Exhibition Hall :: hardworkinghippy's garden

We're near Bergerac. The cabin where we lived for a few years is in a valley. It's very damp there, with late frosts but with plenty of free water from the stream flowing through the land. The cabin garden is wild after a few years of neglect, but it's lovely. The new house we're building is surrounded by mature trees, sandy soil then very thick clay and is a real plant killer. The potager is 6 years old and provides us with most of our vegetables. I'm still planting the parterres and woodland and "clothing" the wooden structures to give the new site a bit of character. I don't spend a lot of time gardening, the chickens weed and the mulches keep the soil in good condition. I love gardening.

A chicken walking on the new path in our potager

Opened the chickens early this morning

The geese in the glade at the back of the house

Amazing storm with a lot of rain !!!!

After the storm has passed - a rainbow on the terrace

Boullie our favourite Angora goat kid 2008

Our free-range chickens behind the goat shed

Chicken shed with a view to the west side of potager

End of summer ceps and bottled veg

Garden fruit and veg and other goodies stored for winter

Fabrice's Paté ready for the cave

Lovely Autumn colour of a young Elm on the West side of the house

smoke bush cotinus grace

Aubergines, sage, veg spaghetti and chickens

Autumn pumpkins from last year's seeds

Lovely chunky green peppers this year

These are the steps leading up to the house from one of the back terraces. On the left we dug a "cave" to keep our winter supplies and it's shaded by the gloriette in the summer.

I grew far too many of these red Chillis - here are some strung up to dry for use in the winter

Potiron Galeuse d'Eysines a good keeper and a lovely taste

This new part of the garden is starting to be tamed

We give the oversized Courgettes to Peggy, our pig

Cabbage, corn and on the right my cuttings

The peaches are almost ripe and the Purple Loosestrife is still in flower

Sweet peppers long 22

We get a nice basketful like this every few days at the moment

George the Brahma cockerel in front of the chicken shed

Cheerful little corner

Coming up from the woods

The screen to hide the water buts is filling up with climbing plants