Talking about Gardening Activities

In French, gardening activities often center around taking care of plants and keeping the garden healthy. Typical verbs include arrosage (watering), tailler (pruning), transplanter (transplanting), and entretenir (to maintain). The gardener is called le jardinier, and their main workplace is the jardin. Adding organic materials to improve the soil is composter, and collecting results is expressed as recueillir. Different plant types you might mention include plantes aromatiques (herbs), plantes médicinales (medicinal plants), plantes vivaces (perennials), and plantes grimpantes (climbers). The gardener might protect the soil with paillis (mulch) or volcanic rock such as pouzzolane.

Examples:

• Le jardinier doit arroser les plantes tous les matins.
• Il faut tailler les plantes grimpantes au printemps.
• Nous allons transplanter les semences dans un pot plus grand.
• Composter l’herbe coupée enrichit le sol du jardin.
• Recueillir des plantes aromatiques pour la cuisine.

Using Gardening Tools

Certain tools are essential for gardening. The bêche (spade) is used for digging, the râteau (rake) for gathering leaves or levelling soil, and the pelle (shovel) for moving earth. La houe (hoe) loosens the soil and removes weeds, the couteau de jardin (garden knife) helps cut stems or roots, and gants (gloves) protect your hands during arrosage or maintenance.

Examples:

• Utilise la bêche pour retourner la terre.
• Le râteau sert à ramasser les feuilles mortes.
• N’oublie pas les gants pour éviter les épines.
• Il faut une pelle pour planter le nouvel arbre.

Talking about Plants, Flowers, and Vegetables

A garden would not be complete without a mix of flowers and edible plants. Common vegetables include carotte, courgette, and maïs. For fruit, you might find fraise, framboise, kiwi, orange, and citron. Grapevines are called vigne, and blooming plants might produce a beautiful fleur. You can also see mention of violet hues and gros plant as a grape variety.

Examples:

• Je plante des tomates et des carottes dans mon jardin.
• Les fraises sont mûres en juin.
• La vigne grimpe le long du mur.
• Les fleurs violettes poussent bien à l’ombre.

Describing Gardening Techniques

Maintaining a healthy garden involves several techniques. You may need to aérer (aerate) the soil, fertiliser (fertilize) plants, analyser the earth for nutriments, or arrosage (apply water). If water doesn't drain, you would talk about engorgement (waterlogging) and might have to vidanger (drain). Often, you pulvériser (spray) treatments to control pests, retirer (remove) weeds, and rincer (rinse) harvested produce. Sometimes, you must also check rust, rouiller, or make a diagnostiquer (diagnosis) of a plant problem visually, either visuel or visuellement.

Examples:

• Vous devriez fertiliser la terre au début du printemps.
• Aérez le sol pour améliorer la percolation de l'eau.
• Il faut pulvériser les rosiers pour éviter les parasites.
• Rincez les légumes avant de les consommer.

Maintaining the Garden

General garden maintenance tasks can be referred to as entretien. Actions can include protection (protecting plants from weather or pests), suppression (removal of unwanted parts or weeds), and notification (noting what has been completed). Other less common vocabulary includes miser (to stake or support), mazoutage (the rare act of oiling, usually machinery), and ajanter (to arrange).

Examples:

• L’entretien régulier du jardin garantit sa santé.
• La suppression des mauvaises herbes est nécessaire chaque semaine.
• Il faut poser une protection contre le gel en hiver.