Welcome House and Garden readers

_MG_4373Why is there a close up of cabbage? And who is the cat? Welcome to the readers of House and Garden in Australia who have joined this garden seven years later than the rest. All may be explained. This is a daily blog of my garden, so you might have to rummage a bit to find your way around.

One of my cousins in Perth has just contacted me to say she read the article, so I guess it is out by now.  And you can now see the progress on the tranformation of this Ardeche farm into a garden. _MG_4059

I’m grateful that Lisa Green the editor of your wonderful magazine contacted me to learn more about the garden. It all happened rather fast. There I was in Sydney meeting Lisa over a hot chocolate and toast and vegemite (as you do) and she said, let’s do it.

Gulp. So the photographer was booked and I had four months to ‘just tidy things up a bit’.

_MG_4007Well! You can imagine the long long lists of tasks that needs to be done in any garden, let alone one that runs to acres. And I had a mad idea to entirely redesign the potager (vegetable garden) in those short months.

By the time Carla Coulson travelled down from Paris everything was neat and orderly and I was exhausted! But what a skill – to see this rather steep and tricky garden and capture it so incredibly. I am thrilled with the results. And who knew I was going to scrub us so well? I’m usually very scruffy and in my gardening clothes. It’s a good thing you can’t see my fingernails. calabert 9pm

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I am in the process of upgrading my website, so be patient and in a few weeks you might get a better idea of the layout and story behind the cabbage and the cat.  His name is Artur by the way, and I suspect he is the only reason why my dear father ploughs through endless musings on landscape and design. As a dutiful daughter I feel contractually bound to entertain him with a photo of the cat at least once a week.

001 (2)Mind you, having a small furry companion who either follows me, leaps out at me, or sleeps in the exact spot where I need to propagate or plant means life is never dull (and one can get a bit tired of endless shots of cabbage).

My mother, a very keen gardener, will happily study the plant pictures.

Artur didn’t make the final cut in the article despite following Carla about the entire visit and throwing himself languidly in many shots; instead you get the lawn mower Ulysse, who would love to come into the potting shed – if only to find a secret stash of apples. But he is half Arab, half Ardeche working horse, and just won’t fit.

Do send me comments and questions through the website and I will try my best to answer.

If I’m not at my desk actually earning a living, then I’m out in the veggie garden harvesting dinner and thinking up more mad schemes to create a garden out of a beautiful but steep chestnut farm.

Why is there a close up of cabbage? And who is the cat? Welcome to the readers of House and Garden in Australia who have joined this garden seven years later than the rest. All may be explained. This is a daily blog of my garden, so you might have to rummage a bit to find your way around.

One of my cousins in Perth has just contacted me to say she read the article, so I guess it is out by now.  And you can now see the progress on the tranformation of this Ardeche farm into a garden. _MG_4059

I’m grateful that Lisa Green the editor of your wonderful magazine contacted me to learn more about the garden. It all happened rather fast. There I was in Sydney meeting Lisa over a hot chocolate and toast and vegemite (as you do) and she said, let’s do it.

Gulp. So the photographer was booked and I had four months to ‘just tidy things up a bit’.

Well! You can imagine the long long lists of tasks that needs to be done in any garden, let alone one that runs to acres. And I had a mad idea to entirely redesign the potager (vegetable garden) in those short months. _MG_4007

By the time Carla Coulson travelled down from Paris everything was neat and orderly and I was exhausted! But what a skill – to see this rather steep and tricky garden and capture it so incredibly. I am thrilled with the results. And who knew I was going to scrub us so well? I’m usually very scruffy and in my gardening clothes. It’s a good thing you can’t see my fingernails.

***

I am in the process of upgrading my website, so be patient and in a few weeks you might get a better idea of the layout and story behind the cabbage and the cat.  His name is Artur by the way, and I suspect he is the only reason why my dear father ploughs through endless musings on landscape and design. As a dutiful daughter I feel contractually bound to entertain him with a photo of the cat at least once a week.

_MG_3978Mind you, having a small furry companion who either follows me, leaps out at me, or sleeps in the exact spot where I need to propagate or plant means life is never dull and one can get a bit tired of endless shots of cabbage.

He didn’t make the final cut in the article despite following Carla about the entire visit and throwing himself languidly in many shots; instead you get the lawn mower Ulysse, who would love to come into the potting shed – if only to find a secret stash of apples. But he is half Arab, half Ardeche working horse, and just won’t fit.

Do send me comments and questions through the website and I will try my best to answer. If I’m not at my desk actually earning a living, then I’m out in the veggie garden harvesting dinner and thinking up more mad schemes to create a garden out of a beautiful but steep and arid farm.