2026/28 - July Jubilations

 Week-long tropical heat has made some of my plants wilt, and others throw a party!

The bumblebees were having a party of their own on this gate crasher from my neighbour's plot. It takes the heat in its stride.

When the flowers are spent, it decks itself in lovely blood red berries, which then darken to deep purple.

There were at least 15 bees on it!
So it can stay.

Another neighbour has this Artichoke in his cold frame. This does not mind heat either.

Oh, and I finally mowed my grass! It certainly looks a lot better now! Did I tell you I bought an old fashioned hand mower? Which came in a flat pack as if it was a bookcase from IKEA? And which I put together myself, only to find out at the very last two nuts and bolts that the bloody pipe was bent? So those nuts and bolts were too short?

I was so frustrated that I did not have the strength to bend it into shape, that I bolted the bloody thing together with tie wraps. And it works perfectly fine. Only looks stupid.

A bit like my new frogless frog pond, in fact.

But hey, Waterlily is thriving and blooming, so who is complaining?

Don't let those clouds fool you! It was 29,5°C when I took that photo.

Proof!

I am looking into marginal pond plants to camouflage that ugly pondliner.

The apples are okay too.

The Monarda looking its best. It is an insect puller as well.

And my Gaura has suddenly exploded. I have exactly the same one on my balcony, where it is unhappy, so in Autumn it will move to Hunky Dory. No room for unhappy plants on my balcony!

The Crocosmia 'Emily McKenzie' is giving my hot bed some sizzle. After a very slow start, three years ago, it has come into its stride now.

So my hot bed is looking marginally hotter this year, hurray! In here is another Gaura, the White Whirling Butterfly. And a bright orange Hemerocallis. 

Another plant which has decided to show me it was worth buying, at last, is this Digitalis ferruginea 'Gigantea'. It is a perennial, was next to nothing for three years and whoops! All of a sudden this year it is as tall as me. I think it is lovely, such an unusual colour.

I wouldn't mind some more to dot around, so I'll keep my eye open.

The bog standard Digitalis, the biannual ones, have bloomed and are already setting seed. I let them do their thing, and they walk all over the garden, although they do seem to have a preference for not-so-handy spots. Like in the doorway of my greenhouse.

The Digitalis being my height only shows what monsters the Cardoons have grown into this year! I mean...wow! No taking cosy photos of dozing Bumble bees in the flowers this time...they are impossible to reach.

One of my favourites: the drumstick Alliums. They are such fun!

I'll say goodnight, now.

There's a new blog on my website for your perusal (translator button provided);  it is a teaser for my 3rd part of the Brielle trilogy (called Moss).

You'll find it at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

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 

2025/40 - Ups and downs of Hunky Dory

 We had another freaky hot day yesterday, 27°C☆. So this morning I rushed to Hunky Dory to see if my potplants had survived, and to water them. ☆ By now you will have sussed out I write my blog a week before publishing, right? So don't feel cheated: "what? That hot? It was not hot at all yesterday", that kind of thing, hahahaha.

I was there at 8 a.m., and the sky was cloudy, which gave an unearthly light to my Pampus grasses.

No filters used!

I love to be in the garden in the early morning. Just me and the birds.

So. What was my gardening week like? Well, a mix of 'yay' and 'damn it!'

Let's get the last one out of the way. For the last 3 years I have done my utmost to get climbers climbing the nook where my chair lives. There is no shade in my garden, so I try to create it by using climbers. And yet again the climbers (Lonicera this time round) have not survived the summer - 4th batch. So frustrating!!!

My friend, who lives behind this door in Brielle vesting, has a shady city garden, very green. She has exactly one patch of sunlight (which sits two chairs) during the day. Would you believe I sometimes envy her?

Still, she cannot grow Echinaecea, and I can. So I should not grumble. It has been a very good summer for Echinaecea. This falls into the 'yay' category.

And so do the three Gaura I have. They have been very pleasant. This white Gaura Butterfly had a slow start, but it caught up.

Another 'yay' for the roses this summer. They were in their element and have a bloomed three times already. Adore them!

This Dahlia is my neighbour's, but I enjoy it as it's very near to the border between our gardens. He has left the tubers in the soil last winter, and it doesn't matter by the looks of it.

Buddha has surfaced...all summer long it was practically hidden. I found the head beside the garbage container, and it now lives very serenely amongst the Carex in the hot border (which has stopped being hot by now, I still have not managed to get the balance right).

It always amazes me what people throw out. I keep hoping for a totem pole. Seriously!

Walking around taking photos this morning, I made a mental list of all the things I need to tackle in the coming months. Lots.

The major thing will be completing the greenhouse.

I emptied it last autumn, put down anti-root cloth with French bark on top and then left it,  to save up for the next stage.

That next stage will be constructing  at least two raised beds out of scaffolding boards. My knee artrosis doesn't allow me to sit on my knees any longer, as I was accustomed to. I also want to paint the windows with chalk paint, because all my tender seedlings scorched to death this year. Definitely a 'damn it!' occasion.

One of the 'issues' of my gardening is that I cannot throw a pot of money at it, as some people can. I have to save up, and control the budget very carefully. Not an issue at all, really, it only takes a little more time to do things. 

My one and only cucumber from the balcony this summer. ONE. I mean...watered and sang to. Rotten luck.

The grass is still in a very sorry state. The rain keeps missing our area. But this is the delta, so I'm confident we'll get some water soon. And then it will probably rain for months on end...

Okay. I'll leave you with a panorama of the Rotterdam skyline. Took it because of that sky, a very Dutch sky!

Have a good weekend, and keep an eye out for the 3rd Open Garden Scheme blog, which will be coming up soon, and for my Special about Rotterdam Veerhaven.

Website Renée Grashoff Schrijft 

Do follow me if you like this blog. Bye😚

Renée Grashoff 

 

174E - July: shouldn't it be warm?

 First of all: well, hello, over there in Hong Kong, China and Singapore🤗. I am chuffed (but rather surprised) that you have cared to read my blog in such great numbers. You are very welcome. Some of my favourite plants come from your part of the world.

Just before it became cloudy again

   I have almost forgotten those few, warm days, because ever since we have been pelted with rain for days, and it was chilly and we've had storms, that tried to ruin my balcony garden. Fortunately nothing has been really damaged. But may I moan at you for a minute and state that I am utterly fed up with our weather?

   And not just me, my allotment neighbour was feeling hopeless, he said.

   I know how he feels. When Puck and I walk our walks, she looks at all the torn off branches (thick ones!), and my doggie then wants to sniff all of them. She then looks over her shoulder at me, and because I speak dog since I was 9, I know she means to tell me that those branches don't belong there.

Clouds changing to storm

Despite my grumbling I cannot complain about my garden. All plants are upright and blooming. The self-seeders can romp away, and especially in the border next to the greenhouse they have succeeded in beauty.

Gorgeous, right?

   I had lifted

the Solidago

though, that

was romping too

enthusiastically to my taste.

 So I tore out the spent Valerian, cleared that green snot from the frog pond (an everlasting chore), re-bound the windblown jasmine and then it started to rain. Again.

Achillea millefolium 'Terra Cotta'

But even overcast skies have their advantages, because when it is sunny, all my Achilleas are 'yellow', but look at what happens when the sun is hidden!

At home in my balcony garden I filled a large black bin bag with the rotting heads of my Pelargoniums...such a shame. Especially the white ones were looking sad, brown. They hate that rain.

And the Tomatoes also, lots of bedraggled yellowing leaves. The fruit is still hanging, but whether it will ever turn red, I don't know.

My potatoes, yay!

   But just look at my potatoes! Only one potato planted in that pot, and five meals for me (I don't eat many...my diet). I adore patatas bravas.

   Less successful so far was my raising of tree spinach. I was gifted some seeds by a friend, and believe me I mollycoddled them. Nice light, just enough water, everything just so, I even sang to them. They were doing poorly. So, anyway, when that potato pot came free, I decided to plant them just the same, and put them out on the balcony. And they immediately hung their heads...wuzzes! But, to my utter surprise, when I looked at the balcony the next morning, they had survived the chilly night and rain, and had grown 3 cm. I am not joking.

Chenopodium giganteum

Wow!

So maybe I will get to taste them after all. You can eat the purple top leaves in a salad, and treat the older leaves as spinach. I will stirrfry them. It should grow to a metre and a half, well, bring it on! Perhaps this plant actually likes our present chilly summer?

Okay, this is it for today.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are in the world.

Renée 

174 - Juli: het zou toch warm moeten zijn?

 Die paar mooie, warme dagen ben ik alweer bijna vergeten, want sindsdien hebben we weer bakken water over ons heen gekregen, was het ronduit kil en stormde het hier zo hard dat mijn balkonboompje over de grond rolde. Niet beschadigd, gelukkig. Mag ik héél even tegen je aanzeuren en zeggen dat ik het inmiddels spuugzat ben?

Deze foto nam ik op woensdag om 08.00, toen de lucht veranderde van blauw naar bewolkt.

Windveren boven de venkel

Mijn tuinbuurman werd er moedeloos van, zei hij. Hij had zijn korte broek wel aangehouden, maar er toch weer een trui op aangetrokken.

Ik voelde met hem mee. Toen Puck en ik ons rondje Brielse Meerpad om 06.00 deden, scheen de zon, maar er lagen overal afgerukte takken en bladeren, die Puck wilde  besnuffelen. Dan keek ze ernstig over haar schouder naar mij en omdat ik al sinds mijn 9e hond spreek, wist ik dat ze zich verbaasde over al dat verdorrende groen dat er normaliter niet lag. 

Mijn kasborder op haar best

   Ondanks mijn gemopper, mag ik beslist niet klagen over mijn tuin. Alles staat nog overeind en bloeit. Zoals je weet mogen zelf-zaaiers hun gang gaan, en naast de zijkant van de kas heeft dat dit jaar zeer goed uitgepakt. Ik had wel de vele brutale Solidago verwijderd, want die wilde landjepik spelen; links zie je het resultaat. Blij mee😊

   Dus een paar uurtjes de uitgebloeide Valeriaan eruitgetrokken, want dat was inmiddels niets meer, de kikkerpoel van groen snot ontdaan, de losgezwiepte klimjasmijn weer opgebonden en toen betrok het. Alweer.

Achillea millefolium 'Terra Cotta'

 

Ook dat heeft haar charme, want dan komen sommige kleuren eigenlijk beter uit! In de felle zon zijn mijn Achilleas allemaal 'geel', maar kijk eens rechts, opeens zie je dat deze beeldschoon terracotta kleurt.

Een hommel en boktor gebroederlijk samen

   Thuis in mijn balkontuin heb ik een halve (grote!) vuilniszak wegrottende geraniumhoofden uit de railingbakken geknipt. Te veel vocht, daar houden ze niet van! Vooral de witte zagen er supertriest uit, helemaal  bruin geworden. En ook de tomatenplanten waren verfomfaaid, dus ook daarvan veel aangetaste bladeren eruit geknipt. Gelukkig zijn alle tomaten blijven hangen, maar of ze rood worden, ik weet het niet. Maar: ik heb mijn pot aardappelen leeggekieperd en hallelujah!

Dit is 5x aardappels eten voor mij.

   De oogst van één aardappel, joepie! Ik eet ze niet zo vaak (mijn afvalproject), maar vind ze wel erg lekker, vooral op zijn Spaans, patatas bravas, heerlijk.

  Wat minder succesvol is tot nu toe, is mijn boomspinazie. Ik had zaadjes van een vriendin gekregen en ze vertroeteld in mijn kweekkasje in de keuken. Geen direct zonlicht, maar wel veel licht, precies genoeg water, ervoor gezongen, alles gedaan. Maar groeien, ho maar. Miezerige stekjes werden het. Toen de aardappelpot weer vrij kwam, heb ik ze toch maar buiten gezet, fingers crossed.

Boomspinaziestekken

Ze reageerden op hun verhuizing door binnen 5 minuten te gaan hangen, dus ik dacht nou, slappe hap hoor, wat een aanstellers.

Totdat ik de volgende ochtend naar ze keek en tot mijn stomme verbazing zag dat ze in één nacht niet alleen weer rechtop waren gaan staan, maar ook 3 cm waren gegroeid. Wow! Opeens kijk ik toch uit naar het proeven van deze bijzondere groente. De naam is Chenopodium giganteum, mocht je er ook aan willen beginnen. Het is familie van de Amaranth, maar wordt ook wel Melde genoemd. Als ik mijn internetbronnen kan geloven, kan je de jonge rose blaadjes in sla eten en de wat oudere bladeren als spinazie koken of roerbakken (ga ik doen, ik ben een roerbakfan). De plant kan anderhalve meter hoog worden, nou...ik hou je op de hoogte!

Even wat anders: ik kreeg bericht dat mijn e-mailadres voor het intekenen op mijn boek moeilijk zichtbaar is. Dus hier is het: dutchdeltagardener@gmail.com  T.z.t. maak ik een 'echte' blogpagina voor het boek, maar zo ver ben ik nog niet. Wibe Koopman heeft al wel de foto's voor de omslag gemaakt en bewerkt en ze zien er supercool uit! 

Fijn weekend!

Renée