Categories for Gardening

A crowded Sunday

A week ago i was pulling out thistles. I was using a small spade, sticking it in the ground close to the root, using the palm of my hand to push it in deep. I got a blister. I found out when i removed my gardening gloves. It was already open. It was a bit hurtful the first few days. I can still feel it right now, but the hurt is gone. The first few days i was a bit more careful getting out weeds. Still, my first blister! Something to be proud of.
Halfway the gardening time we walked to the big market square. There were big screens up where people could watch the Excelsior-Feijenoord game. Feijenoord is hopefully going to win the KNVB Cup. Not today though, they lost: 3 - 0.
People climbed all the structures places on the market square.
Mostly young people. And lots of beer.

Stadslandbouwkas “De Oude Beer”
Through a link on facebook i saw a movie about a big city greenhouse “De Oude Beer” in Dordrecht last week. The greenhouse has 4000 square meters inside and a 100 square meters outside space. No chemical fertilizer and pesticides are used. A lovely movie, about building up the garden, weeding and seeding and planting. And peppers!

More informatie about this project on their website: stadslandbouwdordrecht.nl/plattegrond/stadslandbouwkas-oude-beer

Published on May 8, 2017 at 6:00 by
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A gardening Sunday

The harvest!
Most of the work done today was in our second garden. Same as last Friday. It really needs it.
More weeding done in the bed with the leeks. Planted broad beans in the middle of it. The ground near the train rails was emptied as well. We planted blackberries last year to make it grow there.
The blackberry bush
Newly planted broad beans
A bumblebee
Weeds still to work at
A lovely yellow flower in between the weeds. No idea if this can stay or should go.
And more weeds
Daniël hard at work in between the apple trees
Julien planting New Sealand spinach
An overview of the garden we worked on today
Published on May 1, 2017 at 6:00 by
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Seedlings

A few weeks ago i planted seeds in big pots on my balcony. I ran out of compost, so i took two afternoons to seed all the ones i had. Thyme, rosemary, coriander (cilantro), basil, rocket, catnip. And last week i seeded the Nasturtium seeds i bought on the market. Those are still deep in the earth. But the others, hopefully, are growing well. Some i’m not sure about. It could be a weed growing there, but i’ll find out soon enough.

Little basil plants
Coriander (cilantro)
Rocket leaves
Thyme (i think)
In the rosemary pot, not sure if this is rosemary or a weed
Catnip plants
Published on April 27, 2017 at 6:00 by
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Sunday in the garden

A butterfly on the ground
Little almonds
.. and some more almonds
Chervil and purslane (postelein)
Chervil flower
Comfrey flower
Potato growing
A bean or pea, not sure
Published on April 24, 2017 at 6:00 by
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A full day in the garden

Today, Eastern Sunday, there were five people in the garden. One was a bit sick. But we worked so hard! I only just got home, around 20:15.

We did start out with coffee and some Eastern chocolate eggs. I showed Daniël the nasturtium seeds i bought yesterday. He made a plan for the day. Seed the carrots, weed and then seed pumpkins. Daniël pruned some hedges around. He also put one pole for the new greenhouse in the ground and planted the remainder of the broad beans in the other side of the garden. Farouk dug out the rest of the ground for the greenhouse. Me and Ben did the carrots. Five rows. First we made the clumps of clay a little bit smaller. Than i dug out the five rows. Ben put some compost in the rows. I mixed the seeds with the compost, so it would be easier to seeds everything. Then Ben followed after me putting a bit more compost over the seeded rows.

I walked to the Rotte to fill all the water cans i could find. I took Daniël’s cargo bike. After watering all the new seeded plants Rombout came by too. We divided all the new tomato plants we got a week ago and put those into little pots, two by two. The rest we put in the larger pot back again.

And then Julien had some couscous salad with him! I was really hungry. We all were. So that felt like a small party around the garden table.

And now i’m really tired. So i’m typing this, i will add the photos i made and then i go sit on the couch and watch the rest of La La Land, which i started seeing yesterday. Hopefully i will fall asleep easy this evening. I feel my entire body, so fingers crossed!

Ooh, and the nasturtium seeds i took back home. I will seed these in small pots and plant them out when they are around ten centimeters tall. Will do that tomorrow.

Winter carrots in the middle, smaller summer carrots on either side in two rows
The pumpkin bed
The potatoes are already coming up
Spinach
The start of the new greenhouse
Strawberries
The carrot bed, from the other side
Melde, spinach and lettuce on the bed next to the carrots
Published on April 17, 2017 at 6:00 by
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A walk along the Essenburgsingel

A walk along the Essenburgsingel. Essentially the same i made August 2016. This time i walked into the Spoortuin from the start of the Essenburgsingel. I could hear some boys playing up above the path between the trees. I met two people walking their dogs. And in the vegetable garden area i met Mark, who was watering his plants. I surprised him with my knowledge of the plants standing around. Wilma walked by and she and Mark had along conversation about medicines, Dutch healthcare, man, children, my slight chubby figure, my age ( a big surprise to Mark, who said he thought i was 36 🙂 ) until i checked out fatigued with the two voices talking to each the whole time. Phew! 🙂

On i walked to the Educatieve Tuin Essenburgsingel. Luckily it was open this time. Some people were working in there. A woman was planting broad beans. One of the gardeners did know about the fire which destroyed our greenhouse. I picked a few wild garlic leaves.

On towards home. Two and a half hours later. A quick visit to the supermarket and then home again. Just in time for Escape to the Country. I had bought myself some chocolate. I couldn’t resist.

Then at 17:50 hours it was time for the program Geloof en een Hoop Liefde. In which there was a 8 minute piece about our garden. Yes!

Published on April 13, 2017 at 6:00 by
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Fire

Last night the greenhouse of the Peace Garden burned down.

Someone on facebook told me about it on one of my latest posts about the garden. This morning, around half past nine, i walked up there to check. My first reaction was actually relieve. I had imagined the whole garden burned down. Luckily it was only the greenhouse. Then my reaction was sadness. And then anger. And then sadness once more.

I walked back home to get my iPhone. I did call the two maintainers then and told them both in their voice mail. Then i told the whole group in our whatsapp group. After a few initial reactions i walked back to make some photos to post in the whatsapp group. (I don’t have internet on my iPhone. I can only connect back home with my wifi.) Back home once more there were many reactions in the group. And even more after i posted the photos.

I made some tea and went back with it.

I could see the center of the fire was towards the back of the greenhouse. At the back stood the water tanks, which were melted. The inside of the greenhouse was burned and cracked, the plastic molten away, the iron fences bent and deformed.

Soon other people came by, Jorinde and Andreas. We were all shocked. But also thinking about what might have caused this, what to do next, what sort of greenhouse to make next, what of the chicken run, what of the seedlings we should be sowing again in the next two weeks. Questions tumbling over each other.

John, our homeless person residing in the greenhouse came along. He told us it was another group of people who had done this, while he was away to work. Jealousy.

Murray, Daniel and Julien came along. We cleaned up a little bit.
Then Daniel treated us all to coffee and chocolate milk. And we talked a bit more, sitting on the benches outside the garden.

A week and a half ago i talked with Julien about my desire for someone special in my life. But i also said i didn’t want to date. Dating reminds me of bringing only the best parts of me. There is simply no way i will ever go in Tinder or some dating website and try to find someone there. It was hard to talk about this, to explain this feeling i had. I did say i was feeling happy. Really. Even though my money situation is extremely tight right now. I don’t worry about it. I’m not sure why. I know i should, really. I know a few years back i would be worried sick. But i am not worried right now. I trust myself, in who i am, in my work – this website. I know things could go wrong, but i feel they won’t. I don’t understand this, but this is a very strong feeling.

To me, this world we live in, the state of it, the way people live here in Western Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in the Middle East, in America. It just isn’t enough for me. There are so many people scared, worried sick, afraid for their lives. And here in the Netherlands people worry about the money they make. The money they set aside for their pension. The money they pay for their health insurance. The money they pay for their other insurances. The money they pay for their internet, and television, and phones.

Fucking hell.

I don’t want to live like this.

No

Way

Only now i slowly begin to realize how upset i am. How angry. Livid. Furious.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

So yes, i would love to fall in love. Have a boyfriend. Someone to talk with, sleep with, kiss with, have sex with. Of course. A friend. A true friend. Of course. But he is not around. And i’m not going to let that stop me from living my life. Fight for what i believe is right. Hell no.

OK Ellen

…. breath ….

…. relax ….

…. 🙂 ….

—- Adrenaline was streaming through my body. Bit more average now. Better! —-

The plan is to work tomorrow, Thursday, to get the greenhouse cleared, the ground around it cleared.

And me, i am writing this post Fire now. After i read a bit more in my Gilbert & George books. I will make a post dedicated to them soon. I leave you with one of their works from 1984, Death Hope Life Fear. I do want to get my head clear about their work before though. So yes, reading, learning.

One of their largest and most ambitious pictures, the quadripartite DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR tackles the central themes of human existence. Its powerful compositions and luminescent colours make this one of the high points of Gilbert & George’s art of the 1980s.

Together, DEATH and LIFE suggest an ongoing cycle of mortality and re-birth, with the figures of the artists simultaneously rising and falling, growing and shrinking. In DEATH, they are embraced by the petals of a rose and a daisy, while in LIFE giant leaves behind their shoulders resemble the wings of angels. In FEAR, the figures of young men are isolated from each other, dispersed at different levels. HOPE, by contrast, presents an image of unity and strength, with the youths arranged into definite groups in front of a landscape reminiscent of the white cliffs of Dover.

Published on March 30, 2017 at 6:00 by
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