2025/36 - Feeling hot, hot, hot!

 And yes, heatwave nr. 3 of 2025 is a fact! This morning I walked Puck at 06.00 a.m. with 18° already, and today it is expected to reach 31°, which is officially bloody hot for the Dutch Delta. That is 87.8 Fahrenheit for you on the other side of the world.

I know, I know, when you live in Mexico or South-West Asia (like many of you lovely readers do), 87.8 is peanuts, all in a normal day. But to us Northern delta dwellers it is the talk of the day. Emergency heat plans are unfolded. Old people in care homes are forbidden to leave the shade and get forcefed ice lollies, I kid you not. And for gardeners like me it means water your pots or suffer the consequences!

The Blackberries, which should be at their best now, are shriveling on the bush. There are not many birds about either, so they don't get eaten either. Such a waste! I pick them though.

My Daylillies are doing well, but I have to admit I water them. That border next to the greenhouse is dry as a desert, they would not survive otherwise.

And this naughty Bindweed is benefiting from the spillover water that drips from the tap when I fill my can.

The Lavatera looks a lot like its wild cousin.

Another plant that takes advantage of spilled water is the Nasturtium. This one is scrambling over a compost heap next to another tap.

And so is the Pumpkin.  They are in a plot which is a bit neglected, but do they mind? Not at all.

Meanwhile I rejoice in my perennial Lathyrus, which does not get watered, but is doing very well now. Mind you, I do deadhead! It is not the mass of flowers which I seek yet, but it will get there next year, it is still young.

The perfection of Scabiosa. As long as I deadhead this, it will keep going for at least another month. The bees love it, as do I.

Totally different location! This is the garden of De Bollaarshoeve, situated on the Bollaarsdijk in Oostvoorne. It is staffed by people with a mental disorder and I go there because their homebaked apple pie is lovely. And obviously because the concept appeals to me. But seriously, that apple pie!

And this garden I stumbled across when I cycled to Oostvoorne with a friend. Their Dahlias are beautiful. As you can see, their soil is very sandy, which is not surprising, as this plot is in the Oostvoorne dunes. 

It gladdens my heart when I see people making an effort to garden. Next weekend it is the next round of the open garden scheme again, and I'll be sure to show you what gardens I visited.

Alright, I'll love you and leave you. Do follow this blog when you like it. And if you want to read more of my musings, click on the link to my website: Renée Grashoff Schrijft A translation button is provided. Bye!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/27 - Heatwave! Yet again.

 When I was young, long, long ago, we occasionally had a heatwave. Not yearly, there used to be quite a few years in between. It was spoken of with awe, "do you remember, in 1976...". By now we shrug when the weather woman says the word. Yeah, right, another one, well, let's stock up on icecubes.

'Frog' and 'boiling water' spring to mind. Children of today think nothing of it that Brielle is as hot as the Spanish costa used to be thirty years ago. But I remember! Our summers were cool, and you were lucky if you were not washed out of your tent in August. My birthday is in August, and more often than not we had to sit indoors because it rained! Those rare dry sunny days were celebrated. When I huffed and puffed up a hill on my bicycle near Malmedy in 1976, I could not foresee that those temperatures would become our new normal in 2025.

Right. Back to Hunky Dory. I watered my Hydrangeas early this morning, because I know from experience they will suffer today. And just when they are so utterly gorgeous.

Look at that! They are so pretty when they are half in bloom.

My neighbour arrived after an hour, to water his veg. He is into veg. I am envious of his veg. My broad beans are a disappointment...the pods look great, but the beans are flawed.

So I console myself with my flowers. At least they compare well to his.

What's left of my Gaura is doing her best to defend her space against the monster Fennel.

The Hollyhock is towering over that Fennel though, it is huge. Just about as high as the apple tree behind it.

I think it is so pretty. Hollyhocks never grew for me in my previous garden, well, no worries here. They happily wonder through the garden, next to (and on) the paths.

Wherever possible I leave them be. You can see from the spilled pollen that they are constantly visited by the bumblebees and miner bees.

I cut back the mangled fronds of the Artichokes, as my neighbour had to do a sort of jungle wade through to reach his potatoes. They tower over the Lathyrus Latifolius. Which, I am very happy to say, is starting to flower. Yay! Result! Mind you, I watered it religiously, otherwise I would have lost it.

It will be blush pink. It is a perennial.

The Crocosmia underneath is also looking good.

There is something wrong with all my Buddleia though!! Every March I cut them back hard, and they are in full flower by June. This year all have stunted growth and are frankly looking terrible.

The Clivia is flowering in the hot border. Mind you, her leaves suffer from the sun, I should find her a better (shadier) spot.

My English Lavender is doing well though. This does not mind that heat one bit.

The Trachelospermum is in flower as well. It grows up a wild plum, which is not happy with the fact I topped it. But that plum is in the wrong place and I don't have the strength to dig it out! Where is Lee Burkhill when I need him, eh?

Ah... Yes. Eventhough I try to keep water in the frog pond, is is like carrying water to the sea. Topping it up is impossible, my waterbutt is empty. And I need the other butts to keep my plants alive. So, after long unhappy thinking I have decided to fill it in with soil. I'll leave a depression, so hopefully I can keep bogplants alive. I have a Stipia that does not like my balcony planter. The Waterlily I will take home, and try to keep it alive in my pond there.

Some you win, some you lose...

It it disappointing though, I so enjoyed my old (large) pond, with goldfish and dragonflies and many frogs.

It just would not happen in this garden.

So. Go with the flow, Renée!

I will leave you with some photos of my balcony garden, which is doing very well.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

77 - Long live the perennial!

 It is no secret that I am an ecclectic mix of old hippy/boomer, so the old Sixties-Seventies ideals are still floating around in my brain, mixed in with the urgent knowledge of today that we need to change our ways fast unless we are too late, and Gaia will squash us like an unwanted insect. She is spraying the repellent as I write, by not sending my country the much needed rain.

Tiger plant, a perennial 

The trees I cycle past on my way to Hunky Dory are shedding their leaves, and my apple trees are dropping their unripe apples, a sure sign of them being terribly thirsty. In my friend's garden his plum tree, loaded with fruit, bombarded him with falling plums before he had a chance to pick them and by the looks of it his apricot tree will do the same.

It worries me, but there is not a lot I can do about it, except try to live as frugally and sustainable as I can.

Not planting masses of cheerful annuals in Hunky Dory is one of my ways of spending as little as I can. Perennial is the magic word as far as I'm concerned. And careful assessment. The Japanese anemones that almost took over my old garden have given up here, so they will not be replaced. Gauras, that did not like my old garden, thrive in Hunky Dory, so I will get some more, and will divide the clump that I have (not yet, though!).

Gaura, Queen of my desert

And I am confident I can consider the cup-and-saucer-vines (annual climber) against the obelisks an absolute disaster, so will replace them with perennial climbers in Autumn, perhaps lathyrus who have the reputation to be as tough as old boots. Or kiwis, that seem to survive in other not-watered gardens on the allotment.

Meanwhile I have filled the second raised bed with 2 kinds of aster, houttuynia, helenium, alstrumeria, echinacea, gaura, verbascum and my gorgeous desdemona rose, again getting them from Seven Hills nursery in Oostvoorne. Seeing how much pleasure that first planter has given me already, I deem this is money well spent! The alstrumeria, verbascum and rose come from my balcony garden though, and needed a change of space.

The new planter

 The new planter needs to establish, but I am certain it will be fine.

In the meantime I am brooding on plans for much-needed shade in my green oasis. I was there at 7 a.m. to water and weed, and by 09.30 I was sweltering. I planned to spend time there painting etc, but so far it has been impossible, far too hot, so I tend to flee to my balcony where I have some shade until noon, and can lower the sunscreen at least. (As long as the wind doesn't prevent me)

Another heatwave is predicted for this week, oh my, not looking forward to that!

The good news is that my pond has not sprung a leak (as I feared), it is evaporation. The cat uses it to drink from, and so does a hedgehog, I found poo.

Right. Have a lovely week, stay cool, and if you want to see more photos and read more stories about my garden, visit Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman. 

74 - I garden, therefor I am

 What is this urge to document, to put down on paper what is keeping me occupied other than an existential need to prove that I exist?

Pumpkin

 Woah!

Gardening, right, we are reading about gardening here?

Yes, we are, kind of. Like that pumpkin over there on the left, my being is hidden underneath a whole mass of creepers. Older ladies like myself tend to become invisible to younger people. The thinning hair, the wrinkles, the varicose veins, the sagging flesh, all not so attractive to gaze upon, I get it, don't think I do not.

But just as that pumpkin hidden under those green leaves is rather beautiful, so my soul remains all glossy sheen and firm flesh. It is just hidden inside an older person. Although my soul is an old one. And there you go. Back to Hunky Dory.

Datura

That area of high pressure is doing weird things to our weather. It is warm to very warm, but sometimes clouds hide the sun. Still, it is necessary to water the greenhouse veggies every day, and I talk to the daturas while I am doing that. The two of them appeared by magic, and are waving their amazing cream coloured trumpets at me, one day at a time. They wilt when I do not water them religiously, so I water them. I tried to grow one on my balcony last summer, but it pined, and I threw the spent pot soil in my greenhouse, and, well.

I have ordered a metal raised bed planter from Berlin for Hunky Dory, which is supposed to arrive 'within 7 days', of which 6 have passed by now. No tracker tracer thingy possible, so am I supposed to sit at home waiting for my buzzer to go off for a week? I think not!  I bet you they will try to deliver it when I am walking Puck. Anyway, I saw it on Gardener's World and several Instagram feeds and I thought I want one! It can go on the old strawberry patch (which will need clearing first) and I can fill it with a mix of veg and flowers I do not have to use a pickaxe for to get them into the soil. If this becomes a success, there will be more, folks. But first get it delivered...

The Cannas on the balcony

Mind you, the flowers are valiantly and defiantly showing they are just as good as last year's onions they have replaced. Good onions though, I am actually still eating them.

The forecast says it will be 36 degrees C next week, even though we are near the sea, holy cow! My poor garden... Oh well, her and me both, it will be over 40 under my flat roof at home. I have stocked up on icecream and made water ones for Puck, on a stick, she loves to lick them whilst I hold them up for her, eyes closed with extacy. (Hers, not mine)

If you like to read more, find my Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman.  Have a lovely weekend, and keep your head cool!