A cottage garden in the Med

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I recently returned to gardening after packing up work for the last time. “YES” I moved from UK to the far south of France, where the sun shines and frost is mostly something mentioned on someone else’s weather forecast, Rainy days can be months apart, but we do not suffer hose pipe bans.

My garden soil is very heavy clay baked to consistency of concrete, so digging was out of the question, instead I was able to build up a new deep layer of newly mixed soil made from compost, manure and the local council were cutting braches from trees and shredding them by the lorry load. I mixed all this together and now, after a couple of years I have a deep, very rich, fertile soil.

All that the garden contained when I moved in was a few old and neglected rose trees. Plants bought in nurseries are very expensive compared with British prices and as the locals only grow what they can eat exchanging a bit of this plant for a bit of that is only good for vegetables. Seeds are the main way I have to stock my garden followed swiftly by taking cuttings and division.

• 4 Apr, 2009
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