Vegetable garden in the South: which vegetables to grow?

Weeding and mulching, the key concepts of the Mediterranean vegetable garden.

If in the north, mulching serves, among other things, to keep vegetables warm, in the south, it is more intended to retain moisture from watering and to protect vegetables from intense heat. By spreading your organic mulch made from, for example, flax straw, grass clippings, or crushed dead leaves, you limit evaporation and thereby reduce the need for watering. Similarly, mulching helps to reduce erosion and, incidentally, to stop the proliferation of weeds. In short, it’s all benefits in the garden!

Mulching helps to limit the evaporation of watering water

To be 100% effective, precede the laying of the mulch with good hoeing to loosen the soil. The life of the soil will not be too disturbed, and the microorganisms will get to work as soon as the mulch is laid.

Finally, remember that while some vegetables enjoy basking in the sun, others prefer to stay cool. Leafy vegetables like salads, spinach, turnips… can also be grown in the south, provided you offer them some shade. This way, they are less likely to bolt. Therefore, it can be useful to create some shade with vertical crops of maize, climbing beans, or certain varieties of squashes or courgettes, cucumbers, or chayotes.

Vegetables that need sun and water

In a garden in the south of France, it’s best to choose vegetables that love the sun, even drought. However, their development depends on the watering you provide them with.

• The tomato: there’s no need to introduce the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), the quintessential sun vegetable that features in all typical dishes of Mediterranean cuisine. In the south, planting can take place as early as April. Easy to grow, the tomato comes in hundreds of varieties of all colours, sizes, and flavours, some earlier than others.

It requires deep, loose soil rich in well-decomposed organic matter. Watering, done only with a watering can, should be regular and consistent, and when the fruits start to ripen, it should be slightly reduced. To facilitate watering, create a basin and mulch, but you can also place a bottle upside down at the base.

• The pepper: very thirsty, this fruit-vegetable also loves sun and warmth. Rich soil with organic matter is also essential for the pepper (Capsicum annuum). Plant it in the ground from May. You can enjoy various shapes with peppers that are almost cubic, rectangular, triangular, also known as horns. Don’t hesitate to plant chillies as well.
• The aubergine: it is the third key vegetable in Provençal ratatouille, thriving more easily in the warm climate of the south. The aubergine (Solanum melongena) requires very frequent and regular watering, always at the neck of the watering can. Plant it as early as March in the south of France.

Water the aubergine at the neck of the watering can to prevent the spread of diseases

• The courgette: this member of the cucurbit family is a vigorous and undemanding plant that enjoys the warmth of the south and soil rich in compost or manure. Again, watering should be frequent without wetting the leaves. Enjoy growing several varieties of courgettes (Cucurbita pepo), long, round, green, yellow…
• The cucumber: a creeping vegetable plant, the cucumber (Cucumis sativus) needs light, cool soil rich in humus, and especially plenty of sun. Very thirsty, it requires generous watering, always outside of the hot hours. To save space or provide shade for salads, grow them on trellises.
• The melon: it prefers rich, light soils and needs moderate but regular watering until the fruits form. Then, 15 days before harvesting, stop watering to allow the sugars to develop. Avoid using very cold water for watering melons (Cucumis melo).
• The artichoke: it is a perennial vegetable plant that prefers warm exposures and cool, light, rich soils. Sensitive to cold, the artichoke (Cynara scolymus) thrives in the south, especially if you provide it with regular but moderate watering.
• The chayote: also known as christophine, the chayote (Sechium edule) is an exotic perennial plant from the cucurbit family that resembles a large pear.

The chayote loves cool, deep soils

So it needs warmth and should be mulched in winter. It likes cool, deep soils, so watering must be abundant in summer. This plant should be trellised. To obtain a chayote plant, you need to plant the whole fruit.

Vegetables from the south that grow without watering

Other vegetables (or rather legumes from the family Fabaceae for our selection) are interesting for Mediterranean gardens simply because they require little or no watering. Additionally, legumes are beneficial for synthesising nitrogen, allowing them to thrive in poorer soils. Our must-have selection:

• Lentil: this is a legume that tolerates heat well. Lentil (Lens culinaris) is grown in full sun in sandy, light, and well-drained soil. Watering will only be necessary if the summer is exceptionally dry, especially since water can hinder pod formation. Sow directly in the ground in clusters in April.

The lentil tolerates heat

• Chickpea: it has only one requirement, heat. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is very sensitive to cold and humidity, making it ideal for the south of France. It also prefers light, loose, even poor and sandy soils. Compost is therefore beneficial. Sow in April and mound up.
• Peanut: an unusual legume, the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) is fascinating to grow. When it wilts, a pseudo-stem called the gynophore grows beneath the ovary to guide it into the soil.

Peanuts, the fruits of the peanut, develop underground

Thus, the fruits known as peanuts form underground. Peanuts require a lot of heat and light, loose, deep soil. Water until the fruits are buried, then stop watering.