A potager is essentially an edible garden containing a blend of vegetables, herbs and flowers. It may be a casual, chaotic mix of edibles rambling over meandering pathways, or an up-market affair designed in a formal or geometric layout.
In an avant-garde potager, plants are grouped for aesthetic purposes and juxtaposed for the best contrasts of foliage form and colour. ornamentals, such as topiary and stately hollyhocks, may also be added to provide specific design effects. Raised beds emphasise and enhance the layout and can help make gardening easier if they’re high enough to sit on. The design you settle on should reflect your personal needs and style preferences.
Starting outSoil Health and the Good Gardeners’ Association’s main message for their exhibit was: Healthy soil = Healthy plants = Healthy people. So once you’ve decided upon a design and layout for your potager, the next most important consideration is the soil. Where raised beds are used, simply break up the soil in the base of the beds and fill them with bulk planting mix and compost (ratio 2:1).
Compact the soil, apply a generous dose of blood and bone, and you’re ready for planting! Raised beds are essential on poorly drained clay soils, but will need a 15 to 20cm layer of scoria, on top of the base soil, to improve drainage. on nice loamy soil, you may opt for ground- level beds instead of raised beds. Dig through plenty of compost and add sheep pellets and blood and bone before planting.
If the soil is still lumpy, leave it to weather for a month or so before planting.
Late-summer plantingThere’s still time to plant a few quick- cropping summer veges in frost-free areas. Cherry tomatoes, bush cucumbers and courgettes are all good to go – if your local garden centre still has plants available. Dwarf beans can also be sown
in early February. Seedlings of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, silverbeet and spinach can be planted or sown in all areas. And for that designer touch, plant flowering kale, curly kale, red cabbages, Chinese tat-soi, giant red mustard and the beautifully coloured rainbow chard ‘Bright Lights’.
Sowing for winter Summer is also the time to start sowing seed of winter crops for planting out before the weather turns. Ideally, seedlings should be planted by about mid-March in cooler areas and mid-April in warmer areas. once soil temperatures drop, growth of small plants with underdeveloped root systems will become extremely sluggish and plants will struggle to survive the chilly winter.
Direct sow traditional favourites, including beetroot, broad beans, carrots, lettuce, mesclun, onions, peas and spinach. Sow seed of broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower and leeks in trays or pots for planting out in autumn. Add style to the patch by sowing a range of Asian greens, piquant chicory (also called radicchio), frilly endives, purple kohlrabi and purple carrots – if you dare. Create really startling effects with frilly red-headed and freckle-foliaged gourmet lettuces.
Culinary delight The charm of a true potager comes with the edible flowers and herbs planted randomly among the veges and left to spill onto pathways. Good herbs for planting now include chervil, coriander, parsley, chives, lemon balm, lovage, oregano, rocket, sage and thyme. Sow edible flowers, including Johnny jump-ups, calendulas and nasturtiums (in warm areas).
Non-edible alyssum and phacelia are excellent to attract beneficial insects, and hollyhocks look spectacular to the rear of a potager – for looking at only, not eating!
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