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 

2026/19 - Historical Gorkum Ramparts Walk

 When you know me a little (and loads of you lovely people do by now), you know I love a ramble. My walks are slower than they used to be by necessity, and shorter too, due to artrosis in my left knee. But I still walk, and historical fortified towns are a love of mine.

Will you just look at that? As Dutch as it gets! Gorkum, or Gorinchem as it is officially named, is a fortified town in Zuid-Holland, situated on the rivers Boven-Merwede and Linge. It has four town gates, the one above is the Dalempoort. The corn mill in the background is called De Hoop (hope) and functioning.

This is the same gate, looking towards the ramparts. And those ramparts...absolutely gorgeous!

You can walk them all around the historical town centre, taking you approx. 10 km, which we did. You are surrounded by trees, huge plantanes and horse chestnuts, and (right now by the end of April) rapeseed, cow parsley and all kinds of shrubs in bloom. Most of the time you have a view across the watermeadows towards the river.

Gorinchem is properly old, around the year 1000 there was a fisherman's village here already.

The first castle was built before 1290.

There used to be as many as 7 town gates, and in 1388 almost the entire town burnt down, to the loss of 1500 houses.

It was rebuilt, and like most Dutch fortified towns knew riches around the 15th century and then decline, then a slow restart after Napoleon was sent back to his own country in the 18th century.

Ramparts used to be tree-less, for obvious reasons; the canons needed a clear firing range. But nowadays they are covered in vegetation, and thus are idyllic.

There is an upper path and a lower path...this is the lower one, in the dappled shade of the trees. Right now I was thankful for the sun, but I imagine in the height of Summer folk are happy to walk in the shade.

So lovely!

From time to time we switched to the upper path, and as you can see in some parts there is even a third path, next to the water.

The views are spectacular. It is hard to imagine you are in a town of almost 40.000 people!

Living next to a river myself, I must admit mine is topped by this view. And not having petrochemical industry on the other bank helps a lot!

This is the Veerhaven.

With the Grote Kerk in the background, it is always nice to meet some other ramblers, especially when they suggest we can swop being photographers of eachother.

But all circular walks reach the point where you started...and we needed to get back to the station. In some alley to the Lingehaven we came across this wall, a communal living arrangement.

Sorry about the leaning house...it does not lean quite as badly. These houses overlooking the river Linge still have the rooms jutting out over the water, typically Dutch.

Like all old towns, Gorkum has a market place. Theirs is rather grand, with a fountain and an impressive museum.

Lots of cafés, always nice after a long walk.

Gorkum caters for tourists...not so strange when you know it was voted best historical town for 2021. But the ratio 'tourists tat' vs 'normal' shops is well balanced.

I really enjoyed our day there. 

On the station forecourt I was said goodbye to by my Puck in bronze. Well, not my doggie, obviously, but she could have posed for it! She was patiently waiting for me at home, and politely listened to my adventures as we took our normal walkies. Trees, yes, she likes trees, especially sniffing them. Rivers, yes, rivers are cool, as long as she is not required to swim. But I could sense her tuning me out when I started about the history.

I hope you have enjoyed taking this walk with me. Next week it is back to gardens, promise.

Look me up on my website, at Renée Grashoff Schrijft where you can find my monthly blog on Brielle and books.

Have a good week, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2026/18 - Naturalistic gardening

After 4 years of blogging about the same two gardens, there is a tendency to repeat myself. The foundation of the gardens stays the same, obviously, as in both I cannot change it. A balcony stays a balcony, and on an allotment you are bound to rules.

 But still, I do try to renew and rewild.

On the balcony, I have changed around the climbers in two of the planters, from cucumbers and tomatoes to roses and Achillea. I have decided to keep the veg to the allotment.

I've told you the frog pond is a failed project, right? So I have given up refilling it weekly, and now let it get naturally soggy by occasional rainshowers. It means the plants in there will change as well...I will miss my Waterlily, but I hope the Papyrus will stay. I have removed the two gutters I used to direct the waterflow from my water butt to the pond. At least I will not stumble across them anymore... always a good idea not to break my neck.

This is no more...

I'll see how it evolves now, and wish my salamander good luck!

 I promised you a better photo of the orange Broom, and here it is. A lovely colour, I think!

Its white sister has grown into quite a large bush.

One of the strong, healthy plants that provide colour alongside the Broom and Tulips, is the Centaurea. I started with just a single plant, and by now it has spread all through the garden. Bumblebees love it, and so do I. 

Another 'spreader' is the Euphorbia. Again, it started with just one plant, and by now it is slowly marching away from the Artichoke patch (and who can blame it?) towards the dead hedge. My Rosemary is in flower, but my neighbour has a Rosemary bush that makes my pretty one look like a dwarf!

How about this one then! The photo does not do it justice, it is as large as a Toyota Aygo.

The last of my Narcissi to offset the new Tulips I planted in November. The yellow flowers are two cabbages I left in that border last Autumn, to give some nectar to the bees this Spring. There is a mass of Aquilegia in this border as well, that's new too, originating from the plants near the greenhouse door.

Some more Tulips, Apeldoorns Elite.

The Bergenia is doing its best to stick its head above the grass that is trying to take over this border.

This Tulip is called Miranda.

And this one should be Apeldoorns Elite, but frankly I think they put the wrong bulb in the sack, as A&E is orange with yellow edges...

Now, off-topic, look what Puck and I walked into...The entire harbour was filled with these small fish, approx 3" long, and leisurely swimming around in circles. I was amazed. So many fish, it must have been thousands! My fish knowledge does not reach far enough to be able to tell you the name, sorry.

You'd think the seagulls that are always hanging around the harbour would have a party, a rave, but funnily enough there was not a gull in sight.

I'll leave you with a photo of Brielse Meer, just before sunrise. We stumbled across four hares who were chasing eachother, and who were so into eachother that they only spotted Puck right at the last minute. They raced off, but one got so confused it ran in the wrong direction and crashed into Puck. My dog (always on leash because of the nesting waterfowl and the beavers) was so flabbergasted she just stood and stared. Well, she'll have something to dream about today!

Puck and I wish you a good week, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff