Growing and eating from a cottage garden in France

There truly is nothing more enjoyable than trotting up the garden path and picking a home-grown raspberry on your way. I’ve never grown veggies before and although I love Chelsea as much as the next gardener I am technically uneducated in successful planting. In fact, for much of my adult life I have lived with quite a small outside space but have been inspired by the amazing weather and availability of plants here to try a little harder.

It’s all about good planning as with everything in life and you do need to invest a little time and money getting things going. Since I’ve lived away from the UK and a busy social life at the pub, not only do I get a lot more fresh air than I used to but I have found my little garden has kept me very busy. I love getting in from work, pouring a glass of wine and then pottering around until dusk out there. Cut and come again lettuces mean I’ve enjoyed fabulous crisp salads for months without having to replant and I’m finally free from the manky old things in the supermarkets too.

I started my garden off with just a few peas. I saw someone on a TV programme planting them and thought this looked like a foolproof way to get going. I was right, I now have peas coming out of my ears and they look fabulous. Although I’ve not got to the pea podding phase yet, the shoots have delighted us on delicious late spring salads and the flowers are so pretty. On the rise too are the strawberries, beetroots and the potatoes that I’ve grown in a bag. In between where patchy plants once grew, I have popped in a lovely little apple tree to train espalier style against the old stone wall and the calendula at its feet makes me feel easy and relaxed just looking at it. It doesn’t have to be complicated but all that richness and variety of colour does make for a very interesting garden and I’m delighted people actually praise my little space now instead of finding it uninteresting, dried up and baron.

It helps of course that we’ve had so much rain. I haven’t had to get the hose out too often and the minute the sun shines, everything looks very happy indeed, including me. At first, my new outdoor creation was a desperate attempt to try to fill my time but this has fast become an integral part of my expat life here in France. Actually, I’d go as far to say that I am such a convert that wherever I was I’d have to find someway of growing something in old containers or up a wall. So pleasing it is having something bright and beautiful to eat from the garden with every meal, this truly is an addiction I am happy to feed.

Katie Anderson is a freelance writer for Sarah Lamballe from her home in South West France www.s-lamballe.co.uk

She regularly writes about life in her part of Europe for www.littlewoodseurope.com