John Lyons of Woven Garden waters the kitchen garden that he designed and planted in the style of a French potager -- four rectangular raised beds, divided by gravel pathways, set in a sunny spot -- at the Pacific Palisades home of Alex Seros and Walter Ulloa.
Lyons thins chives from the raised beds in the vegetable garden. The difference between a California kitchen garden and the average French potager is that it doesnt have an off-season, says the gardener, who has been installing and tending organic kitchen gardens around Los Angeles for three years. We have a 365-day growing season here. So many people overlook this.
Lyons hold a fresh harvest of carrots and green onions from the vegetable garden. Unlike a French potagers traditional tidy rows of carrot tops, perfectly spaced lettuce heads and coiffed herbs, this gardens plantings are looser, with many vegetables flowering.
Lyons waters the vegetable garden. I let a lot go to seed, he says. The flowers attract beneficial insects. Hes hoping for some chalcid wasps. They eat all sorts of aphids.