Princess Greta Sturdza was the originator of Le Vasterival, a delightful garden in Saint-Margeurite-sur-Mer, France that we visited on a French gardens trip to Normandy in 2018. As past visitors recount, Greta would stand on a stump in the main entrance area to the gardens, with a long cane-like instrument that had a very sharp attachment at the end that she would wield dramatically while telling visitors the rules of the garden, one of which was to stay out of the beds. Apparently, for visitors who either didn't listen, or got a bit too curiously close to plants, she would descend upon their ankles and rap them sharply with said cane, to rather surprised and offended guests.

The head gardener leading the group on our visit, sort of chuckled when asked about this, and while Princess Greta had since passed, he shared that her love of her gardens, and a serious reverence for the health of the soils, preceded her ability to be gracious to guests who did not share her passion. You see, he said, they had discovered, through trial and error, and many years of putting this idea to the test, that disturbed soils indeed produce significantly more weeds, and that a strict protocol was in place for all gardeners to avoid or mitigate soil disturbance, which included stepping in, or on, the soil beds, as that was a form of disturbance. They went so far as to lay down thick cardboard if they had to go into the bed, to displace the weight of their foot and body weight on the surrounding soils.

Since they had been managing their practices of how they worked in and around soils, they noticed a decrease and almost non-existence to weeds in areas where they had previously spent a great deal of time weeding.

We spend so much time weeding, as we have fairly new soil systems, from turning a horse pasture into crop systems, rows, and garden beds, that we are not yet at that glorious stage of no weeds, but I see this example as aspirational, and have a strict rule myself about no-till, and not stepping in, or walking through soils and garden beds. Shoes track around seeds, feet compress soils, tilling disturbs seed banks, and all of these combined wreak havoc on building healthy soils.

When you visit, pay mind to where you step. We have created clear walking paths to outline where it is appropriate for feet to stand, and move about, and garden beds are for plants only. In effect, you are helping me manage the weeds, and all efforts are greatly appreciated. I won't have a stick, but I look forward to one day spending less time weeding.

Being that we will not be available the end of April through the first part of May (don't worry, the farm and plants are being watched, supervised and the property is under constant surveillance) I am holding off on setting dates for Peony events until early May when we return. It is very likely that the Peony Festival will be towards the 2nd week to the middle of the month with the way things are looking now, which is early April. We are also opening our Garden shop from 10am-2pm on Saturday, May 11th for our tomato orders to be picked up and any other visitors to visit our shop. In the event we have Peonies blooming, I will make a decision about opening up the gardens in early May.

I will be sending out a separate mailing upon our return outlining the Peony Festival and Garden opportunities to all subscribers, which will outline all dates, times, etc.