2026/11 - Peaceful Pruning

 Suddenly the weather has turned into practically perfect. Lovely! Everyone has started spring cleaning, my neighbourhood echoed with the sound of drills and power saws. All those boys have come out to play with their toys. So I fled to Hunky Dory for some peace and quiet, and for the pruning of my tiny orchard.

I have been brutal! Perhaps a little too brutal...we'll see what happens. The apples are so-so anyway, I cannot ruin much about those trees I inherited from the previous allotmenteer.

But it was great to be able to take off my coat and sweater, and chop for an hour. The birds were chirping away, wonderful.

I put half of the branches on my dwindling woodpile next to the frog pond, and the other half on the compost heap. I know the latter is not ideal, it will take years for those branches to disappear. But I simply have nowhere else to put them. Although...I am contemplating making a dead hedge from them. I do have space underneath my rickety wooden fence. And I know small mammals and birds love those hedges to hide in. Actually, now that I telling you my thoughts, I have decided: a dead hedge is what I will construct!

You know what a dead hedge is, right? No? It is a 'hedge' constructed from cut off branches, by ramming some stakes into the ground (my soil necessitates ramming!). And then you layer the branches in between, so you get a hedge-like structure.

Meanwhile I saw that some of the insects had woken up. A yellow butterfly danced past; they are always the first ones to appear. We  call it citroenvlinder (Gonepteryx rhamni) and for me the sight of it means yes, finally, winter is on its last legs!

But I spotted a few Ladybirds as well, a very welcome sight. I do have to be careful of their larvae though...last summer I turned out to be allergic to their bite/venom. My hand swelled up until it resembled a baseball glove.

Happy, happy. My many daffs make me very happy.

As do these primulas. They are a bit nibbled, but never mind. They brighten up this patch of border until the large swathes of daffs kick in, and the early bees love them.

I planted the tall stemmed variety next to the frog pond, but they have disappeared...You know, if I received a Euro for every plant I put in this garden which has simply disappeared, I would have no money problems anymore!

This Teucrium I took from my balcony to Hunky Dory last October, thinking hey ho, I will see what happens. And wow, not only did it survive those weeks of frost, but it is now starting to flower along with the bulbs! Absolutely fabulous!

 Oh, I do adore a blue sky!  I will have to do something about my greenhouse though...last Summer all my plants scorched in there. So either I will have to paint the windows with chalk, or I will have to put up shading nets. The latter is probably much more expensive.

It being the third day running with temperatures of 16°C yesterday (March 6th), I could not stop myself from clearing the rest of the balcony and putting the railing planters back up. So you can bin the top half of this blog post; sorry.

My wallflower backs me up! "Why wait", it is shouting, "good times are here!"

Just to put me back on my feet, today started misty with 4°C... Oh well.

Every time I look at my cheerful planters, I feel my spirit lift. Puck is happy as well, she knows that the months where she can wander onto the balcony at will are finally here again. Drinking out of the tiny pond, bliss for her, hahaha.

If you'd like to visit my website, here is the link: Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Take care, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

178E - Where are the butterflies and swallows?

Every time I enter my garden, I notice it slowly evolving. Obviously I had a plan, and that lay-out is there, but my plants have developed a mind of their own now that they have lived there for three years! But what is very 'different', is the emptiness of the garden and the sky. And that emptiness scares the sh** out of me!

Rudbeckia

   Some plants spread themselves about and wander, others slowly disappear, like my Rudbeckia. I had large clumps three years ago...now there's one left and this is puny. When I see Monty stand proudly in his hot border,  I think ☆¿#€!**! Why will mine not work?

   Fortunately  other things do work, phew.

   For example my Victoria rose: after three years of struggling, pining, sulking and not wanting to flower, she appears to have embraced her fate, fi-nal-ly! Not only has she suddenly grown 30cm, but she has produced gorgeous flowers, hurray!

This is more like it!

Another plant that makes me very happy, is the huge clump of Tansy that grows in my insect wilderness next to the compost heaps. When it suddenly appeared in 2021, I hesitated for a while, should I dig it up? Serious gardeners at my allotments classify it as 'a weed'. But I don't belong to that group, I belong to the 'oh, look, such fun, and if it gets too large I'll dig it up anyway' group.

In Dutch we call it Boerenwormkruid; the name alone is fantastic. (Boeren = farmers, worm = worm, kruid = herb). In the olden days it was used as an anti- gutparasite treatment, now they use pills.

My insect wilderness with Tansy

   Tansy smells lovely (to me), I picked a large bunch and now my entire apartment is scented. Btw, it is poisonous, so wash your hands after handling it.

   After I had trimmed the grass, scooped out the green snot from the frog pool, and watered my raised beds at 08.00, and was having a sip of water, a Red Admiral landed on my arm. We looked eachother deeply in the eye. Together with a Cabbage White, they were the only two butterflies in my garden. And it dawned on me that I have not seen the swallows this year! They usually swoop over my shed in family groups. Not one! It really scares me.

Where are all the butterflies and swallows?

On Dutch TV they make a fuss about a wolf that is probably kicking itself by now for having had the idea to emigrate to our too built up and overpopulated country, but where is the public outcry about the farmers still able to use Glyfosaat?!

And if it is your opinion that insects are a pain in the bum, and who cares about a few birds, then do remember that us folks get frightfully ill of that poison too. 'Scientists are emphasising the link between Parkinson's and the use of pesticides by farmer's (link to an article in Dutch newspaper De Gelderlander not available, sorry).

A friend of mine suffers from Parkinson's, and believe me, it is far better to have some spots on your veg, you can cut those right off.

I always try to keep politics out of this blog. The purpose of it is to write chatty plant stuff. But when I stood staring at that sweet blue, but scarily empty sky, I suddenly became extremely angry! As always this is about economic gain above human- and animal welfare, and I think it is a Disgrace. With a capital D, yeah! Terribly Shortsighted, as well. Research the effect on plants not being pollinated by insects: the plants will die. You cannot eat economic gain, duh! A bunch of Morons, those politicians.

At least this bumble bee is still alive. Oh well, my anger solves nothing. Next week I'll write my usual chatty blog, promise.

Have a good weekend!

Renée