A 2,500 square-meter orchard nested in a corner of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris is what remains of a Carthusian domain which once hosted a big and internationally renowned fruit tree nursery. The monks left long ago, but their delicious varieties are back.
Seeing lemons and oranges on trees in Lisbon this Easter sparked my interest in citrus fruit. I carried out library research to learn about this fruit family of Asian origin while looking out for trees in the streets and gardens of the Portuguese capital. Continue reading
I am now following Florida Fruit Geek, an American blog ‘celebrating the abundance, diversity, and health benefits of food that grows on trees’ in warmer climates.
As we are in the most active part of the winter pruning season for apple and pear trees in France, we look at an example of bad pruning and its consequences, in particular the growth of unfruitful ‘watershoots’.
Listed in the 2018 World Monuments Watch, the ‘Potager du Roi’, the kitchen garden created 340 years ago for Sun King Louis XIV in Versailles Palace, France, has an opportunity to design a new form of gardening aesthetics to produce the fruits and vegetables sovereigns would dream to have on their table. Continue reading
The permaculture workshop I attended on 29 October at Stanmer Park in the United Kingdom led me to think further about the future of a great regenerative development by the Brighton Permaculture Trust called the ‘scrumping project’.
I have planned to visit the Potager du Roi in Versailles this weekend. Another orchard created for a European reigning figure of the 17th century to be renovated, which I am keen to discover after my visit to Kroměříž in Moravia in October. Continue reading
