{"id":10205,"date":"2020-01-31T03:51:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T17:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardens.theownerbuildernetwork.co\/?p=10205"},"modified":"2025-10-30T21:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:17:30","slug":"want-to-jazz-up-your-gardening-routine-this-year-create-a-french-potager-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/2020\/01\/31\/want-to-jazz-up-your-gardening-routine-this-year-create-a-french-potager-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to jazz up your gardening routine this year? Create a French potager garden."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have a panache for elegance and enjoy growing\nhome-reared squash, beans, and tomatoes in your backyard, then a potager garden\nis perfect for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potager \u2013 which in French literally means \u2018for the soup pot\u2019 – combines the practical nature of the English kitchen garden with the stylishness of French fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
Potager gardens combine the practical nature of the English kitchen garden with the stylishness of French fashion. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Recreating the French Countryside in Your Backyard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might say a potager is an ornamental<\/em> vegetable\ngarden. The basic idea is to choose plants for both their edible and decorative\ncharacteristics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many diverse potager designs. Some potager\nenthusiasts tout designs that repeat a certain pattern or symmetrical shape. Others\nprefer the look of traditional French cottage gardens, which tend to be a\nlittle less formal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the basic principles of creating a potager.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"There
There are many diverse potager designs. (Photo: Giraud Patrick\/Wikimedia Commons) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Focus on geometric designs and symmetry.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Plan your garden\u2019s layout carefully. Formal, geometric, and\nsymmetrical designs help to create a sense of order. The gardens of the French\nRenaissance provide a particular wealth of design ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forget about traditional rows. Diagonals, zigzags, and\ncircles will all work well for your vegetable and flower beds. Checkerboard\npatterns can look quite striking, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The gardens of the French Renaissance provide a particular wealth of design ideas.
(Photo: Manfred Heyde\/Wikimedia Commons) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Create a sense of flow and direction.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You need to plan your garden for both beauty and function. This means you want to give a lot more thought to your paths and create a sense of direction to your garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhythm is best achieved with a repetition of the same plant at intervals within the design. If you\u2019re keen on growing a particular type of vegetable or herb, plant them as accents or use them as edging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has the added advantage of helping to confuse insect pests so they are less likely to attack your crops,\u201d says writer and garden expert Ann Marie Hendry for GrowVeg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever format you choose, your garden should flow so you\nwant to stroll through it as much as you want to harvest vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Whatever
Whatever format you choose, your garden should flow so you want to stroll through it as much as you want to harvest vegetables. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Devise a focal point.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your garden’s focal point can be anything you like: a container overflowing with ornamental kale, an obelisk, or an archway dripping with beans and vines, or a towering globe artichoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What may start out as just a nondescript grouping of plants is given definition by a focal point. They give the eyes a place to rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What
What may start out as just a grouping of plants is given definition by a focal point. They give the eye a place to rest. (Photo: Drjoguitar\/Pixabay) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Choose plants for both your kitchen and visual appeal.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since you are designing a French garden, you will need to\nconsider the ornamental value of each plant, even the vegetables. Select plants\nboth for your cooking needs and their aesthetic appeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color is an obvious consideration. Colorful ornamental\nplants, which are usually included in a potager, highlight varying textures and\nconvey a sense of drama.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flowers are likewise essential French garden plants.\nConsider flowers that match the size, shape and color of your chosen\nvegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may want to include perennial herbs and flower patches\nalong the walkways, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Select
Select plants both for your cooking needs and their aesthetic appeal. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looks Good, Tastes Good, Too!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Potager gardens have become quite popular in the design\nworld over the past few years. Many people wonder how to design a potager\ngarden for their home. Designing a potager garden is easy if you are familiar\nwith the basic principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potager gardens do not need to be fussy and overelaborate.\nYour potager design can be as complicated or as simple as you wish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key is to make your garden look as good as it tastes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have a panache for elegance and enjoy growing home-reared squash, beans, and tomatoes in your backyard, then a potager garden is perfect for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13557,"featured_media":10206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Transform your backyard with a French potager garden\u2014grow gorgeous vegetables with elegant style. Easy tips to create your own edible oasis.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sma_last_campaign_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,31,182,24],"tags":[270,187,50,271],"class_list":["post-10205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colourful-gardens","category-decorative","category-tips-and-tricks","category-vegetables","tag-french-cottage-garden","tag-garden-design","tag-gardens","tag-potager"],"modified_by":"Freddie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}