French Intensive Gardening Method

 

PHOTOS

 

Photos are indeed worth a thousand words, and I'm posting these here for the benefit of folks on a few gardening list-servs I subscribe to. Even a cursory search of the literature will show that the French intensive method was done with 100% horse manure, and nothing else for "soil". The manure was mostly "dry", but in the early part of the growing season, when it was coldest, fresh manure would be added to the perimeter of the frames in order to generate more heat. The combination of manure as the growing medium, and cloches and lights to keep the cold out, and with the addition of thick rye mats as a cover during the night lengthened the growing season considerably by providing an early, rich, and warm habitat for a great variety of produce. French gardeners grew and marketed an enormous amount of produce by using a system which changed very little over several hundreds of years.

 

 

A few old classics in English on French intensive gardening, 1910 & 1913

 

 

Cool ads from the front endpapers of the book by Aquatias

 

 

Basket for carrying manure

 

 

Box or frame for three lights

 

 

10,000 Cloches

 

 

Frames, Lights, and Mat Coverings

 

 

Mat Made of Rye Straw

 

 

Frames and Lights 1

 

 

Frames and Lights 2

 

 

Lettuce, carrots, and cauliflowers growing in one frame. Radishes having already been pulled

 

 

Carrots and cauliflowers growing, with frames and lights just taken off after lettuce and radishes have been marketed

 

 

Melon Cultivation

 

 

Planting in the open ground


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