The confusion between the two gardening styles are more like practical vs esthetic, but borrowing on one another. The French and English had ties through the monarchies and borrowed from one anothers cultures and customs, including gardening and animal husbandry. Modern-day "organic gardening" and "intensive gardening" have their origins in old French gardening practices using companion planting of flowers and herbs with veggies and fruits, composting and keeping small barnyard animals, as well as many other simple and practical gardening-homesteading methods. The Potager Garden was a designated plot; a special garden wherein was grown veggies & herbs for 'potage' (meaning, any plant you can eat), with flowers that were good companion plants for insect control or to improve the growth and production of the vegetables and herbs, and for attracting bees to pollinate. Many of the flowers were to be eaten, as well, i.e. Calendulas (Pot Marigolds), Nasturtiums, chives, chamomile, peas, and others, even roses. Orchards were often planted nearby for convenience as well as beauty and pollination, as both attract bees. Potager Gardens could be quite formal (for the wealthy), or not (for the more humble classes). Paths could be paved and plots geometrically layed out and fenced with shrubberies or permanent structures (lovely, formal French manor-style gardens), or as in the provential kitchen "yardens" or small acreages, potage gardens more often had paths of dirt that merely wound casually through informal, asymmetrical plots of this and that. They were more often found right out the kitchen door of the humble French home for easy access and for safety and security. - I much prefer the Provincial Potage garden, myself. I like the free, casual, no-fuss garden that says, "home" to me. Potager gardens were designed to be more practical, but not to ever be at the expense of 'esthetic appeal'. Even the practical could be beautiful. Beautiful and fragrant gardens promoted good mental health. It was a chance for some fresh air and sunshine out of dreary, dark, often ill-lit and sometimes dank house. If your mind was happy & well, your body often was too. Cottage Gardens on the other hand, rambled around the home in a profusion of flowers, namely roses, foxgloves, delphiniums and the like that was available and would grow in that particular climate. Only the wealthy had greenhouses and grew rare and exotic plants - grand glass houses called conservatories, and formal garden estates with towering statuaries, fountains and evergreens. Cottage Gardens were designed to utilize a limited space around the home, often the front yard. They were neither formal nor geometrical in design. They seldom utilized perfect symmetry in lay-outs. Dirt or gravel paths that would lead you from one garden area to another, often totally obscured from the view by hedgerows of privet, evergreen, ivy clad rock walls or fences with tall flowers, like hollyhocks, foxgloves, or rambling, climbing roses. Arches and trellising extended the gardens farther into the air, so more could be planted on less ground and they could completely block out their neighbors for more privacy. Within a Cottage garden you could find a Potager garden, but they were very different in form and purpose. It's like comparing a squash flower to a Brugmansia flower! Ya, they are both pretty flowers, but...uh..... That's what I understand the basic components are that make up the two very different gardens. That's how I see it, anyhow! ~SweetAnnie4u

It is so easy to get overwhelmed. Afterall, I have a full time job, and when I get home at night I have dinner to cook and housework to catch up on, and I do want so relaxation time... But I find that I get a renewed burst of energy when I have half an hour to garden. Here are my little tricks for staying on top of gardening.... 1. Prep Time. When dinner is simmering on the stove, I pour a glass of wine and go to the garden for 10 minutes to pull a couple of weeds, plant a pack of seeds, or pick a few veggies... as the season demands. This is when I notice what needs doing most after dinner. 2. After Dinner Drink. When the dishes are done, I set aside half an hour for watering or another project like pruning, digging in compost or planting something I bought on the drive home. 3. Rescue. I always keep a watering can full of water nearby for quick rescues on the way to work, or when I first arrive home and find the eggplants wilting. 4. Prioritize. If I can fit a bigger project into one evening, I make sure I have supplies and a list of priorities handy. This means you have to plan ahead to have a bale of peat moss etc. but when there are 10 things that needs to be done yesterday, keeping a list helps get me started quickly when I have a moment instead of wandering aimlessly thinking how hopeless it all is! 5. Procrastinate. Save big projects like fencing, freezing/canning or major weeding for the weekend. You just won't get them done in one evening, so use that time for something else. So... for the most part, gardening can be handled in 30-45 minutes a day plus 4 hours each weekend. If things still get out of control, They do sell veggies at farmstands and you can always use your efforts for compost!!!

I love what you have done so far! I like the bird bath where it is. It gives more detail to your yard. I can see you keeping the birdbath, digging up some of your grass and replacing it with a circle of pea gravel or small rock with the bird bath in the center of the circle. Make the circle large enough for a rock path around the bird bath and then add a circle flower bed (3ft. deep?) around the rock with a path to the bird bath. You can use this bed to grow herbs, color annuals, different lavenders or keep it as a perennial bed. I also really like your idea of putting a potager garden in its place. That can look really beautiful! Place the bird bath in the center of your cross path? Have you thought of putting in some shrubs in your beds? They add winter interest when everything else is gone. I cant tell where your tomatoes are from your pic. but I am really liking peonies. They look like roses for the spring, their smell is awesome, they make a nice mound bush when they finish flowering and the deer don like them!!! Another thought...it looks like your yard is in a square shape with flower beds on all sides. Have you thought of putting a small tree or shrub in the center of each corner, (a crab apple or thuja)? It looks like you have some really nice areas for horseback riding. I dont know if I've helped you, but your idea of a potager garden sounds great. You got me thinking about my own yard and if I can put in another flower bed somewhere! Thanks and good luck!

Dear Anne, I used wood chips between the beds from a clearing and tree shredding that I did. I leave 3ft between beds to allow a wheelbarrow to be brought through. I love natural materials that breakdown over time and add to the soil so the wood chips were perfect. The raised beds were made from untreated redwood. JOhn I will post a few pics of my new garden (former lawn) that I took out. Began this project last July by laying heavy cardboard on the dead ish lawn (did not water for 9 months..grass was still not dead!!) and covered the whole yard with 2 ft of fresh horse manure over the course of 3 months. Pics to follow in next post.