La Bigarade, la fête de l'oranger en Minervois
It's the Fete de Bigarade this weekend at La Caunette in the Minervois, two days of celebrartion of a rather bitter orange that grows in the microclimate around La Caunette, with 30 or so local flower, tree and herb growers. Look out for the amazing Iris people from the Bassine de Thau, there are some great olives from Roussillon, as well as a range of herbs, roses, flowers. There are also a series of talks on growing olives, figs, making essential oils, and growing truffle infected oaks. Most of the talks are on Sunday. As usual with a good local Fete there is a parade of old fellas dressed up strange faux 18th century dress- the companions of the bitter orange, and a hearty lunch to be had on site.
We will be there on Saturday to try and find some interesting varieties of local herbs and flowers, as well as to nose around and chat.
It costs three euros to get in.
Thursday 21 February 2008
Thursday 3 January 2008
History of the Garrigue
Contrary to the what most people think there is very little natural about the garrigue that covers the hills of the Aude and the Languedoc. It is very much the product of the agricultural development of the land, the history of this ecology can be traced back over 4500 years but the last 60-70 years have been the most dramatic. The garrigue is very much a product of man's over exploitation of the dry Mediterranean landscape.
4500 years ago the migration from the Middle East brought tribes with horses, barley, sheep, and skills in copper working. The land they found was a continual forest of white and green oaks. They clearer spaces for cultivation and used wood and charcoal for their heating and metal work, the horses gave them access to the highest forests and the sheep ate the smaller plants under the trees.
2000 years later the Romans arrived and cleared huge spaces for the great Via Domitienne and their towns (Oppida) and farms, much of which was later run down by the all conquering Wisigoths.
Around 1000 AD the religious orders of Catholic monks cleared much of the coastal plains and foothills. In this period the population doubled, as the monks introduced the great mainstays of Languedocean agriculture, olives, vines and wheat. Indeed the history of most of today's villages and small towns can be traced back to around the 11th century. The great forests where clearer, the plains filled with wheat fields, the hill sides terraced and planted with predominately olives and a few vines, sheep and goats roamed the remaining wild areas during the winters and were moved to the Pyrenean pastures during summer.
The French Revolution removed the aristocracy and the remaining wild hunting areas were cut down by charcoal burners and shepherds. The agricultural pattern continued through to the 19th century, when the improved communications provided by firstly the Canal du Midi and then by steam power made the commercial exploitation of vines much more profitable.
Between Carcassonne and Toulouse the great wheat fields grew and provided the wealth for Toulouse, Castelnaudry and Carcassonne. Between 1820 and 1860 the population doubled on the back of this wheat and wine based wealth.
It was however the 1950s and 1960s which really formed the garrigue as we now know it.
Five main factors totally transformed the Languedoc:
» In 1953 the first tractors arrived in the Languedoc, this broke the reliance on horse power, a by product was that tractors could not access the steep slopes of the hills that previously could be accessed by foot and horse, thus leaving isolated and inaccessible land uncultivated.
» The replacement of gas with petrol products removed the demand for charcoal and went a major way to slow down the high forest clearing.
» The great frost of 1956 which killed off many of the olives which covered the hillsides, most were never replanted.
» The common agricultural market which opened competition from British, Australian and New Zealand lamb and effectively destroyed the Languedocean sheep industry.
» In 1954 myxomatosis hit the Languedoc, the rabbits that had been introduced by the Romans and whose abundance and low cost had made them a mainstay of rural cuisine were wiped out, 99% of the rabbit population died.
Added to these push factors was the ever growing demand from a booming French industry, these were the Golden Years of the great factories. Faced with an ever harder life in the countryside and profitable work in the cities and towns the countryside of the Languedoc emptied of people, over a million hectares of agricultural land fell out of use in France, huge swathes of it in the Languedoc.
No longer roamed by hungry sheep and rabbits, cleared by charcoal burners, and cultivated by small holder farmers the garrigue as we now know it recovered the empty spaces of the Languedoc hillside.
However with 1,500 new arrivals every month in the Languedoc, 18,000 a year at present rates the open spaces face a new threat. Each family of three it is estimated need around 1500 square metres of land, this includes not just the house but also the public serves and infrastructure needed to support them, a 1000 hectares per year are being lost to development. The great difference however is that people need water and so tend to concentrate around existing urban centres, the garrigue on the other hand can survive on very little.
4500 years ago the migration from the Middle East brought tribes with horses, barley, sheep, and skills in copper working. The land they found was a continual forest of white and green oaks. They clearer spaces for cultivation and used wood and charcoal for their heating and metal work, the horses gave them access to the highest forests and the sheep ate the smaller plants under the trees.
2000 years later the Romans arrived and cleared huge spaces for the great Via Domitienne and their towns (Oppida) and farms, much of which was later run down by the all conquering Wisigoths.
Around 1000 AD the religious orders of Catholic monks cleared much of the coastal plains and foothills. In this period the population doubled, as the monks introduced the great mainstays of Languedocean agriculture, olives, vines and wheat. Indeed the history of most of today's villages and small towns can be traced back to around the 11th century. The great forests where clearer, the plains filled with wheat fields, the hill sides terraced and planted with predominately olives and a few vines, sheep and goats roamed the remaining wild areas during the winters and were moved to the Pyrenean pastures during summer.
The French Revolution removed the aristocracy and the remaining wild hunting areas were cut down by charcoal burners and shepherds. The agricultural pattern continued through to the 19th century, when the improved communications provided by firstly the Canal du Midi and then by steam power made the commercial exploitation of vines much more profitable.
Between Carcassonne and Toulouse the great wheat fields grew and provided the wealth for Toulouse, Castelnaudry and Carcassonne. Between 1820 and 1860 the population doubled on the back of this wheat and wine based wealth.
It was however the 1950s and 1960s which really formed the garrigue as we now know it.
Five main factors totally transformed the Languedoc:
» In 1953 the first tractors arrived in the Languedoc, this broke the reliance on horse power, a by product was that tractors could not access the steep slopes of the hills that previously could be accessed by foot and horse, thus leaving isolated and inaccessible land uncultivated.
» The replacement of gas with petrol products removed the demand for charcoal and went a major way to slow down the high forest clearing.
» The great frost of 1956 which killed off many of the olives which covered the hillsides, most were never replanted.
» The common agricultural market which opened competition from British, Australian and New Zealand lamb and effectively destroyed the Languedocean sheep industry.
» In 1954 myxomatosis hit the Languedoc, the rabbits that had been introduced by the Romans and whose abundance and low cost had made them a mainstay of rural cuisine were wiped out, 99% of the rabbit population died.
Added to these push factors was the ever growing demand from a booming French industry, these were the Golden Years of the great factories. Faced with an ever harder life in the countryside and profitable work in the cities and towns the countryside of the Languedoc emptied of people, over a million hectares of agricultural land fell out of use in France, huge swathes of it in the Languedoc.
No longer roamed by hungry sheep and rabbits, cleared by charcoal burners, and cultivated by small holder farmers the garrigue as we now know it recovered the empty spaces of the Languedoc hillside.
However with 1,500 new arrivals every month in the Languedoc, 18,000 a year at present rates the open spaces face a new threat. Each family of three it is estimated need around 1500 square metres of land, this includes not just the house but also the public serves and infrastructure needed to support them, a 1000 hectares per year are being lost to development. The great difference however is that people need water and so tend to concentrate around existing urban centres, the garrigue on the other hand can survive on very little.
Turning old vineyards into gardens- some ideas
Most of the new construction in the Aude, the lotissements that are springing up throughout villages on either side of the Castelnaudry-Carcassonne-Narbonne- Coursan/Guissan axis, are situated on old vineyards.
These sites represent huge challenges for gardeners, even if the soil as rich before the vines where planted it certainly isn’t now. Vines need good drainage, and after 50 years of vines the land has lost most of its organic material. Vine growers usually rely on a combination of rotten must- the remains that pile up outside of the caves after the wine has been made and nitrogen based chemical fertilisers- and more the letter than the former.
At the Domaine de Montrouch we have found that old vineyards pose a number of issues we have had to overcome- although the domiane was first restored in the 1970’s by a couple of neo-ruralists who practised biodynamic horticulture (see The Biodynamic Agricultural Association) the last owner planted vines. A mere 20 years of vines has turned the soil into rocky dust, with a very acid pH level, and worm life seems to have been reduced to nothing. (see green fingers site here for how to test the pH level of your soil ).
On the three small terraces we have so far worked on our solution so far has been to first clear the planting area of large rocks, and slowly as we work over the land clear out the smaller rocks for the vegetable beds but leave them in the ground for the flower and lavender beds- life is too short frankly to do anything else but the vegetable beds.
We dug in as much organic humus- decayed horse manure and some grape must- as we could lay our hands on as well as purchased organic manure mix. We have been layering our home made compost on the surface in rotation as it becomes available. The veggy patch has been the focus of our attention and we still find that flowers need to have a base of bought planting soil twice that indicated to have a reasonable chance.
On that one an increasing number of Mairies in the Aude are offering free or very low cost composters to residents to reduce the waste to be taken away, it is worth checking with your town hall to see if they are running a similar scheme.
The first year I made the error of mulching with wood chips- we had so much waste after we had cleared the land that I bought a chipper and feed the lot through it. The first terrace of Lavender didn’t seem to mind the wood chip mulch but individual lavender plants along the drive and round the garden hated it- as did the roses. I now use more compost and manure based mulches.
After 18 months we are seeing some improvement in the soil and I am going to try some green fertilisers this February on un-planted beds and see how they do.
We get a horrid hard baked crust on any bare soil during the summer months- by a combination of watering direct to the roots and mulch I am hoping that we can maximise the water retention of the soil and minimise the loss of water via evaporation.
It really is the start of what appears to be a long process, and suggestions or tips appreciated.
Dealing with all of this has really changed the way I look at vineyards now- before I use to see the swaying green vines and be amazed at how they survived in our hot summers- now I see more chemical monoculture deserts than picturesque panoramas. It is great to see the rise of organic vineyards as wine makers look for higher yielding (financially) niches, and of course to see the return of olive groves here in the Languedoc.
These sites represent huge challenges for gardeners, even if the soil as rich before the vines where planted it certainly isn’t now. Vines need good drainage, and after 50 years of vines the land has lost most of its organic material. Vine growers usually rely on a combination of rotten must- the remains that pile up outside of the caves after the wine has been made and nitrogen based chemical fertilisers- and more the letter than the former.
At the Domaine de Montrouch we have found that old vineyards pose a number of issues we have had to overcome- although the domiane was first restored in the 1970’s by a couple of neo-ruralists who practised biodynamic horticulture (see The Biodynamic Agricultural Association) the last owner planted vines. A mere 20 years of vines has turned the soil into rocky dust, with a very acid pH level, and worm life seems to have been reduced to nothing. (see green fingers site here for how to test the pH level of your soil ).
On the three small terraces we have so far worked on our solution so far has been to first clear the planting area of large rocks, and slowly as we work over the land clear out the smaller rocks for the vegetable beds but leave them in the ground for the flower and lavender beds- life is too short frankly to do anything else but the vegetable beds.
We dug in as much organic humus- decayed horse manure and some grape must- as we could lay our hands on as well as purchased organic manure mix. We have been layering our home made compost on the surface in rotation as it becomes available. The veggy patch has been the focus of our attention and we still find that flowers need to have a base of bought planting soil twice that indicated to have a reasonable chance.
On that one an increasing number of Mairies in the Aude are offering free or very low cost composters to residents to reduce the waste to be taken away, it is worth checking with your town hall to see if they are running a similar scheme.
The first year I made the error of mulching with wood chips- we had so much waste after we had cleared the land that I bought a chipper and feed the lot through it. The first terrace of Lavender didn’t seem to mind the wood chip mulch but individual lavender plants along the drive and round the garden hated it- as did the roses. I now use more compost and manure based mulches.
After 18 months we are seeing some improvement in the soil and I am going to try some green fertilisers this February on un-planted beds and see how they do.
We get a horrid hard baked crust on any bare soil during the summer months- by a combination of watering direct to the roots and mulch I am hoping that we can maximise the water retention of the soil and minimise the loss of water via evaporation.
It really is the start of what appears to be a long process, and suggestions or tips appreciated.
Dealing with all of this has really changed the way I look at vineyards now- before I use to see the swaying green vines and be amazed at how they survived in our hot summers- now I see more chemical monoculture deserts than picturesque panoramas. It is great to see the rise of organic vineyards as wine makers look for higher yielding (financially) niches, and of course to see the return of olive groves here in the Languedoc.
Wednesday 2 January 2008
Organic Gardening magazine - Grow your own organic fruit and vegetables.
Organic Gardening magazine - Grow your own organic fruit and vegetables.
Picked up my first copy of this in the UK- found it the most practical and useful of all the gardening magazines around. It is £40.95 for subscriptions from France for 12 issues and £29.95 from the UK- may be more sensible to get it sent to a UK address and posted on by someone you regularly correspond with
Picked up my first copy of this in the UK- found it the most practical and useful of all the gardening magazines around. It is £40.95 for subscriptions from France for 12 issues and £29.95 from the UK- may be more sensible to get it sent to a UK address and posted on by someone you regularly correspond with
Alambics and essential oil
Lavender is so ubiqitous over in Provence but here in the Languedoc it can rarely be seen outside of the flower garden- and growing wild on the garrigue of course. One of our projects for 2008 is to plant up the first of our terraces with lavender. The idea is to produce organic lavender essential oil. We have found a french company based in Galicia, Spain who can supply basic alambics to distill the lavender and wondered if anyone knows a more local supplier?
Ginger anyone?
Has anyone tried to grow ginger? We got a juicer as our joint Christmas present for each other this year and fresh fruit juice tastes delicious with some ginger added to the mix- so the search is on to try and discover how to grow it.
Organic Gardening- the natural no-dig way by Charles Dowding
This book is a superb introduction from Green Books to a tried and tested organic gardening technique perfected by Charles Dowding over 25 years of hands on experience.
A highly productive vegetable garden that involves no digging, written by a man with no formal horticultural training, and organic to boot? You may be permitted a certain cynicism.
However if that cynicism stops you from reading this book then you will have missed out on a treasure.
Charles Dowding is no armchair theorist, he produces weekly vegetable boxes, salad bags, supplies restaurants and runs courses all from an acre of intensively farmed land in Somerset.
His approach is classically organic in that it is soil centred- it is no coincidence that the leading organic body is called the Soil Association. A good soil structure is as important to a garden as a good foundation is to a building. Dowding argues that soil can be more harmed than helped through human digging. That doesn’t mean to say that the soil is not dug, just not by human hands. Back in 1828 Charles Darwin in his book, “The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observation of their Habits”, noted that a healthy pasture has been 25 and 50 mm of topsoil added every year through the casts of earthworms. Dowding uses these natural workers to do his hard work, by adding 25-50 mm of well rotted manure or good compost to the surface of his plots- within three months this nutritious mulch is pulled into the body of the soil by the worms.
The second key to success is never ever walk on the soil, thus avoiding any opportunity to compact the soil- the worms ,with a good supply of nitrogen rich manure or compost, produce a light, crumbly humus rich soil, the perfect base for vegetables. Walking or applying weight to the surface compacts the soil, making it heavy and dense- difficult for roots to penetrate.
A raised bedding system is therefore ideal, beds no more than a metre wide with clear paths on either side allow for easy access, the fact that they are raised makes them less back stretching for planting and of course weeding. It also means that the system works for small urban gardens as well as those off us lucky enough to have large rural plots.
Like all organic soil orientated approaches careful crop rotation and judicious timing is very important- crop rotation helps ensure that the soil doesn’t get worn out as well as ensuring that pests particularly keen on one type of vegetable do not get embedded in a certain patch.
Pest and insects can be the bane of organic growers lives, this spring a cabbage of mine was demolished in a night by a horde of caterpillars. However judicious and timely intervention- getting down on hands and knees and examining every single leaf of each plant quickly led to caterpillar carnage which saved the crop- indeed the first victim burst back into life. Slugs are kept at bay by reducing their habitats anywhere near the vegetable plot, and by sneaking into the garden after night falls with a torch and murderous intentions.
Judicious planting timing is also very important- getting an early start by growing seedlings in cold frames and greenhouses means that the very vulnerable first weeks of a plants life are over before they are introduced into the garden. If a slug or snail does get to them then they will start on the fading outer leaves which they are more than welcome to anyway.
If the book stopped there with the basic principals it would eb a good read. However Dowding goes onto to look at which vegetables should be planted when, and for me very helpfully what should then be planted in the plot after the first crop has been harvested.
Dowding’s approach is an intensive cultivation technique with plants grown close together- helps conserve moisture in summer, and leaves little space for weeds- and one plant rapidly following another so the beds are inconstant use. The output from a small garden can be enormous and all year round.
Don’t be fooled that no dig means no work but the rewards are well worth it. Of course clearing the land and making the beds in the first place is an endeavour in itself- but a once off endeavour.
This book is now my first port of call when I am looking for a gardening solution. As a beginner and non-scientist, I found his style easy to understand packed with useful tips and coherent in that it took me from an uninformed start to considering quite complicated seasonal planning without loosing the plot or throwing my hands up in confused despair. The results at the Domaine de Montrouch are looking promising- if the wild boar don’t decide they fancy a salad dinner one night.
I hope Charles sees this as a start of a writing career as I will be eagerly awaiting the next.
Click here to buy a copy of Charles Dowding's Organic Gardening: a natural no dig approach
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