Articles

Welcome to GrahamsGarden.com

Welcome ! Graham's Garden is designed to share experiences and tips about gardening in France. At the moment the articles are written in English, though we are trying to introduce French words and terms to help local non-French gardeners settle into “jardinage français”.

Bienvenue ! Graham's Garden est conçu pour partager des expériences, trucs et astuces au sujet du jardinage en France. Au moment les articles sont écrits en anglais, mais nous essayerons de présenter des mots du jardinage français pour aider les jardiniers étrangers. Of most interest to visitors to this site is the “Garden Directory”.

This is is essentially a record of the plants and features we have added to the garden, together with advice on plant care based upon our experiences. Our garden is located in the Charente-Maritime departement (17) of France, in a village outside Saintes. The soil is best described as "shallow chalk", and is well-drained but only moderately stony. The warm and usually dry summers here mean that the soil quickly dries out, so the emphasis is upon drought-tolerant plants and sun-loving flowers. Additionally we are moving towards self-sufficiency in vegetables, and have created a "jardin potager" which we try to maintain with minimum watering using only collected rainwater. The aim of this site is to share our experiences with those who garden in similar circumstances.