Something I ‘made at home’, which now makes vegetable growing easier!
To grow vegetables on a very steep slope, a few years back I terraced the vegetable plot into three areas.
After heaving the soil, there are three terraces, with the top two fairly flat and so easier to water. The first terrace is bounded by a wall on one side and a box hedge (all done from cuttings, so still looking young and a bit woolly) on the other.
Did you know that they used box in Victorian kitchen gardens because it gave an over-wintering site to aphid predators?
That terrace is four small square beds (in the pictures, there are broad beans in the first, then calabrese & kale, with germinating radishes and carrots).
On the slope between this and the second terrace, I stuck cuttings of Lonicera nitida, which have taken root (but not everywhere), because when they are young they occasionally succumb to summer drought. Every winter I simply stick more cuttings into the bald bits – I’m get to the stage where I’m lightly clipping the Lonicera that rooted well, say, three years ago.
Then there are three flat, narrow beds (where the pea frenzy is occurring!), backed by another box hedge edged from cuttings.
Then another drop which was covered with landscaping fabric, pegged into place with wire. On this slope I planted (into holes) rooted cuttings (growing on well) of santolina and lavender. When I see plants of lavender in Aldi, I tend to pick up one or two and plant them into the fabric to fill up the gaps.
The final four beds still slope – but not quite so much – and the soil is retained at the base by a hedge of Lonicera nitida, again from cuttings.
It’s not perfect – and I am slow to tidy this year, because we’ve had such dry weather, although I do have brassicas and leeks growing on in my new raised beds to plant out later.
Anyway – much easier to manage now, and all for the price of bits of landscaping fabric (and a lot of sweat at the beginning). I use fleece to protect seedlings from hot sun and am considering buying greenhouse shading in England (unavailable in France) when we are at the end of this period of confinement. The brassicas will appreciate it …
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 
Cathy so lovely to see veggies growing, I like all the mulch (grass clippings?). I did not appreciate how much more difficult growing on a slope could be until it was too late, I’m here. and my slope is not as steep as yours. I didn’t know the Victorians used box because it provided shellter to preditors, I had thought it was just because it gave an ordered edge to beds. Where I am because of the peaty soil and cool temperatures cuttings usually have to be started inside, however I have found plenty in the old shed here to recyle into terraces, and as you say it makes gardening so much easier. Frances
I have learnt so much about gardening here, because it’s not ‘normal’. More than that I’ve learnt so much about what plants really like! And not having much money can be a great teacher and stimulator of the imagination, can’t it?!!! (Yes – the mulch is grass clippings, but I also tend to put dried out weeds – not fresh – on top as well, stowing them in little heaps here and there – I have even been known to cut up courgettes that grew much too big and use them as a mulch!)
Your veg is looking good, Cathy, and it’s good to now that your hard work is beginning to pay off. Have you had some rain this week?
It does look good at the moment, Cathy – because (whoopee!) we are getting lots of rain!
Yahay! 🌧
I wonder if you have any irrigation set up for your vegetables Cathy. Hope you have had some of the showers that are passing across France and Germany. I know how exhausting watering can be in the heat. We have put off starting a proper vegetable garden again due to the drought…. maybe next year!
We’ve been meaning to install a drip system, but haven’t got round to it. Without watering, it’s impossible to grow vegetables – and I do think that some greenhouse shading would help the brassicas (like sprouts). In the autumn they tend to come back, but only if I’ve spent hours watering during the summer. I nearly put off the veggies, but then my determined husband started bringing buckets of water up from the river, and he encouraged me so much that I just kept going!
My former garden was terraced with logs of the superfluous small redwood trunks that got thinned out. They work well, and are resistant to rot. I did not terrace here, but now wish I had.
That would have been MUCH better, Tony. But unfortunately it would either cost money (which I haven’t a lot of) or require a man with a chainsaw (which normally I haven’t got). And of course one woman and large logs on a slope are not a good combination! I also suspect the logs that, if my husband was at home, the logs would have disappeared onto the woodburning stove in winter if we were short of firewood!
Redwood is not good for firewood, but does happen to work well for other applications. I used it primarily because I did not want to waste the small trunks that were thinned out. I would have used sandstone, but a neighbor too it all away.
Shame! Fortunately we have no redwood here, so I wouldn’t be tempted. And, actually, when you’re cold you’ll burn anything on the fire. We do – I’ve even started burning books that I don’t like!
Redwoods really are excellent! They are so tall that if you look this way, you can see for yourself. If I aim one in just the right direction when I cut it down, you could try some of the firewood. They grow fast too. The moon is so cratered because it did not get out of the way fast enough. Anyway, it does not get very cold here, so we do not burn much wood.
Your beds look so tidy and productive, which probably makes you wonder since you seem to think they’re not (tidy)! Hopefully some rain finds you this week.
Thank you – you are so right! I definitely don’t think they are tidy. Other people’s vegetable gardens are so beautiful and it took a lot of courage for me to post mine! I just thought – darn, it’s sort of working, and it’s an idea that most people with a similar problem to mine could put into practice. And I do love the lavenders and santolina at this time of year, just when they are promising to flower!
Looks like a lot of hard work, but everything is looking lovely and you will reap the rewards from all those fresh veggies. I have given up on growing veg as the S&S eat everything in this garden before it has a chance to grow. Though I am going to try growing some spinach and kale in crates this year and see if that is more successful. I had not thought of using grass clippings as a mulch, that’s a good idea if it is hot enough. I think here it would probably turn to slime.
Looks great! Judy would be jealous as she is feeling vegetable-deprived lately, given complications of getting fresh food from the market. So what are your going to do with all those peas?
There are so many plans – and actually I haven’t shown you even half of the peas! We love curry and they are wonderful in vegetarian curries (with paneer cheese). They also freeze better than any other vegetable I’ve come across.