Want an eye-catching garden as beautiful as an ornamental display? Check out these tips from the garden of a French restauranteur.
Launch Gallery
by Ruth LivelyJune 1999from issue # 21
The kitchen garden at the hotel and restaurant of chef Jean Bardet , in Tours , France , face up a magniloquent order : provide the kitchen with a constant supplying of the entire spectrum of veggie , all the while looking shipshape for the many node and visitors . More than most French chef , Bardet is devoted to the cult of the vegetable . When plan a menu , he chooses produce first , then the meat?unusual for a Gallic chef . His restaurant is one of the few in France where you may order an all - vegetable , multi - course repast .
To meet the kitchen ’s demand for multifariousness and novelty , gardener Stéphane Gaillacq scours semen listing from around the world . He ’ll often give preference to veg of different semblance , like purple kohlrabi and peas . Heirloom vegetables are staple fibre in this organic garden . Gaillacq calculate he place out 4,000 seedlings each year , including 140 tomato plants , representing 50 diverseness .
The kitchen garden ’s layout is stately , which goes a long way in acquaint a bang-up appearance . Cruciform paths divide the garden into four main planting areas . Each bottom is butt with dwarf box ; the vegetable within are implant in goodly row .
Because this garden lie in in full view of the restaurant and guest elbow room , Gaillacq is always attend for ways to raise its smasher without sacrifice output . Here ’s a roundup of pragmatic and pleasing trick to try at home .
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Tradition and innovation blend beautifully in Jean Bardet’s kitchen garden. A formal design, box-edged beds, and neat rows of vegetables are time-honored French techniques. Unusual varieties and artful touches, like painted stakes, give the garden an updated look.Photo/Illustration: Peter D’Aprix
