Edible gardens: vegetable gardens, orchards, permaculture

Turnkey vegetable gardens

Square or rectangular, raised or grown directly in the ground, single or multi-tiered: we build the vegetable garden suited to the layout of your garden and to the way you like to grow. We handle the supply, installation and filling with soil and organic amendments, ready to plant. As an option, drip irrigation protects your crops during the summer and while you are away.

Our approach: permaculture as a guiding thread

Permaculture is not a trend: it is a way of designing the garden as an ecosystem, where each element serves the others. In practice, this guides our choices at every stage:

• Living soil above all: we don’t work against the soil but with it — permanent mulching, compost, organic amendments, no deep tilling. Living soil retains water, feeds plants and does without synthetic fertiliser.
• A design in zones: crops that need daily attention (herbs, salad leaves) near the house, orchards and more self-sufficient areas further away. The garden becomes logical to live with.
• Combinations that work for you: flowers that attract beneficial insects, vegetables that protect one another, trees that shade more delicate crops.
• Water saved at the source: rainwater harvesting, mulching, drip irrigation — a major consideration given Gironde summers.

The food forest: the orchard taken further

Inspired by traditional forest gardens, the food forest layers several tiers of edible vegetation: fruit trees forming the canopy, soft fruit shrubs, edible perennials, ground cover and climbers. Once established, it produces abundantly for very little maintenance — it is the most self-sufficient edible landscaping there is, and one of the most beautiful.

Aquaponics, hydroponics: the growing methods of tomorrow

The edible garden does not stop at growing in the ground, and we keep a close eye on techniques that are transforming food production at a domestic scale:

• Aquaponics combines a fish pond with crops in a closed loop: water enriched by fish waste feeds the plants, which filter it before it returns to the pond. A complete ecosystem, very economical with water.
• Hydroponics grows plants without soil, on a neutral substrate irrigated with a nutrient solution: remarkable productivity on very little space, particularly under glass.
• The edible pond, finally, extends our ornamental ponds: fish, edible aquatic plants and biodiversity working for the garden.

These approaches are studied on a case-by-case basis, depending on your land, your wishes and your available time. If one of them appeals to you, let’s talk about it — and to understand how they work, browse the dedicated articles in our news section.