2025/35 - Oh boy, despite the rain it is still like Timbuktu...

 We have had a week of lower temperatures, a wagonload of wind and some rain. But Hunky Dory is still as dry as a desert. It is a bit disheartening, I must admit.

It made for gorgeous cloudy skies; this is Brielse Meer at sunrise last week. But that rain mostly fell in the North and East of my country and bypassed us. I can't get a spade in my concrete soil. My plants (the Kiwi!) are frazzled. Some have died. My grass has turned to dust.

Mind you, this is the natural state of my drumstick Aliums. I like them even when dried out, very architectural.

But look at this corner...The colour says it all, doesn't it? Parched!

Even the Tansy, which is tough as old boots, is so dry...

So is it all Doom 'n Gloom? Of course not! My darling Desdemona is looking gorgeous next to the Gaura. I deadhead religiously.

And the Zinias are happy behind the Sedum, which is on the cusp of turning rose pink.

The pink bed is doing its best to stay pink, despite being very thirsty. But look at my grass...It is a good thing that I know it will perk up as soon as it has had a lot of water!

The border next to the greenhouse does get watered regularly; it is the only way I can keep my Hydrangeas alive. It is next to the massive Fig Jungle of my never present neighbour,  so when I tend to it, I am in the middle of a cloud of fig perfume. Oh, how I wish I could bottle that scent! So lovely! Mind you, the wasps think so too... So I am careful not to piss them off.

At home, in the balcony garden, I need to keep watering daily, otherwise it is over and done with. The many Pelargonium are fine, but all the more dainty flowering plants are gasping. The Cucumber has not produced a single cucumber! But: not all is lost there either. The Tomatoes are doing reasonably well. The cherry one has kept me in extremely tiny fruit, my Strawberries were larger! But the yellow Zebra one has done very well! The fruit tastes lemony, very fresh. Utterly unsuitable for cooking though, you need to eat them raw.

Aren't they lovely?! 

This is the star of the show at the moment: the Portulaca. I will try to keep it for next year by taking it indoors as soon as the nights turn cold again. Last year I forgot, and it turned to mush at the first frost, silly me.

Okay, time to walk Puck. My rescued doggie is getting old! She has good days and not so good days, and despite being a Curaçao dog, she suffers from the heat. I'll see what day she is having today. This morning was fine, she wanted to chase the street cat (not allowed) and a Blue Heron (not allowed either) and then sulked a bit until it was breakfast time.

Sulking face!

Have a good weekend, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2025/22 - Republished

 It's unnecessary telling you that we have not had rain since mid-February, for I have been keeping you up to date with the lack of water in my part of the world. Time to rename my Dutch Delta? Dutch Desert?

Although on the one hand I am really enjoying the sunny days, by being outdoors for most of the time, gardening, walking, cycling. And sitting out on pavement terraces having coffee. On the other hand I am getting really worried about the water table. In some parts of the Southern Netherlands there is a ban on spraying water on the fields for farmers already. In my part no ban just yet, but I can feel it coming.

Almost dry...

   My frog pond 1000 l. water tank has been empty for over a week now, which is a first for me. Last year it was overflowing due to the months of rain...Now my frog pond just holds some watery slush, and my waterlily is really sad and suffering. 

   Due to rock hard soil I could not plant my seedlings, so in desperation I planted them on the edges inside the frog pond. When those Calendula and Cosmea actually survive, I'll let you know! Who knows, perhaps I'll set a trend.

   On the happy side, some of my established plants are doing fine. They obviously have put their roots down deep enough to get some moisture. But yet... I have been thinking if it might be prudent to change my garden design to cater for those extremely dry spring months we have been having for years now (except for last year, when my garden was under water).

The only things holding me back so far are:

 1. Money (lack of)

2. This is a predominantly veg growing allotment community. I feel hesitant to throw in a load of pebbles and grit.

Mind you, if I owned the plot, I would!!!

Still, I will look hard at my plants this year: which ones hate being in that dry rock hard clay, and which don't mind at all? My roses enjoy their pots so far.

I adore looking closely at my Alliums, they are so pretty!

And so are the Iris.

The Artichokes are dwarfing the Salvias as usual. And the Clematis is growing outward instead of upward, it seeks the light.

I am so happy with my yellow Raspberry, it is doing very well. The Redcurrant behind it seemed dead, but I pruned it very short and now it is growing again. But oh my, look at how dry everything is, the grass is scorched.

The Daisy and Campion in the orchard are enjoying themselves.

Right. Time for a coffee for me, and perhaps for a second one for you. If you are curious about my website, here is the link: Renée Grashoff Schrijft

I'll leave you with an overview of Hunky Dory from the back. Have a great weekend, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/21 - Rain? Hm...what was that?

 Don't you worry, I am not going to rant about the lack of rain. Although I have practically forgotten what it feels and looks like by now...

Instead I am going to rave about my roses. 

When you have been following this blog for some years, and yes, some of you have, you'll know I am passionate about roses. And that even though Monty Don calls them 'tough as old boots', I struggle to keep them happy in my temperamental garden. That has a lot to do with the soil: very heavy clay, and practically lifeless because of 60 years of veg growing. There was no life in it, meaning no soil animals, when it took it over in 2021.

So I cut my losses, turned pragmatic and planted my Desdemona in a large planter in 2022, after I saw my other roses struggling in the clay. And it is absolutely wonderful!

To the right of Desdemona, against the bamboo, is a white Schneewitchen climbing rose on the verge of opening up her buds. Yes. In a pot as well. It means cycling to the garden every day to water the pots. So be it.

This anonymous rose, which has a lovely subtle scent, is actually in the clay. Every flower blooms for just one day, but there are many buds.

My Iris is just about to flower as well. It is next to the frog pond, in some partial shade, so it is happy. I have given it a babysitting task this morning: I have planted my gasping Calendula seedlings IN the pond mud. My pond water butt has been empty for the last week, so the pond is drying up...

Another pot holds my new kiwi. It seems happy, but it should be, it gets spoiled by me.

As does this fern...watering! Totally against my principle, but otherwise it will give up the ghost.

The rhubarb is fine so far, as it is next to the ditch. Pretty as they are, I have cut out the flowers this morning, and cut myself another armfull of stalks. 

I brought a load to the women language group I go to twice a week to teach them Dutch, but only two of them were brave enough to want to try to cook the rhubarb. It is not known in large parts of Europe or other parts of the world.

Mind you, Jane from China and Tatjana from Greorgia tried, and pronounced it very nice.

The clematis has survived so far.

Look at the colour of my grass! Bone dry.

Oh well...there will be some rain, sometime... In the meantime I'll give my garden daily pep talks.

I will leave you with the last photo of darling Desdemona.

Isn't she absolutely fabulous?!

Have a lovely (Mothers Day in the Netherlands) Sunday.

Renée Grashoff 

2025 /20 - Silly temperatures

We have reached a high level of amazing weirdness: on Thursday afternoon it was 29,5°C in the South of my country. 

Not over here near the North Sea though...we 'only' reached 27° due to the seawater only being 10°. The government thought it prudent to warn people flocking to any kind of open water (the schools have their May break) that it was not sensible to go swimming. Mind you, the PFAS pollution is such that I wonder if it is sensible at any temperature...

Anyway, my seedlings were gasping! And the soil outside is rock hard, so planting them out was no option either. That really pissed me off, pardon my language. I tried to solve the problem by transplanting them to large pots. It means even more pot watering, sigh, but so be it. It was this or chuck them into the garden as compost.

On the positive side the garden is looking fine. Everything already established is taking the weather into its stride. But my neighbour, whose water butt is almost empty yet again, was shaking his head. His veg need water.

My salad greens, cucumber, cherry and zebra tomato on the balcony are doing fine, with plenty of water. Every other day I am watering for almost an hour. I bet my water bill will be up again this quarter. Oh well. My water company then sends me an e-mail with sad faced emojis: 'you have used up more water than this time last year!' Yeah, duh, last year we had the wettest spring ever.

My romain is getting to the end of their lifespan, but it has fed me for two weeks, in various forms. Oh, btw, Google people, endive is not the translation of andijvie! Endive is witlof. Just saying. Shall I send you my invoice?

This is the proof that I successfully managed to keep my Pelargoniums alive this winter. Both red and white. So happy with that!

Back to Hunky Dory. This beauty is self-seeded! I think it is absolutely gorgeous.

Bernagie/ komkommerkruid

   And next to the also self-seeded Bernagie it makes for a very welcome guest.

   Mind you, there is a very fine balance between 'lovely garden' and 'utter chaos'. And my garden has the tendency to want to convert back to wilderness. Having neighbours on two sides who seem to have forgotten they have a plot (meaning the weeds there are knee high), I really need to keep on top of things and dissuade the more aggressive invaders from taking over my garden.

   Fortunately my other neighbour is extremely neat.

Talking about plants that self-seed, the Digitalis have discovered the path to my greenhouse. There are dozens of plants there this year. I let them stay, they are much too nice to pull out.

The only surviving Camassia being lovely next to the pine.

And this is it for this week.

I wish you a good week, hopefully the weather will treat you well, wherever you are.

If you would like to read more, use the link to visit my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Take care!

Renée 

2025/15 Driest Spring in history

 One year ago I was complaining about the incessant rain we were having, months on end. Flooded streets, and my poor flooded flowerbeds. This year we are experiencing the driest Spring since weather recorded history. 

Hello, my little friend!

   My garden soil is parched. My water butt is almost empty (luckily I have 3 more). And, grumble grumble, it is hard to get a spade into to the ground already. That should not be happening before June!

   How I am going to get my seedlings into the ground, I don't know. For the time being they are still in the greenhouse, as we have frosts in the night. But they were struggling, because it already gets so hot in there! So yesterday afternoon I hung up a shade for them, I hope it is enough to keep them alive.

The first Tulips are showing colour, always a nice moment. I have various kinds, but they are mostly the shorter botanical ones. That wind that whips through my garden on most days has taught me a lesson in the first year I was gardening here.

Sorry about the sunglasses, but I need them

And the other bulbs are showing signs of life as well. My Alliums are up, only the green stems so far. The Grape Hyacinths are looking chirpy next to the frog pond.

I planted Camassia as well, they are above ground. I have high hope for them.

My pruning is almost done. Just one more bed to go, as well as the Teasels in the apple orchard. They can go now, there are plenty of other hiding places for the insects by now. I have three compost heaps, but two are already full to capacity. 

There is a bud! But you can see how dry that soil is, can't you?

Another thing I did was paint the two obelisks; I chose black, as the colour of the flowers that will (hopefully!) scramble up them will pop against the black. As I had some leftover paint, I also painted the top of my rickety wooden fence. I am already looking forward to the dark yellow of the Tansy against that black.

The previous colour (grey) disappeared next to the Artichokes, this is much better.

Oh, I have two flowers in my struggling Viburnum, two! As it seemed doomed last year, this is a happy event!

Right. I'll be leaving you with a photo of last summer, just to give you an idea what Hunky Dory can also look like.😎

We'll have to practise patience...

Have a lovely weekend!

Renée Grashoff