous and enlightened life. She also taught us how to use dowsing rods! Here’s Christine relaxing after the delicious lunch at Sonia’s.
Which was followed by a walk around their field. We all admired the wildflowers in full bloom!
Meanwhile, work continues on the chateau itself and men of all trades come by to install some underfloor heating. We thought it to be an exciting process. First the Styrofoam sheets are cut to size and anchors the tubing in place.
Then the concrete is poured on top. But this room is one floor up…
This was like a fire-engine for construction. They drove up, asked for the water spigot, and soon they were pumping cement.
Now the concrete gets poured on the form…
…and at the end of a few hours you’re left with a concrete lake to dry into a floor in four or five days. We resisted the temptation to carve our names in the wet concrete.
So with all this work and socializing going on, it’s nice to retreat into our room on occasion where we enjoy the green expanse from our french doors.
It’s also nice to wake up with the sun pouring in our room every morning.
In contrast to all the hard work, the springtime has its many effortless benefits – the first cherries are delicious!
As the days grow longer we’re filled with the kind of energy only spring can bring. Gone are the afternoons huddled inside by the fire with a book or movie, they’ve been replaced by nice walks or sitting outside on the view taking in the spring evenings. Soon the weather will be getting hotter and hotter and an afternoon siesta will be necessary to get out of the midday heat. But for now the weather is, for the most part, absolutely perfect.
The only other news is that Christine has taken up running and plans to compete in a 5k this fall. She’s been enthusiastic about it for almost a month and has been rising before everyone (even the chickens) to take a run every other morning. She’s a bit slow right now but hopes to get faster and faster!
That’s it for now, much love to everyone! Happy Spring!
Tags: 2009-May, Tag Index
seeingspain
May 21st, 2009 at 1:08 am
Excellent Post. I’m proud of you guys for all you’re doing. Looking forward to your visit here in September. The slugs are devastating one of my blueberry bushes right now, but I picked out 12 of them yesterday, so maybe that will help it grow some leaves.
We had in mind a sort of active visit for you guys, if you’re amenable… Its called the Kerry Way, and its basically a 8 to 10 day walk around the Ring of Kerry. Do a web search for the kerry way, and you’ll see what its about. I bought a backpack to put Sophie in and everything.
Anyhow, its wet here too, so we’ve been staying inside mostly, but when the sun does break through, we hoof it down to the park and enjoy. Wish we could be in France though.
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May 24th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Let the chickens spend a few days in the petite potager…they’ll do a lot of damage to the slugs before you plant! We’ve had a serious slug problem forever, but this year, not at all. I thank the chickens for all their slug-eating.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:59 am
We had a few chickens trying to work their magic in the petite potager. Problem was they tend to kick all the soil out of the raised beds. But I agree this is a small price to pay for a slug-free garden. Great job with your chickies.
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