Hello
My family moved to Brittany last year. One of the main reasons being that we wanted to be able to enjoy a more 'basic lifestyle'. This included growing our own food, and to give our two young children (6 & 3) an appreciation of the joys of being outside and getting their hands dirty. I love 'growing things' and have done so for many years in somewhat restricted conditions.
We have a 'renovation' house with a good sized garden. At the moment we are understanding the predictions that this is the wettest part of France!
We knew that we had to create a veggie patch in Autumn so that the frost could break down the soil. We borrowed a motivator from a neighbour and duly created our 'patch'. Unfortunately we have only had 3 frosts and the grass is now growing on it. Everyone says how lucky we are to have had such a mild first winter, we are not so sure. Do we need to turn the soil over again or leave it and hope that the predicted frosts in February will come?
My lovely Irish mother-in-law sent us armed with packets of seeds that she used to grow 'back home'. Not sure if we will end up with a veggie patch or a weed garden. At least the little ones love getting dirty....
Hiya, Dandelion, personally, I'd just cover the beds with mulch, as per supersprout on here, weed control, or well rotted manure, sounds like a good plan, have fun ;D ;D
When you say "grass is now growing", is this lawn-type grass or the feral stuff (couch grass)?
It makes a big difference. Basically, if you uproot lawn grass it'll die -- if you've ever bought turf to lay, you'll know just how easily ::). But couch grass is made of tougher stuff. If you dig the soil over but leave the roots in, each bit of broken root will grow again, Hydra-like.
That's more important than whether you get more frosts in deciding what you should do next with your plot. But don't worry -- you'll not just be growing weeds. By August, you'll probably be posting here asking for recipes for gluts of tomatoes and courgettes!
Oh, yes... and welcome to A4A! ;D ;D
Hi Dandylion
Welcome to the site. I hope that you enjoy visiting and tell us more about your life in Brittany - lucky you and your family - which bit of Birttany are you in?
I am sure that you will get lots of good advice. My plot is turning green too I haven't got enough to mulch it all so I am just going to dig it in and treat it like - free - green maure.
All the best
Floss
welcome to the site, I'm new myself and have found the search facility a very useful tool. Good luck with your project which sounds very exciting.
Thanks for the replies. What is now our 'lawn' were apparently pigsty's (sic?) and runs about ten years ago. The grass is not like the traditional English lawn as I know it. The land here is agricultural and we have been told really good for growing vegetables. I am really excited by this but I don't really want to sew seeds in a patch that has grass growing through. It's a bit sad that I hope for frosts that will enable me follow the books!
I agree that the lack of frosts isn't that bigger problem. If possible cover the bits you have cleared to stop the weeds & maybe plant potatoes to break up the soil. I bet all those piggies will have left lots of lovely manure in the soil & you won't even have to dig it in. :)
Welcome from me as well. How's the French coming along? Any chance of some pics of the 'restoration'?
Hi dandylion, welcome to A4A!!! Your new life in France sounds fun! They're a friendly bunch on here and I've learnt so much already, and I haven't started planting yet! Look forward to seeing some piccies of your plot and restoration project, best of luck x
Are you considering animals as well, a couple of piglets would ensure no weeds established themselves.
Really good idea to cover the 'patch'. We have some huge sheets of plastic left in our 'cow shed' by the previous owners.
It was my grandad that gave me a love of growing vegetables, I really wish he could help me now, he would love it. A childhood of fresh tomatoes, nothing can beat that smell.
It is really good to find a site that is dedicated to 'allotments', there are alot of sites out there but no-one on there. I moved over here (central Brittany) because I want my children to be able to enjoy the countryside, and I will really need alot of advice so thanks so much for your quick responses.
Covering is the best plan, but it will need to be insitu for quite a long time during the growing season to kill of the couch grass. You can, however, then concentrate on digging out the roots and planting up small areas at a time without worrying about the bits you are not concentrating on.
Not a big fan of rotovating, but repeated rotovating over a period of a couple of months (when it should be growing well) is also supposed to kill of couch grass, unlike one rotovation which chops up the roots and spreads them around making the problem worse.
Welcome Dandylion, get them sheets on quick and anything else you can lay your hands on, cardboard, straw, just suppress that grass it will soon die. Good luck and before you know it you will be eating them veggies with them frogs legs.
We seem to have inherited loads of plastic (mypex - hubbies words). I have told him about the replies and seems to prefer covering our patch with that instead of rotivating again!
Dont blame him ;)
cj :)
Hi Dandylion and Welcome,
If you have Mypex, it looks like you have the very thing that you need...
http://www.polytunnels.com/products.asp?recnumber=138
Even better than conventional plastic sheeting. ;)
Hi Dandylion (and Spruance )
Mypex is great because it lets the water through as well as supressing the weeds. I use something similar on the paths on my plot as I really don't have time to weed those as well. If you have time, a good layer of newspaper underneath will help too.