Below is the latest news from the pedagogical gardens in France:
“Le Grand Potager”, developed by The Ivory Foundation on the Domain of Fontenille, in Lauris, Luberon.
A garden of 4000m2, set up on an organic vineyard, is preparing to welcome young people from the schools of Lauris and surrounding villages as well as from the agglomerations of Aix en Provence and Marseilles to sensitize them to the techniques of sustainable agriculture.
“La Traversine”, an urban garden developed in 2017 on the roof of the Bercy school in the 12th arrondissement in Paris by Designing Hope, as part of the Parisculteurs project.

Find below the news feed of these projects:

 

Vermicomposting workshop with the children of the primary schools and the kindergarten of Bercy, Paris

Designing Hope and the kindergarten of Bercy received  from the City hall of Paris 2 vermicomposters with the compost worms. We installed a worm bin with the children of the Bercy primary schools and another worm bin with the children … Read More

The Grand Potager, Labeled

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

Strawberries in preparation on the Traversine Garden

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.    

Surprising early growth at the Traversine Garden …

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

The small watercourse

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

Transplanting salads on La Traversine

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 benefits of the greenhouse

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.

Creation of an aromatic spiral at the Grand Potager

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

Harvests of the Grand Potager

Colorful harvests at the Grand Potager.

Colors of the garden

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

Sowing in the mini-greenhouses

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

Strawberry jam

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” …

Frogs and other friends from the Grand Potager

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.

Flowers and their assets

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

The wonders of the Grand Potager 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

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 !

Edible flowers

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 …

The diversity of the salad

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

Virtuous circle of waste

Thanks to Biocoop Aligre, for this virtuous circle of waste, source of life in our garden of Traversine …

Board games

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.

The compost of the Keyhole

Today, we give food to Keyhole…

Citizen Day

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

A garden powered by the neighborhood

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

Fall in Fontenille – The Mandala

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

The brewery L’Entrepôt – supplier of peelings for the compost

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.

Winter crops in mini greenhouses

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 !

Peelings for the keyhole

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

The secret of a good compost

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

Autumn 2018 at the Traversine – Mini greenhouses

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.

On the roof..

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

Mint planting with children

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

Inauguration of the Traversine

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

Children’s visit

Before being converted into a garden, the roof terrace of the school of Bercy had for only use to be a passage of evacuation for classrooms. This crossing path remains, in the middle of the garden, and thus inspired the … Read More

Strawberry flowers turn into fruit

Strawberry flowers turn into fruit… Soon the tasting!

Traversine – Harvest of Jerusalem artichokes

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

Traversine – Painted panels

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!

Traversine – Compost

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

Garden of fragrant, aromatic and medicinal plants

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

Messicole plants

Literally, messicole means, who lives in the fields. Thus, these plants are biologically adapted to agricultural land, especially cereal crops. They are also called wildflowers, or meadow plants. Considered by modern agriculture as weeds, the development of chemical treatments and … Read More

L’Oreal Citizen Day at La Traversine

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.

A garden of fragrant, aromatic and medicinal plants at the Grand Potager

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

First plantations on the keyhole!

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.

Shooting at The Grand Potager

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

Making off of the Traversine garden

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

Autumn transplant at la Traversine

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

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 at Le Grand Potager

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.

Construction of the keyhole

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

Le Grand Potager – Summer at the garden

Some photos of the Grand Potager …

La Traversine – Installation on the terrace

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

Grand Potager – The Pergola

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

Grand Potager – First culture beds

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

Grand Potager – Preparation of the soil

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

Grand Potager – Setting up the composting area

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

Grand Potager – Designing a bioclimatic greenhouse

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

Traversine on Paris Agriculture Fair

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

La Traversine, a pedagogical garden on the roof of a Parisian school

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.

A comic explaining basics of Permacuture.

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