Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: zoro on April 19, 2007, 23:38:22
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Just wanted some advice , my sister is moving to France in July in the Dordogne area. A lovely area and she is surrounded by Walnut trees . She wants to start a veg plot from scratch and has asked me to help plan it . I have an allotment and have experience of timings ( although they varies so much) in Sheffield but i have no idea of when to Plant in France. Does anyone have suggestions or can suggest a book on the subject .
Thanks
Zoro
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I was in the South of France at Easter and was busily looking out of the bus window at peoples gardens and allotments. Not much was going on and I think that you can safely assume that planting times are as Southern England. Part of the reason for not planting too early is daylight hours, not just temperature.
I have a studio in Nice and my observations of gardens and market produce over the last 6 years are that for ordinary veg. there is not much difference.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html
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Yes, I work on Southern England planting times (less a bit sometimes), and I'm not as far south.
However I've found our french neighbours plant much later. In fact plots are left over winter to grass over then a few weeks ago we had the 'traditional' weed-killer yellow fields and veg plots followed by the rotovator.
Onions, garlic and potatoes have only just gone in. The idea of overwintering broad beads or garlic is unknown...I know they know the soil and the weather better then me but I still overwinter stuff and can't resist starting and I do end up eating my new potatoes / tomatoes /courgettes etc before our french neighbours.
There are plenty of french gardening magazines saying when to plant etc, also the moon's phases are taken more into account - not that I take any notice....
It's interesting the 'brit' crops (broad beans, runners, parsnips) I grow here that the french don't but vice versa there's lots of interesting things one can grow outside here.
I'm sure your experiences will help her alot.
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There are several French gardening magazines, most of which give out planting calendars of some sort in February or March editions. There are organic ones too and they include regional variations as there are so many climate zones. Les Amis du Jardin is a good one to start with. There are certain crops they just don't grow such as broad beans and parsips and even sweetcorn but you can work those out easily enough - sweet pea dates for broad beans, carrots for parsnips and courgettes for sweetcorn.
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Aha I knew that my status as a French gardener would come in handy!!
The Dordogne has a very mild climate and I think you can probably start a little bit earlier than in the UK. The person should be able to grow very delicious tomatoes, sweetcorn, melons and squash!
The others are right, there are many veges that the French tend not to grow such as parsnips (they grow very well here! Just get the seeds from a catalogue like I did) but there are other delicious things they do grow, like many dried beans (the famous "Mogette de Vendee"), celery root, and different types of salad veg, such as lamb's lettuce. Also what we call "cow cabbage" here which is a winter cabbage that forms only green shoots, no actual cabbage head (dunno what that is called!). But we probably get more sun here on the whole than the UK so the tender veg probably grow better.
From what I have seen so far of French gardening, they are quite fond of chemicals, weedkiller, fertilizer etc and don't seem to go in for mulching (hench the strange looks I get). They seem to eye organic gardening suspiciously, although it is in vogue with younger gardeners.
I ordered a lot of things from a web site called Willemse, which delivers in France, and they have a good selection of veg, lots of variety and the prices were cheaper than in the big French gardening centres. In rural France, you can buy veg plants from market stalls often, the flower sellers usually have trays of baby plants at this time of year.
Hope this helps a bit.
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Thanks so much for advice....i do not speak or read French so was daunted on getting a mag or book from there ...
I was looking for English book of planting in France.
But i have got lots of advice from my simple question and I'll check out that supplier ...many Thanks Zoro
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Seeds of Italy and Chiltern Seeds deliver to Belgium with a very fast service so I imagine will do so to France with no problems. There is also an organisation called Kokopelli which does organic and heritage seeds and is based in France. Try googling fo ran English version of their site.
I suggest you concentrate on designing her crop rotations, combinations and sequences and let your sister research local planting times when she's there - either by talking to neighbours or reading the magazines. There's probably also a local TV programme about what and when to do in the garden. There's one here as well as the nationawide one.
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Good suggestion ...many Thanks for your advice