News from France

On the roof terrace of the Bercy school, space is limited… As a result, the planters are never empty!After removing the tomato plants, they were replaced by celery plants grown in the greenhouse.They will finish growing before winter arrives…

The tomatoes sown by the children of the Bercy school before the arrival of spring have blossomed in the Traversine kitchen garden!Elongated tomatoes, beef hearts, cherry tomatoes – we chose a variety of varieties, and they all flourished during the … Read More

This day has arrived! We’ve finished assembling the garden on the roof terrace of the Bercy nursery school.All the structures are in place. All that’s left is for nature to do its work (and us too)!

The tomatoes sown with the children from the Bercy elementary and nursery schools were able to be transplanted into the greenhouse and benefit from the ideal sunshine of the school’s roof terrace. Since they were placed in the tubs, they … Read More

This Wednesday, exceptionally, we only had one pupil from Bercy elementary school, as the children were on a field trip. She was very committed and helped us water, weed and take care of the garden. We’re particularly pleased with the … Read More

Children from the Bercy nursery school have planted shallot bulbs to start filling the containers around the star in the Traversine Villiot garden.Other vegetables will follow, to create a concentrated vegetable garden in this sunny spot in the heart of … Read More

The Traversine Bercy has been given a new design following its relocation in 2021 due to a problem with seepage on the roof! The mandala has been replaced by a star-shaped planter, surrounded by 4 angled planters placed between each … Read More

A new stage in the construction of the garden at the Traversine Bercy, with the installation of the herb garden. The little gardeners from the Bercy nursery helped to fill the containers, and had the pleasure of transplanting sage, chives, … Read More

This Wednesday, February 14th, the children at Bercy school played a board game that challenges their memory and cooperation: the vegetable colour families game! The game includes 7 vegetable colours, with 6 vegetables per colour, making 42 cards in duplicate. … Read More

The Grand Potager has become a refuge for birds… Following the establishment of its small bird shelters, it is now a refuge labeled LPO (Ligue de Protéction des oiseaux – Bird Protection League)   Birdhouses

First flowers on the strawberry plants of the Traversine ! While waiting for the fruits, we are content with the colored fruits of the panels painted in Burkina Faso by Solstène, painter of the Laafi Village in Koudougou.    

Spring is just around the corner and the salads are already here! With chives, and nasturtium leaves, for vitamins … Culture in the city, on a roof, enjoys ideal sunshine, with a few more degrees, which shifts harvests by 3 … Read More

In order to promote biodiversity in the Grand Potager of the Fontenille area, the bed of a small stream has been cleared to encourage its flow to the vegetable patch. A small pool will thus constitute a new refuge for … Read More

The elementary children from Bercy came to help us plant our crops on the roof of the school, in the Jardin de la Traversine. On the program, transplant salads that have sown on their own, thanks to the feet that … Read More

The greenhouse of the Grand Potager du Domaine de Fontenille is a perfect shelter for plants sensitive to the cold, as winter approaches. Autumn seedlings are also growing, and will be transplanted soon in the garden for winter.

It is a spiral wall of stones lined with lean soil and pebbles. Its sunny location, its structure and its components reduce temperature variations, thanks to the accumulation of heat in the stones. The elevated shape also prevents stagnation of … Read More

Colorful harvests at the Grand Potager.

The chard with their colored stems bring a touch of color to the Mandala of the Grand Potager of the Domaine de Fontenille.

Sowing day at the Traversine … We enrich the soil to prepare the spring sowing

We collected our first kilos of strawberries on the garden of Traversine.the sunshine of the terrace has been beneficial! they were sweet and fragrant!Enough to make our first jams, labeled “jams of Paris” …

Walking Spider, frog hidden in the foliage of the greenhouse, cicada molting … An organic vegetable garden is a paradise for the garden’s friends, and a shelter for biodiversity.

Mallow flowers, carnations, nasturtiums, pansies … All these flowers bring both colors to the garden, and originality and taste to the dishes prepared by the chef of the Domaine de Fontenille

Romain, the gardener in charge of the Grand Potager, is a lover of nature and its diversity. Each corner of the garden is a discovery of incredible foliage, an unknown flower …

The mini-greenhouses of Traversine play an important role in the preparation of seedlings for the garden. The ideal sunshine of the terrace guarantees a fast growth !

The collection of edible flowers from the vegetable patch includes unexpected specimens … On the program today, an invitation to bite into a flower of chives, nasturtium or borage …

At the Grand Potager de Fontenille, diversity is also in the salad … It is multicolored, with varied flavors and leaves.

During extracurricular times, Designing Hope organizes activities with children in kindergarten and elementary school. Today, discover the “game of Goose” of Biodiversity, developed by Designing Hope.

Today, we give food to Keyhole…

For the second time this year, Dessine l’Espoir welcomed volunteers from L’Oreal on La Traversine Garden as part of the “Citizen Days” event. Production of culture tanks, sowing in greenhouses, plantations, jam preparation, they took part in small groups to … Read More

All those unmarketable vegetables that are starting to rot will delight the earthworms of the garden…

The Mandala of the Grand Potager is still very green. Green beans are about to be harvested, as are carrots and spinach.

All breweries have not gone to ready-made dishes and pre-peeled vegetables! The brewery L’entrepôt, located close to the school of Bercy, keeps its peelings to enrich the compost of La Traversine garden.

While waiting for the sowing of spring, we were able to harvest in the 4 mini greenhouses of La Traversine Garden an impressive quantity of greens !

Every week, the peelings of l’Entrepôt Restaurant, located next to La Traversine, enrich the central composter of the keyhole.

Leaves from the schoolyard + peelings and decomposed vegetables = Nitrogenous matter + carbonaceous matter … The secret of a good compost, 100% local

This fall, we used the mini greenhouses to grow seedlings in preparation for the winter: cabbages, spinach and chard ribs were sown. Some plants were kept in the greenhouses, while the others were replanted in the garden.

Let’s look at these plants that grow at the top of our school…

A kindergarten teacher organized an activity in the classroom with peppermint plants harvested from the Traversine garden. She asked each child in her class to bring a broken object, an unusable shoe that they made into a support for the … Read More

On April 29, 2019, the garden of la Traversine was inaugurated by Pénélope Komitès, Deputy Mayor of Paris, responsible for green spaces, nature in the city, biodiversity, urban agriculture and funeral affairs, and by Mrs. Catherine Baratti-Elbaz, Mayor of the … Read More

Strawberry flowers turn into fruit… Soon the tasting!

This winter, La Traversine harvests seasonal vegetables … The “Jerusalem artichokes” gave us the idea of an animation with kindergarten students … After the harvest, we organize a tasting in class, without forgetting to recover the peelings to try with … Read More

Dessine l’Espoir has entrusted Burkinabé artist Solstène with the production of painted panels to bring color to the garden in winter! 35 different panels illustrate what lives or hibernates in the garden … What help us wait for spring!

La Traversine develops a short circuit compost … The composter of La Traversine is preparing to digest the harvest of dead leaves from the past winter! We organized the composter in 2 bins, one stock the brown leaves collected from … Read More

A garden of fragrant, aromatic and medicinal plants was set up this spring at the Grand Potager. Drawn according to a geometric plan, it gathers plants generally used for their aromas, their perfume or their medicinal properties. Some plants are … Read More

Designing Hope has received the support of a team of 18 L’Oréal employees for the Citizen Day. A day dedicated to the maintenance of the garden, and animation of workshops with the preschool and elementary children from bercy school.

Used for their aroma, culinary taste or medicinal properties, these plants have been cultivated since the Middle Ages. Perfume plants are mainly grown for use in perfumery and cosmetics. Their essence does not always diffuse naturally, and may require some … Read More

Seeldings are placed all around, and mulch is placed to maintain the moisture. The kitchen peels are placed in the center and covered with dry mowing. The keyhole is watered to ease the decomposition process in the center.

A team of French television channel TF1 came to shoot at the Grand Potager of Fontenille in the presence of the children of the village of Lauris. Below Jerome Faure, the chef of the Domaine de Fontenille, in the presence … Read More

This film presents the setting up of the Traversine garden by Designing Hope on the terrace of the Bercy school. A winning project of the Pariscultuers competition, launched by the city of Paris in 2016. it allow to know all … Read More

This is the ideal season to transplant, especially fruit trees.   The garden of Traversine is turning green, with plantations of mulberry, raspberry, strawberry, but also honeysuckle and wisteria ready to cover the metal structures of pergolas next spring.  

The bioclimatic greenhouse of the Grand Potager is ready for its first seedlings! Funded by The Ivory Foundation, this experimental greenhouse was designed with the expertise of the association APTE (promotion of eco-energies, ecoconstruction and ecological practices), and carried out … Read More

Autumn is mild, the gardening boards are still green with salads, cabbage, spinach. Soon, the bioclimatic greenhouse will take over for the production of the plants, to gain a few weeks on the season.

This Keyhole was made of douglas pine and metal. The metal structure maintain the vertical boards durably, like the strapping of a wine barrel. Once the structure is assembled, the interior is covered with geotextile, to retain the soil, and … Read More

Some photos of the Grand Potager …

After several months of preparation (manufacture of metal structures, cutting of the wood), we took advantage of the summer closure of the school to install the elements on the terrace. Below are some visuals showing the steps of this installation … Read More

To facilitate the circulation and visits of the garden, a pergola was set up on the central alley. Beyond the aesthetic aspect, this pergola brings two advantages to the garden: – On both sides of this pergola, climbing fruit trees … Read More

After preparing the ground during winter, the first culture beds of the Grand Potager were set up in the spring of 2017. Below, tomatoes’ seedlings, planted in a square, with a system of tipi-shaped tutor, and several varieties of lettuce … Read More

Prior to cultivating a bed, we reduce the presence of weeds thanks to the method of occultation. This technique consists of watering the soil and then covering it with a dark plastic sheet. Thus unwanted seeds will tend to germinate … Read More

A composting area of 20 meters long has been set up on the Grand Potager, in order to upgrade green waste and create compartments for the storage of elements in different stages of maturation, as well as to allow them … Read More

The greenhouse will be a major element of the “Grand Potager” of Fontenille. A greenhouse that combines a modern and luminous aesthetic with the innovative concepts of the bioclimatic greenhouse, using natural and local materials. The operating principles of this … Read More

La Traversine was presented on Parisculture booth at Paris International Agriculture fair.   www.traversine.fr – www.parisculteurs.paris

La Traversine is one of the 34 projects selected by the City of Paris as part of the “Parisculteurs” project to create a garden on a Parisian roof. Designing Hope has conseived La Traversine as a paired project to existing educational gardens in Africa.

Designing Hope has produced, with the support of The Ivory Foundation, an illustrated brochure presenting the techniques of permaculture. This document addresses several topics, the creation of raised beds, crops rotation, crops associations, with a focus on milpa, compost… This … Read More