Kitchen Gardens-A-la-France.

Here is the plan: gravel or grass paths; neat rows of vegetables and espaliered fruit trees and berry bushes; lots of herbs, vegetables spanning a couple of seasons; lots of flowers to attract beneficial insects and provide the biodiversity for eco-balance.

How does that sound? Perfect. Formidable. Hard-breaking work. Expensive.

First the plan. The neat rows are easier to cultivate and to irrigate with drip tubing. Because we are not building up the rows yet-it takes a lot of soil amendments-we are planting right on the ground with wider plots because that's how wide the expensive poly cover is. Our poly cover will suppress everything except the seedling positioned in a small hole. We do have a miniature version already which has worked well for the last two years; we are expending in the same way.

Second. As far as what grows in this cool zone I have to make some changes, but not much. The most interesting thing are the seeds I can get from Territorial. I can plant varieties of cool crops such as peas, favas, chards, lettuces, spinach, broccoli, beans, cucumbers....................................

Third. My husband's job, besides supervising the assistants when they dig, till, remove debris, use heavy machinery, is to design and build a grid of drip tubing. He has had good results from past experiences too. This job is a bit more complex, but within our reach.

Lastly. When my spring-summer crop begins to grow, I will utilize all that spinach-there will be gobbling up of that stuff, and lots of presents for the neighbors-and freezing the abundance- and freeze the rest for those grey winters. I'll be busy with the fall-winter plot as well, all through November when the fall rains will have chased me back inside.

Stay tuned. I know some of you will enjoy watching me sweat.