Gardening

Coppicing and Faggot Making

Given that so much is said about sustainable energy resources, it is perhaps surprising that the ancient art of faggot making is more in the public eye – until forty or fifty years ago, millions of people across Europe used faggots to fuel their homes and their businesses, without causing any depletion of energy resources [...]

Autumn Tree Planting

October is the month when you can start to think about this winter’s tree planting programme. Firstly, you can take a tour of the garden and make a note of any places where more trees could be safely accommodated; this is best done before the leaves fall in autumn. At the same time, you can [...]

Firewood and Log Splitting

I was talking to one of my old Breton neighbours recently and she told me that as far as she was concerned the secret of a long life and good health was to have plenty of outdoor exercise during the Winter months. Something that she particularly recommended was log-splitting. There are plenty of hydraulic log-splitters [...]

Compost

One aspect of life in Brittany that is not adequately celebrated today is the fact that we have one of the best climates in the world for producing compost. Many people who move here from other regions, bring with them the belief that they do not know how to make compost, but if you just [...]

Tree Planting

Anyone not accustomed to land management may be disturbed by the idea of chopping down anything as magnificent as a tree, but the country person’s view has always been that man is as much a part of nature as anything else, and if he needs wood for building or to keep his family warm in [...]

Tree Felling

There is a well-established belief that the sap is at its lowest in the trees during the first week of January, and, if the weather is suitable, this is therefore the best time to cut down those trees that need to be felled this year.
In the past, most people would only attempt to cut down [...]

Potatoes – Getting Ready

You can start digging trenches for your potatoes in February. Early potatoes can also be put in seed trays on a window sill in the house and planted out in a green house in late February, or under a fleece, in early March.

Peas

February is still a long way off from the main vegetable-growing season, but there is a lot that can be done in the garden.
It usually pays to make at least two sowings of peas in February – one in the middle of the month and one towards the end. Peas are not the easiest crop [...]

Tree Protection

Deer and hares are the two principal causes of danger for young trees. It is when the sap begins to rise, in early Spring (young trees are still safe in February) that the bases of the trees become vulnerable to hares, who pull off the bark in strings. Deer will also eat tree bark.
THE SOLUTION: [...]

April Planting

April is the month in which Bretons traditionally start to put serious work into their gardens. It is still too early to plant anything that is at all sensitive to cold – courgettes, sweetcorn, etc. – but it is the month in which the weeds wake up after their winter slow-down, and any part of [...]