Oh, the garden is so exciting!

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 it all up yesterday and we will be having spinach and ricotta cannelloni tomorrow. Mmmmm.

There's enough lettuce to feed an army. The beans are flowering away, the climbing beans are climbing, some nasturtiums are flowering.

The butternut plants have recovered from their chill and have gone nice and green and have started doing a mile a minute growing. The tomatoes that I planted first out still look a bit sickly, but the ones subsequent to those are doing fine. It's a bit of a gamble with those tomatoes anyway as there is usually tomato blight at the allotments, which is why I have 24 tomato plants in pots on my balcony!

But most exciting of all, my gemsquash plants have flowers and one has a baby gemsquash! That's the picture at the top! I am so excited I can barely speak! If all we get is gemsquash from the allotment it will be worth it.

Next year I am definitely doing more pea growing, more strawberries and concentrating on getting a bigger and better harvest from the soft fruit. I should have a cracker raspberry and blackberry harvest judging by the amount of canes they've put up this season so far, but I'm completely unsure of how to prune the red and blackcurrants. The bushes look a bit elderly and one of them is completely dead in the centre.

The redcurrants in the picture above are from the younger plant. The older plant has tiny fruit and yellowed leaves.


More photos here.

Straw for Strawberries

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 and update tomorrow.

The pvc pipes cost 89c each and I'll be going back tomorrow or Wednesday and getting enough to do all the beds. I think it's the only sensible way to keep the ducks out of my plants!

The straw comes in 5 kg compressed vacuum sealed bags for about 5 euros a bag. You can buy uncompressed bales, but they're much bigger and I'd need to have the car commercially cleaned to get rid of all the dust!

I used one five kg bale to do both strawberry beds and give each squash and courgette plant a nice warm base. The gemsquash look like they grew about 5 inches since yesterday! The other bale is waiting to replenish the berries later in the season.

Vertine has some nice photos of all the 'protection' methods used on her allotment site to keep the birds out of the berries.

Today I'll be sowing some more dwarf beans here at home in 3 inch pots, transplanting some of my tomatoes to bigger pots. The ones that I showed you a week or so ago now have at least two flower trusses showing.

The difference in growth after they are transplanted to their final growing area is just incredible! The ones at the allotment are also looking pretty good.

Finally, my garlic looks as though it might be ready to harvest in about 2 weeks.

Club root on kohlrabi

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 the foot by accepting seedlings from a fellow gardener - she may not have started hers off in sterile potting compost and the fungus could have been present even before they reached my garden.

You can see more pictures of the afflicted roots here.

Tomorrow I have the wonderful task of either going back and pulling out all of my brassicas to try and contain the spread or just leaving them alone and hoping for the best for the rest of this season.

Oh, and the three trays of broccoli and cauliflower seedlings I have here waiting to go in the ground? I guess they'll be ... not.

In the autumn I can heavily lime the brassica area, which will be a different patch in my rotation and then try again next year.

Here's another useful factsheet. And in case you wanted to know, clubroot is called 'knolvoet' in Dutch.

Not for all the Lovage in the world ...

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 everything' companion plant, much like borage.

When the lovage started coming up in the spring I thought maybe we had something exciting, like asparagus. I asked someone and they told me what it was and I left it alone.

Until today that is, where I ruthlessly pulled it all up. Judging by how fast the little shoots have forced themselves up through the ground I'm sure it will be just as big in no time at all. It grows to 2 metres high!

It has an interesting smell, very clean and celery like. Brad wasn't so keen - he said it stinks!

I also paid Sebastian 2 euros to weed the onion bed and carry the weeds to the compost bin. He had to do it without complaining in order to get paid. And he did! I also trimmed the dead wood out of the black and redcurrant bushes, and we removed some growth from the plum tree which appeared infected with a virus of some kind. Then we covered the strawberries with a net to save the first strawberry from the birds. We laid some slug traps using milk.

My onions and garlic are starting to yellow. I can't believe it's time already, is it?

I am still unsure whether these are black or redcurrants ...

More May photos here.

What the garden did on vacation

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, chopped tomato, feta cheese and sliced carrot. Oh, and the best kebabs ever! Marinated in a ginger, garlic, maple syrup and vinegar marinade. Mmmmm...

One of the Salad Bowl lettuces planned for dinner tomorrow. This lot was sown indoors back on the 3rd March.



First pea pods, sown indoors on 3 March. Don't they look just like peas in a pod?



A cauliflower surrounded by some purple kohlrabi. The idea is to harvest the kohlrabi as golf ball sized fruit and then pull them out, leaving the cauliflowers the rest of the space.

These cauliflower are remarkable because they were eaten almost down to the ground by the ducks before I made my cunning chicken wire enclosure for them! They've recovered wonderfully. The chicken wire is off and they now have pirate flags protecting them from errant fowl. I'm hoping the pirates on the bunting will prove even more chillingly frightening to the ducks. Pity you can't threaten ducks with walking the plank.

The caulis were from the garden centre and the kohlrabi from my neighbour. Don't they look beautiful together?



Blackberries in bloom. I'm thinking ... JAM!



A procession of cows on the polder:



I wonder what they were doing? Do you think one said 'follow me' and the rest did? Maybe the two behind have co-dependent personalities. Maybe the one in front is a dictator. Psychology among cows... I'm sure someone's studied it.

I also replanted some tomatoes to 10 cm pots, bought some compost to replant the rest, potted on some calabrese (broccoli), planted more lettuce in a tray, weeded my entire plot, tried out the new sprinkler, and then tidied up everything and brought it home because tomorro, after 45 days of drought, it's going to rain!

Making Newspaper Pots

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 for free and in return I bake something nice for the florist as a gift. It works pretty well as an exchange :)

How to Make Newspaper Pots

Saturday in the garden

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 much they grew since last time:

Berry blossom, I think this is a white currant:

A red salad bowl lettuce. These are sown in rows of alternating red and green. When they're fully grown they should look fab! Unless we eat them before then:

Have a look here for other photos, including some fantastic Dutch Irises on someone else's plot.

I'm disappointed in my spinach. It's come up all patchy so I'm going to transplant it to even the rows out a bit.

I sowed it a bit heavy handed in places, now I know for next time to drop pinches of the seed instead of just throwing it randomly down a drill! I far prefer planting in egg trays than planting in the open ground - I seem to get much better results that way.

At home my tomatoes are growing fantastically well. They have been outdoors on the balcony for the last week and even though our temperatures have dropped to 3 or 4C the last few nights they seem ok. The squash are also outside on the balcony and seem to be doing alright. I don't mind if their growth gets a bit retarded as they are a bit ahead of themselves. Next year I will know to sow my seeds closer to the middle of May.

I planted basil plants, grown from seed, out into the windowboxes and repotted the parsley and oregano that were in there. A bit of fresh soil should make all the difference.

In the propagator I have a few more types of tomatoes that have all germinated and need potting on, a couple of different kinds of basil, broccoli, chives and cauliflowers. I also planted two courgettes - Eight Ball and Astia. There are winter leeks on the windowsill waiting to be planted outside.

Rain is forecast for this week which will hopefully give the potatoes something to make them grow!

Cauliflowers, Leeks and Lettuces

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 plant low growing plants like felicia and verbena between the stones through perforated film.

He also made the sitting area at the back of the garden a bit bigger - perfect for summer barbecues!

The new half garden will be home to parsnips, leeks, carrots, cauliflower, pumpkins and potatoes.

The back of the garden houses an apple tree, another aalbes and a new plant, a Josta bes which our voorzitter gave me. The front of the new garden has blackberry, aalbessen and a rose bush.

Yesterday I planted marigolds (tagetes), alyssum, and tricolour daisies in trays. Hopefully they'll germinate quickly and give us lots of little plants to put amongst the vegetables.

In the garden itself the onions and garlic are almost all up. The spinach seems to have germinated, but I'm not sure - I have to wait for them to grow a bit before I can be certain. This is why I like growing things in trays indoors - then I know exactly what comes up!

There are baby lettuces coming up. It seems like every seed I sowed germinated! I'll thin them and plant the thinnings into trays to plant elsewhere when they're a bit bigger.

Still no carrots, or anything identifiable as a carrot. Patience is a virtue, I believe.

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 11 March and finally germinated late last week.

I've also transplanted the cherry tomatoes that were sown on 3 March and 11 March into their own pots. The whole living room windowsill is full of little plant pots. I hope no-one thinks I have a hash plantation!

Outside I have lettuce ready to go directly into the beds, and peas germinating slowly.

Last week Wednesday, the 28th, I planted more carrots, peas, and lettuce directly in the beds. In the bed next to them I planted alternate rows of spinach and garlic.

One of the raspberry plants I bought appears to be dead. I've trimmed down the stem and will wait a bit to see if anything comes up from the bottom. Hopefully it will.

The blackberries are sprouting furiously. The plum tree is in blossom and the herbs under the plum tree have been joined by a bay plant, two more rosemarys and a lavender bush.

The rosemary bushes that I took from home to be planted at the garden are looking a bit sad - one lost all it's needles and I've cut it down to see if it will resprout. The other seems ok, but it's yellowing. No idea what is wrong with them as they've been standing around here on the balcony for three years. Maybe it was too much of a shock for them to be transplanted..

The rhubarb is growing rapidly and the strawberries are sprouting. The last week we've had very warm dry weather so I have had to visit every day to water the garden.

Alas, there are only a very few of the bean plants still standing. I think the wind and the doves between them put an end to the beans. Never mind, I can always plant some more.

Yesterday while I was there I made a compost heap with chicken wire and bamboo. It looks pretty good for something made by someone with absolutely no idea! Photo coming soon.

Rosemary and Thyme

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 could water my plants. Yesterday they wouldn't turn it on so Sebastian had to do some seriously dangerous scrambling to get water out of the canal for me. Today that was absolutely not happening. Seb wasn't with me and I had no intention of ending up in the 'sloot'. I firmly requested that the pump be turned on and finally it was. Good thing I bought a ten litre watering can because it took me about 10 trips to water the few little plants I have. I see a hosepipe in my future.

I continued the work we did on the weekend and dug over some more beds. I discovered a large rhubarb plantation at the back of my plot so I'm planning to move the rhubarb plant I bought over there to keep the others company.

While I was there one of the other gardeners asked me if I had planted some special kind of bean plants. I asked why and he said it was too early for beans. I replied that I had some thermal fleece for them and so if frost was forecast I could always protect them. He seemed dubious about whether they would survive. I felt like saying 'Dude, if they die I'll just plant some more! Get over it!'

One cannot be rude though, one has to maintain one's 'normen en waarden'.

Sadly five of the bean plants got broken off by the wind - four Borlottis and one Contender. I need to replant some to fill in the gaps.

Life is definitely stranger than fiction. Remember I told you about the Chinese girl, Hong, from my class? You can imagine my surprise when she appeared with her mother in law at the volkstuincomplex!

Her parents in law have a garden there. It was so nice to chat to her and meet her mother in law and her baby son.

Another coincidence? One of the ladies who works at the natuurwinkel has a volkstuin in the same complex. So, that's two 'contacts' I have at the garden. How's that for six degrees? We have over 100 000 people in our town and two of them, from totally different areas of my life appear in a third, unrelated area. Weird.

I found a long term weather forecast for Europe which is very useful.

Let's hope the warm weather continues!

Sunday the 25th

_{More tulips from 2006}

Today 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 going to buy more seed and try again.

The blackberries are budding, the plum tree is blossoming, and I found out we have an extra bit to our garden containing black and redcurrant bushes.

Tomorrow I will continue digging, plant some flowers and cover the beds with mulch. 16C forecast for tomorrow! Spring is here!