frontdoor foraging in the garden-at-camont
Posted by Kate Hill on Monday, April 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment
“You could plant a stone at Camont and it would grow!”
I think of Vetou saying this 20+ years ago as I first started gardening at Camont. First a swath of English-ish border plants lined the pathway to the canal: poppies, roses, lavender…
Next, Jhon Corbin- artist/matelot/friend, created a wine bottle border sculpture- Camont Woman-that filled in over the years with day lilies, delphinium, and more roses…
Until she was rousted from her slumber and the front path was ‘landscaped’. Sort of like trying to dress this old woman in a business suit of pine bark. Uck, it looked bad and didn’t work…
Over planting years came next. Weed-invaded textile ripped up, trees re-introduced, a jungle grew of crabapple, rosa banksiae, magnolia, almond, fig…
Are you getting the picture? Wild. Sauvage. Growing like stones…
As I meander an early morning drizzle, I spy the common thread that always works in the garden at Camont.
- plant too much
- let the winners thrive
- enjoy the gentle chaos of a jardin sauvage
In keeping with my style of companion planting, more casual observation than science, why not overseed last year’s surviving roquette with this year’s?
Why not let the ‘love-in-the-mist’ pop up as she likes amidst the budding sage?
Why not encourage a shady patch for mesclun by underplanting the growing lovage? It will tower and shield the tender salad leaves from summer’s strongest hours.
Why not let the wisteria go wild along the doomed barn tiles before pruning and then re-roofing?
I let my feckless weed-filled ‘yard’ transform into a gentle bird & bee-nurturing paradise where nightingales eat nettle seeds. (You can’t kill it all!) Bees need dandelions, so mow after the flowering. Late summer mint will flower for post orchard feeding. And that means I make dandelion wine, mint-scented honey, and listen to midnight serenades. Let’s just call it ‘front door foraging’. I see a new trend growing and I am happy to help this particular trend stone grow at Camont. For some more #frontdoor-foraging ideas check out my
snapseed album on facebook .
