Gardening

Beans in May

It is still possible to get a frost in early May in many parts of Central Brittany – and a careful watch therefore has to be kept on the weather forecast. On cold nights it is worth making an effort to cover potatoes and other sensitive plants with fleece, newspaper, or anything that comes to [...]

Carrots

Amongst cooks, carrots are probably the most popular vegetable that can be grown in this climate. When freshly picked their taste is incomparable, they store well, they can be used in salads or in a huge variety of cooked dishes, and are even sweet enough to be used in desserts. The two main difficulties in [...]

Gardening and Good Health

August is traditionally a month in which to sit back and enjoy the garden, especially if the weather is hot. Hopefully there will be plenty of vegetables to pick and flowers to admire, and, in Brittany, one can be sure that there will be a marvellous assortment of insects to watch busily going about their [...]

September – Getting ready for Winter

September is a time of year when you can start preparing for Winter. Take some time to look round your garden and take a careful note of the growth that the trees have made over the Summer months. Decide which branches need to be pruned and which trees need to be coppiced. If you don’t [...]

Dried Beans

Many people who move to Brittany from the UK do not appreciate the full value of beans as a crop. This is because most of the legume crops grown in Britain – broad beans, runner beans, French beans, peas, etc – are eaten fresh, and therefore only have a short season.
In many parts of France, [...]

Jobs – October

October is the time to tidy up the garden and to start thinking about what crops you are going to grow next year. Old growth from the Summer’s vegetables can be cleared away, compost heaps can be turned, and vegetable beds can be mulched. October is also the traditional month for going round the banks [...]

The Calabash Gourd

This year, I have experimented for the first time with growing the famous Calabash, or Bottle Gourd, pictured right. Apparently, it is one of the oldest crops grown by man, and one of the few crops grown in both the Old and the New World – gourds are believed to have floated over the ocean [...]

No-Dig Gardening

November is an important month in the no-dig gardening calendar, particularly in Brittany, where the weeds keep growing right throught the Winter. The secret of no-dig gardening is to not let weeds get a hold in the vegetable beds; this is achieved by not having earth exposed to the light for any period of time. [...]

Broad Beans

If you have not already done so, now is the time to plant your broad bean seeds. Broad beans are not the easiest or highest yielding crop to grow, but there is something particularly rewarding about starting the sowing calendar now, before the cold weather arrives, and being able to see at least one of [...]

Tree Care

This hazel was coppiced four years ago and could now be cut again to provide pea sticks and stakes for the garden.
In some parts of the world December is a month in which there is not too much to be done in the garden, but not so in Brittany: now is the time to work [...]