While we have always liked the idea of decorative gardens around our homes filled with ornamental trees and all season landscapes, until the last century households needed to grow much of what the home produced in order to survive. By creating walled gardens the crops could be kept safe from all manner of plunders as well as harsh weather.

Whilst known as a kitchen garden in this country the French had their equivalent Potager which served the same purpose and as a keen amateur chef I am lucky enough to have both at my disposal to feed my never ending desire to create good food. I have decided to devote this section to telling what is coming up in both the English kitchen garden and the Provencal potager each month as they vary enormously throughout the year. Both are run as organic and rely on manual labour and good weather to ensure a decent crop.

As any gardener knows growing fruit and vegetables is a slow seasonal process. You have to make sure that seeds are planted at the right time and you have to keep a good diary throughout the year taking into consideration your local climate and weather conditions. For clarity our English garden is in Herefordshire some 20 miles from the Welsh border while our Potager is in the Vaclause Mountains some 1500 metres above sea level 40 miles east of Avignon in Provence. The English garden is walled and includes a greenhouse while the Potager is fenced.

Each month we will tell you what we are planting, what is coming up and what we are cropping in each garden along with pictures from both gardens.