Container gardening with French flair.
Bonjour my fellow gardeners! The month of July holds two holidays similar in spirit — first is the American Independence Day on the Fourth of July and the other is Bastille Day, observed in France on the fourteenth of July.
Once you’re done honoring the Fourth, keep the spirit of independence going by celebrating Bastille Day and embracing France’s flair for le jardin.
Known for their love of herbs and gardening both inside and out, some French gardens combine vegetables, herbs and flowers in their design. This type of garden is referred to as potager. Basically ornamental vegetable gardens, they were meant to feed families with a small portion of land adjacent to the home.
You can create something similar albeit on a much smaller scale: an herb potager container garden. This container can be placed inside, maybe in your kitchen on a sunny windowsill or outside. Our herb choices include lavender and blue spice basil, and red vinca and red veined sorrel as ornamental choices.
Make sure the container you select has drainage holes. We displaced some of the space at the bottom of pot with broken pieces of Styrofoam, layered that with burlap and then spread soil on top of it. One of the containers had a very open habit with holes so burlap was placed on the bottom to catch the soil. We also decided that we wanted height so tall plants in the back and smaller plants in front, just like you would for a border design.
