Potager is a fancy french term to describe the small kitchen garden that was planted near the house kitchen for convienence. It was designed to be attracticve since it was in the garden space near the living space. A main veg garden was usually planted away from the house proper. So, the Potager was a mixture of herbs, a few veg, an espaliered fruit tree, and flowers. Potage is French for soup and the idea is to have a space right next to the kitchen so you could dash out to get a few staples to make a meal in a hurry. Another term now in usage is the edible landscape because that is what happens when you mix fruit and veg with your regualr landscaped garden.

Here is my former lawn that is now an edible landscape. Pictured in Nov 2007.

John

www.thewovengarden.com

Square foot gardening focuses more on the crops and potager-ing focuses more on the ornamentation.
Even so SFG aims to be beautiful and potagers aim to be productive.

A potager is an intermingling of fruit and veggies, herbs and flowers. It is meant to be pleasing to the eye, as well as the palate. It was traditionally surrounded by fencing of various materials, such as stone or wood. The fencing was dual purpose - it kept out the animals that might harm or eat the plants and it served as a quiet refuge from the other daily activities. Today you can see potagers enclosed more simply, as with evergreen shrubs, since farm animals aren't a problem for most of us. Mine is surrounded by a simple white picket fence that my hubby built. I garden in the cottage style so it's a perfect fit.

Potager = edible beauty : )

Diana