To B.I. Mountain Laurel,
The way I understand it, "French Gardening" is a term used to describe a method of gardening which relies on close planting in wide, mounded beds to conserve soil moisture and thereby promote steady, abundant growth.
You can do it with either cool season or warm season vegetables.
For example:
Cool season vegetables:
Strawberries, sorrel, coriander, beets, scallions,carrots, chard, dill and basil.
Warm season vegetables:
Carrots, spinach, oriental greens, radishes,parsley,chives, scallions, broccoli, letttuce, and mustard.
Not all vegetables lend themselves to this method, therefore, Choose vegetables that you can thin out regularly.
A raised bed of 4-5 ft. wide by 12-15 ft. long will be ideal for this method. Also, position the bed[s], north to south, so that the
plants gets the maximum exposure as the sun moves from east to west.
Info from my gardening library of Sunset, Ortho, other books or MG manual.