Where are you in Europe?

While welcoming Potagere to DG (wow, another subscriber in France!) I started wondering where everyone lives in Europe.
When I moved to France 2 years ago I was the only subscriber living in France. I've just had a look at the list and there are now 4 others - and Potagere makes 5 :)
I hope you all come and join us here on the european forum

To all in europe, please come and tell us where you live :)
It's probably been done before, but I think we have a number of new people around the continent, so......?

I live in Farges, a small village on the slopes of the Jura, not too far from Geneva, Switzerland, and just a few km from the Pas de Collonges, the narrow defile through which the Rhone exits Switzerland and begins its long, wine-drenched flow to the sea, and through which Caesar drove the migrating Helvetians in the first of his "Gallic Wars".

That sounds so romantic, and poetic! The photo is superb with the mountains floating above the mist. What a great place it must be to live. Thanks for showing us your part of the world Potagere and for the condensed geography and history.
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wow, that looks stunning Potager, beautiful counrtyside. I adore mountains...

my ideal home would be right on the sea-shore, with mountains in the background, moorlands to one side, and woodlands to the other, not too greedy, eh?

I live on the outskirts of a town called Weymouth, in Dorset, I'm lucky enough to be near the sea, I can smell and hear it, and just see it from my bedroon window, and various places in the garden (on tipee toes that is)

We have lovely countryside around us, and the stunning, now world heritage Jurrasic coast within easy reach.

Abboptsbury gardens too is virtually on my doorstep, a beautiful place to visit.Huge Gunneras, tropical plants, trees etc.

The Isle of Portland and the Chesil beach are a few minutes drive from my place also, fantastic on a wild day, waves crashing over the shore, and occassionally over the houses and pubs too...There's a lovely cafe there at the Portland Bill, called the Lobster pot , where you can sit on a wet and wild day , watching the frantic seas outside, just don't stand in front of the lighthouse though whilst it's going, heart-stopping...

I have lived in other places shortly, but longed for Weymouth.

Hello Potagere,

Wow! What an absolutely stunning view. What altitude are you living at, and, what plants do you grow?

Lucky sueone. I used to live near the sea, and, I'd love to move nearer the coast again. So many more possibilities with borderline half hardy plants.

Welcome to DG Potagere and to Prophetfive and Zest too.

Good idea Philomel, the Canadian forum has a regular welcome to various new subscribers from Canada, it would be nice to do it more for the European forum too.

Err where was I, oh yes. I live in the New Forest district, the New Forest (as definied by the disliked National Park status) is a stones throw away and I spend a little of most days wandering about in it with Bo the dog. It's houses some of our rarest flora and fauna although seeing the rare species is not always as easy as one might think.

We are quite close to Southampton Water and have the advantage of the sea being fairly close, the acid sand and gravels of the forest and the chalk downlands make for some interesting plant hunting.

Hampshire is what I think of as typically British, most of the towns and cities have the old and new welded together. A friend recently said he didn't know his way around Winchester these days which made me laugh. I know there have been changes but the basic layout of the town centre has pretty much remained the same.

This message was edited Jun 3, 2006 1:31 AM

I'm completely going off the topic here, but need abit of advice from you guys with experience of France.

We're booked to go to Moelan Sur Mere at the end of August, and am driving down from Calais, wer're hoping to stop half way down somewhere near Caen possibly, can anyone recommend motel type place en route as we won't be arriving until about 12 midnight We're going via the A28/29 so anything thats on the route would be fab,( a bit like our motels that you pull straight off the motorway into)

I've not visited France properly before (apart from trip to hypermarket ) am really looking forewards to it.

There are hotels just like you are describing here too. I think Ibis and Best Western are 2 chains that might do what you're looking for.

Have a lovely time.

sueone, I spent 2 weeks driving around France and did some camping, some hotels. You should find an abundance of them, every little village or main route has them and they do meals too. I never looked in advance for somewhere to stay and always found a place easily. If you're in a bigger town then always head towards the railway station, there are always hotels near them.

For camping, I had a Michigan book on camp sites and by following the most camp sites I found the most scenic route too. You will also find plenty of hotels.

Sorry, I may come back and give a litle history of where I am later.

It's interesting to see where everyone lives. I live in a small town at about 600 ft above sea level at the foot of the Pennines. We are classed as Sheffield, but are actually 10 miles away. The town is in a steep valley and is surrounded by beautiful countryside. There is woodland five minutes walk away and the heather and bilberry covered moors are about a 20 minute walk.

The town itself grew up around the steel industry making among other things, hoops for crinoline skirts and umbrella frames. My great uncle, Harry Brearly actually discovered stainless steel when he was a metallurgist at the steel works, and that is what they specialise in now.

We are surrounded on all sides by farms, but quite a lot of them are having their outbuildings and barns converted into "desirable" residences and selling off the land, which seems all to be being bought by people with horses. It seems quite strange to no longer see fields full of cows. It also makes me feel quite sad to think what will happen when there is nowhere for the swallows to nest if all their traditional nesting places have been converted to housing. Sorry I'm going off the subject.

Anyway, I've lived here all my life and don't think I'll move now, although I think I could be tempted by somewhere with a lovely view much nearer to the coast!

Sounds beautiful Patbarr, I've never been that far North, but I understand that it's stunning scenery in places.

I agree with you about the face on the counrty side changing now, agriculture is sadly waning, God forbid if we ever are in a position that we need to supply our own food again..we'd be lacking I think.

I do a lot of family history, and in the 1800's a huge chunk of the population were agrucultural workers and farmers, only with the industrial revolution did that start to change.I love to hera about others families too, and you obviously know a lot about yours.

Sadly we were lacking, agricultural wise, the last time and the time before that too. We were only able to feed ourselves 9 days out of 30, little had improved by WW2, the Industrial Revolution had seen a rocketing population and the countryside emptied. As bad as the factories were, you fared better there than on the farm.

The time was when farming in GB was so depressed, in some regions you could literally wander onto an empty farm and then ask the local government for recognition of ownership.

Nowadays you can't move for the townie weekenders and goodlifers and the local yokels can't afford to buy the land. How times change!

Hello Baa,

Yes, HOW TIMES CHANGE!!

Did anyone pick up on the great Polytunnel Debate on Jeremy Vine's show BBC 2 last week.

i.e Townies complaining about farmers turning to 'exotic fruit' production, using polytunnels, in the U.K.

The same people who expect to pay next to nothing for out of season strawberries etc, at their local supermarket, are now complaining about the new "polytunnel pollution". It makes my blood boil!

I didn't listen to that one but I did catch the one a month or two ago where Jeremy Vine had Monty Don espousing his views re the Strawberries and Polytunnels.

As is often the case when I hear Mr Don taking a 'view point' I was fuming. His media persona and I had a huge falling out a few years ago when he wrote some articles about farming for a newspaper. I was baking at the time and didn't have time to run up the stairs and rattle off an email to the show (not that they ever read mine out LOL). It was good to hear both sides of the story though.

Thank goodness there is someone else who doesn't rate Monty Don. You can tell he is only following a script, and his eyes actually glaze over with a strange expression when he is having to say something he doesn't necessarily agree with. It isn't long ago that he actually said that he saw no reason why you shouldn't use weedkiller to clear ornamental areas as it was a quick and easy to clear the ground. Now he is having to toe the organic gardening line for the T.V. I bet he still uses herbicides at home - not near the veg of course.

I like Carol Kleine (not sure how you spell it) and the plump one who wears proper gardening clothes, although they tried to smarten her up with flowery skirts and cardigans for a while. They obviously know about and love plants and aren't posing for the camera all the time.

I am going on a rant - sorry.

I have quite gone off gardening programmes recently. I hate all this instant gardening, fashionable plants and being told what should go where, and themed gardens. Gardens are personal and you can have whatever you like, and the best way to find out about plants is to read books and visit other gardens.

I feel much better for that!

Here is a picture I took in my garden this morning.

Now I have to agree with you all on Monty Don, I got so annoyed with what he was saying and his attitude towards the others I just stopped watching the programme. Chris Beardshaw is trained and he was being made to look stupid, I doubt MD even knew how to handle a spade before he got the job, you know what they say, not what you know but who you know. Pat I thought his eyes glazed over when he was trying to think of which line came next! He once said about tomatoes in pots in greenhouse that they will need watering once a week!

Pat I agree with you on gardens, they are personal and it doesn't matter if anyone else likes them or not. Yours looks very comforting and inviting.

OK I have been lazy, my turn. I live about 10 miles from the centre of Lincoln, in part of an old cottage which once belonged to the main grounds of an old Estate Hall which was burnt down some years ago. I have 1/3 of an acre and when I moved here over 8 years ago there was very little garden, mainly a few rhododendrons in borders and a lot of rough old grass full of moss. I have developed most of it, collected plants first, mostly by growing from seed or growing from young plants, and then dug beds to put them in.

It is a lovely quiet area with many oak trees lining the road and wooded areas close by. Lincoln is expanding rapidly but I don't think we will be crowded out, there are big housing developments in every nook and cranny on the outskirts of the city. Many are huge residences, but they squash them together with postage stamp gardens and a narrow gap between, just to say they are 'detached'. Many people have moved from the south, selling high, buying low, pushing the prices sky high. Great if you want to sell, but that would mean doing the same, moving to a cheaper area. Terrible for local people who are on low wages and will never be able to afford even the cheapest property.

Lincoln is the capital city of Lincolnshire,( around 120 miles north of London) has a cathedral on top of the hill (which was the tallest building in the world from 1311-1549 when it's spire collapsed) and a castle nearby, where there is still a High Court. There is a new University, started in 1996, which has grown to huge proportions blotting out the view to the hill, and every old building or warehouse is being converted to student accommodation. Every business premise which has vacated has also been converted to trendy wine bars. It is not necessarily a bad thing, in ways it has to be good, but I hate going shopping or anywhere now, the roads are crowded and traffic lights and pedestrian crossings everywhere.

Lincoln was a Roman soldier settlement, there is a Roman arch still standing. There has been a strong tradition of engineering in the city, but as with many industries this is always under threat.

Like Patt, I have a certain connection with the past industries if only by my first marriage. My mother in law's father was the inventor of the packaging machine, they were shop keepers and he saw a need, but couldn't afford the risk. His friend did, and it became Roses of Gainsborough, packers of confectionery and chocolates.

Ooooh we're getting some really interesting snippets on this thread - thanks so much everyone, it makes a great read!

Hello fellow European members! Introducing myself as a very new member who lives in Spain (Javea) since moving two years ago from Southampton (Hampshire) I have attached a photo of our mountain (Montgo) which is right behind us. I think we are zone 10a or 10b, depending on the winter of choice. Winter before last our palm trees were covered in snow - a wonderful strange sight. Things must be changing though because according to our longstanding ex-pats this never happens.

Javea has an old historic centre (el pueblo) and a port (el puerto) as well as the beach (Arenal) with its usual beach bars and restaurants. I am still learning about gardening in a mediterranean climate. Learned the hard way how not to leave tender/tropicals out on the naya in winter...my monstera did fine outside (under cover) but my frangipani kicked it! The range of plants growing here is fangtastic. From European Planes to Papaya! Incredible.

Hope to get to know a few of you a bit better as I navigate the vast seas of information here at DG.

Saludos
Lizzy

Hi BIZZYLIZZY, welcome to DG!

There is a lot to navigate, if you need help just ask.

I see orange trees too, what a beautiful view to wake up to! My palm had snow on it this winter too, but it is a hardy one so not likely to kick it. Good luck with your gardening efforts, I am trying to grow tropicals here!

Hello B1ZZYL1ZZY, a very warm welcome to DG
Yes, don't drown in the vast seas LOL, you can always pop back to the european forum if you're in danger of getting swamped ;o))

What a lovely mountain!
I'm in SW France (Gascony) so not quite Mediterranean climate, but close.....
I look forward to hearing more about your plants and your move to Spain. I've been here about two years as well, having moved from Kent. Funnily enough I think the winters are colder here than in Kent (though not for so long), but the other seasons are warmer and much sunnier. I have an olive tree that fruits and grow nectarines, persimmons etc etc
Lemon and Kumquat join me inside for the winter

Welcome to our forum B1zzyL1zzy. You should have quite a lot in common with our European members as several live in similar climates to you. It must be quite a challenge adapting to a completely new climate, knowing what to plant and when.

The scenery looks wonderful and the orange groves must smell divine.

I grow quite a few plants more suited to a Mediterranean (or generally warmer) climate, figs, olive, kiwi fruit, grapes, lemons, banana, but they mostly stay in the greenhouse or conservatory. Maybe I should emigrate.

Hello again - thank you for your welcome.

I took this piccie today just so I could show you what i have to condend with here!!! Would post more but don't want to make you envious ;) Actually, I must tell you that they do far better without any help from me. The natural beauty of the plants and simple structure of the garden is a complete winner. I had not a hand in this so I am not blowing my own. Just can't believe my luck. We also have an olive grove with about 12 trees - all mature fruiting. I am tempted to preserve my own olives - but everyone says forget it just buy them from the market!!!

You will see in the photo our grapevine which last year I completely ruined by watering at the wrong time. The fruits split open and I had to cut them all off. It really can be a challenge.

Tonight is warm and sultry and the cicadas have started their regular concerto. All the windows are open and it feels like we're living in the tropics! This part of Comunidad Valenciana is very green due to the high humidity. I know everybody claims to live in a micro climate these days, but this really is one.

Somebody said the other day that Spain is a cold country with lots of sun. Well, its certainly true of parts of it. I can testify that I have never been colder in my life than in our house in the middle of January with only a wood burner for heat! Of course the further inland you go the more extreme the temperatures get. 44 deg C is a bit much for me though.

Before I go, the Montgo mountain from a certain angle, looks like a sleeping elephant and I will get a photo to show you - its very quaint.


Sorry, I'm going on...hasta la proxima!

Does this mean that you don't miss cold old dreary old Britain for one teensy weensy minute?

I must think of the plants I CAN grow! I have a grape vine in a greenhouse, and I get ripe grapes. Tasty too, but they have pips. I have 2 olive trees I grew from seed, nearly 6 years old, one has decided to die back to the bottom but is resprouting. I don't suppose I will get olives, but they can be bought cheaply.

Very nice Spanish tiles echoing the agapanthus, or the other way around!

You sound as though your feet haven't touched the ground yet.

Hi BIZZYLIZZY and welcome to Daves, it's quite exciting that we seem to be getting more European members.

I'm so envious of you 'courtyard'? it looks stunning, and warm......

It's really friendly on here, no sniping and nastiness like some other sites, everyone chips in and is more than willing to help each other.

Keep posting those pics, it's great to see how other people live, and their gardens

Hi Sue

It's nice to be here, thanks for the welcome.

What you see above is called a Naya here. It is very warm and south-facing. The two smaller vines are Moscato di Roma, which we planted in 2005 to add to the other red variety (not sure what it is) These cast a lovely shade which beats those stripey awnings hands down!!!

We get a terrible mildew on the red grapes from the very start of fruiting, which I have tried to cure by spraying with a copper based product. It seems to have no effect at all. Any pointers from other med gardeners out there would be much appreciated. As you can see from the picture they are open and airy so I don't understand why they should be so affected. Could be the variety? Still waiting for the Moscato to fruit for comparison (maybe next year)

Also, does anybody know of a European supplier of vermiculite outside of the UK?

Bizzy if you could find out the variety of the red grape you might find it is susceptible to mildew, or some other form of fungi. Mildew on other plants is caused by dryness, many mistakenly believe it's from too much wet. Perhaps it needs more water, I hope it isn't another disease which may spread to your other vines. Sometimes plants suffer form mildew until well established, then they have larger roots and can cope better, but your vine sounds like it was already established. Perhaps some ground cover to help keep in moisture would help.

If you ask around someone may know of a 'typical' red grape grown in the area, or if there is a fungi of some sort know to these grapes.

Are you thinking of making your own wine? I imagine that is the same as olives, local wines are often very good and very cheap. That, and the good food would be enough to tempt me to move, sitting outside in the evening on the patio, soaking up the warm night atmosphere, it must be a constant holiday! I'm not good with extreme heat either, coastal areas are perfect. Sigh........

Wallaby (sorry I don't know your real name) This vine is at least ...years old (big thick stem). Re the watering..I'm in a catch 22 if I water the skins spit open and if I don't it get mildew. I will ask around about the variety.

I always feel like I'm on holiday!

Lizzy, it's Janet. I assume you are Lizzy then?

I see what you mean about the water, if grapes are filling that can happen if too much is given at once. Stones around the roots may help, and smaller amounts of water more often?

Oh to be permanently on holiday!

How remiss of me, my apologies B1zzyL1zzy and a belated Welcome to DG!

We're a stones throw from Southampton you've certainly improved on your scenery by moving LOL.

Is it powdery or downy mildew that infects your vines?

Baa...good question-powdery.

I used to look over Southampton Water towards you. I wouldn't say it was a bad view considering. We used to watch the Liners coming into the docks whilst sitting on the loo (sorry if that is too much information). Actually, it was such a nice view that I would often come up and sit on the loo just for that porpoise. BTW Fawey (by night) is a sight to behold - like a mini twinkling NYC.

Janet... you are probably right...I'll put MORE gravel down ;) We did get a downpour just 3 weeks ago - maybe that was enough to do it.

- Lizzy

This message was edited Jun 22, 2006 1:58 PM

Powdery mildew overwinters on other plant hosts, dead leaves, the plant bark and possibly on leaf buds so preventative treatments on a regular basis from early spring onwards can help to reduce a full blown attack later in the year. Sulphur based fungicides are usually pretty good although it might be worth finding one that's says it's ok for grapes or possibly a bicarbonate of soda mix, the recipe and efficacy report varies depending on who's writing.

While dry roots and lack of P&K can help powdery mildew get a hold it's high humidity that promotes it's growth and spread. Unlike downy mildew it doesn't require a wet surface on the leaf for spore germination, a wet surface film prevents the spores from germinating so a good spell of rain every week can really help but I imagine that's fairly impractical in Spain and of course if there is any excess water it only encourages other fungal diseases like downy mildew!

I lived in Netley Abbey for 9 years until 2003 and yes the sight of Fawley improves vastly with nightfall LOL although the flat wasn't on the shore line so I couldn't see it from the house.

Welcome to DG Lizzy. It's a very friendly and interesting place, but it's certainly difficult to keep up with all the threads! I've been a member for about a year now, and have to keep reducing the number of forums I watch....
I'm also in Spain, but the far North, so the climate and plants are Atlantic, not Mediterranean. I've been here nearly 19 years now, (married to a Basque), living in a village surrounded by green hills and mountains, just a stone's throw from the coast, the French border and the Pyrenees. I feel very lucky to live in such a beautiful place.
I haven't been able to find anywhere selling vermiculite or perlite in this part of Spain - I end up bringing bags back from Britain when we go back with the car about once a year.
Maggi xxxx

Thank you so much Baa for all your information. It helps to know these things. Next year I will start earlier with the spraying. I'll give Bicarb a go - it sound much nicer than garden chemicals!!!

You hit the nail on the head about the humidity combined with the dry roots. It just makes me wonder what all the vinyards around here do to avoid it (maybe I don't want to know). :o(

Hello Maggi What a stunning place you live in. Mind you that Atlantic can be a bit of a 'mare...me mediterranean lover only for that reason. Basque country is beautiful.

Luckily vermiculite is wonderfully light so friends don't mind bringin it back for us!!! They just think I'm weird. LOL

Just a thought about the mildew, one organic remedy is to spray with a milk and water mix - one part milk to nine parts water. I've not tried it, but it may work. Perhaps you could do one with bicarb and one with the milk mix and see if either or both have any effect. Please let us know if they work.

I don't think I would want to do anything but sit in that beautiful garden if I lived there Lizzy. What a gorgeous place.

Pat

Well I never! Milk indeed...hey I'll try anything once!!! Think I might attract all the neighbourhood cats though.

Cheers Pat...BTW I do my fair share of sitting I can assure you. Seriously though its an easy garden to look after - most of it is sweeping and a bit of pruning etc as most of it is quite mature. One downside is that there is no easy place to start a veggie plot so I have tomato plants in containers in the courtyard. No biggie!

Milk/Water can work but I personally wouldn't recommend it, here's a link to a discussion we had about it on the Organic Gardening forum http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/601043/

To summerise, looking at the bigger picture, milk is a strong pollutant of water and looking at the little picture, if you don't get the dilution right it can promote fungal disease!

Some interesting points Baa, we will just have to be careful to use the correct dilution and only make a small amount sufficient to do the job so none is left to dispose of.

Back on topic - I did mean to respond to Philomel's request a month ago and am only just getting around to it!

I'm in a village in West Surrey between Godalming and Farnham - Godalming being the home for many years of Victorian gardener Gertrude Jekyll. Close by is the village of Thursley, where Edwin Lutyens - renowned architect and garden designer - lived when he was a boy. Jekyll and Lutyens worked together on many garden design projects - setting standards that I spectacularly fail to live up to! (Both of their houses' gardens have been open under the NGS (Yellow Book) scheme, and are both quite something to behold.)

I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by large tracts of Surrey heathland - much of it owned by the Ministry of Defence. A big advantage as it's unlikely (or less likely) to be sold off for houses, only offset by the disadvantage of occasional intermittent crackle of small arms fire in the evening, as the squaddies do their manoeuvres... (Have had winter morning walks on the heaths where the only - literally- bird that I've seen is the Dartford Warbler, a rarity in most parts of the country.)

It's still all a bit of a novelty as for most of my life I played out an urban existence in South London - but I find I now don't miss London at all.

Last Autumn I heard about a couple of tiny patches of open ground - not much bigger than my garden - about 6/7 miles away that was good for orchids. A survey a few weeks ago counted 1,600 of them! Here's a picture of one or two.

Mike

It's definitely Dactylorhiza time isn't it. Great photo Mike!

I imagined Surrey to be on chalk but I suppose you're over the South Downs where you are.

Baa

I'm south of the North Downs and north of the South Downs - sand rather than chalk. The Greensand Way is not too far away.

Mike