Put it into practice

Practical guides

Concrete action sheets to go from theory to the garden.

The garden's foundation

Understand your soil

Before choosing your plants, understand your ground: its texture and its pH, and everything gets simpler.

Clay soil

Heavy and sticky, but rich in minerals: a soil you have to earn.

Sandy soil

Light, warm, free-draining: it works well but wears out fast.

Silty soil

Soft as flour, fertile and easy, but it forms a surface cap.

Chalky soil

Crumbly, alkaline, easy to work, but often shallow.

Acidic soil

Low pH (< 7): the realm of heath (ericaceous) plants.

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Practical guides

Succeeding with cuttings

The step-by-step method for rooting a cutting, and the right type of cutting for each plant, from basil to fig.

Four-year rotation

Rotating legumes, nightshades, cucurbits and root vegetables.

Ground-cover plants

Avoid leaving the soil bare: it erodes and dries out.

Useful borders

The must-haves to plant along the edge of the vegetable garden.

Multi-species hedge

Windbreak, wildlife shelter, food: the hedge is an ecosystem in itself.

Insect hotels & habitats

Maximise the presence of beneficials through suitable refuges.

Designing with zones and sectors

Organising your place intelligently according to frequency of use and outside influences.

Managing water in the garden

Slow, infiltrate, store and gently spread water across the plot.

Advanced composting

Choosing the right composting method for your needs and resources.

Saving your own seeds

Becoming self-reliant in seed: selection, harvest, drying, storage.

Permaculture in the city

Growing and fertilising even without land: balcony, terrace, roof, community garden.

Adapting to climate change

Six concrete levers to withstand drought, heatwave and excess water.

Integrating a small livestock

Hens, ducks, bees: closing the fertility loops in the garden.

Choosing and testing your ground (heavy metals)

Before planting, listen to the soil, what it bears, what it has seen, what it holds.

Growing on contaminated or doubtful soil

When the soil is not ideal, the strategies to grow anyway, healthily and calmly.

Creating, maintaining and cultivating a food pond

Designing a tiered pond, balancing it durably, and growing cattail in it safely, a generous ecosystem that needs very little upkeep, provided you respect the water quality and contain the vigorous plants.

Germination, step by step

Understanding what a seed needs to wake up, water, air, warmth, and the steps to succeed with your sowings, break dormancy and test your old seeds.

Creating a shade structure (plant pergola)

Putting up a structure and dressing it with climbers to create a living shady corner, choosing the plant according to what you want: quick coolness, hanging fruit, or decoration.

Growing all year round under cover

Fleece, cold frame, tunnel or greenhouse: choosing your shelter, placing it, airing and watering it, to sow earlier, harvest later and pick leafy greens in the depths of winter.