Organic Gardening in Southern France

We have moved to Montrouch Organic

2012-07-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks, We have finally got a home of our own, with a lovely sustainable, solar powered hoster. As we have now gone into full on organic herb production we thought it time to have our own blog and web site for the herbs, the as yet uncompleted Gites and life in general. We can now be found at www.MontrouchOrganic.com Hope to see you soon

Lagrasse Caveat venditor

2012-04-30T06:45:00.001-07:00

Lagrasse Caveat venditor: A old article from Midi-Life

"I cannot avoid the conviction that no innate tendency to progressive development exists"
Charles Darwin, 1872

by Simon Pleasance, Ribaute, canton of Lagrasse

The horse-borne traveller coming upon Lagrasse, a century ago, would halt astride the abrupt and draughty promontory called the Bouche au Cers , bulwark against tantrum gales. Before him, spanned by a wide-arched bridge , stout and svelte, the river Orbieu running its course between the mediaeval bourg, confined entirely within its occasionally toppling fortifications, on the rive droite, and a sumptuous abbey on the rive gauche. The whole surveyed by an imposing, if unfinished, belltower . Beyond the village, a riant valley with olive groves, vineyards and wheatfields, worked high up the flanks. Further south, the jostling peaks of the Corbières and, on a clear day, the far Pyrenees.

Today's car-borne visitor will survey from the same vantage point--and all things being, it is claimed, relative--a similarly pleasing prospect, qualified now by a second elegant bridge, but sundry less harmonious developments, too, residential and infrastructural, east and south of the walls: a new gendarmerie adjoined by a singularly characterless housing estate, a school, barns, wine cellars and homes, the village winery at the southern head of the village, another cramped housing estate close by, and, most recently of all, a decidedly up-market development on the hillside above it. Scattered homes are gradually peppering the immediate environs, here, there and everywhere. The olive-groves have all but gone , the once endless carpet of vines is chequered with fallow--some already reverted to garrigue scrubland--and invasive Aleppo pines [Pinus halapensis] clad the heights.

Lagrasse, at the turn of the century , was still a fairly bustling chef-lieu and administrative centre, though it had already seen better days. It had a population of 1,125, virtually unchanged since the Revolution. It boasted a bureau de bienfaisance or charitable office taking care of the destitute, a rescue and emergency service, and a fanfare municipale républicaine--the village brass band; a tax inspector, a rate collector, a municipal clerk, a postmaster and a garde champêtre ; a justice of the peace, a clerk of the court, a bailiff, and a notary. The Mayor (Calvet) and his deputy (Mailhac) presided over a ten-man council (Camps, Oulé, Toulza, Belly, Castel, Roques, Ferrié, Nouguiès, Sicre, and Falet).
Our equestrian traveller could have had his mount shod and fed, and his saddle mended; he could have put up at the Hôtel parisien or the Restaurant Africain, and sipped absinthe at the Café National, the Café de la Lyre or the Café de la Ville. Around him, artisan, merchant and shopkeeper (see table), going about their business.

Figure I
Services in Lagrasse:

Service	1906	1950	1997
General (novelty) store	1	1	1
Hotels-restaurants, bistrots	2	2	4
Cafés	3	3	2
Groceries	4(?)	5	2
Bakeries	5	3	1
Butcher's shops	2	2	2
Saddler-harnessmaker	1	1	0
Cartwright-blacksmith	1	2	1
Hairdressers	4	3	(?)
Fodder-seedsmen	1	0	0
Tinsmith-lamplighter	3	0	0
Watchmaker-jeweller	1	1	0
Locksmith	1	1	0
Ironmongeries	2	1	0
Plumber	1	1	1
Garage mechanics	0	1	1
Wine Merchants	2	1	2(?)
Housepainter-glazier	1	1	0
Pharmacy	1	1	1
Carpenters-joiners	(?)	(?)	2
Craftsmen	(?)	(?)	9
Shops	(?)	(?)	5
Estate Agents	0	0	1
Physician	1	1	2
Oil Mills	4	0	1
Dentist	0	0	1

There were three major fairs in Lagrasse 100 years ago: the Fête des Cochons in late January, the Foire de Lagrasse on 12 August, and the Fête des Comportes , in late October. Today, the summer months see an occassional Wine Fair, a Potters' Fair for the past dozen or so years, and latterly, since 1995, the Banquet du livre, a book fair.

Back in 1906, our traveller would have watered his horse at one of three municipal drinking troughs. For the denizens, a water-mill at the weir 1.5 km upstream fed three fountains. The mill was replaced in the early 1920s by an electric pump. In the 1950s, many smaller private homes still used their own wells, usually sunk within their four walls, from 3-4 up to 10 metres deep. The larger residences in the village were the first to boast running water in this decade. The village lanes and thoroughfares were cobbled and smaller byways took the form of packed earth tracks. The cobbles in the Place de la halle were embedded in sand, and known by local anglers as rich nurseries for bait-worms. Such was the plunder and displacement of the cobbles, that they had to be reset in mortar. Macadam was introduced to Lagrasse in the 1950s, starting with the exiguous Rue des Remparts, behind the Promenade. Vehicular traffic was very sparse in the 1950s, though it had increased since pre-war days, when there was just one camionnette in the village. The streets enjoyed public lighting by electricity back in 1906, and by the 1950s most dwellings were supplied with power.

By all reports, though, there were no foreign foreigners in the village, and only very few French foreigners: just the gendarmes, the tax inspector and the fiscal registrars, the postal employees, the schoolteachers, and other fonctionnaires.

Figure II
Lagrasse: population figures

1789	1936	1954	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990
1147	1006	738	708	665	623	711	725

In the 1950s, so far as Charles Alquier and others can recollect, there were no house-hunting foreign nationals in the village, but there was some incidence of exogamous marriage. Tourism, as such, barely existed. Any visitors there were, tended to be for elderly relatives who were patients in the Abbey. It would seem that the first foreign nationals to purchase a house in Lagrasse were from the Netherlands, some time in the mid-1960s. Another Dutch family purchased an outlying homestead 2 km west of St. Pierre-des-Champs at about the same time. A description of Lagrasse drawn up by an unidentified agency in Béziers, includes the following table for dwellings:

Figure III
Housing stock, Lagrasse, 1962-1997:

	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1997
Principal residences	218	214	224	251	266
Second/Holiday homes	29	48	55	75	61	63+
Total stock	247	262	279	326	327

------- II -------

The second or holiday home phenomenon has gathered considerable momentum since the late 1960s, less here than in many or most other southerly parts of France--and far less than on the Côte d'Azur or in the Lubéron, for example-- but noticeable nonetheless. It is a factor in the decreasing proportion of born-'n-raised "lagrassiens" in the village, now estimated at about 20%.
The new part-time population brings with it other side-effects. On the plus side, there has been considerable, and it would seem contagious, investment in the physical fabric of the village, and its often historic bricks and mortar. Prominent properties, many of them tumbledown and some even close to ruination, have been purchased and lovingly--and often expensively--rebuilt, repaired and rehabilitated. Façades have been repointed, arches restored, and cracked lintels replaced. One spin-off seems to have been a renewed local pride in the overall aspect of the village. Tattered parking lots, installed wherever some decrepit old hovel had been demolished, have been spruced up. Grubby lanes have been resurfaced. On the plus side, too, hills and environs have been reforested, and many trees planted (photos taken a century ago show a more or less bald landscape, somewhat depressing by our present-day yardstick). There seems also to be a keener and more visible appreciation of vegetation in general, conveyed by a collective, but in no way regimented, effort to add embellishment by the introduction of a much wider range of flora--an aesthetic development that is certainly not in line with traditional peasant thinking. Not for nothing does Lagrasse qualify as "Un des plus beaux villages de France".
Sixty some holiday homes [cf. Fig. III] means 200 to 300 extra residents in the summer months. Factor in their exponential families and other visitors, and passing tourists in July and August, and the village's summer population probably rises to almost twice its wintry 700 souls. All this is, as they say, good for business. And when the merchants are flush, the municipal coffers may benefit fiscally, too.

In this respect, however, a paradox rears its head. A century ago, the village was a somewhat autonomous and more or less self-perpetuating hub, where the range of activities had a more intrinsic and organic sense than is the case today. True, there was, then, a layer of existence that was bordering on the feudal (as everywhere in Europe at the turn of the century), but it seems possible that the structure of services offered a wider gamut of real employment, and a more meaningful possibility of fulfilment and integration. Nowadays, the various activities being carried on in the village have a more speculative and artificial character, more to do with consumption than any constructive or contributive spirit . This reality seems clearly illustrated by the nature of the new rash of shops, and the merchandise they offer--targeted essentially at the passer-by, no longer at the resident. In a nutshell, a village that has apparently become considerably more well-to-do is actually functioning less healthily in its viscera--and this tallies with this other imminent turn-of-the-century, where virtuality is a powerful buzz-word, among others...

Another more salient by-product yet of this 'progress' is, needless to add, its encroachment on the landscape. I confess, in passing, to a particular bête noire: those who, for their own--often considerable--gain, and with scant regard for the arena of their activities or those unhurriedly inhabiting it, see fit to accelerate the already brisk natural pace of development, progress, call it what you will. In these parts, furthermore, where the stock of available property is now becoming scant--especially in sought-after villages, with a certain cachet, like Lagrasse--it would seem that those involved as intermediaries in the sale of existing homes may now be switching their rapacious attention to land development schemes, pure and simple. That some of these realtors and riffraff agents are foreign nationals with visitor status does not heighten one's store of affection for their meddlesome doings. When a time-honoured hillside or pleasant riverain lea is earmarked as the next subdivision, and in due course defaced, more often than not, by ill-conceived dwellings , the conversion of the countrysdide is irrevocable: hill and lea will never revert to the natural state (cf. the Côte Vermeille , the Spanish costas, western Eire, Aegean Turkey, and points north, south, east and west the world over).

Second homes offer an illusory populousness. In reality, they have the effect of accentuating the phantom-like climate of places so afflicted in the nine or ten out-of-season months. Houses--often, as we have mentioned, a village's more salient properties (maisons de maître, and the like) and architectural gems--stand shuttered and gaunt. Shops and boutiques are inevitably spawned (see fig.1) to cash in on the summer influx, but close down in September, as soon as the vacationers have left: more shuttered façades along streets now more lifeless than when once lined with dark-roomed homes.

A somewhat Pavlovian reaction on the part of some second home-owners, often from points north, who think they are perhaps in chic Provence or Malibu, seems to involve the need to install a swimming-pool, come what may. Pools, fancy portals, gardens and yards more manicured than is the local wont, and Toyota Landcruisers... all are so many signals to the ubiquitous larcenous fringe, a new intrusion that affects everyone in the locality, rich and poor alike.
For all the taste, lastly, that is mercifully demonstrated in the restoration of existing, older homes, there is conspicuous evidence of not a little ostentation in certain new homes . Several forseeable look-at-me eyesores now stand on the hill above the Lagrasse village winery. They are owned by Germans, Britons, French from elsewere, and locals, and come complete, needless to add, with pool, some in the mock-Riviera, sun-cult, leisure-in-the-Midi style, others in the spirit of high-design, totally at odds with the environs.

***

All these factors combined mean that prices are, as they say in realtor-speak, stable, which means they are on the up. This makes it hard(er) for young local couples to set up home here. It is, arguably, in the hands of young(er) residents that the future of places like Lagrasse hangs. If a population becomes too predominantly geriatric and absentee, now matter how wealthy, its habitat will inevitably atrophy. Then the second home-owners will sell up--at a handsome profit if they get the timing right--and run... to another Lagrasse--if they can find one that has not suffered the same fate.

'via Blog this'

Three Organic Alternatives to Hormone Rooting Powder

2012-04-27T05:44:00.002-07:00

With Spring almost appearing its time to think about taking cuttings. Here at Montrouch we have a series of strong mother plants awaiting a hair cut, the Rosemary, Mint, Thyme are all looking suitably shaggy. The problem however is how to maximise the survival rate and to ensure strong growth. For chemical gardeners this isn’t a problem, a good hormone rooting powder does the job, organic growers however have to be a little more creative.

Organic growers don’t use hormone rooting powders for a couple of reasons, firstly the most important active ingredients are synthetic plant hormones, produced in chemical plants nor real plants, and secondly many contain fungicides to prevent infection which can damage plant growth and yield.

One of the most important active synthetic ingredients of hormone rooting powder is Indole-3-butyric acid, fortunately this nippily named plant hormone is also naturally present in weeping willows.

Willow Tea

A willow tea can be made using either the bark of a willow, or preferably, as it doesn’t harm future growth the free spring yellow branch shoots. There are a number of ways to make the tea but this is the one I find works best.

Simply cut the shoots into 3 centimetre lengths in warm water for a good 48-72 hours, leave for a day and then dip your cuttings in the tea and plant. Put in the fridge the mixtue seems to last for three to four days.

Honey Tea

A Honey tea is also a great way to get cuttings to take off, take a spoon of organic honey, dissolve it in a cup of warm water, leave in a dark place until cool and then use as with the willow tea. I don’t quite know why this works, I think it probably has something to do with honey being a natural antiseptic, and preservative. I use it on those herbs I have had problems with disease wise and anecdotal evidence from last years shows it seems to reduce rust on my mint. Warm the tea is great for sore throats as well, particularly with a dash of lemon and a splash of whisky.

Give it a lick

Saliva, literally licking the cutting end before planting some says has similar effect as honey tea, probably because saliva is an antisceptic. Personally I haven’t tried this one on large enough a scale to make any reasonable comment. Do 1,000 rosemary cutting and you will have one dry mouth, let alone the burning from all those traces of essential oil.

There are a number of commercially produced organic rooting powders from large scale horticultural suppliers. Vitaxand Sinclair, but rather cough up hard cash why not have a go at making your own?

Freezing Weather Delay

2012-03-13T10:27:00.003-07:00

Finally, Finally the first planting of the year.

The weather has been just atrocious this winter, -15 with an added 5 degree of wind chill.

Much that was once alive has died, Cistus, Lavanders, Oak and Ash trees, even on of the huge Pines that shelters the Domaine.

But on this first warm day the planting goes ahead.

A new batch of organic seeds from Agrosems.com - it's way cheaper to buy in bulk.

So the first wave is in, PERSIL Commun and PERSIL Géant d'Italie.

CIBOULETTE Commune

Lovely Lovely Basil BASILIC Genovese and BASILIC Citron

I've seeded up 500 THYM Ordinaire but it is at least two weeks late, let's see how they do.

Hopefully the Coriander has made it through the frosts, bit touch and go in many cases sadly.

On the plus side the Sage and Rosemary cuttings rolled through the winter with a 'Call that Cold do you Buster' smirk.

The French Tarragon always likes to be challenge, but spilt one of the mother plants in 25 pots and will be interesting to see what takes and what goes and joins the Dragon in the Sky.

Ordering organic seeds locally

2010-02-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

I've just spent a morning planning this year's vegetable garden.

This year for most of my new seeds I'll be buying from Graines delpais http://www.grainesdelpais.com/

This is a local organic seed company over in the Razes. I met them at the Couiza organic show- home of Nature et Progres. Most of their seeds are produced locally, with a few growers in the Herault and some in Le Drome.

What I love about them, apart from being organic and local, is the wide range of local specialities. Plants that are from the region surely have a higher possibility of survival?

We will be using a combination of areas round the house.

The vegetable patch for the peas, feves, beans and toms- I have been using a system called BRF, which is basically a thick layer of wood chips chipped on the day of cutting and applied. This seems to slowly increase the depth and organic matter in the soil, protect the plants from the cold and also to seal in moisture in the summer. There is a problem with this system as the early days of decomposition suck up nitrogen from the soil. I have tried to deal with this by laying down first a thick coating of compost and then the wood chips. It seems to be working so far. But it is a four year process and time, as they say, will tell.

This system seems to work with my no dig approach to the vegetable beds, but as I say early early days.

I plan to get them in nice and early so that we will be picking them early summer before the heat and dryness really kick in.

The varieties I have chosen are:
Peas- Petite Provencal
Feves- d'agualdue- longue cosse
Haricot- vert fin Fin de Bagnol for their long fine fruit and Coco Blanc- will try drying them

I plan to get them in nice and early so that we will be picking them early summer before the heat and dryness really kick in.

The rest of the vegetable garden will be taken up with toms- and of course the asparagus patch, which should be coming into full production this year- fingers crossed.

For the tomatoes I've gone for a local variety, Labguedocienne.

A long thin variety called Roma, which always look great on a plate and also good for bottling, and for sauces.

Last but not least a cherry tomatoe called Met de Mexique, which works wonderfully in a salad of rockette and roast pine nuts with slivers of parmisan cheese and Vincent's olive oil.

Going to try and grow them all from seeds this year. I didn't have much luck last year with seeds and ended up buying plants but found they did bring some diseases with them. So this year I am going to bring the seed trays in doors and hope th heat of the house works its magic on them.

Old paraffin containers for the thirsty chaps- placed suitably near the house for watering with grey water from the sink and shower. This is a costly version as I fill them with new soil for the carrots and spuds, but the spuds last year were delicious. I used a system of adding more soil as they grew- just like those fancy potato grow bags thingies. Worked a treat, and the soil was then thrown onto Caroline's flower beds and herb garden. Note to the wise don't throw potatoes soil onto an area that you intend to use next year for tomatoes- they don't get on at all.

The plastic tubs will be getting the cucumbers, courgettes, potatoes, and carrots, and maybe some cherry toms.

The third area is what we call the kitchen garden- although it isn't anywhere near the kitchen. Its a protected area surrounded by a stone wall, the soil is poor but we are working on that- and it is close to the washing machine so handy for watering with all the water from the machine which we capture in two black plastic bins.

This is for the herbs, in addition to the herbs in old wine barrels near the front door.

I love coriander but find that it tends to go to seed very quickly in summer. The Vietnamese guy in Lezignan market gave me a good hint, to grow it over the winter, and this works a treat. I have two barrels of it near the front door and now eat it all winter, it makes a lovely green and fresh addition to winter soups- carrot and coriander being my favourite. What is more it survives intense frosts and being buried under snow.

We have a lovely bay tree in the kitchen garden which is wonderful for stews.

Mint, parsley, rosemary, thyme, lavender all grow around the kitchen garden, the oregano may have survived- not sure yet.

My lovely friend's Ken and Jon bought us a French tarragon plant last year which was superb- I had mistakenly planted Russian tarragon which while looking the part had no flavour at all. It has died back over winter but I am hoping that it will come back as strong as ever in the Spring. Chicken just doesn't taste the same without a tarragon cream sauce. Mind you a New Year's resolution was to eat a lot less meat, and then to try and eat organic meat, so we will see. Though Caroline has been talking about getting chickens for their eggs after she had tummy upsets from eating non-organic eggs twice over the winter. Maybe I'll get to eat some of them- oh how I remember sitting in front of the telly as a kid with a blanket over our legs as we plucked chickens. Not one of my favourite childhood memories I have to admit. Think its more likely that we will stick to their eggs.

We have chives everywhere, don't know where they come from or how they survive but just happy they do.

Caroline wants more verbena and mint for her tea so will be planting up a couple of barrels of them for near the front door so they are easy to water- for the mint, and easy to pick for her morning cuppa.

I have twenty strawberries under plastic at the moment and working out the best time to bring them out, last years crop was minimal so somewhere near to the house, in much bigger pots and regular watering- but where oh where I am not sure.

Last but not least I will be putting in salad leaves around the garden. I try and use Charles Dowding (He of the No Dig Organic Gardening book) approach of picking their leaves rather than the whole lettuce to give a colourful mixed salad.

So that's it. I thought I had a plan that was focussing in a minimal crop span, but now that I have written everything down it looks more wide ranging than I originally thought.

Fingers crossed for a good season.

A bleak future for Eco-friendly walking tours in France? - Natural Choices

2009-02-16T03:41:00.000-08:00

A bleak future for Eco-friendly walking tours in France? - Natural Choices

When we think about rail in France the first thing that pops into our minds is the wonderful TGV zipping through the countryside at highspeed. Indeed the TGV where it is in place is superb, and I am always pleased to see the First Class section packed with pensioners use their railcards to visit family and friends. Howevere since the partial privatisation of SNCF the limited investment in the rail service has been concentrated on the major commuter lines. More and more of the RER (Regional services) and smaller lines have seen their services cut back, or smaller lines closed down. Even major lines, such as the ectension from Orange through to the Pyrenees to link up with the huge investment Spain is putting in place to its high speed network is looking more and more like a pipe dream.

Train travel is one of the joys of France, the smaller lines picking their way through the countrysude linking up market downs such as Lezignan with Perpignan, Montpellier, Toulouse and beyond could rapidly become a thing of the past. In my mind their should be more to the ethos behind a social trasnport system than shareholder value.

Fete de Bigarade- LaCaunette, 23rd - 24th Feb

2008-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

La Bigarade, la fête de l'oranger en Minervois

It's the Fete de Bigarade this weekend at La Caunette in the Minervois, two days of celebrartion of a rather bitter orange that grows in the microclimate around La Caunette, with 30 or so local flower, tree and herb growers. Look out for the amazing Iris people from the Bassine de Thau, there are some great olives from Roussillon, as well as a range of herbs, roses, flowers. There are also a series of talks on growing olives, figs, making essential oils, and growing truffle infected oaks. Most of the talks are on Sunday. As usual with a good local Fete there is a parade of old fellas dressed up strange faux 18th century dress- the companions of the bitter orange, and a hearty lunch to be had on site.

We will be there on Saturday to try and find some interesting varieties of local herbs and flowers, as well as to nose around and chat.

It costs three euros to get in.

History of the Garrigue

2008-01-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

Contrary to the what most people think there is very little natural about the garrigue that covers the hills of the Aude and the Languedoc. It is very much the product of the agricultural development of the land, the history of this ecology can be traced back over 4500 years but the last 60-70 years have been the most dramatic. The garrigue is very much a product of man's over exploitation of the dry Mediterranean landscape.

4500 years ago the migration from the Middle East brought tribes with horses, barley, sheep, and skills in copper working. The land they found was a continual forest of white and green oaks. They clearer spaces for cultivation and used wood and charcoal for their heating and metal work, the horses gave them access to the highest forests and the sheep ate the smaller plants under the trees.

2000 years later the Romans arrived and cleared huge spaces for the great Via Domitienne and their towns (Oppida) and farms, much of which was later run down by the all conquering Wisigoths.

Around 1000 AD the religious orders of Catholic monks cleared much of the coastal plains and foothills. In this period the population doubled, as the monks introduced the great mainstays of Languedocean agriculture, olives, vines and wheat. Indeed the history of most of today's villages and small towns can be traced back to around the 11th century. The great forests where clearer, the plains filled with wheat fields, the hill sides terraced and planted with predominately olives and a few vines, sheep and goats roamed the remaining wild areas during the winters and were moved to the Pyrenean pastures during summer.

The French Revolution removed the aristocracy and the remaining wild hunting areas were cut down by charcoal burners and shepherds. The agricultural pattern continued through to the 19th century, when the improved communications provided by firstly the Canal du Midi and then by steam power made the commercial exploitation of vines much more profitable.

Between Carcassonne and Toulouse the great wheat fields grew and provided the wealth for Toulouse, Castelnaudry and Carcassonne. Between 1820 and 1860 the population doubled on the back of this wheat and wine based wealth.

It was however the 1950s and 1960s which really formed the garrigue as we now know it.

Five main factors totally transformed the Languedoc:
» In 1953 the first tractors arrived in the Languedoc, this broke the reliance on horse power, a by product was that tractors could not access the steep slopes of the hills that previously could be accessed by foot and horse, thus leaving isolated and inaccessible land uncultivated.

» The replacement of gas with petrol products removed the demand for charcoal and went a major way to slow down the high forest clearing.

» The great frost of 1956 which killed off many of the olives which covered the hillsides, most were never replanted.

» The common agricultural market which opened competition from British, Australian and New Zealand lamb and effectively destroyed the Languedocean sheep industry.

» In 1954 myxomatosis hit the Languedoc, the rabbits that had been introduced by the Romans and whose abundance and low cost had made them a mainstay of rural cuisine were wiped out, 99% of the rabbit population died.

Added to these push factors was the ever growing demand from a booming French industry, these were the Golden Years of the great factories. Faced with an ever harder life in the countryside and profitable work in the cities and towns the countryside of the Languedoc emptied of people, over a million hectares of agricultural land fell out of use in France, huge swathes of it in the Languedoc.

No longer roamed by hungry sheep and rabbits, cleared by charcoal burners, and cultivated by small holder farmers the garrigue as we now know it recovered the empty spaces of the Languedoc hillside.

However with 1,500 new arrivals every month in the Languedoc, 18,000 a year at present rates the open spaces face a new threat. Each family of three it is estimated need around 1500 square metres of land, this includes not just the house but also the public serves and infrastructure needed to support them, a 1000 hectares per year are being lost to development. The great difference however is that people need water and so tend to concentrate around existing urban centres, the garrigue on the other hand can survive on very little.

Turning old vineyards into gardens- some ideas

2008-01-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

Most of the new construction in the Aude, the lotissements that are springing up throughout villages on either side of the Castelnaudry-Carcassonne-Narbonne- Coursan/Guissan axis, are situated on old vineyards.

These sites represent huge challenges for gardeners, even if the soil as rich before the vines where planted it certainly isn’t now. Vines need good drainage, and after 50 years of vines the land has lost most of its organic material. Vine growers usually rely on a combination of rotten must- the remains that pile up outside of the caves after the wine has been made and nitrogen based chemical fertilisers- and more the letter than the former.

At the Domaine de Montrouch we have found that old vineyards pose a number of issues we have had to overcome- although the domiane was first restored in the 1970’s by a couple of neo-ruralists who practised biodynamic horticulture (see The Biodynamic Agricultural Association) the last owner planted vines. A mere 20 years of vines has turned the soil into rocky dust, with a very acid pH level, and worm life seems to have been reduced to nothing. (see green fingers site here for how to test the pH level of your soil ).

On the three small terraces we have so far worked on our solution so far has been to first clear the planting area of large rocks, and slowly as we work over the land clear out the smaller rocks for the vegetable beds but leave them in the ground for the flower and lavender beds- life is too short frankly to do anything else but the vegetable beds.

We dug in as much organic humus- decayed horse manure and some grape must- as we could lay our hands on as well as purchased organic manure mix. We have been layering our home made compost on the surface in rotation as it becomes available. The veggy patch has been the focus of our attention and we still find that flowers need to have a base of bought planting soil twice that indicated to have a reasonable chance.

On that one an increasing number of Mairies in the Aude are offering free or very low cost composters to residents to reduce the waste to be taken away, it is worth checking with your town hall to see if they are running a similar scheme.

The first year I made the error of mulching with wood chips- we had so much waste after we had cleared the land that I bought a chipper and feed the lot through it. The first terrace of Lavender didn’t seem to mind the wood chip mulch but individual lavender plants along the drive and round the garden hated it- as did the roses. I now use more compost and manure based mulches.

After 18 months we are seeing some improvement in the soil and I am going to try some green fertilisers this February on un-planted beds and see how they do.

We get a horrid hard baked crust on any bare soil during the summer months- by a combination of watering direct to the roots and mulch I am hoping that we can maximise the water retention of the soil and minimise the loss of water via evaporation.

It really is the start of what appears to be a long process, and suggestions or tips appreciated.

Dealing with all of this has really changed the way I look at vineyards now- before I use to see the swaying green vines and be amazed at how they survived in our hot summers- now I see more chemical monoculture deserts than picturesque panoramas. It is great to see the rise of organic vineyards as wine makers look for higher yielding (financially) niches, and of course to see the return of olive groves here in the Languedoc.

Organic Gardening magazine - Grow your own organic fruit and vegetables.

2008-01-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

Organic Gardening magazine - Grow your own organic fruit and vegetables.
Picked up my first copy of this in the UK- found it the most practical and useful of all the gardening magazines around. It is £40.95 for subscriptions from France for 12 issues and £29.95 from the UK- may be more sensible to get it sent to a UK address and posted on by someone you regularly correspond with

Alambics and essential oil

2008-01-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

Lavender is so ubiqitous over in Provence but here in the Languedoc it can rarely be seen outside of the flower garden- and growing wild on the garrigue of course. One of our projects for 2008 is to plant up the first of our terraces with lavender. The idea is to produce organic lavender essential oil. We have found a french company based in Galicia, Spain who can supply basic alambics to distill the lavender and wondered if anyone knows a more local supplier?

Ginger anyone?

2008-01-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

Has anyone tried to grow ginger? We got a juicer as our joint Christmas present for each other this year and fresh fruit juice tastes delicious with some ginger added to the mix- so the search is on to try and discover how to grow it.

Organic Gardening- the natural no-dig way by Charles Dowding

2008-01-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

This book is a superb introduction from Green Books to a tried and tested organic gardening technique perfected by Charles Dowding over 25 years of hands on experience.

A highly productive vegetable garden that involves no digging, written by a man with no formal horticultural training, and organic to boot? You may be permitted a certain cynicism.

However if that cynicism stops you from reading this book then you will have missed out on a treasure.

Charles Dowding is no armchair theorist, he produces weekly vegetable boxes, salad bags, supplies restaurants and runs courses all from an acre of intensively farmed land in Somerset.

His approach is classically organic in that it is soil centred- it is no coincidence that the leading organic body is called the Soil Association. A good soil structure is as important to a garden as a good foundation is to a building. Dowding argues that soil can be more harmed than helped through human digging. That doesn’t mean to say that the soil is not dug, just not by human hands. Back in 1828 Charles Darwin in his book, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observation of their Habits”, noted that a healthy pasture has been 25 and 50 mm of topsoil added every year through the casts of earthworms. Dowding uses these natural workers to do his hard work, by adding 25-50 mm of well rotted manure or good compost to the surface of his plots- within three months this nutritious mulch is pulled into the body of the soil by the worms.

The second key to success is never ever walk on the soil, thus avoiding any opportunity to compact the soil- the worms ,with a good supply of nitrogen rich manure or compost, produce a light, crumbly humus rich soil, the perfect base for vegetables. Walking or applying weight to the surface compacts the soil, making it heavy and dense- difficult for roots to penetrate.

A raised bedding system is therefore ideal, beds no more than a metre wide with clear paths on either side allow for easy access, the fact that they are raised makes them less back stretching for planting and of course weeding. It also means that the system works for small urban gardens as well as those off us lucky enough to have large rural plots.

Like all organic soil orientated approaches careful crop rotation and judicious timing is very important- crop rotation helps ensure that the soil doesn’t get worn out as well as ensuring that pests particularly keen on one type of vegetable do not get embedded in a certain patch.

Pest and insects can be the bane of organic growers lives, this spring a cabbage of mine was demolished in a night by a horde of caterpillars. However judicious and timely intervention- getting down on hands and knees and examining every single leaf of each plant quickly led to caterpillar carnage which saved the crop- indeed the first victim burst back into life. Slugs are kept at bay by reducing their habitats anywhere near the vegetable plot, and by sneaking into the garden after night falls with a torch and murderous intentions.

Judicious planting timing is also very important- getting an early start by growing seedlings in cold frames and greenhouses means that the very vulnerable first weeks of a plants life are over before they are introduced into the garden. If a slug or snail does get to them then they will start on the fading outer leaves which they are more than welcome to anyway.

If the book stopped there with the basic principals it would eb a good read. However Dowding goes onto to look at which vegetables should be planted when, and for me very helpfully what should then be planted in the plot after the first crop has been harvested.

Dowding’s approach is an intensive cultivation technique with plants grown close together- helps conserve moisture in summer, and leaves little space for weeds- and one plant rapidly following another so the beds are inconstant use. The output from a small garden can be enormous and all year round.

Don’t be fooled that no dig means no work but the rewards are well worth it. Of course clearing the land and making the beds in the first place is an endeavour in itself- but a once off endeavour.

This book is now my first port of call when I am looking for a gardening solution. As a beginner and non-scientist, I found his style easy to understand packed with useful tips and coherent in that it took me from an uninformed start to considering quite complicated seasonal planning without loosing the plot or throwing my hands up in confused despair. The results at the Domaine de Montrouch are looking promising- if the wild boar don’t decide they fancy a salad dinner one night.

I hope Charles sees this as a start of a writing career as I will be eagerly awaiting the next.

Click here to buy a copy of Charles Dowding's Organic Gardening: a natural no dig approach