Potager Garden

The Potager garden is basically an ornamental veggie garden planted close to the kitchen door. It combines the practical nature of the English kitchen garden with the flair, style and form of the French.
Simply put it is the French version of the English kitchen garden.

Flowers (edible and non edible), herbs and vegetables are chosen and planted for both their ornamental and edible values in order to be aesthetically pleasing, while simultaneously providing food for the table.

Design

There is no set design for a French kitchen garden as they vary and can be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be, for example:

• Less formal English cottage garden style
• Symmetrical shapes
• Repetitive patterns
• Knot garden

Take note that many low growing plants, like squashes and cucumbers, can be trained to grow vertically, which makes them - and various vine crops, perfect candidates for introducing ornamentation into the garden. Think how attractive these plants would look climbing up an obelisk or decorative trellis.

Plants

Aim

Whether your design is simple or more complicated, the ultimate aim is to make your Potager garden look as good as it tastes, or should I say, taste as good as it looks?

If you're interested in further reading, follow the delightful story of a 'Potager in Progress' where the writer takes you through a journey of cultivating, sowing and harvesting a Potager in Provence.