 Okay, let's do our best to stay on time tonight. And let's wrap up tonight talking about potager gardens. I must confess, I've never heard of that term before, but so I'm really interested in this situation here. These gardens use design elements and companion plants to create areas that are both beautiful and produce delicious vegetables. So here to provide some tips on this type of garden is Carrie Knudsen. She's the horticulture agent in Grand Forks County. Carrie's been with NDSU Extension for 14 years and plants and gardening are her passion. And she provides garden related programming to a wide variety of audiences. Her favorite programs are youth gardens and then going out to house calls to help her county residents figure out the horticulture problems. So Carrie, welcome to the forums. All right, thank you, Tom, and good evening, everyone. I must admit, like Tom, when I first heard about potager gardens, I was interested in them trying to, wanting to learn more about them. And it was actually my master gardeners that introduced the topic to me. So I'm kind of doing this presentation for some selfish reasons. I wanted to learn about the topic as well. And if you were on the webinars last week, John talked about creating diversity in the soil. So this evening, we're going to talk about creating diversity above the ground. We're going to go through some background information on potager gardens. That is as close as I'm going to get to the French pronunciation. Sometimes English pronunciation, we do say potage gardens or potager gardens. We're going to discuss some design principles you can incorporate into your current garden design. We're going to go through some different planting options and some companion planting ideas to help you get the most out of your garden and create that biodiversity. So potager is a French word based on potage, which means soup of broth with vegetables. So a potager garden is simply just a vegetable garden. They are year-round kitchen gardens whose sole purpose is to supply the kitchen with produce. Usually a potager garden has herbs, vegetables and flowers and fruit trees, all within a structured plan based on repetitive geometric designs. Potager gardens go way back into ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and they stretch into the Middle Ages in the walls of medieval monasteries. These cultural outposts were small, isolated and mostly self-sufficient. Within the monasteries, the monks tended fruits and vegetable gardens that were laid out in geometric forms. The beds were usually clustered in symmetrical groups intended by hand so the plots were small. During the Renaissance, French landscapes were reconfigured into large-scale geometric gardens based on the monks' designs, but these gardens were designed to be seen as an extension of the house and divided into rooms connected with paved paths. The rooms were kitchen gardens, orchards, green spaces and mazes. Along with literature and clothing, the French took food in the kitchen gardens to new heights of complexity and extravagance. As seen in this picture here, these are the kitchen gardens at the Chateau Vélandre and the vegetables were still designed to be used in the kitchen, but they were planted based on their design elements such as color, texture and shape. The good news for us is that we don't have to own a castle or a large estate to incorporate the principles of a potager garden. These gardens, as in the picture you see here, can be extremely informal and they're also very similar to English kitchen gardens or cottage gardens. So as we have seen, potager gardens are not something new. However, the design principles were lost as the early American gardens and gardeners basically treated their gardens like field crops. The settlers depended on large amounts of produce for fresh fruits and vegetables during the summertime and also to have enough to preserve and store for their families over winter. So they were seen as more utilitarian in nature and the result was gardening moving away from the beauty and benefit of designs that included diverse plants. Today some of us are still stuck in that rut, myself included, of the traditional garden with straight rows, only one plant in a row and enough space in between the rows to get your weeding done. Now trends are moving back towards kitchen gardens and potager style gardens, creating vegetable gardens that please the eye produce a bountiful harvest and benefit the environment. I love this quote, inspiration is complicity with nature rather than desire to impose order. And it's talking about how to plan a potager garden and it's from kitchen gardens beyond the vegetable patch from the Blocren Botanic Gardens. I think it gives us gardeners permission to get out of our traditional gardening row and then not being so strict in our layout and try something different. So when you're thinking about designing your potager type garden, it should be designed like your favorite room and feel like your favorite chair. You also wanna consider the framework around it. How do you want the garden to feel? What image do you want it to portray? Do you want it to be a more formal type garden or more informal like an English cottage or kitchen garden? Before you start making plans, you need to consider how your new ideas are gonna fit into your existing garden space. The best thing to do is make a map of your garden, draw it out on paper and do a quick site analysis. You wanna consider the views from your windows that you might spend a lot of time by or seating areas in the garden or in your lawn. And don't forget about the views from above, especially if you have a second story house. What do you wanna see maybe from your window when you wake up in the morning? Also think about existing structures, whether it's a fence or a utility building and how that can fit into your design and how you can use microclimates within your yard to your advantage. Maybe you have an area that you've been ignoring that is maybe a little bit hotter and drier and you can find some plants that do well in that area for you. And also if you have an area that's a little cooler and wetter, what plants could you grow in there? You also need to think about how you're gonna maintain your garden and the pathways you'll need for access and just function in your landscape. When thinking about design for a portrait garden, you wanna try to divide your garden space into units or modules. And this allows you to group plants together for better crop rotation. And it also allows you to keep the dimensions smaller. Typically about the dimensions you would use for any raised beds, so about four feet across. So you can easily reach in from the other side and this helps reduce soil compaction or getting muddy feet as you're working in the garden as well. Units are naturally created if you're using a raised bed or if you have a traditional in-ground large vegetable garden bed, you can divide the bed into units or modules with mulch. Repetition can also be used to create a pleasing overall design. The same types of plants can be used multiple times to create unity with color or texture. Consistent use of materials throughout the garden also helps unify the design. For example, if you are have raised beds or are gonna build raised beds, building a lot of wood, maybe using trellising materials that are wood or installing a fence that has wood material. If you want to hide garden structures or there's hardware in your garden that you wanna hide, the best color for it to be is black because it will naturally recede into the background and let the green leaves shine through. We often forget that a garden should have a vertical orientation when we are doing our traditional type gardening. Vertical aspects can be easily added to any garden situation. They can be boundaries such as walls or fences, even fences that are more practical on purpose for keeping pests out. Or you can add a vertical element by using trellises and then having binding plants grow up them. Also consider adding living walls for vertical aspects. You can have deciduous fruit or shrubs or trees that will add the element into your potager garden as well. Don't forget about the doorway to your garden, a gate or even just simply an entrance into your garden sets the first impression for the garden and the tone for the garden. It can be bright or colorful or minimalized and maybe even more metaphorical in nature depending on your situation. Another thing to think about when talking about a potager type garden is the floor. Floors can be informal like your lawn or turf. So if you have different units of your garden throughout your lawn, how are you gonna connect them with your turf? And if you have a larger in-ground bed using mulch, what shape are your pathways gonna be? Pathways can also be more formal and permanent by the use of hardscape materials like rock, bricks or stone. Another design element that is used in potager type gardens is counterpoint. And this requires using contrasting elements or themes to create an overall balanced effect. Use one form and then punctuate it with its exact opposite. So in a potager garden, it's usually, the dilemma is usually to create balance between order and chaos. Usually when we talk about order in a garden, it can be the layout of the beds or the structure of the bed that provides the order and the control and the plants provide the chaotic counterpoint, especially if you have large flowing plants like tomatoes or squash. If you have raised beds or are going to put in raised beds, you'll naturally have the order or control element in the edges. For in-ground beds, you can have, make sure your beds have a good crisp edge, maybe if you use a spade or if you use some other edging material to help you achieve that effect. The opposite can also be done. You can have beds with curved flowing edges and then the plants that we planted in straight rows, the plants would be in uniform size to provide the counterpoint of control. This can also be done with colors. Using one color predominantly with accents of complementary colors or you can plant contrasting colors next to each other. For example, having alternating rows of green and red lettuce or planting yellow flowers with blue flowers. You can also use different plant structures to create counterpoint. You can plant a large leaf zucchini with a smaller leaf silocia or a large leaf cabbage with dahlias. So let's look at a couple of pictures and see if you guys can pull out some of the design elements that are create a portrait type garden. When you look at it, you definitely see the doorway. You see the gate in the wooden fence. You also see the wood in the fence as creates unity with the wood that the raised beds are made out of. There is a very formal hard scape brick path that draws your eye into the garden. And this bed also has a lot of vertical elements in each of the raised beds with the trellis and vines and also in the background with the taller grasses and trees and shrubs. And this next picture I chose to show because it shows the having controlled plants in a garden for counterpoint. This is an aerial view. You can see that the plants they chose in this garden are very similar in leaf shape and size and the bed looks very controlled and orderly. And one last picture in this bed, it showcases the counterpoint of different colors. And you can see the blue trellis and blue trellis materials and the blue flowers. And just at the bottom, just starting to peek out as the counterpoint of red and orange flowers. Other ideas to design a portrait type garden is to simply do as you would any other annual or perennial garden, excuse me, order plants from tallest to shortest. So in the picture, I apologize, the slides kind of got mixed up when it got converted, but in the back are some flowers. In the middle are zucchini and in front is kale. And then you can also use geometry in your planting instead of planting things in the straight rose plants and circles, triangles and swirls. I've seen in the picture on the bottom with the green and red lettuce. All right, let's switch over to companion planting. Companion planting, intercropping or polyculture is a management strategy of planting different crops together. The idea is that planting two more plants together will enhance the growth and quality of nearby plants. The oldest type of companion planting is a three sisters method with corn, squash and beans. Corn is the trellis for beans. Beans give nitrogen to the corn and squash provides ground cover to prevent weed growth. Scientists have found that there are definite benefits to adding diversity to your garden, primarily because certain plants attract and support beneficial insects, which helps control pests and aids in pollination. Also the presence of different plant species growing together can disrupt the ability of pests to find their host plants. Specific plant feeding insects find their hosts by sight and smell and these cues can be disrupted by aromatic or bushy plants. That being said, there is not a perfect companion plant out there that can address all the needs of a given vegetable, a given garden or a given location. Many of the recommendations out there in terms of companion planting are not always tested in a research study but are more anecdotal in nature. Therefore results are gonna vary from gardener to gardener and location to location. There is no harm in growing plants in a companion plant situation. If you planted basil to hopefully deter some insects and it doesn't work, you still have the basil. Unless you planted the basil with not intending to use it, then you're kind of losing your space in the productivity of your garden. So look at the information that I, we're gonna go through here or the information that you find out on the internet as a basis for your own information, for your own experimentation, not as a proven guide to success. As he said, many factors will influence productivity so keep detailed notes from year to year so you can remember what to do. Nature makes no distinction between the plants we grow for food or the plants we grow for beauty. So you as the gardener has to make that decision. When you're planting a garden with companion planting or portrait type elements, your task is to determine the right plants that match together and the right setup for a companion planting. So when you're deciding what to plant next to each other, you should be thinking about plant growth habits. Annual versus perennial, maybe more importantly, spaced requirements, light requirements and nutrient requirements. And also if the plants have an aggressive growth habit or if they're gonna reseed year after year. There are lots of ways to pair plants. You can pair plants using contrasting or complimentary properties. For example, sun loving plants providing shade to shade loving plants. So maybe planting lettuce in the shade of a taller tomato plant in hopes that it gets a little bit cooler temperature and won't bolt during the heat of our summers. You can also plant deep-rooted plants with shallow-rooted plants, slow-going with fast-growing, heavy feeders with light feeders and you can also plant based on an appearance more of a design effect. This year in my gardens, I did a lot of research on this and one thing that I kept finding was the recommendation to plant radish with carrots. The radish plants will germinate quickly and act as a natural thinning agent for the slower to germinate carrots. So I'm kinda interested in trying that out this year and seeing how it works. Now just because you're planting different plants together doesn't mean you can crowd them. The plants are still gonna compete for light, water and nutrients. So you wanna select companion plants that will not be overly competitive with each other and you want to follow at least the minimum space requirements or use the average space requirements if your grouping of plants has different needs. Also keep your family rotations in mind so that you're able to move from unit to unit year after year and not plant the same plants or the same family in the same plot year after year. So how do you start adding diversity to a protege type garden? The easiest way to do that is to start with herbs. Herbs are desirable plants themselves because they often produce small flowers that attract and support predators and parasite toids. They also tend to be aromatic in nature. So this list that I have on the slide here are herbs that have been shown to attract natural enemies or repel pests at least in some studies. Basil is pretty common when we're talking about companion planting. There are lots of books that say plant basil with tomato as it will enhance the tomato's flavor. Dill does well if you're gonna plant that in a companion type setting with cabbage, lettuce, onion, sweet corn and cucumbers. But the research I found said it was not recommended to plant with carrots or tomatoes. Garlic does well with just about everything as well except for peas and beans. So keep that in mind if you're including herbs in your garden. So how about vegetables? Should you continue to plant vegetables in straight rows or mix everything up and do more of a grid-like pattern and alternate? What should you try together? So on this list here, this is not an extensive list. It's just the basic, I guess, vegetables that one would put into a garden. And I have an equal sign for crops that in my research I found that they get along with or at least there weren't any, as they say, harmful results from planting them next together. Or if there's a not equal sign, it would be things not to plant next to the crop. So if you take a second and look through here, there's gonna be a couple things that might pop out at you. Most of what I found is everything's, for the most part, gonna get along together except the tomato family, your tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, will not get along with your cold crops. They don't get along with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and even kale. So try to keep those crops separate. Another vegetable that might be a little harder for other plants to get along with is our pole beans. So plant those a little farther apart from other vegetables. And then as I mentioned in the previous slide, alliums, garlic and onions may not get along with peas or beans. So try to avoid planting those close together. It's also important to include animal flowers in companion planting situation, and especially in a potager type garden for that design element, for that beauty. The flowers on the slide here do well in companion planting settings. They also provide a wide array of benefits to natural predators and to pollinators. One thing to remember as you're going through trying to figure out your plan for next year, what you want to plant together is don't think just by using companion planting methods in your garden, you're not gonna have any pests. It's still important to practice some integrated pest management. Make sure you're in the garden, that you're out there working and if you have insect problems, make sure that you're taking care of. Just because you maybe planted something in there to help deter a pest doesn't mean it's working. They just might be somewhere else in the garden. It's also a good idea, especially for potager type gardens to include some perennials, native perennials that would be beneficial to pollinators is a good idea. I know Esther McGinnis has a publication out, beautiful landscapes for pollinators that has some great information on native plants to include. And also don't forget about our woody elements, the small trees and shrubs that would flower in the spring for the pollinators and provide you with fruit as well. So hopefully I've inspired you to think outside the traditional gardening box, if you will, and try something new. So whether that is adding some potager design elements to your garden or mixing up your planting, trying companion planting, the garden clock is ticking. And in my case on the eastern side of the state, it's been completely reset with the snow cover that we've got. So get out your pen and pencil and start planting. Thanks, Carrie. We got a minor blizzard going on in Bismarck at this time. So you're right, our clock for nature has been changed a little bit, but it'll come back. Spring is coming. Hopefully. Right. Okay, we invite people's questions. We have one here. Are there patterns or directions available for trellises that use twine? Are there patterns or directions for trellises that use twine? Yeah, I don't quite understand. You know, I would think if you would go out there and search, they would give you different ways to design trellis systems, but I don't know any of them off the top of my head. Right. How about some of these recommendations that you have like don't plant tomatoes near cold crops or tomatoes taste better, basil grows around them. Is that science-based? Is that university, is that research-based or just anecdotal? That, as I said earlier, a lot of it is just anecdotal. In nature, it is not research-based. There were a few research studies that mostly did with production based on a large scale for purposes to be sold in the grocery store. And what they did find is that mixing your plants does provide a benefit, whether it's pest interruption or if it is plant interactions, there is a benefit to mixing up your plantings, but the nothing specific in terms that has been studied that, yes, basil, if you plant it next year, tomatoes, they're gonna taste better. It's more anecdotal in nature. Look at it as a chance to experiment on your own and see what happens. Hey, nothing wrong with basil. How about, you know this question we had about the twine in trellises? And the person comes back to us like the type of trellises that you showed in your pictures. Or maybe you can also say, is there a good resource book that you'd recommend on Portage Gardens? There is a lot of resources out there. And if you go back to my, if you can get back to my slides, I did have my references there. And there were a couple of good books on there. Or they might be on the handouts too. Yes, the last slide on your handout, that's there, it's full of references. That's great, yep. That's in the reference. There you go, thank you. Yeah, there we go. Sorry, I'm drawn a blank, I could remember. But yeah, the first three are pretty good references for Portage-type gardens. And they also had a lot of plans in there too and ideas for you to transition from, taking it with a grain of salt, to transition from cool season crops to your warm season summer crops and then back to cool season, to garden with the seasons as well. Okay, does anybody else have any questions out there? Everybody's tired and wants to go to bed. I want to look at it personally. I want to look at the winter. That too. You know, I think I have to stay in general, you know, with the kind of talks we're having this year. We're having a lot of these sessions like they're out of the box, you know, they're like, like that traditional garden he had, like, okay, here's my roll of onions. And then three feet over, I'm gonna have my roll of tomatoes and then there I'm gonna have my roll of whatever. And so we're kind of, the thrust of what we're having is like with John's talk, you know, your talk, using crafted plants. It really is kind of, it really is thought provoking. It's inspirational. It's, you know, it could be, you know, it could be, it's really interesting. And as you said, you know, it's time to explore. It's a great, you know, I think that's a great theme. Even growing those crazy pomados, they taught that that Chewan was talking about, that it's kind of fun to explore and try new things. Okay, last call for questions. Oh, I see, the problem is Carrie, they're just, you got them thought provoking, you know, they're just- Okay, that's good. Write down those notes. Maybe they're kind of bewildered a little bit. You shot them, you know, like a punch in the face and now they're kind of go, wow, you know. Wow, so much ideas. What can I do? So that brings, okay, let's, you know, I'm gonna thank you Carrie for tonight. Again, that was very inspiring. And, you know, if this was really thought provoking for you and you want to watch it again, we should say that all our presentations are taped and recorded, okay. And Bob Birch, our outstanding person, he processes and edits them and then we post them on the Spring Fever website. So just give us a few days and we'll get these presentations so I can tell your friends to watch it. Maybe you missed the last week's sessions. Both sessions are on the Spring Fever website and we'll, we've done that for years and we'll continue doing that. So we always have our sessions recorded. I really want to give a special thanks to both Bob Birch and Scott Swanson in Department of Agriculture Communications. We could not do this without you two guys. You are just exceptional and just so helpful in making, pulling off this type of event. And so I'll just wish everybody a good night and we'll see you again next week, next Thursday night where we're gonna be featuring fruits and landscapes. So we'll see you next week, everybody. Good night.