tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78781459848474229122011-11-27T23:39:18.520ZAn expat mom grows stuff.Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-59050619972952232332007-09-23T13:56:00.000+01:002007-09-23T14:08:36.955+01:00

Somehow the summer took over and the garden got relegated to second place. I've still been working in the garden, but mostly just to weed, tidy up and harvest stuff. We have had a remarkable butternut and gemsquash harvest. Great raspberries and blackberries. Nasty apples. A good crop of strawberries.Today I harvested some lettuce leaves for salad, picked the rest of the gemsquash, almost all of

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-39845621539184345112007-07-22T18:53:00.001+01:002007-07-22T19:03:21.220+01:00

Just been up to the allotment to find that some of the localised thunderstorms we have been having localised themselves directly over the Nesserlaan! Gah!I took some pictures. First here is the flooding:This area of the garden has consistently flooded. I have two options here as I see it. I can move the sitting area from the other side of the garden down to here and have a squishy sitting area or

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-63932847789061136682007-07-22T11:46:00.000+01:002007-07-22T11:55:38.286+01:00

Thank god for squash! If it wasn't for squash I'd have virtually nothing on my allotment now. We have harvested about 20 Rolet gemsquash so far and have been very pleased with ourselves. It's been years since I had gemsquash! The kids are not convinced that it's a good thing though. The vines are very vigorous and have spread to cover the entire area that they were planted in and almost

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-25895767158907868892007-07-22T11:05:00.000+01:002007-07-22T11:46:15.618+01:00

Weeks since I updated on the garden, but first I'll do an update on the tomatoes.The Orange Berry cherry tomatoes are ripening. The few that I had on the allotment ripened first, but have very poor yields due to the excess rain we had (and are still having). But, hey, I got a few and everyone said I wouldn't harvest anything!Each Orange Berry plant (at home in containers) has set about five

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-21878475022967202932007-07-11T19:10:00.000+01:002007-07-11T19:11:08.663+01:00

My garden was underwater for about a week.In the one half where I have raised beds the water was able to drain away more easily, but the other half is still completely soaked and the earth has started to smell terrible as it rots.The potatoes were in that area and they became infected with potato blight, so between the smell of the wet ground and the rotten potatoes it's terrible!The potatoes,

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-58231725530301132522007-06-26T16:39:00.000+01:002007-06-26T17:11:02.514+01:00

I dug up our first potatoes, which, though tasty were not quite ready. We may have to take what we can get though because they are suffering from 'holheid'. Not sure what it is in English but the centre of the potatoes has a little hole in it and the potatoes are glassy. Ick. The very small ones are ok. Not entirely convinced about this Novella cultivar. It was a bit tasteless. The potatoes do

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-38990068807190442122007-06-08T16:15:00.000+01:002007-06-08T16:17:52.445+01:00

It's 35 degrees out there and we're melting. I visited the allotment this afternoon at lunch time as we have a busy week and it's the only time I could go. I can't help but feel that the water I gave the plants probably all evaporated!I asked about the redcurrants on my plot and apparently the plants are 17 years old! No wonder their yield is low and they look ill. This winter I'll replace them

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-10392589781820078432007-06-04T10:24:00.001+01:002007-06-04T10:37:26.374+01:00

So so much stuff happening in the garden.. raspberries starting to ripen - I've had three! Peas in quantities big enough to keep the kids busy for a while, strawberries ripening under their nets. Not enough for much, but they add a nice touch to a fruit salad.This is a picture of the strawberry nets, with my legs and pink crocs in the background!The spinach started to make flower buds so I pulled

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-7038011651111228402007-05-28T14:41:00.001+01:002007-05-28T14:51:43.364+01:00

Today we went and bought straw for the strawberries, pvc piping (like the kind used for electrical cabling) and netting. I've erected one hooped cover for one garden bed (ironically, for the cauliflowers which still have an undetermined fate, but whom the ducks seem to think are extremely tasty), and covered it with netting. It looks really professional and quite tidy too. I'll take some photos

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-75544248604376443232007-05-27T12:21:00.000+01:002007-05-27T12:52:14.063+01:00

So so disappointed ... I had a look at my kohlrabi this morning and something prompted me to pull two up. Sad to say that they seem heavily afflicted with clubroot. I didn't lime before planting and I have no idea what the gardener before me planted in the area that is now occupied by my cauliflower, cabbage and kohlrabi. Apparently he planted brassicas. It seems I may have also shot myself in

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-17421663791214787972007-05-20T16:01:00.000+01:002007-05-20T16:16:13.375+01:00

Lovage or maggikruid in Dutch is a rather unassuming plant when you see it in the garden centre. They have it in these tiny pots and it looks like it would quite happily stay the same size forever. What an untruth! Lovage tries to take over the world!I didn't plant ours myself. It conveniently came up all on it's own, even though I had intended to buy one after reading that it's a 'beneficial to

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-16302156770179444822007-05-17T16:39:00.000+01:002007-05-17T18:30:34.127+01:00

My tomatoes seem fine. I transplanted six of the Orange Berry into pots and their leaves immediately stopped turning downwards. I think that the downward turning leaf problem was definitely a signal that they didn't like being root bound, not that they were suffering some heinous sort of wilt. So physiological and not disease.The ones with the brown spots on the leaves are doing quite fine in

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-53110732425280171362007-05-12T16:15:00.000+01:002007-05-12T16:28:37.147+01:00

I haven't been to the garden this weekend yet, so no nice pictures to show you unless you're interested in 7 year olds playing football! No? I did some research because my tomatoes, healthy up until yesterday, suddenly developed little spots on some of the leaves. I found a wonderful website entitled the 'Tomato Problem Solver'. Perfect!The other website I found which I thought I should bring to

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-51472562235882235492007-05-06T19:14:00.000+01:002007-05-06T19:31:47.430+01:00

Came back from vacation and first thing on Saturday we were at the allotment. The committee had made sure my garden was watered and I was amazed to see how everything grew while we were gone! The weeds grew too!Some new photos to show you what I mean.A beautiful butterhead lettuce. This one was a seedling from the garden centre.We ate one just like it for supper tonight with a chilli vinaigrette,

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-32528776299561511352007-04-26T16:24:00.000+01:002007-04-26T16:33:22.327+01:00

Without rain, that is! I can't believe it. The newspaper headlines today were full of how it's not quite a drought. In a place where it usually rains every day I think this qualifies as a drought!I'm especially concerned because I'm on vacation this week. I've asked some of the other gardeners to look after my plot and water my plants, but there's always the fear of returning to find everything

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-2040559471200259922007-04-22T08:14:00.000+01:002007-04-22T08:23:44.294+01:00

Just a quick note here to say that I found a wonderful resource for making newspaper pots! I've made a few to hold my courgette seedlings (when they come up) and I'll definitely be using these for beans and peas in the future. I also ask my local florist to keep all their 10 cm plastic pots for me. They buy plants in bulk and re-pot them and usually just throw away the pots. This way I get them

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-75977352102953121632007-04-21T18:34:00.000+01:002007-04-21T18:51:58.020+01:00

Everything is growing so beautifully, but it hasn't rained. That means lots of watering. Today I quickly visited the allotment after the kids' football to water everything and harvest my first bit of rhubarb for a cake. Had the camera with us from football so took some pictures. The apple tree in blossom:The chives are blossoming:The shallot bed, with carrots and marigolds:The onion bed, look how

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-71550050343387929512007-04-15T17:08:00.000+01:002007-04-15T17:40:17.501+01:00

It's flipping hot! I could even say 'it's FRIKKIN' hot!' I got so sunburnt today. First window washing, then car washing, then the whole afternoon in the allotment. We spent most of yesterday morning there, before rushing back to catch the Grand Prix qualifying - husband is a fan. Today I was there from 1 - 5 pm. The kids sat in their tent and read books, dug a bit in the dirt, fed grass to the

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-54261722370150697502007-04-09T17:52:00.001+01:002007-04-09T17:54:21.141+01:00

We just finished watching some episodes of Beyond River Cottage where Hugh leaves his smallholding of 3 - 4 acres to take over a proper farm of about 40 acres. It's a wonderful series, just like River Cottage was, and the kids even sat still and watched for a couple of hours with us. Sebastian was engrossed in the part where the cows were having their gynae exams to see if they were in calf or

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-26368567193290362762007-04-09T10:01:00.000+01:002007-04-09T10:04:49.889+01:00

Plum blossomYesterday we visited the garden and found that the Easter bunny had been! I planted the leeks out into the trenches I'd prepared the day before. I intend to plant rocket or to plant out my lettuce seedlings between the leeks. The lettuces have come up in droves so as soon as they develop a second set of leaves I'll transplant some of them to other spots.There definitely seem to be

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-17465930142242821402007-04-07T19:05:00.000+01:002007-04-07T20:07:07.417+01:00

Yesterday I bought some cauliflower, leek and lettuce plants from the garden centre.Mine are not far along enough yet to plant out. The other half of our garden (the new part) has been cultivated. The cauliflowers went in there, the leeks are going alongside them in a separate bed. The Husband did a lot of work today lifting paving stones and we've laid them out like stepping stones. I plan to

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-43577819797388249122007-04-03T19:09:00.000+01:002007-04-03T19:36:22.850+01:00

I got the garden to the left of mine (pictured above). I just have to wait for it to be cultivated and then I can have it. Planned for that side are potatoes, leeks, and parsnips.The pea plants are climbing their netting. The carrots are coming up, as are the onions and garlic. At home I transplanted 6 each of Gem Squash (Rolet) and Butternut F1 to their own little containers. These were sown on

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-67823689044644878592007-03-28T10:23:00.000+01:002008-12-09T07:31:13.719Z

Image sourced from WikipediaThree big bin bags of weeds and still going. I was under the impression that I had wild strawberries growing in my garden. Alas, they are not. They are instead, creeping cinquefoil or potentilla reptans. How do I know this? Because I found some wonderful online resources for identifying weeds:This one has weeds defined by flower colour. Incredibly handy!This one has

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-25957387030501663502007-03-27T16:11:00.000+01:002007-03-27T16:34:59.837+01:00

The weather today was pretty fantastic. It got up to 19C! Unbelievable for March.So, guess where I was?Planting lemon thyme, eau de cologne mint, apple mint, common thyme, sage, chives and chervil. I also planted a campanula and another plant - can't remember its name. Now isn't that a good start? Plant stuff and have no idea what it's called?I had to ask for the water to be turned on so that I

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-10917334977112752382007-03-25T16:24:00.000+01:002007-03-27T16:26:13.153+01:00

More tulips from 2006Today we were at the garden. We planted 100 onions (Sturon), one head of garlic (Prinator), 100 shallots (Red Sun), 18 dwarf beans, (Borlotto and Contender), and one rhubarb plant.Yesterday we planted 12 each of Kelvedon and First Early May peas, and 12 strawberry plants.The carrots that I planted two weeks ago have done absolutely nothing, even under thermal fleece, so I'm

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-59371224199666611702007-03-14T16:09:00.000Z2007-03-25T17:10:25.716+01:00

Four days of sunshine... blue skies... no time to blog.... pictures instead. All from the balcony garden.A forest of hyacinths ...Muscari, just opening ...Daffodils... no idea what variety, but I love the ruffles....The promise of tulips ...I love growing bulbs. By the spring I've forgotten which varieties I planted so it's a bit like winning the lottery every time a new one opens.Now I'm going

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-8398179614703031612007-03-10T17:05:00.000Z2007-03-25T17:06:26.310+01:00

Today we were at the volkstuin.Big big news! The ponies were in the meadow!As you can imagine, the kids were overjoyed, but disappointed that the ponies came to me when I clicked my tongue to call them, but wouldn't come for them. The ponies (and the kids) have spring fever, galloping around the paddock full of youth and springiness. I think the ponies were after sowing some wild oats ...The

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-81019176313327168052007-03-09T17:07:00.000Z2007-03-25T17:08:37.022+01:00

Plus point: the peas are coming up. Can't say the same for the sweet peas which appear to be mouldy. The basil and tomatoes are showing no signs of anything. I got a propagator and I've planted sweet peppers and beans. The propagator is much nicer than my poor little egg cartons. I realised that planting peas in egg cartons is not a good idea. The seeds push themselves to the surface requiring

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-82678047099427697162007-02-07T17:01:00.000Z2007-03-25T17:06:48.090+01:00

Yesterday I went to the volkstuin (community garden or allotment for English speakers) and finalised the deal with the head of the association.I am now the proud lessee of 50 m2 of very muddy tilled land which currently houses a plum tree and some blackberry canes.You can see some pictures I took at the allotment today over here, including a beautiful photograph of a heron in the water.I also saw

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7878145984847422912.post-29344165148858355502007-01-01T16:56:00.000Z2007-03-25T17:04:45.869+01:00

In January 2007 I signed our family up for an allotment, or volkstuin at our local allotment or volkstuinvereniging. The allotment is in Amstelveen, on the Nesserlaan and is part of the moestuin complex called de Nesserlaan Tuinvereniging.This is a journal of our attempts at growing enough food for a family of four, in a gentle, mostly organic fashion.

Ashleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06279867349027342472noreply@blogger.com0