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!

Spread the word about me, about both this blog and my writer's website  Renée Grashoff Schrijft

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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 

2026/30 - A Drop in Temperature...hurray!

 After two weeks solid of over 30°C heat, the temperature has dropped more than 10 degrees overnight. It is a shock to the system, but my old system is geared for 21° in July, not 35°! In the South of my country, it reached 42° and especially the old folk suffered, and mortality rates were up by hundreds. If you are still denying climate change as a non-existent crisis, you have mud in your eye!

I had to water my garden daily, which is something I am not used to. Mind you, I only watered the veg and the Hydrangeas. The rest of Hunky Dory has to get its water from the water table...which has dropped worryingly low. In fact, we now have an official Water Shortage Crisis on our hands. Government is urging us not to water gardens, take showers of under 5 minutes and be extremely careful with open fire, unless we go the same route as Fontainebleau, France.

Having said this, I must say I am really pleased with how my frog pond is holding up. Despite the heat, I have not had to refill! Hurray!

But, as I said, I have watered my Hydrangeas. And even so, they greeted me with bedraggled heads every morning... The Solidago however, seem to love that heat, and thrive.

My Tomatoes and Cucumbers have overcome their slow start, and especially the Tomatoes are loaded with fruit. Unfortunately, their taste is a bit bland...I bought bio ones, nameless, and am disappointed. They taste no better than the supermarket ones, and I guess I am spoiled.

Loads of insects on the Fennel, great!

And the Bumble Bee Hotel is open for business!

Those Cardoons are humungeous! I sometimes hear passing cyclists commenting on them.

The Wild Carrot, which I hope will spread through that pink bed... My allotment neighbour Hans (88) has lots of spontaneous ones, I swear they are the ones I have sown!

These are his beans. He is very good with veg.

The Teasels in my garden (I let them do their thing) are getting ready to receive the bees.

This year I can greet my very first grapes. We'll see what colour they are, a complete surprise.

As are these Strawberries! Rather late in the season, but I don't mind 😀

Okay, this is it for this week. Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are, and do pass on my blog address if you've liked my posts.

Renée Grashoff