Veg Patch part 1

Or potager, as we are, after all, in France. I have gazillions of photos of my veggie patch over the 7 years I have been growing in it, so trying to find a handful to post is like looking for a needle in a haystack! But I have said I will start with some background, so what better than to show a few before and afters - not that there will ever be a finished veg patch as it were, as it is something that is constantly changing. 

I have a 5 bed rotation sytem and one smaller, triangular bed which has my redcurrants and blackcurrants in it. I am also very into letting things self seed, particularly nasturtiums, coriander, dill and the last few years (and I don't really get much of a say in the matter as they are thugs!), borage and magenta orach. All are edible, pretty and nearly all are beneficial to wildlife in one way or another. I will post about some of them individually in the future......

Before we bought the house July 2004 -
it was much weedier than this when we started digging it over that autumn.
I have kept that peach tree in the foreground which has grown hugely.

That first winter we dug and weeded
and enlarged and refenced

First growing season 2005 -
a good crop of yellow labels coming up!

Despite a very dry summer and no compost in the ground
we managed a good harvest that first year

Fast forward several years and
we now have posh old pallet edging.....

2010

'Rustic' gateway with self seeded Nasturtiums and Verbena bonariensis