Categories for Gardening

I played a bit of vanilla wow this morning. I started a tauren shaman this week. I felt the need to be alone in the game for a bit. I don’t listen to global, full of requests and people talking and bickering about all sorts of things. I don’t have any friends on the horde side. So i’m simply playing along quietly all by myself. Good for an hour a day!

I will go to the garden once i’m dressed. Yesterday i was thinking about going this evening, but since i plan to go for a walk this afternoon, i thought i would be a bit tired afterwards. So i decided to go before. Simply water the tomatoes, the basil, the greenhouse plants. Sit and enjoy the sunshine for a while. Because the sun is shining! Yay!

And now i’m reading this article in the Guardian: The secret of taste: why we like what we like. I don’t think i’m part of the group of people written about. My taste hasn’t changed that much. I still have all my records. OK, apart from the ones i sold when i was 17 years old. Something i regretted most of my life. My taste in music is widening – apart from the Eagles, which i thoroughly dislike for the past twenty years or so. My taste in clothes, well, that does change. But slowly. I do enjoy wearing dresses with leggings nowadays. I don’t drive, so cars are simply not existent for me. And to be honest, my furniture is either given by friends, bought at IKEA, or bought second-hand. Ooh, and a Kewlox cabinet.

I planned to walk this afternoon. But i didn’t. I stayed at the garden around an hour this morning. Someone came by and i showed her the garden and we talked a bit. I went to the shop on my way home. Bread, butter, eggs and some sort of sponge cake, eierkoeken. And then i played a little vanilla wow, watched Escape to the country and the instant gardener. I also slept a little. And now i feel tired.

But, i am gonna make a miso ramen soup now. That will wake me up for sure!

Watching The Devil Wears Prada. Liking it. I also made some clips of advertisements. Got this idea of making a short clip with those. Not sure how that will worj out, but i do like the idea. No music yet. Will search for a good bit tomorrow. Will also make new clips for it. But i have time. Also thought a bit about love. I might write a post about that. A bit surprised about all the ideas, but hey, i do like em.

Getting busy 🙂

Over the past two weeks i’ve been taking my camera to the garden with the goal of making photos of insects. The first week i took my phone with me, but almost all the shots were blurry. The only good photo was the one of the ladybug. The second week i took my camera with me. It does have a macro option, so i used that most of the time. Hard creatures to photograph, insects. But i did manage a few!

Today i worked at the Peace Garden. It was warm. A bit too warm to be honest. I did have plenty of water with me, and i ate some Peanuts Katjang Pedis. Which means they have a spicy coating. Good with this warm weather. I also ate some hazelnuts someone had picked in the wild. Good!

I went home around five, copied some photos i took to my computer, took a shower, put on a cotton knitted dress and my slippers and went back. There was a design meeting afterwards. Daniel cooked a great meal, with vegetables and potatoes from the garden. And some milk. And eggs. And some falafel balls from the AH. Which i loved. So yes, next on my list.

The meeting was interesting. I did talk a bit about my own position, which is very much of a beginner. I do have some things i know i can do without damaging anything: watering the plants in the greenhouse, walking through the garden and get out and garbage left there. As i am the earliest one usually, that is what i do. And when it is warm like today, i don’t mind at all sitting a bit and feel the warmth and listen to all the sounds and dream away a bit.

One weed i didn’t find today is the hedge bindweed, haagwinde. It looks quite lovely, with delicate leaves and nice looking flowers. But it does form an extensive root system and grows fast until 1,5 meters or even 3 meters tall. Best is to remove them completely, if possible.

I worked in the garden again today. It wasn’t cold, but it was wet. A mild rain running through the entire afternoon. Halfway i didn’t care anymore and let myself get wet and sat on the ground.

I took photos of the different vegetables and fruits growing in the garden. The weather has been good the past two weeks. Around 20ºC usually – apart from last weekend, when it was a lot colder – and a bit of rain almost every day. All the vegetables are growing fiercely. So are the weeds, the thistles, the grasses, buttercups that stay low on the ground. It is lovely to walk through and look at all the green lusciousness. I don’t know for how long i will work in this garden, to be honest. But for now i’m enjoying myself thoroughly.

I’ve been planting the seedlings today. Beetroot, some leftover corn, a bit of courgette.

Next the photos. Adding a description for the ones i know, the other ones, sorry, you have to tell me what they are. I’m still a beginner gardener.

I did go to the garden this afternoon. I brought my vegetable peels, eggshells and toilet paper inner rolls with me to add to the compost heap.

I took photos of plants which i have been told are beneficial weeds. I’m still learning these names and facts. My knowledge of plants, vegetables, herbs and weeds, beneficial or not is extremely limited. I did do some searches and readings this afternoon. The following plants are the ones i have studied.

The bed with chard is almost completely covered with clover, klaver. Its main use is in animal feed. They are also valuable as soil-improving and soil-conserving plants. It adds about 55-170 kg per hectare of nitrogen.

Comfrey, smeerwortel, is a medium sized plant with purple flowers and large leaves. Daniel told me he used the comfrey root for a wound. Ordinarely that wound would be healed in around four weeks, but with the use of the comfrey root, it was healed in a week. He explained to me that this was because the plant contains a organic molecule allantoin. This stimulates cell growth and repairs and depresses inflammation.

Vetch, wikke, is a wide family of around 140 species. Broad beans, tuinbonen, are part of this family. Lentils and peas are relatives of vetches. They are nitrogen-fixing plants.

Dandelion, paardebloem, is to me a well known yellow flowering plant. Its seed heads are also well known here in western Europe, with the white seeds in a wide sphere with fine hairs surrounding the seeds, making it easy to follow the wind over a wide area. The wikipedia page describes its many uses: food, wine and medicinal.

I did publish a photo of wild garlic, daslook, in my last post about the garden. Its leaves are lovely and have a mild garlicky taste. Cows which have eaten wild garlic give milk with a slight garlic taste. The leaves can be used as salad, herb, boiled, in soup or in a pesto as a substitute for basil.

Or rather: the Peace Garden.

A week ago i walked home from the Central Station. Passing the garden, i saw some people working. I leaned on the railing and watched for a while. One of the guys working waved at me. I decided to go down and talk for a bit.

It turned out the garden is connected to the Gandhigarden. The last time i went there is over a year ago. Some people from the Peace Garden also work at the Gandhi. The Peace Garden has a more open layout and is very close to the centre of the city. The Hofplein, the Coolsingel, the Weena are all very close to this park, along the side of the train.

Last Friday i went there for the first time. I helped out planting seeds. I took home some spinach, lettuce and parsnips. This evening i cooked the spinach, boiled some potatoes and had some cottage cheese. Good.

Today, Sunday, it was a lot colder. I arrived there around a two fifteen. Some people were walking around and looking at the plants. They turned out to be German visitors. We talked a bit and i explained what the purpose is of the garden, that it is a communal garden and yes, freely accessible.

Today i had some vegetable waste with me for the compost heap. Lat Friday i was told paper waste is good: egg boxes, toilet paper inner rolls and such. Egg shells are good too. When i went to the compost box to turn it in, i got a bit of a shock by the rat running around in the heap and desperately trying to find a way out. I walked back to the small sitting area, where three other people were sitting. We all had stare at the rat. I was sorry to see him so scared. We did try to get him out, but he dived under the compost. Later on another person arrived. He wasn’t surprised by it.

It was cold. Or as i called it, fresh. But still, around three, three thirty we were working weeding the place. I had already given the seedlings a bit of water. I got a bit of explanation about the different sort of weeds there are: some bad, some good, some very bad. I took out a couple of weeds.

I’ll be going there more. I do like to learn more about gardening, the weeds, where to plant different vegetables. I had seen a layout on paper with names of the vegetables on them last Friday. I do know you need to switch them around. But i have no idea what vegetable uses what nutrient, what vegetables go well together. I wouldn’t know where to start if i had my own garden. Well.. ok… that is not right. I would start with herbs and some vegetables i really enjoy. I would start slow.

But, this year i will plant some herbs on my one square meter balcony. Once the railing is on there. I don’t think i have talked about this: my balcony is closed because there is work being done to it. The railing is gone and we will get new ones soon. I hope.

Some photos of the Vredestuin. It is still early in the year. But left over from last year some leeks, parsnips. Also lettuce, chard to be harvested. Newly planted are around 3 rows of potatoes. Many onions. There are also some wild garlic plants in the garden. One guy showed me them. He gave me a leaf to eat. It tasted great!