Du potager au bassin de natation naturel OR From vegetable garden to natural swimming basin

The potager circa 2022…full production mode…SO MANY veggies!

When we moved to Puyloyer, we acquired a Charentais “potager”–a vegetable garden. Or at least we got the dedicated space for a vegetable garden. It was basically a weed patch surrounded by wooden fencing when we started. But having a potager is a traditional part of life in this region and we wanted to give it a try. So we began the long (and often arduous) process of clearing, weeding prepping and planting. It was a lot of work and fun. We also used the potager as an opportunity to connect with neighbors.

Fixing fences, putting in pathways, defining planting beds and WEEDING.
Ell, Ewen and Molly plant potatoes.

For the first five years (2018 through 2022) we gardened a lot and harvested a lot of vegetables and fruit–potatoes, tomatoes, lettuces, squash, zuchini, pumpkins, corn, haricot verts/green beans, onions, garlic, beets (great on the grill), strawberries and LOTS of raspberries. It turns out that sometimes you CAN have too much of a good thing…except for raspberries. You can never have too many raspberries!

Sweet corn, not usually grown by French gardeners.
Haricots vert
Framboises….raspberries, affectionately known as GDR…god damn raspberries.

At some point in 2022 (no doubt while pulling and cursing the evil bind weed), Sallie said she had a great idea for reducing our workload related to the potager. “Let’s put in a natural pool!” Sounded like a great idea. So the research began and soon thereafter…voila!

The paysagiste and crew arrives…
Brings a whole new meaning to “turning the soil”…
Getting rid of the weeds efficiently…

We chose a system that uses aquatic plants and micro organisms to filter the water, in conjunction with pumps and aeration. Our paysagiste (landscape gardener) Monsieur Roger has a lot of experience working with the BioNova system. To say it was a lot of work is an understatement but the results were/are amazing.

The circular feature in the foreground is a plant and micro-organism “tank” (below ground). The large area in the bassin is for swimming, exercising and hanging out, with a deep end to allow diving. The “dark area” is a deep pond that has water lillies and other aquatic plants and there are two additional plant/water filter zones with skimmers, on either sides of stone steps.
Better than pumpkins, potatoes and endless weeding…way better. The wood fencing and cabana was done by a local artisan from chestnut.

Corten steel edging the garden beds and the forest of raspberries, paritally visible on the upper right. More raspberry canes are being added…because you can never have too many.

As I am writing this (May 2024), we are getting ready for our second summer pool season. During the winter, everything is “turned off” and bassin goes dormant (it even froze over twice). Algae and dead looking plants were making us second guess our decision, but we’re happy to report that once the system(s) were turned back on this spring, things cleaned up and the plants have come back beautifully. There is still work involved to be sure, but the reward and enjoyment is exponentially better. Here’s to a great summer ahead…and many more to come.

Water lily/lotus flower, May 2024.

Published by Geoff

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