2026/22 - Celebrating my end of May Garden

 Doesn't time just fly by? Here we are, rapidly approaching June already... Hunky Dory and my balcony garden are glowing with flowers.

This Wallflower, name unknown as it was a gift from a friend's garden, is almost at the end of her flowering season, but she looks great. The yellow ones on my balcony are past it though, and as they have been in their planter for three years, and have turned very woody, I will take them out, thanking them for their efforts.

The Camassia leichtlinii is valiantly trying to ignore the lack of rain...she likes her soil to be a lot more moist than I can offer her. She is an experiment: will Camassia survive my heavy, dry clay? She does, so next Autumn I will plant some more. We have finally got us some rain, although most of it passes by my delta and falls on the East of the country.

Now here is a puzzle for you: when I planted Hunky Dory I planted a Papaver Orientale in the hot bed. It grew and bloomed that first year, then vanished. But! It has emerged at the entrance to my greenhouse, four plants no less, and they are doing great. How??? It is a mystery to me.

One of my favourites for my garden: the Geranium macrorrhizum. It likes its corner near the hole which used to be my frog pond, next to the woodpile.

Said hole...also a very sad hole. Not enough rain, so no water left whatsoever! I will see what survives in there now. On the right the Erigeron is still doing its thing, and some of the aquatic plants are hanging on so far. But the grasses, always opportunistic thugs, are rapidly colonizing the hole.

Talking about colonizing: to my great joy I have many Digitalis this year, who have spread themselves around the garden. Like the giant Poppy they have planted themselves around the entrance to the greenhouse, but they are in all the beds as well. They are so majestic, and tough as old boots. So I tell them "go forth and multiply!" Lucky for me, they are very obedient.

One of my neighbours still never visits his plot...and this is one of the wild plants that have settled there. Very pretty, some type of Clover. I shamelessly pick it for my flower arrangements at home (he never ever weeds, so...).

The greenhouse

My 'lettuce in the old rain gutter' experiment works! I am chuffed. At first they were struggling because of the sun (no chalk on the roof panels), so I rigged a sunscreen for that part of the greenhouse. And it works a treat! 

The Rettich in the black pot should almost be edible by now, so I'll dig one up very carefully soon, to see how far along it is. And the Paksoi in the raised bed is ready to be eaten. In fact, they are all ready...that's the drawback of using plugs...all is ready at the same time. I will have to be clever with them...

The Cucumbers and Tomatoes are doing fine as well. I have planted my Calendula seedlings in front (the photo does not show them).

After my greenhouse being a total disaster resembling a weedy patch of wasteland (because of this pesky plant!) for two years because of this inerasable weed that came up a.s.a. I had removed it, I am very glad I decided to use the French bark on top of weed depressant cloth  and built me some raised beds. I'll build some more now that I see it works.

The Helleborus enjoying the rain.

I'll leave you with a few photos of my neighbourhood. This is along our daily walk.

Puck likes to sniff out the blue heron that sits here often to fish.

Another part of our daily walk. The grasses come up to my hips right now. This morning we met a hare, a green woodpecker, a gaggle of Canadian geese, a bored black cat, a roe buck, and saw evidence of the beavers that live here as well. Not bad, eh? For a built up industrial area just below the smoke of Rotterdam.

See those clouds? More rain to arrive. I love it when the Hawthorns bloom. We have quite a few along the ramparts and ravelins. The mill is a wooden standard corn mill, still in use.

Right. I hope you've enjoyed this week's blog. I will include an extra one of extra photography, just for fun. Pass on the word if you did. And if you would like to read more, follow the link to my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good week, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2026/22a - Extra May Photos

 Here are the extra photographs of my gardens that I promised you. I take all my photos myself, and they are my creative property. I hope you enjoy them.

Keep an eye out for my next blog, as it will be about a visit to the Japanese garden in the Groei & Bloei Open Garden Scheme. 

In the orchard.

The Desdemona Rose.

At the front of the garden.

My Paksoi harvest.

 In the greenhouse.

In front of the greenhouse.

The front of the garden, near the compost heaps.

 On the balcony.

The greenhouse door in the rain.

The entrance to Hunky Dory. Pluto was rescued from a neighbourhood 

skip by my dog and myself, and is supposed to guard my plot. But he's a big softie.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2026/21 - 10 Reasons to Embrace the New Climate

 Seriously, Renée?

Yes...My stoic self tells me I cannot change the climate single-handedly, so I may as well resign myself to it. It's very simple to moan, and I could find a 100 reasons to. But instead I will attempt to find postivity, and share this with you lovely folk.

1.

The tall grasses along the river walk, on the other side of what you can see in this photo, are over a month early in their tallness. That means Puck can walk on the path through the tall grass which has been mowed especially for that purpose, without being spotted by other dogs. In the very early mornings (that photo I took at 06.15 a.m) there is no need to hide though, right then my reactive rescued doggie and I have the entire riverbank to ourselves. Which is the exact reason we get up that early!

2.

The vegetation underneath my favourite Willow is a month early as well. Which is good for the insects, which in turn is great for the birds, who are nesting earlier too. I have been enjoying the 'cuc-koo!' of the cuckoo for a fortnight already, and spotted the first swallows that have returned. The crows in the roost down the road have fledglings already, and keep a beady eye on Puck, who ignores them.

3.

In Mildenburgbos wood in Oostvoorne, the Wild Garlic is prolific, and scents the air. I would love to get some to make pesto, but a. it is forbidden to pick and b. there are masses of dogs being walked there...garlic pesto à la pee...no thanks. The new climate means we enjoy balmy weather much earlier in the season, mid-May feels like the end of June.

4.

There is absolutely no need to force my Rhubarb, as I grow much more than I can eat, and this is very early as well. I give loads away to the immigrants in the Taalcafé (Dutch language café) I volunteer at twice a week, to teach them Dutch. It always makes me laugh when they sniff at the stalks suspiciously. This is edible? But I provide my recipe, and so far they all love it.

5.

My Roses are, so far, taking the lack of rain in the Spring (3rd year running with hardly any rain in what should be very wet months!) in their stride. This one is already in flower, and the other three are full of buds. I adore my Roses, so I watch them like an eagle for signs of stress, and water them.

6.

Okay...I am struggling a bit now... Can I find four more reasons to be happy about the lack of rain? Or about nature being confused? Can nature be confused?

These are the Lilacs next to the ruin of Oostvoorne Castle, and they smell delicious. Lilacs are unassuming when not in flower, a bit boring really. But when they do so...hardly anything beats them for scent. Rain makes them look bedraggled. (I told you, struggling)

7.

The sunny, unseasonably hot weather, has made visiting the coast a lot of fun. This early in the season it is not overrun (yet) by tourists. It was extremely windy at the Brouwersdam (hence the bad hair), and this restaurant used to stand on the beach...Due to seawater levels rising, it is now permanently in the sea, and that beach is history. Need I remind you my country is situated approx. 4m. below that sea level? Oops, this is not exactly a positive...delete.

8.

Found one! Reason #8 to be positive, is that we can grow Grapes outside of greenhouses. We used to wax lyrical about vineyards across the border in France and Germany, well, we have our own these days. So there. Okay, we lack the gradient, and proper soil (to name a not unimportant detail), and our delta tends to get very muggy in Summer, but the vines do grow. I have my own, and am very proud of it. Any grapes? Nope, not so far.

9. 

I am stumped, I must admit. Cannot think of a reason to be positive about all those storms, one after the other, that we are experiencing, but most without a drop of rain for my gasping garden. So I just post a pretty picture of the Bluebells in Mildenburgbos. Gorgeous, isn't it?

10.

My rescued girl from Curaçao. She's having a good sniff, other dogs use that spot to swim. She does not swim. She does not do most doggie things, like play, jump around like a happy maniac, or chase sticks or balls. My Puck was chained up, beaten, starved and permanently pregnant, before she was rescued and flown over to me. Her joys are simple: eat, sleep, get belly rubs and feel safe. Climate change means nothing to her. She enjoys her walks best when no other dogs are around, in her mind her species is a threat. We have a lot in common, my dog and I, that's why we get along so well.

Do look me up for more stories about my country at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Or when you are looking to adopt a dog, and give it a good life, here is the link to Curaçao Animal Rights Foundation CARF

Have a good week, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2026/20 - Gardening in Uncertain Times

 Tending to leave politics out of this blog, I thought I'd make an exception for the 20th post of this year.

                  (Cytisus 'Apricot Gem')

My gardens, Hunky Dory (the allotment) and the balcony both, are my 'happy place'. I potter, I enjoy, I make mistakes, I rejoice in projects that work. 

War

But I would be telling lies if I said I am dancing through life at the moment. There are two terrible wars on in my distant backyard, effecting life in my country. Firstly it brings us/me anxiety and secondly prices of everything are shooting up. The price of petrol has gone through the roof, and this affects everything which has to be brought in by trucks. Thus it makes driving to my nursery more expensive, but it also makes everything I buy there more expensive as well, and prices in supermarkets are even higher than they already were. At home, energy prices (gas/electricity) have become ridiculous. And that's all without even mentioning the huge regret I feel when it comes to those poor, ordinary people in those countries at war. How does bombing civilians out of their homes, let alone killing them, weigh up against conflicts which clearly are just about money? Please save me from old, megalomaniac men!

Everything combined, it makes for a financially worrying Spring.

Allotmenteer

As an allotmenteer, the most logical step is to grow more of my own food, right? Easy-peasy. You'd think. And I will try. But the thing is, I am much more of a FLOWER grower, as the gate-crasher above illustrates. It takes up precious space in my planter, where I could grow at least 4 more broccoli plants. But do I rip it out? Nope. Not yet, at least, times must become even more desperate before I start doing things like that.

Still. I did chalk my greenhouse windows and I took a trip to the nursery to buy the tomato and cucumber plants I wanted.

Meanwhile the grass verges around Hunky Dory have erupted with rapeseed, so lovely. And the peaceful countryside around me makes up for the bombed out cities I see on the news every day. 

Eikenbladsla, or oak leaf lettuce I think it is in English. I put that gutter I discarded to good use, fingers crossed that it will work.

I bought two Cucumber and two Tomato plants, and have two more Cherry Tomatoes at home on the balcony. Hopefully that will save me getting the expensive veg from the shop. And they taste a whole lot better!

And I have Rettich, love it, and the Paksoi is doing well.

I have a glut of Rhubarb at the moment, I give away lots, but I will also look into making Rhubarb cordial. Don't you think the back of those leaves is beautiful?

Not too shabby for a flower grower, right? But flowers are my first love.

The Euphorbia does her best to repeat the colour of the Rapeseed and pull it into my garden.

The bronze leaves of the Physocarpus opufolius Little Angel make my heart swell every time I see them. They will turn much darker over time, to dark red.

And the Centaurea are everywhere. They self-seed, but I must admit I help them by throwing their seedheads in the beds at random. They satisfy my craving for cornflowers, which simply will not grow in my garden.

My Ukranian friends from the Taalcafé like them just as much as me.

The advantage of the giant Pampas Grass behind my struggling Fern is that it now keeps the Fern in shade or partial shade for most of the day, and it likes not being baked by the sun! Like me, in fact, simply cannot stand it. So every time I get a bit morose because of having no funds to go on holiday, I remind myself I can't 'do' faraway hot places anyway. So... unfortunately no Mexico or Singapore for me...I'll try to nurse their plants instead.

 

Hunky Dory is mostly green and yellow right now, but will turn to green and pink/lavender soon. The changing of the colours in my garden mean the changing of the season to me. First white, then yellow, then blue appears, then the multicoloured Tulips and after that whoosh! During May all of a sudden the pink/lavender bed will burst into flower.

Look me up at my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft when you want to read more of my writings, and have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff