2026/42 - Slow Living (and Gardening!)

 When you watch a lot of gardening programmes, and I do, it might occur to you there are roughly three kinds: the quick-fix 'rip it all out and put a load of decking/pebbles/posts with a few plants in', the 'taking-it-very-seriously organic veg growing', and the 'take your time, for crying out loud, plants need time to grow' variety.

After the gale

Needless to say I am of the third variety. First of all, I think wooden decking is very overrated, and furthermore I am utterly convinced that we all need to slow down. A lot!

Slow living

When I took on my allotment just after Covid, I started gardening with the long view in mind. Lack of funds, lack of time, a very high-maintenance, reactive, traumatised rescued dog, they combined to make me realise I would not be able to create the garden I was dreaming of in a hurry. Was that a problem? Absolutely not!

Right from the start I knew it would take years. And that was the whole point, as it were. This garden was supposed to remind me of the importance of keeping going in my older years. There is no rush, the seasons will change whether I have painted that sorry excuse for a shed (nope) or not. Every winter I make a plan, but if I cannot do it all, because I break my arm, or because my pond springs a leak, or simply because my old car needs new brakes (gulp!), then that is fine. I will simply do it the year after.

Sometimes it is frustrating, that pond was an eyesore, but mostly I can live with it. And the thing that always lifts my heart and keeps me going, are those plants, that slowly change according to season and their age. To me, those 10 Heleniums I have in bloom right now, after planting just one 4 years ago, are worth more than 40 of them if I had planted them in bulk. 

The same goes for my Roses. I buy them in the Sale, I give them my love, I watch them grow, and add slowly to my collection. A Rose a year.

My Schneewitchen has had a gale blowing across the balcony from left to right this week, and just look at her! Heroic!

So, no quick-fixes for me, thanks. "You are simply getting old!", said someone to me. True, I am. But it goes deeper than that, much deeper. An example: when I see the youths in my town whizzing past on their fat bikes, with their eyes fixated on their mobile phones, I remember the time when youths communicated with their mouths. I see people walking their dogs, with their eyes stuck to their phones. And I worry about their sanity, honestly, I do. Those poor dogs...

Slow gardening

Research shows that plants, especially the less regimentally planted ones, help lessen people's stress levels. It shows that children, as soon as they are shown that strawberries grow on plants and not come covered in plastic from a factory, are fascinated, and want to try to grow them. It shows that people from all backgrounds and ages, working an allotment together, suddenly find a common ground to talk about, when in the street they would probably not engage.

Yes, my hair is blue due to a band gig.

Gardening is good for your health!

This morning I drove my railing planters to Hunky Dory. Since I decided I would change my balcony garden to a (hopefully more practical and less water consuming) Mediterranean garden, it needed some heavy lifting and a lot of digging. Those planters simply needed watering twice a day...too much, too wasteful.

But, as happens regularly, my knee gave out yet again, so I had to stop halfway through the planting.

Still, I got the Ponytail Grasses and Verbena Bonariensis into the ground.

One of the ten. Isn't it lovely?

It was a gorgeous morning, sunny, not a cloud to be seen, so the insects were out in force. And that smell! Almost nothing beats the smell of a dewy Autumn morning. The birds enjoyed it too, they sang their little hearts out, in between eating the last ripe Figs. Well, I say eating, but I should say pecking into a fig thrice and then leaving it...

At mornings like today those Pampas Grasses really shine.

Okay, this is it for this week. Visit my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft when you want the latest news about my publications (translation button provided) and do take care, won't you?

Oh, Puck says 'hi'. Well, she would, if she was not snoring the house down. She lets it be known she's very happy she gets walked with full attention of me, and that we have great interaction. Me: "Look, Puck, that beaver has been here last night, there is a freshly gnawed tree!" Puck: "Yeah, whatever, gosh, this bush smells interesting!"

Renée Grashoff 

2026/41 - And Garden Life Goes On...with Hornets

 When I was dividing some plants, an ambulance drove up and stopped behind my car. Someone on the allotments had had a...mishap? I hope it wasn't more serious than that! But as I watched him being wheeled to the ambulance (I am next to the road), it occurred to me* that life is precious, and that it gets to be more of a lottery the older you get.

Desdemona

* now don't think I am a moron, I have know life is precious from when I was 16 and my beloved Gran died, and it suddenly hit me on that day that life is not perpetual. Just so you know.

See this Hedera? It is a bee magnet, that is why I planted it (okay, and to mask the ugly waterbutt behind it). But now it is also a hornet magnet...

There were at least 10 Asian hornets on there. Shock, horror!

Wasps, okay, I can deal with wasps. But hornets frighten me! Obviously I did not manage to get one properly on camera. Top left, that orangy thing, that's one. As soon as I tried to get a better photo, they scedadled. Which is sort of good to know. But still...

My comfy chair is right next to that Hedera. Damn.

My insect guide doesn't even mention the Asian hornet, only the European one (bottom left), as it did not occur in the Netherlands until this freaky hot  year. Well: the Asian is larger than it appears in this pic and has the orange back of that wasp top right. It can grow to 2,5 cm and the queens are 3 to 3,5 cm.

They fly to forage up to 500 - 800m from their nest. Fingers crossed the ones in my plot flew their maximum lenght! Said amongst eachother "hey, dudes, let's see how far we can get from the nest".

French Hornet Kamikaze

The reason hornets frighten me, stems from a holiday 36 years ago. My then husband and me cycled, with our large Drentsche Patrijs dog in a dog carrier, down a hill in Dordogne. Great fun, until my ex gave an almighty shout, and fell off his bike. Luckily he landed in the grassy verge, but when I got to him, he was as white as a sheet, sweaty, and on the verge of passing out. He mumbled something that sounded like "wasp!".

Sure enough there was a stunned European hornet next to him, the speed of the collision had been huge. In a reflex I stamped on it, and only later realised it was a hornet, not a wasp. It had stung him on his bare upper arm, which immediately swol up. He was in great pain. I tried to suck out the poison (should you do that with hornets? I still don't know, but I thought better to try than not to try) and then washed his arm with water, and bathed his neck, and did everything I could think of to help him.

Fortunately he recovered after a bit, much helped by our dog Freya who washed his face thoroughly. She was a very motherly dog. His bike was okay too, so we were able to cycle on to the nearest village, where the arm was looked to by the pharmacist. Hubby got a tube of cream, felt very sorry for himself for the rest of the day, but that was the end of that adventure.

Mind you, it left me with a mix of respect of and utter fear for hornets!

And now they have arrived on our allotments!

It occurred to me that perhaps that poor man being stretchered off our allotments had been stung, and had an allergic reaction. But that is the way my mind works.

Okay, please visit my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft for more stories and the latest news about my books. And do spread the word about them on Goodreads, BookTok or whatever platform you use, please, if you enjoy my writing. I need funds to publish book number 3 of the trilogy. Thanks! 😘

Renée Grashoff 

2026/39 - Allotment Maintenance - necessary work

 After months of schlepping water, water and more water, it is finally cool enough to trust the occasional rainshower to provide water for my allotment. I still water the plants in the greenhouse, obviously.

Kruisspin/ Cross spider

   And yes, it is Autumn. This   morning, whilst planning to   mow my grass, I almost   walked straight into this   cobweb. The spider was busy   repairing it, but fled to the   safety of the Buddleia it had   attached its web to.

   

   As long as spiders sit still, I   admire their beauty. As soon   as they start moving, it is   another story entirely... I was   once bitten by a big one and it really hurt, but only for a moment.

   But this one was well behaved.

In between the showers, I did some maintenance. High time too, the grass on my paths was so high that I was afraid my old fashioned hand mower would not be able to get through. But it did, just...

Here you are; it looks much better! That pink Gaura is still doing her best, very sweet. The Hedera on the right is full of flowers too, a real bee magnet.

My tiny orchard is to the right, and most of the apples are on the ground now...I noticed there were no wasps there...quite surprising, as last year there were plenty.

Koolwitje / Cabbage Butterfly Caterpillars

Plenty of these, though! Here they are on the leaves of my summer bulbs (duds! Only leaves and no flowers!). I don't mind them munching my leaves; it is better that they eat my duds, than that they devastate the cabbages of my neighbour.

My garden is filled with Asters/Michealmas Daisies, so cheerful. There are white ones as well, but they are still in bud.

And my Cotoneaster pyramid is suddenly orange. It usually stays that way until the birds get really hungry, and then they pick it clean. It used to be up against an old broad bean fence, which blew over in a gale. So now I have given it a pyramid of three apple branches, which it seems to like.

I cut off the lower branches of my silver Pine a few weeks ago, and it looks much better now that I was able to mow around my tiny Lavender and Erigeron island. I have not finished mowing though...the area next to the fence still has to be done. 

And then the next project is to prune the Elaeagnus again. I do this in Autumn, to keep up the raised canopy. The endeavour is to cloudprune it...so far the bare trunks are nice, but the cloudpruning still looks very amateur. Especially now the branches have grown out so much. Never mind, I'll keep at it.

Those daily rainshowers have had another effect: my plants in the trellis planter on the balcony have suddenly decided to give it one last effort! I have watered them daily during those five (5!!!) heatwaves, and thus kept them alive, but flower? They stopped completely. Just look at them now though.

It reminds me of how nature is very resilient. And that is hopeful. We people make such a mess of things! At least the earth will survive us, I think.

Beneath the Oaks in my street, there is an abundance of toadstools, huge ones, I have never seen them get this large. My son says they are edible, but due to the also huge number of dogs in my neighbourhood, I will not try.

Right. From Puck and me both, I wish you a great week, wherever you are!

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2026/34 - Creepy Crawlies are my motivators

It's no secret I adore flowers. I garden because of it. But ever since I became aware that we are rapidly destroying our environment, and not just over here in the Dutch Delta, I came to realise that I needed to help insects in the only, small way that I am able to. So I try to provide a good habitat for the creepy crawlies that have made Hunky Dory their home, by planting lots of nectar plants and by leaving alone the wild flowers that appear. And by the way, I don't think the crawlies are creepy at all. Now a Rattlesnake, that's a creep.

Renée, you idiot, I hear you say. That spider on your Phlomis eats insects, so what the, etc.

Well, actually, yes, this Philodromus spec., or  Turf Running spider, what we call a common 'renspin' in Dutch (ren = to run, spin = spider) eats insects, but I still qualify it as essential for the circle of life in my garden. It is harmless to humans, unlike its cousin Philodromus dispar, the zwartrugrenspin (black back spider). Last year I was bitten by an unknown beastie whilst weeding, and I now suspect it was by this P. dispar. I got a nasty allergic reaction which made my entire hand swell up to baseball glove proportions.

Some more spiders, well...'some'...This nest is in my Daphne in my balcony garden. Due to living at the back of a harbour, I suspect this is the Garden spider, or Cross Spider (yes, we call it kruisspin). Araneus diadematus is considered a pest by my neighbours, who hire men with poison to eradicate them, as we have masses of them every year. But they are very useful in eating the mosquitoes that also frequent the harbour!! So they are welcome to live on my balcony.

One of my beautiful Desdemona roses with another Turf Running spider, hiding itself well.

What is that on my Monarda? Hm...it looks like a cross between Spilostetus saxatilis and Lygaeus equestris... Pretty sure it is from the Lygaeidae family, who are very prolific in Hunky Dory. They all love the Monarda.

I hope I have correctly identified this as a Miner Bee, one of the bees that fly up to my 4th level appartement to visit my yellow Wallflower. Isn't it gorgeous? When my Daphne was still in bloom a month ago, it also attracted some bees, Miner as well as Bumblebees. And from the state of the leaves of my Clematis last year, I was also visited by leafcutter bees. I think them very brave to fly up to this height.

Definitely one of the bees that visit my garden most often, here buzzing away on the Echinaecea. They also frequent the Artichokes, and sleep in the flowers.

Hahahahaha, crowded in there.

Could this be a Halictidae? Or a Syrphus ribesii, which to my inexperienced eye looks exactly the same? I suspect the latter. But both are equally welcome.

No, this is NOT the Lesser Spotted Potato. Looks like a Ladybird, or Coccinellidae, sort of. The Asian, invasive kind. As it eats our native Ladybirds, I frown (a bit) on its presence in my garden.

Here is another one, Asian. In fact I hardly see native ones any longer...

There be dragons...

These dragonflies are pretty rare in my garden, so I am always very happy to spot one.

Two post-coital striped Pentatomidae, or Graphosoma italicum, or what we call pyama bugs on the Wild Carrot. So pretty.

I hope you have enjoyed my insect tour of my garden. Have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/32 - August already...time flies.

 My allotment garden, suffering from the 4th heatwave of this year and the subsequent lack of water, is giving off autumn vibes already... My allotment neighbour's plums are suffering from mildew and are rotting on the trees, such a shame. But the other neighbour's figs are doing great!

Mind you, the birds think so too! Who would have thought that it would ever be possible to grow edible figs in our climate? I used to rave over them when visiting Greece, once upon a time. And now they are growing in the Dutch Delta.

My quietly suffering Hydrangeas. They can live out their life there, but I will certainly not buy new ones. Much more sensible to get plants which are suited to drought.

I took a turn around the allotments, and saw the same thing everywhere: dried out soil and struggling crops. The only plants which are holding on are the Mediterranean ones, like these sunflowers.

These Nasturtiums are looking perky, but I suspect they are being watered.

When I got to Hunky Dory at 07.00 a.m., I noticed this Bumble Bee still asleep in one of the last Lathyrus flowers. But I can see new shoots coming up, so...

Both my other neighbour (my plot is surrounded, I have 4) Hans and me plant flowers especially for the insects, and this year he has lovely Cosmea.

You cannot see where his flowers stop, and mine begin, which is just the way I like it.

This type of Hydrangea I like much better than the mopheads, and they are more interesting for the bees as well. At least with these there's pollen for them to collect.

I cut off all the tops of my tomatoes; they will produce tomatoes still, but these will take too much energy from the many others already there, and besides will never ripen themselves.

Obviously this was taken on my balcony. The Canna is enjoying the hot, dry weather. But I water her daily, otherwise she would not look so happy.

Right. I'll leave you with another happy photo, this time of my friend Li Ping and myself enjoying a lovely Japanese meal in the Markthal in Rotterdam yesterday. Trust us to choose the hottest day of the month (so far...) to visit Fenix and then walk... My body is still in shock today, what did you do?!

If you find yourself in Rotterdam, do visit Fenix, won't you? It's a museum telling the tale of migration, both to and from Rotterdam. It is WONDERFUL! Fenix Museum

Li Ping originates from Malaysia, so she knows about leaving your country to live on the other side of the world, and tends to drag me to Asian restaurants (which I don't mind at all, as I really like the Asian quisine).

Do visit my author website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft and have a great week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff