POTAGER GARDEN DESIGN - ecodesignscape.co.uk · potager, to ensure that this work of art is a beautiful garden feature all year round. The procedure is the same as for ornamental

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POTAGER GARDEN DESIGN

INTRODUCTION Kitchen gardens have always played an important part in people’s lives. Before the industrial revolution, home food production was a priority. This diminished as towns and cities grew in size and food production became commercialised. The housing of the 19th century provided few private gardens, and most people became cut off from the land and from the experience of growing their own food.

With improvements in living conditions came allotments, and later the layout of housing changed and householders regained their own plots of land. The kitchen garden was reborn, but the small size of these new gardens meant that a return to the cottage-style self-sufficient garden of the past was impossible. However, householders found that their plots were still a valuable source of fresh food and a fulfilling therapeutic hobby.

Until fairly recently the typical kitchen garden was a utilitarian rectangle, similar to an allotment, with rows of plants across its width. This was practical but offered little by way of visual interest, and it led to the vegetable garden being hidden away behind the house. With the resurgence of interest in growing one’s own food and the smaller size of contemporary gardens, many homeowners are keen to make the most of what outdoor space they have by combining beauty and productivity. a potager garden offers a visually pleasing alternative.

WhAT IS A POTAGER GARDEN? a potager is simply an area of garden subdivided into manageable plots and made to a pleasing pattern. in a potager, vegetables are grown alongside flowers, herbs and fruit to provide beauty and colour as well as a year-round yield of home-grown crops. The name originated in France because such a plot provided the ingredients for a potage – a soup or broth made solely of vegetables.

‘potager gardens are places of restoration that provide food and nourishment. a deep and mysterious relationship exists between food and having the spirits lifted and this relationship is profoundly and ultimately tied to the garden.’Jennifer r. Bartley, Designing the New Kitchen Garden

‘Rien de plus simple, ni de plus beau, qu’un potager.’ (‘There is nothing simpler, nor more beautiful, than a potager.’)saint ignatius 1491-1556

POTAGER DESIGN a traditional potager is designed around formal, geometric beds, but there is huge scope for imagination and variation, and the design can be tailored to the surrounding garden and to your particular tastes and requirements. Your potager could have traditional square or rectangular beds, or unusually shaped beds could be set out in a pleasing pattern. if you wish, a potager can be designed around high raised beds, which are ideal for older or less able gardeners. The materials used in the construction of the potager can be chosen to mirror or complement those already in use elsewhere in your garden. You could opt for a formal style, with brick, stone or paved paths, or a more rustic feel, with bark or grass pathways and beds edged with timber.

The use of wigwams, obelisks or arches will add vertical interest to the design, or you could incorporate a seating area into your potager by including an arbour or a pergola. These structural elements will give your potager year-round interest, and this can be increased by including overwintering and perennial vegetables and fruit trees and bushes in your planting scheme. a professional design will include a planting plan to ensure that your potager will be beautiful and productive all year round.

DESIGNING WITh NATUREThe art of garden design can be realised with fruit, vegetables and herbs, as many ornamental kitchen gardens demonstrate. a potager garden – a small plot with artistic attributes – offers homeowners the opportunity to grow their own food and also to enjoy its creative possibilities.

ecological garden design allows the creation of a space that is, in addition, a sanctuary for the natural world. an eco garden seeks to become sustainable by choosing plants suited to the site conditions, creating habitats for wildlife, conserving water and energy, and using companion planting and lunar gardening techniques. By designing in harmony with nature you can incorporate all of your practical and functional requirements and at the same time create a beautiful, inspirational and sustainable outdoor space.

However, there are many people who, while wishing to have such a garden, do not know where to start and lack the ability to produce detailed plans and designs. a potager is much more of a design challenge than an ordinary kitchen garden. This is where drawing on the expertise of a professional designer is to the client’s advantage.

BENEfITSYour potager garden design will:• enable you to have a garden that is both productive and aesthetically pleasing• allow you to produce fruit, vegetables and herbs from your garden all year

round• show how your garden space can be used to its full potential• identify appropriate areas for the various functions and elements in your design• ensure that your garden is developed in harmony with nature• create a beautiful space for all the family to enjoy• increase the value of your property• ensure that the work is carried out to your satisfaction• save you time and effort and avoid the risk of costly mistakes• allow work to be phased according to budget

Design Plan

DESIGN SERvICESMichael Littlewood offers his wide knowledge and experience to enable you to have the potager garden you have always dreamed of. a potager design can be simple or complex, large or small. it depends on the site, your wishes and requirements, and how much time you wish to devote to maintaining your potager, to ensure that this work of art is a beautiful garden feature all year round.

The procedure is the same as for ornamental garden design:Initial consultation and site visitConcept and preliminary design planfinal designDetailed plans for construction and planting

For more information please see me Professional Services brochure.

PROfESSIONAl ExPERIENCE

Michael Littlewood is a chartered landscape architect and garden designer with extensive experience of organic gardening and sustainable land use projects around the world. He has also studied bio-dynamics and permaculture and

applied this knowledge to maintain and develop his own sustainable gardens in christchurch, new Zealand and somerset, england.

He also pioneered community supported agriculture after a study tour of organic farms and smallholdings in pennsylvania, Usa during the late 1990’s.

He has extensive teaching experience at universities and colleges in this country and abroad and he has used his wide knowledge and experience to produce his

charts, guides, calendars and books on organic gardening.

details of his services and publications can be seen on (and downloaded from) his website:

www.ecodesignscape.co.uk

L a n d s c a p e d e s i g n e rF L i F s g d

6 george & crown cottages • church street • Hinton st george • somerset Ta17 8sdTelephone: (01460) 75515 • Mobile: 077480 77589

email: [email protected] • Web: www.ecodesignscape.co.uk