Lot and Quercy Gardening
CONTENTS
Lot and Quercy Gardening
Gardening stories from the Lot and Quercy region. What grows here and what doesn't?Share the experiences of some of our contributors who have been gardening here for many years and have picked up lots of useful tips along the way.
Like to contribute? Register to use our Discussion Forum and you can post your questions and replies in our dedicated gardening section.
Lots of other experienced and not-so experienced gardeners will be keen to hear from you.
Contribute!
Have your say about gardening This section of the FrenchEntrée-LotandQuercy site together with the Gardening Section of the Forum provide an opportunity for gardeners across the region to share their experiences of what works and what doesn't.So whether you have an RHS standard garden or a scrubby patch of hillside, we welcome your contributions.
For the really keen amonst you there is also the opportunity to host this section of the site as our Gardening Topic Host. If you think this may be of interest please contact the Editor, by email.
Ironwood Motif Internships
Help create a thriving gardening business
We are Lindsay Nixon & David Low. We have lived in France for over six years. Together, we run a small but very successful artist blacksmith business, Ironwood Motif, which we set up in April 2005. We also run a garden design, maintenance & plantation business ...
more...
A Vegetable Plot in the Lot
Gardening, the hard way
I spent the better part of this afternoon upside down with my head in our rainwater cistern battling the all predatory forces of heaven and earth. I think I’m winning.Spring is the time for grand designs, and for years now, we have aspired but failed to keep up with the Jones’s, or more precisely, the Bousquets. But this year will be different... Vegetable Plot in the Lot...
Gardens in the Lot
Three gardens well worth visiting
The Gardens of the Grand Convent in Gramat, the medieval gardens at Chateau Colombier and the charming Garden of the Senses in Castelfranc...
Gardens in the Lot...
May Gardening Observations
May has arrived, gloriously warm after a somewhat miserable spell and we have watched the trees go green during the week - it seems as if they were waiting for a bit of sun to encourage them...
more...
April Gardening Observations
Although it doesn’t seem possible, it is a year to the day since I posted the first of my garden meanderings and I would like to thank the folk out there who have read them...
more...
The Celtic Herbalist - April Update
Welcome to another monthly update from The Celtic Herbalist. These monthly bulletins cover the development of the Celtic Herbalist's gardens based on a four and a half acres farmstead on the Causses ...
more...
February/March Ramblings from the Garden
Nearly the end of February already, so I hope that the kind folk who read my meanderings will take this entry for this month and for March! Yes, we can finally claim that we are gardening again – one of the reasons that I am late this month is that we have been gardening rather than writing about it....
more...
The Celtic Herbalist's Gardens
Work in Progress - March 2008
Welcome to an update of the work in progress at The Celtic Herbalist's gardens which are developing on a four and a half acre site on the Causses (limestone plateaux), near Toulouse, in S.W. France.
March Update...
January Ramblings from a New Quercy Garden
A new year and a new start – just what do you do in the garden in January? The answer is probably not a lot, certainly when it is wet underfoot. That’s the time for reviewing what went on last year, what worked and what didn’t...
more...
September Ramblings from a Quercy Garden
Has summer finally arrived? September may be a bit late, but the sunshine is more than welcome. Peace is settling back on the Lot, the main bulk of the summer visitors have gone, and the traffic has become a bit saner. Time to look hard at the woodpile in readiness for chilly evenings to come...
more...
Breeding Alpacas in the Lot et Garonne
Trials of a smallholder
With two new baby Alpacas (Crias), things seemed to be going well for Deborah and her smallholding. But then there was the mass breakout by the animals and the latest set back is a bad case of "fly-strike"...
Diary of a Smallholder...
The Celtic Herbalist's Gardens
Where are the celtic gardens?The Celtic Herbalist's gardens are developing on the four and a half acres around a farmstead upon one of the limestone plateaux (or causses) in the Midi, near Toulouse, in S.W. France.
The Celtic Herbalist's Gardens...
Gardening Observations for July
"Summer time and the living is easy". July is the month when you can reap the benefits of all the hard work that you have put in May and June. With the heat the grass isn’t growing, so the mower only needs to come out once every week or ten days to top the weeds...
more...
Gardening Observations for June
June has got to be the month of the rose. Everywhere you go now there are roses in full bloom, some of the most delightful peering over the tops of old stone walls. Roses are resilient plants – we know of abandoned houses that are almost ruins ...
more...
Gardening Observations for May
May must be just about the busiest month in the garden. Now is the time for planting out all the summer vegetables and salads, the tender annuals and putting out the hanging baskets – or at least it would be in a normal year...
more...
Gardening Observations from South West France
April in the Lot and Quercy by Mamiaj
Why is it that a day spent in the garden is so satisfying? When I came in I was dirty, tired, bloody but unbowed – and now, after a shower and with a glass of the red stuff - Cahors bien sûr – by my side I feel the glow of a job well done.
more...
Self Sufficiency in South West France
Diary of a smallholder
Moving to France, buying a farm and breeding Alpacas, could be a dream come true? Lot et Garonne resident Deborah shares some experiences from her first few months on the road to self sufficiency in France...
more...
The Secret Gardens of Cahors
Les Jardins Secret de Cahors
Created in 2002, the secret gardens of Cahors amount to 29 in total and are laid out along a waymarked route around the city. The secret gardens include an arab garden, a lavender garden, an apple tree garden, a garden of spices, a monastery garden...
Gardening in the Quercy Part 1
A battle against rocks, weeds and a lack of water
Lindsay Nixon relates her experiences of creating a beautiful and productive garden amongst the stones and weeds of the Causses du Quercy. In the first of two articles she describes the slow transformation of a wilderness into finely tilled soil ready for planting.
more...
Gardening in the Quercy Part 2
What will grow, and what won't?
In the second of two articles, Lindsay Nixon takes up the tale of her garden with the selection of flowers and vegetables that will be able to grow in the unpromising soil and harsh climate of the Causses du Quercy. more...
Growing Giant Pumpkins in the Quercy
The Pumpkin International Society Trust (PIST)
In the first of two articles, Sarah Weston describes the preparations for an Anglo-French giant pumpkin growing competition. What starts as a vague idea over a bowl of pumpkin soup, ends with a fete for over 100 people - and that’s just the preparation. The competition itself is featured in the second article...more...
Giant Pumpkin Competition – Part 2
Judgement day approaches
Sarah Weston continues the tale of the mighty pumpkins..For the final weigh-in around Halloween, we decided that everybody would bring their pumpkin to our house to be weighed and have an aperitif. We would then make our way to a local restaurant at the top of our road. more...
Discussion Forum
Topics: Classified AdsContacts
What's On
On the Road
Food and Drink
Building & Renovation
Health & Wellbeing
Animals & Pets
Questions?
Gardening