greetings from paris

[lucas847]

hello everyone, i have recently moved from the lush kent to the rather barren paris...! always a keen gardener bach at home, i am keen to make my (admittedly quite large) terrace here more homely! i have only ever planted in the ground though, never used baskets or pots etc... dont even know if i am using the right words!! they do have excellent florists here with bulbs i have seen though s oi could be off to an alright start... i have also never had to buy patio furniture before, id love to get myself a heater and a little table and be able to use it as dining space if i could...
id love any advice anyone can give, the terrace is about 8m squared i think (very rough guess-timate)

[chris]

Bonjour! welcome

You can get electric patio heaters, which apparantly are more efficient than those gas patio heaters - so I've heard.. not first hand though so be wise to look into it (and the running costs). Pots dry out a lot faster than plants in the open ground, and likewise can get water logged - so they need to be kept an eye on over winter. Teracotta pots can break in the frost as I've found out, so now I've got some recycled plastic "pots".

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine.

If you have access to plenty of wood, I would recommend one of these.

chiminea - Google Search

[Nicos]

Hi there - and welcome to the Vine- from another French resident! ( there are quite a few of us on here!!)

My advice???...buy EVERYTHING from the UK- unless you are rolling in dosh

(can you please put Paris as your location in your profile...it just helps peeps when suggesting stuff in the future)

[lucas847]

oo yes i will, sorry i didnt even notice that part...!
i will look into the electric heater business, there seem to be alot of those around outside restaurants etc so there must be some economic value in them, will read up on costs. thanks.
unfortunately i dont have access to lots of wood, lugging logs up 4 flights of stairs doesnt really appeal!!
yes thanks for the UK advice, i found that with kitchen equipment too so im already all over the english sites! i thought the idea of an extendable table would do well, more space when not many people but space to eat when i enterntain, i thought the concept:

worked well indoors so it should so outdoors too...
the only problem is that the ones i have found online on a preliminary browse are quite ugly... and/or flimsy looking: Extendable garden table - Compare prices on Twenga.co.uk and im a host who overlays her table!!
nicos i dont suppose you bought from any english sites that had things like these did you? i mean i dont reallyknow if they exist more stable, that might be part of the extendable-ness... im no physics genius...
any ideas would be warmly recieved, thanks

[binley100]

Bonjour from me too

[Nicos]

Nope- never bought furniture over here ( apart from a fridge and a freezer...and brocante stuff)...nor over the internet...sorry!
Are there lots of Brocantes near you???

I have seen a round table at the local market which extends to seat up to about 20 peeps though!!!...might be worth having a look around- but they won't be cheap!
Also-Shop sales start on the 12th Jan - so you might find a good deal somewhere?

OH!!!...there's an Ikea near Paris- two I think...they'll have something like you're looking for!!! ( and folding spare chairs)

(You'll find pretty garden pots are stupid prices here by the way if you're planning on using pots)

[Florence Fennel]

Hello and welcome to the Vine! I think Nicos is your expert here.

[Jeanied]

Welcome to the vine, Lucas - I think 8m by 8m is a fairly respectable growing space. You could fit quite a bit in that!

[ginger ninger]

Hello and welcome to the vine. You'll have to join us a grape stock this year...it's in France. Before ya ask, it's a get together with lot's other members we had the first one last year...it was lot's of fun.

[Florian]

hello everyone, i have recently moved from the lush kent to the rather barren paris...! always a keen gardener bach at home, i am keen to make my (admittedly quite large) terrace here more homely! i have only ever planted in the ground though, never used baskets or pots etc... dont even know if i am using the right words!! they do have excellent florists here with bulbs i have seen though s oi could be off to an alright start... i have also never had to buy patio furniture before, id love to get myself a heater and a little table and be able to use it as dining space if i could...
id love any advice anyone can give, the terrace is about 8m squared i think (very rough guess-timate)

Welcome & what an exciting project

[TonyF]

Bonjour

I would look for a couple of French gardening magazines to help you get some ideas. l'Ami des jardins has some great ideas and in their monthly 'le cahier practique' they have a monthly 'terrasse et balcons' section. They also do monthly projects and frequently have some great ideas for 'make overs' for places like yours.

There's also 'Mon jardin et ma Maison' which does something similar tho I prefer l'Ami.

Plus both mags publish hors serie and I think both have balcons et terrasse special issues in there somewhere. And then there's always the dear old weekly Rustica which has some good ideas for smaller spaces.

When the season starts (much later in France, they're not into the must buy early, buy often syndrome) I'd look in the big super/hypermarche like LeClerc or Carrefour for troughs, mini-serre (no reason why you can't raise your own plants and will help with the over-wintering) and pots and think about growing upwards if you have a wall on the terrasse which needs covering.

And sorry, I don't agree with Nicos 100% about cost, I buy everything I need in France except things that I just can't buy here and then I buy from the UK.

Bon chance.

[Glutton4...]

Hello, and welcome to the Madhouse!

[scarey55]

Hello and welcome to the Vine from another Frenchie My goodness, that is a HOOOOOOGE terrace for Paris. I don't know much about container gardening but I shall watch with interest to see how you get on. That table looks like a great idea especially as it goes down to something so small.

[lucas847]

thanks alot for the help, il look int othese sales tomorrow, ive been told at work that people book the day off to tackle them so i have done that and will be headed to the crowds tomorrow! let you know how i get on, so nice to have some french residents here to help
thanks so much