Wednesday 9 March 2011

Petrified Parterre

Woke up this morning to a sprinkling of snow - Perhaps I am not so far behind the changing season after all!

I'm delighted to have found a name for the collective bed arrangement. Together they are a 'parterre'.  In the tradition of Versaille (but on a smaller scale).  ;>)



Now that they are built I've had to narrow down what I'm going to give growing space:



1. Asparagus                   2. Herbs

3. Salads                        4. Plot Nursery Bed

The asparagus is a complete leap in the dark, but one of these beds seems ideally suited to providing the drainage and the fertility I understand asparagus needs.  Of course I want shoots to eat (in a couple of years time) but visually I also love their 'ferns'.

Herbs and salads might overlap a bit as Mediterranean herbs like lots of drainage and even improve in flavour with 'poor' soil whereas parsley coriander fenugreek like the same conditions as lettuce etc.

My last bed is being used for the original purpose I intended (before I got asparagus aspirations). Seedlings need closer attention than weekend to weekend so they are best kept at home. Lettuces growing 3 miles away are not much help when you decide to rustle up a salad late in the week. I do keep them in bowls of water on the widowsill but you can't beat the crispiness of  freshly cut salad leaves. I'm looking forward to a reliable supply and a long season.

Back to the snow:

I just have to share this work of art I came across this morning:




8 comments:

  1. U nas za oknem też okropnie-śnieg z deszczem. Ciebie jednak ten dzień natchnał pomysłem- więc nie był zły. Pozdrawiam

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  2. Wow fancy being able to say that you have a parterre just like Villandry in the Loire! Funny a while ago I took some photos of bird footprints too. They were large bird prints alongside smaller cat prints. I guessed that the bird was a magpie - what do you think your bird was!

    NO snow here just gale force winds!

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  3. Your beds look great. I think that you made some good choices with what you plan to grow in them.

    Love the snow pic

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  4. The parterre looks beautiful outlined in the snow like that. Sounds like you have made some great choices. There are so many great hardy greens out there now, not like a few years back. A splendid Scarlet Kale might be nice as a center focal. You sure did a great job building this Mal.

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  5. Love the birds tracks in the snow...thankfully we haven't encountered any more of the white sruff!!

    I think you are going to make excellent use of your beds. My allotment is so close I can tend to it and pick from it on a daily basis. I think you have thought out the perfect balance for the salads and herbs with your raised beds at home...

    Coriander though?? YUCK!

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  6. Giga - Twoje kwiaty są przepiękne, więc doceniam komentarzy. Pozdrawiam


    Sue, I'm fairly sure these are moorhens. A bit of an odd name as the live on or near the local pond!

    Robin, Thanks for the encouragement

    Bren, I hope you don't mind me going on about a sprinkling of snow when you've had your bellyfull of it! I'm big on kale but not red - yet!

    Tany - Coriander: Parsley with an education.

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  7. Well look at you up in the hill country with all that snow! We had nothing down here at sea level.

    Didn't know you were multi-lingual! I occasionally make forays into Norwegian in blogland - helps me keep up the rusting language skills.

    Could you make that pattern up into curtain fabric for me, please?

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  8. I hope you don't have too much more. I saw this morning you've got another lot on the way!

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