The orchard garden
On the west side of the orchard there are three separate garden plots, two surrounded by a low fence that would not keep much of anything out and a few feet of space before the next one. Walter says that the man who owned the house when he was a child had an amazing garden with vegetables and all kinds and varieties of flowers. Since then, though, the garden plots, although still fenced, seem to have laid fallow. There are some heritage artichokes, actually in a space between two fenced beds making me think the original garden ran all the way down to the bottom, parallel to the wall on one side and the grapes on the other. I left the plots untouched for a year to see if anything came up, but it did not aside from the artichokes and some wild garlic, so now I get to play.
Middle bed
I think I will take the middle bed out, at least for the time being, and put it back to grass, perhaps with wildflowers along the wall. The fence is broken and the posts are rotten, and having that space open will make it much easier to mow, and also give us more access to the fourth Mirabelle that I think seeded itself between the top two beds (it has multiple stems and no main trunk and is not as healthy as the three at the bottom of the orchard, which are close enough together to take care of each other if one gets needy). I’d like to put another apricot or peach in the orchard (maybe both), so that is an option for the middle and even the top bed. Possibilities to be left open for long term planning, but I already have wildflower seeds so that will be fun.
Top bed
Initially I was thinking corn in the top bed, closest to the hose from the well. My brother tells me that in fact Occitanie produces some huge percentage of European corn, both maize and yellow corn (for Green Giant in fact), but the only kind of corn I see in the fields around us is animal corn and I rarely see eating corn for sale (and it is always yellow). I could eat corn every day (straight from the plant, not even cooked), but some fabulous clam bakes (with roasted corn) might be a great way to end the summer! I have heritage seeds for yellow, yellow & white, and a variant of Silver Queen and we are both excited to do this. But as I started planning a three sisters garden (of course!) I realized that I will need to do that in the main bed where there is more room. The beans will fix the nitrogen and smother the weeds, so that might be a good first planting for the main bed. I don’t know what varieties of beans or squash yet, but it will probably depend on what I can find (organic seeds or already sprouted).
So then maybe I’ll use the top bed for more herbs to keep the rosemary company. Maybe a big crop of Basil to make a year’s supply of pesto and yellow tomatoes. Undoubtedly I will blog about that when the time comes. Meanwhile, the third plot.
Bottom bed: Dreaming of muesli & pies
The bottom plot is the largest and it has a newish 4ft fence around it with metal posts, but no plantings as far as I can tell. Just a lot of weeds. The top is across from the end of the blackberries, the bottom is next to the Mirabelles. It is furthest from the house, and from a hose, so I don’t want to put anything very needy there. The fence will make a good trellis, though, so I decided on nuts and berries. This idea all germinated because the marketeer who doesn’t use machines was selling plants three weeks ago when I sent to the Cordes market. I couldn’t resist a healthy looking young grosseille and a casis (redcurrent) but then I needed somewhere to plant them. Then we found raspberries of several varieties at Gram Vert, and I wanted to plant them before I went to the UK. So so the bed was born. And I love hazelnuts so I wanted to add some of those somewhere in the orchard to compliment the almond.
But first I had to clear the bed. I took out the thistles and thick stemmed weeds (and yes, this time I wore gloves), and then weedwacked/strimmed to get down to a cropped grass and quite lovely layer of moss and lichen, which will be easy to mow. That took quite a while (we do not have a tiller of any kind…yet). My experiences is that once the main weeds are out, a greener grass takes over and if you keep mowing you get what approximates as a lawn. Hopefully that will be the case here.
Then for the planting. The grosseille and a casis went in close to the wall near the “gate.” The wall will need to be repaired one of these days, so I didn’t plant too close. Below them in the middle of the bed (further from the wall) two hazelnuts. They should really be by the wall, but this way we will be able to access them more easily—and they will spread (I hope). With the almond on the other side of the orchard and the walnut in the other orchard, all we need is chestnuts to take care of the nuts (and that might come if I can find one that will grow up here).
We have blackberries — as do all the hedgerows around us—so other berries seemed to make sense. One blueberry (myrtille, variety “Patriot”—seemed appropriate) closest to the Mirabelles at the far end where it might get a tiny bit of shade on its feet. I think the area is too dry and exposed, but I figured it was worth a try. Then against the fence, five raspberries (framboisier) a golden and three kinds of red all marked as “Remontant,” and a blend of blackberry and raspberry (“Mûre Framboise”). In order: “Golden Everest,” “Zeva,” “Heritage,” “Bohème,” and “Buckingham Tayberry”(the blend) — I will post a comparison when they fruit. And that takes us back around to the gate, which I will remove. The handmower will go between the “rows” (around the hazelnuts) for a few years until they get big and then the strimmer, which will also go between the raspberries.
Now all I need is strawberries and rhubarb and I’ll have everything I need for any pies I can imagine.
Now we just wait! Jam, pies, snacks, and breakfast. Yum.
