The French vegetable garden is a well-groomed area for growing vegetables in a small area. Find out how to organize it yourself - diagrams and photos.
Perhaps some people do not want to make a vegetable garden in the country, because they think that the beds will look ugly. But it is not necessary to arrange this territory in this way. If you learn how to make a French garden, then add sophistication to your backyard estate, you can grow vitamin products, admiring the created beauty.
What is a French vegetable garden?
This concept appeared during the reign of Louis 14. By this time, the ancient French farming traditions were embodied in decorative gardening. The beds created by a special type are very harmonious and beautiful.
First, the layout is done. The French kitchen garden is characterized by clear geometric lines and shapes.
It is based on a rectangle that is divided into four squares. These parts are separated by beautiful tile paths.
In the center, the squares are not connected, usually there is some kind of sculptural composition or a sundial.
The French vegetable garden is very decorative. Flowers grow here along with vegetables and green crops. Some farmers also place shrubs and fruit trees here.
When planning the territory, you can plant a low shrub along the perimeter of the beds, which you will periodically cut, giving the edges an even shape. See how wonderful ordinary cabbage looks like, edged in this way.
As you can see, first you have to make the layout of this site. To create a French garden, make symmetrical rectangular beds. There is a sculpture in the center. It can also be created with your own hands, for example, by placing a flowerpot with flowers on top or by placing a fountain here.
So that this place does not look strict, plant some rose bushes here. On the example of the photo, these are standard roses, climbing roses in the background.
Low trees have found a place here. They can be decorative or fruiting. If they are fruit trees, then give them a nice, even shape by trimming them periodically.
But you can make bumpers for the beds not only from such a low bush. For this, the following are suitable:
- vine;
- metal sheets;
- stone;
- curbs;
- wood;
- plastic.
You can also make garden borders using plants. These are: marigolds, calendula, other low flowers, lettuce, ornamental cabbage.
Arrange the plants in even rows, think in advance how high they will be. Better if the same. In the following example, salads of three different colors are successfully combined. A calendula is planted along the edge. These flowering and vegetable plants are roughly the same height, which encourages a French vegetable garden.
Basically, such farming implies the presence of high beds. This will help the plants feel more comfortable, but then they will need to be watered a little more often than if they were growing on a flat surface.
See how to design a garden in strict geometric shapes
DIY French garden - garden design
See what shape the beds can be for such gardening. When planning a beautiful garden, decide which shape of the beds suits best.
If you like strict lines, then take a rectangle or square as a basis. Inside, you can arrange beds of a rectangular, square shape, as well as make them in the form of triangles and even rhombuses.
Experiment, develop your creativity. Perhaps you want to stagger the beds. If you wish, then create a section in the form of a circle or an oval.
In the center, you can also make a rounded bed, beds of the same shape radiate from it. They can even be slightly different sizes, but observe symmetry.
See how many vegetables are there. But you need to take care of such beds in time so that they look more well-groomed. To do this, cut off dry leaves of tomatoes and cucumbers in a timely manner. And in the center, plant remontant strawberries, flowers, so that the beds look decorative for a long time and give a harvest of berries.
You can fence a decorative garden with such an openwork fence. It is done very simply. Dig in the pillars at the same distance. Stuff the slabs perpendicular to them and parallel to the soil and to each other. Now take the processed sticks of a smaller diameter, file them into equal lengths and nail them first diagonally to one side, and the others to the other.
To achieve such evenness, you need to make markings on wooden logs and attach small sticks based on it.
If you want, then make a French garden in the form of a circle. There will be a small circle in the middle. 6 rays depart from it. Fence each of them with low sides, make rather wide paths so that you can walk here without hindrance.
You can also make a rectangle-based French vegetable garden. Then place short shrubs of different colors here that you can cut. But first, make a markup with a rope or flexible hose to get such turns. Then you plant seedlings of bushes on these semicircular beds.
If you like these shapes, try to arrange a bed, where there will also be no straight lines. The beauty of the next French garden is also that it is multi-tiered. After all, you can use the natural landscape if you have a hill on the site. Make multi-stage beds by decorating them with such bumpers.
The next French garden is no less original. When planning it, make these interesting shapes. You will decorate the beds along the edges with low bushes, they need to be trimmed periodically. Place a flower girl in the center. You can arrange a flowerpot here and plant bulbous flowers, for example, lilies.
You can make an ornate garden bed. Plant several pieces of lettuce of different colors on it to create a variety of colors.
If you want, then create a rectangle for the garden, and obliquely draw the location of future plantings. But in each row it is necessary to plant a certain culture. So, you can use lilac kohlrabi to decorate the site. Plant a red lettuce and a green head lettuce. Cabbage will also grow here.
French vegetable garden in the Russian manner - photos, diagrams
You can make a French vegetable garden in Russian. Then you will take some of the ideas of this overseas country. Then remake them in Russian style. It is customary for us to make beds. But in this case, they will be so even.
Create beds, and make a fence for them from wooden planks. Secure in the corners with corners. Paint the fences. Here, not only the beds are even, but also the plantings are located at the same distance from each other. To do this, place the salad at the same distance as you thin out the salad. Then the paths can be covered with rubble or tiles can be put here.
Place a hedge on the side of the cold winds. You need to plant bushes close to each other, so that over time they turn into such an impassable wall. You will need to cut the hedge in time to remove excess branches.
See what kind of beds can be for such a vegetable grower. As you can see, they are not only rectangular, but also of a different shape. You will make such edging with wooden planks.
Examples of garden design
As you can see, this is a diagram of a classic small garden. An even square is divided into four identical sectors, with a circle in the middle. The diagram shows which crops, where you can plant. Place flowering plants or other beautiful plants here as you like.
In the second example, the base is a rhombus. A square is inscribed in it. Triangles formed at the corners. They will also make great beds. And in the middle of the square, the ridges are located in the same way as in the example above.
The following example of garden design shows in practice how a French garden can be realized. A lot of different crops fit here, including bushes and trees.
But if in the example above the vegetable garden occupies a fairly spacious part, then the next photo shows how the classic French vegetable garden will fit in a small area.
And you can fence the ridges with a flat decorative stone. You put soil inside, you get high fertile beds. For this, cultivated high-moor peat is suitable. If you just bought high-moor peat in bags, then add wood ash and some mineral fertilizers here. The result is a cultured substance.
In the following example, you can see how you can tolerate some frivolity when setting up a French vegetable garden. In the center, the garden is fenced with cobblestones. It has an arbitrary shape. You can fence other ridges in the same way. At the end of the French garden, place a pergola, which additionally decorates this area.
Plastic curbs will help create beds of various shapes. Some of them are made in the shape of hearts, others are round, the third triangular with rounded edges. To prevent grass from growing here, cover the tall beds with black lutrasil. Cut holes in them, plant plants here.
You can combine a French vegetable garden with Russian and Ukrainian traditions. To do this, you will make a wattle fence with your own hands, hang inverted clay pots, metal cast iron on it.
See how to make bumpers for these beds. The boards are wide, and therefore it will not be difficult to fix them in the corners with fasteners. Lay the film down, sprinkle fertile soil on top and plant the plants. Make a stone or tile path to create such a neat garden. There may be a greenhouse nearby, and you will also create a foundation for it from cobblestone or stone.
In conclusion, take a look, and you will be convinced that the beautiful vegetable garden looks wonderful even near the castle. This is Villandry Castle, which was built in the middle of the 16th century. There are several beds of different geometric shapes.
And if you want to have a semblance of a chessboard in your dacha, then it is in a checkerboard pattern that cultures of two different colors of light and dark are seated.
Such a garden splendor is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent. If you want to embody it in miniature, then check out the following example. Here you can see how ornamental cabbage can decorate the beds. But edible crops can also grow here, as well as standard roses, which fit perfectly into this neat landscape landscape.
Plant edible cabbage if desired. It is also a significant part of the French vegetable garden. In addition to her, there is a place here not only for roses and decorative deciduous crops, but also for fruit trees.
And when the harvest of pumpkins is ripe, you can leave them in the beds for a while. They will additionally decorate the territory, like the rest of the vegetables in the castle garden.
See how curly parsley can decorate a French vegetable garden. Even the inhabitants of such a medieval castle do not disdain her. Allocate at least a small ridge for this plant.
If you like hot peppers, then plant a variety "Ogonyok" or similar, the fruits of which change color over time. Therefore, on one bush you will have fruits of red, yellow, purple. And this garden is located in the same medieval castle.
See how you can plant trees in a French vegetable garden. To do this, around one such plantation, they limit the space with a curb. You can do it from low shrubs that can be sheared. In the center of such a square, you plant greenery or other plants.
Be sure to arrange a rest corner next to the garden. You can organize such decorative supports for grapes and roses.
Now you know how to make a French vegetable garden.
See what a French vegetable garden might look like with tall beds.
And how to make a French vegetable garden in Siberia, tells the second video.
