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 

2025/19 - Explosion of Greenery

 Almost the month of May and my plants have exploded into growth.

This beauty, which we call a perennial cornflower (centaurea montana), or korenbloem in Dutch, has decided she wants to grow in this spot this year. That means she has 'walked' four metres from her original spot. As I think she's lovely, and so do the bumblebees, I do not mind at all!

Next to the greenhouse the many bulbs are spent, the only ones still there are the tulips. But the lilies, bearded iris, digitalis and especially the aquilegia are now asserting themselves in between the hydrangeas. As I allow the bulb greenery to die down naturally (I have only deadheaded them), this bed is a bit scruffy right now.

For some reason unknown to me the Papaver has also upped roots and is now living next to my water butt. Could it be that my artful dried flower arrangement in the corner of the greenhouse is to blame? I stuck some lovely Papaver seedhouses in there...Anyway, it can stay, because it always makes me giggle at this stage of its development. Tell me, what does it remind you of? Quite!

The aquilegias on the other side of the greenhouse are more sheltered, so already in bloom.

My sugarsnap, doing well next to the broad beans, which are also doing well so far.

Well. I planted 6 Camassia bulbs last October, and this is the only one that has come up! That is very disappointing, I must say. According to Monty Don it is a thug which will spread all over the place. Hm. I wonder.

They were supposed to pop up in between this lot. 

But my rosebush is looking fresh and it is full of buds, as are the three other roses I have. I love roses, and they had a tough year last year. So it pleases me they are looking so well.

On the other side of the artichokes, against the obelisk, the clematis and perennial lathyrus are climbing up it. But: I also spotted that grape I planted three years ago! Wow, I thought that had died! Not so, which is absolutely great. I did take a photo to show you, but when I looked just now it only showed my reflection, sorry.

I mowed the last bit of the grass this morning, so the silene is standing out and there are masses of marguerite coming up as well as teasels. It will be colourful and attractive to lots of insects.

This was in May 2024. It does not show, but the flowers were actually as high as my waist.

Right. Time to make a salad, as my salad greens have exploded too!

Would you be interested in my other blog on my author website, here is the link: Renée Grashoff Schrijft There I write about my hometown and books.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/18 - The First Mow of the Year

 This morning I took a huge risk and moved my broad beans from the greenhouse into the garden, and not in a cold frame either, but directly in their allotted place against my new frame.

The yellow raspberry, who had 8 lovely raspberries last year, is looking good!

But I was telling you about the broad beans. The reason I took that risk is that they were growing at such an alarming rate that they straggled all over the place in the greenhouse. So I thought right! Out you go!

There they are, you can see the white flowers in the middle, next to the sugarsnap that is doing well too.

I was visited by a sprite, who probably wanted to take a look at what I was doing and why I was making such grunty noises.

Well, I nearly broke my spade on that rock hard soil, that's why!

I mowed nearly all my grass before it got too hot; anyway, my battery was empty. The first mow of the year is always just a bit too much for it.

My paths now resemble actual paths again, instead of a wild meadow. A.s.a. I had finished a blackbird started looking for snacks.

My beloved rose is looking great, don't you think? That rose fertiliser I gave it really gave it a boost. Hopefully the other roses will be growing well too, but it does look good, I must say. Even my struggling Queen Victoria is looking fresh now that I took the obelisk away from her.

Due to that spent battery the orchard remains wild. I really like that Silene. We call it lijmkruid (glue herb).

Such a cheery plant! And the funny thing is that I did not plant that there! I planted it on the other side of the greenhouse, where it did nothing and vanished. But now I have three large clumps in the orchard,  so it obviously likes it much better over there. It is very welcome.

My lovely apple blossom tree next to the compost heap that has almost reached the roof of the shed.

Gorgeous leaf colour! That combination really works.

Well, that's it for this week. Have a good Easter weekend if you are so inclined, and keep on gardening!

The link to my website is Renée Grashoff Schrijft where I blog about my books and home town.

The link to my publisher is Trichis Boeken

Bye!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/17 - Cold nights, hot days

 Our climate keeps me busy: where I walk the doggie walk at 6 am in wintercoat and with a woolly hat on, I carry watering cans in my t-shirt at 10 am to make certain my newly planted Lathyrus will not wither before they've had a chance to climb up the obelisks. Never a dull moment!

I had such trouble to dig plant holes! The soil is hard as a rock already. My spade did not get through, so in the end I used my hori-hori knife to make a hole

I planted two perennial  Latifolius 'Pink Pearl'. Fingers crossed they will survive! They'll look gorgeous against that black obelisk, and against the silver grey fronds of the Artichokes as well.

 

The Kiwi has established well and has grown. It has started winding itself around my frame. But I noticed the newly planted Iberia sempervivens next to the path is struggling...sigh.

In between my single orange tulips there is one double.

My apple trees are showing blossom. They have all taken their brutal pruning in their stride. I hope the apples will taste better as well.

I lived in orchard country as a child (all gone, sadly, and turned into greenhouses), and the sight of apple blossom instantly transports me back to childhood. Our neighbour had a miniature train track through his orchard to transport the boxes of apples to his warehouse, it fascinated me. But I wasn't allowed to play on it. Actually I wasn't allowed in the orchard at all, but I sneaked in anyway. I'm sure he knew, and turned a blind eye.

My fern is in its woolly mammoth fase. I adore ferns. In my part of the country they do not grow naturally, except the small ones that like to live in medieval walls. There are a few of those around Brielle. But the one in my garden is struggling in that heavy clay, so I treat it to water where the other plants have to do without extra watering.

Periwinkle and Geranium

   This is the time of year that my Periwinkle takes centre stage. In a few weeks it disappears beneath the pink Geranium. 

   That Geranium was one of the first plants I put in my garden in 2021, and it has taken the soil into its stride. Such a cheerful, easy, no-nonsense plant!

   Frost? Don't care. Scorching sun? Bring it on! Under water for more than a week? As if it had a snorkel. No rain for months? No problem.

My frogless frog pond is showing signs of life. I told you I found a hibernating salamander, didn't I? I haven't spotted it since, but as I quickly put it back, I am sure it lives there still. The water is very clear, so that is a good sign. And loads of waterplants to hide beneath.

Right, I hope you'll have a good weekend, wherever you are, and that the weather treats you kindly.

If you are interested, here is the link to my sparkly new website: Renée Grashoff Schrijft You can get the text of my blogposts there (about my books and life in Brielle) translated.

Renée Grashoff