Auteur: vera@gtc

Seasonal bouquet – midsummer abundance

Maltese Cross (Lychnis chalcedonica), Musk mallow (Malva moschata “Alba”), Heliopsis scabra “Giant Double”, Veronica longifolia “Blauriesin”, Silene coronaria, lovage (Levisticum officinale), Anthemis hybr. “Wargrave”, Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium), Verbena bonariensis It is easy to get wrapped up in the garden…

Seasonal bouquet/ mid June

There was a time when I did not like peonies. Nowadays, I don’t really remember why, but probably because I considered them old fashioned and too showy? When we bought our house, there was a well established clump of peonies…

Chickpea, spinach and feta parcels

Though it’s still more than a week till summer officially starts, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the thermometer. The days are hot interrupted by a few storms, a walk through the garden yields a handful of assorted ripe…

Garden jobs in June

This post is a part of a series about the things I usually do/sow/harvest in my garden in a given month. I post at the beginning of each month and at the end of each month I check in to…

Rosemary spelt cake

Many years ago I read a historical novel where the Russian Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna having moved to the Netherlands after marrying the future King William II was reported to complain that the wet Dutch climate was not suitable for…

May in rearview mirror

May has treated us to some very cold days, some very warm, some sunshine and a lot rain. It is weather like this that makes the full benefits of raised beds and mulching obvious. The raised beds allow excess moisture…

Giverny: the painter’s garden

While we were in France this month, we only visited one garden. Mainly because the trip was spontaneous and involved little planning (unlike our trip to England several years ago that I specifically planned around the gardens I wanted to…

Garden Connect – May update

Garden Connect is a project that we’re participating in this year where gardeners from around the world grow identical 2 by 6 foot (60 x 180 cm) gardens, compare and share growing methods. Here’s an update of what’s happening in…

Rhubarb beer jam

Yes, that’s right, there’s rhubarb and beer in the title of this recipe. I think this jam would be worth making just for the fun of pouring beer over rhubarb or the looks you get when you serve it to…

Seasonal bouquet/ lupines

I grow lupins for many reasons aside from their being pretty cut flowers. Because permaculture thinks in terms of “functions” rather than “elements”, plants are selected and placed in a garden depending on what functions they can fulfill. Lupins are…

Normandy – what we ate

When we were packing, I asked the family whether I should make a batch of our house-muesli to take with us but was assured that when in France, anything anybody would want to eat for breakfast was a croissant. So…

May garden salad

Hengelo, the fairly small Dutch city where we live, boasts one restaurant awarded 1 Michelin star. The restaurant, as is customary these days, claims to be using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients in their menu. Almost exactly one year ago, when…