April 2024:
I saw an article in the local paper about an open house at a grower in Amstelveen who rented out vegetable gardens in a greenhouse. A vegetable garden had been on my wish list for a long time. I said to my husband: should we go take a look?.
April 2025:
I've now spent a year enjoying my vegetable garden and harvesting abundantly. This enjoyment is also due to the help and advice from my lovely family, the wonderful community, and Piet and Wouter.
You could safely say I've developed a bit of an addiction. But it's a healthy one that makes me feel good, both physically and mentally. It was, and continues to be, a real journey of discovery, and I still enjoy it every day. Through this blog, I'll share my experiences of the past year with you. A blog that, due to my enthusiasm and blogging inexperience, will probably be (too) long. Because there's so much to tell, and there are plenty of tips I'd like to share with you. So, here we go...
1. My summer vegetables
In the summer of 2024, like many of us, I mainly grew vegetables that love warmth.
1.1 Courgettes and pumpkins
Beautiful plants with gorgeous flowers that can grow very large. (Bottle) gourd: I trained this one upwards using a sturdy structure of large bamboo poles and zip ties, and that worked perfectly. The structure needs to be really sturdy to prevent it from falling over under the weight. The shoots grow very quickly and you really have to keep them under control. They grab onto everything, even places you, your neighbors, or the Kolk family don't want them to encounter.
Don't be too greedy; one plant can produce about 3-5 good pumpkins. This takes a lot of energy, and you often see that after a while new pumpkins simply stop growing. Last year, I got 6 beautiful pumpkins from two plants.
Although it seems unlikely, pumpkins usually stay put. But if you're worried, use a net made from onions or oranges, or a vegetable net from the supermarket, as a "pumpkin bra." Place it around the pumpkin and attach the net to the support structure. Over the course of the season, the older leaves, in particular, become unsightly due to powdery mildew or similar. Feel free to prune them; as long as there are still plenty of new leaves, it won't hurt. In fact, this ensures sufficient light and air around the plant, which can also help prevent powdery mildew, and you can watch your developing pumpkins grow beautifully.
The (non-climbing) zucchini plant grows very wide. If you add a sturdy stake immediately after planting, you can tie the "stem" securely during each growth phase. This way, the plant will take up less ground space, and you'll have a better view of which fruits are ready to harvest. And here too, feel free to prune some leaves occasionally for the same reasons as with the pumpkin.
1.2 Sweet potato
A sweet little plant at the garden center tempted me to grow it. I planted it around May in the open, well-drained soil (mixed with potting soil and plenty of compost). Sweet potato plants, it turns out, produce very long stems with abundant leaves. Incidentally, you can also eat those leaves in stir-fries or similar. It's a versatile plant; I love it! Be sure to leave plenty of leaves on, as the plant needs them to develop its tubers.
You could let the stems grow along the ground, but I didn't like that idea. I also noticed that the stems lying on the ground were starting to form roots in places I definitely didn't want them. So this plant had to go up too. I trained the stems upwards using netting between two large bamboo poles, and that worked perfectly. Any stems that didn't conform to my boundaries were pruned.
Halfway through the growing season, a potato tried to emerge; I then added some extra compost. Around October, the fun part begins: discovering what's underground. I carefully dug up the tubers, because damaging them shortens their storage life. My harvest was excellent; beautiful, large tubers, one of which was truly enormous!
I saved a very small potato with roots and a piece of stem attached and placed it in a pot with soil. It sat in the window above the radiator all winter. The stem started growing vigorously around October/November, but that stopped.
Eventually, and it turned ugly. I pruned it back a few centimeters above the ground. I kept the soil slightly moist and talked to it a lot the whole time. And now a new plant is starting to grow. I actually didn't think the experiment would work. But you see, nature surprises you every time.
So I need to revise my vegetable garden plan again to make room for this, because such a brave little plant certainly deserves it. Incidentally, it's wise to store the harvested potatoes in a dry/warm environment for about two weeks. This will make them sweeter. The skin will also dry out a bit, which extends their storage life.
1.3 Corn
I thought it would be fun to grow sweetcorn. I sowed them neatly, according to the rules, in a so-called block in the open ground. Then the long, long wait began. It took quite a while for them to start growing, but after that, there was no stopping them. Beautiful, thick stalks stood majestically in my garden. They were a real conversation piece. I even managed to harvest a few lovely cobs. This year, I'm not going to grow sweetcorn, but the slightly smaller so-called "mini" corn. They're less dominant, and the timing of the harvest is much less crucial. You harvest the cobs when they're still small and unripe, so you can use them later in
for example a stir-fry dish.
So this year, no tapping the corn to encourage fertilization. Yes, fellow gardeners, you might have thought I was a bit confused, but those loving taps had a purpose, hahaha!
1.4 New Zealand Spinach
This is still a relatively unknown vegetable. While it's far too hot for regular spinach in the summer, this plant thrives and grows like crazy. One plant can easily cover 1 square meter of ground. It stays low-growing, and you can easily prune the stems and eat the leaves (baked or stewed). Where you prune the stems, the plant will produce new stems. Even when it flowers, it remains edible. Towards autumn, the plant becomes unsightly, and then it's best to remove it. It's also said to be frost-hardy.
The name spinach is a bit misleading, by the way. It's not related to spinach, and the leaves are somewhat thicker and tougher, making them unsuitable for raw eating. To my surprise, I discovered it self-sowed. Fortunately, they're easily recognizable, so seeding isn't a problem. This year, I think I'll also try using it as a mulch plant under tall crops that prefer moist soil. Another experiment, then. Fun!
1.5 Beans / pods.
Attractive plants come in all shapes and sizes, often with beautiful flowers. There are short (bush beans) and tall (pole beans) varieties. Bush beans generally yield faster after germination than pole beans. This means you can harvest beans over a long period with a little planning.
To prevent beans from not sprouting, I prefer to pre-sprout them in a plastic container lined with damp paper towels. Only when the sprouts appear do I plant them in the garden. That way, I'm more certain they'll actually sprout; there are always those stubborn ones who try to...
I just don't feel like it anymore. Transport the sprouted beans very carefully, because you don't want the sprouts damaged. I take them in the same container and carefully cover them with a damp paper towel to prevent them from rolling while driving over speed bumps to the vegetable garden. Make a hole in the ground, carefully place the bean inside, and cover with soil. Or you can sow the sprouted beans in a deep cell tray first and then plant them out later as larger plants.
Last year I also grew dried beans (Yin Yang beans). It was fun, but because you have to let the pods dry on the plant, it took a really long time before I could harvest them. I'm skipping them this year. The Yin Yang beans are quite attractive, though (black and white indeed).
1.6 Carrots
There's something for everyone: round, long, thin, thick, and even colorful roots, and the green plumes of the leaves stand out beautifully above the ground. You don't have to harvest them all at once. They keep well in the ground for quite a while.
But carrots also have certain requirements: The soil must be very loose and crumbly, otherwise the carrot won't grow well. The seeds are small. Using your fingers to space the seeds evenly is practically impossible. Thinning them later is a painstaking task, can damage the remaining roots, and can also attract the carrot fly.
I discovered the "skewer tip" technique online (see the last paragraph under "Sowing and Such"). Admittedly, this is a bit of a chore, but it ultimately saves time and money. Carrot seeds only germinate if kept moist. You can cover them with plastic or a small plank or something similar. However, you'll need to check regularly to see if they've germinated, because if they do, you'll need to remove the plank or plastic immediately.
This spring, I covered the soil with fleece, folded in half a few times. If the roots sprout, they won't be immediately smothered. It worked well; within a few days, I saw seedlings that now all look very happy. You could also sow some chives, spring onions, or something similar near the roots.
Or, if you don't have seeds, buy spring onions (with roots still attached) at the supermarket. Soak them in water until the onion roots start to grow. Then plant these with your carrots. You can also harvest them. Cut off a green stem each time; new stems will grow in their place for months. The carrot fly is confused by the onion smell, and the onion fly by the carrot smell. It's a win-win situation.
2. Some tips for winter
2.1 General tips
While we don't want to think about that at all right now, a quick word about autumn and winter. I've already shared a list of vegetables that thrived in my garden during autumn and winter in the community app. If you missed it and would like to see it, please let me know; I'd be happy to share it with you.
The most important thing: start (pre)sowing in time. Plants don't always need a lot of warmth, but they do need enough light to grow. That last part, in particular, diminishes rapidly from August onwards. I almost forgot about that too, while I was still busy with the cucumbers and such. Fortunately, many plants still germinated and grew well in early/mid-September.
To harvest, you need to ensure your plants are more or less mature before the light really starts to fade. After that, growth almost completely stops. Only broad beans seem to resist this. But we won't discuss that for now... If possible, don't harvest the entire plant/head at once; instead, pluck the outer leaves and leave the core. The plant will continue to grow very slowly, and you can still regularly take home some fresh lettuce, Mizuna, or Bok Choy, for example. How nice is that!
2.2 Coals/Leaf cabbages
I love this crop; there are so many different varieties and colors! And you often harvest it again in the fall and even winter, at a time when there might not be much else growing in your garden. As a bonus, you'll eventually get beautiful flowers in the spring (if it's their second year), which the early bumblebees absolutely love. This year, I'm definitely keeping one bed reserved for them for their spring/summer growth. I've immediately put a net over it to prevent butterflies and moths from choosing my cabbages to raise their offspring.
I also place pots with newly emerged seedlings under this netting right away. You can, of course, buy such a netting; but a mosquito net or net curtain from a thrift store works just as well. As long as the mesh is fine enough. I've also noticed that cilantro plants among cabbages, for example, seem to deceive the butterflies. Uncovered cabbages close to the cilantro suffered less damage than those further away.
were there. Coincidence?? Who knows. In any case, I also planted some cilantro plants under the net. It doesn't help, it doesn't hurt, and besides, it looks nice and tastes good. Unless you have the gene that makes it taste like soap...
In late summer, I sowed/planted cabbages haphazardly across the garden. This doesn't follow the rules of crop rotation (if you follow them). However, many vegetables suitable for autumn/winter harvesting fall into the cabbage family. I took the plunge because it's cooler then and because I wanted to fill any empty spaces in the garden as quickly as possible. I was able to harvest a substantial amount of this crop throughout the autumn, winter, and early spring.
3. Sowing and such
3.1 General tips
Well, to fill that garden, you have to take care of plants. Luckily, there are plenty of them for sale. I love sowing, so I try to grow as much as possible from seed. It's so nice to see that little green peak emerge above the soil. When I started last year, I sowed most of it directly in the open ground. It was already warm, and I wanted to fill those bare patches quickly. That also presented some challenges; the seeds had to stay moist, and, also important, you have to keep track of where you've sown what.
I also discovered that you had to carefully check what the seeds needed to germinate: light or no light. It wasn't always clearly indicated on the packets. This also explained why the soil-covered lettuce seeds barely germinated, if at all. Many skewers were used in my garden to mark where each row began and ended. I still sometimes find them.
This year I'm sowing more seeds in (press) pots, seed trays with cells, etc. I like working with seed trays, but if you're not sowing many plants at once or if you have seeds/plants with different germination or growth needs, I prefer to sow in small pots. They take up less space and are also easy to move indoors and/or outdoors. In the absence of small pots, I've found a good and inexpensive alternative in small plastic shot cups. I bought these at a well-known supermarket. With the tip of a kind of hot soldering iron, I poked some holes in the bottom. They're quite sturdy, so they should last quite a while.
3.2 Press pots
I rediscovered press pots this year and I really enjoy working with them. For those who don't know what they are, you use a mold to make square, moist soil cubes with a hole in the top for sowing. I picked up a plastic mold like that at the garden center. After sowing, you cover the hole in the cube with some soil. Unless you're dealing with a light germinator, of course.
Place the cubes close together in a container/on a tray with a high rim. Water only through the bottom of the container/tray, allowing the cubes to absorb it. Once your plant is large enough, you can transplant it, root ball and all, directly into the ground or a larger pot. The advantage is that you damage the roots less, the cubes stay moist longer than potted soil, and it's sustainable because you use less plastic. The downside: it's only suitable for smaller seeds; you can't sow beans, pumpkins, etc., in it.
Finding the right soil/moisture mix can be a challenge. Too dry or too wet, and the cubes will fall apart. Once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. I personally enjoy it. The "recipe" I use for the press pots: 1 part sifted compost, 1 part potting soil, and ½ part crushed sand plus water. Mix everything well. If you hold the mixture in your hand, you should be able to compress a clod that stays relatively compact. Add a little more soil or water if needed.
You can't stick skewers in the press pots to indicate what you've sown; I stick labels on the tray the press pots are in. Tiny seeds: sowing them is a real pain. You can barely hold them, and you can barely see if and where they've landed on the ground. The internet offered some help; sowing works better with a damp wooden skewer. Moisten the tip in a bowl of water; the droplet of water/moisture on the tip allows you to neatly "stick" one seed to it, and then gently press it into the soil. This saves you from having to thin them later and saves on seeds.
Be sure to put the seeds you plan to use in a separate container first; you don't want the remaining seeds in the bag to get damp.
3.3 Seedlings
So, this spring I'd sown a lot of seeds. The challenge then became where to put the seedlings. The windowsill didn't offer enough space. I'd also prefer to keep my seedlings at home for a while to care for them as best as possible. But I also didn't want tall, lanky plants that hadn't had enough light. Fortunately, a large number of plants can go outside when the weather isn't too cold, although perhaps only during the day at first.
I've started a lot of seedlings outside in a so-called "cold frame" at home. It's nothing special; a plastic vegetable garden box with a transparent cover and ventilation holes. It's nice and light and easy to move from outside to inside, in sun or shade. It works perfectly. Those plastic storage bins with transparent lids will probably also work for this purpose. Just make sure you ventilate well and that the box or cover is a bit high; before you know it, your seedlings are looking at you pitifully, pressed against the ceiling. An eggplant plant that I briefly ignored while it was germinating indoors is still glaring at me with its hunched stem. I try to make it up to it, but it's not easy.
Of course, there are also the "divas" among the seedlings (I won't name names, you know who I mean). They need to be nice and warm all the time. And lots of light, too. So, in the living room, right by the window, are pots of these discerning little creatures, which can also be taken outside occasionally when the weather is sunny.
Every now and then my family looks a little pitying and I think they wonder when we'll
We finally have our living room to ourselves again. Just a little more patience, dear friends.
3.4 What was this again?
It's wise to record your sowing immediately after sowing. Because, oh my, some seedlings look so much alike, and, believe me, you don't remember everything. It's also nice for the people who, for example, are taking care of your garden during your vacation and might even get to harvest it as a bonus. You don't want them mistaking your little zucchini plant for lettuce.
I've chosen to use mainly plastic stakes because wooden ones are difficult to find among the plants and tend to get moldy. I do want to be able to reuse the stakes multiple times, so I put a piece of moisture-resistant tape on them and write the name of the plant on the tape with a waterproof marker. After use, you remove the tape and can reuse the stake.
4. Fertilization / pollination
Every plant has its own preferences; one plant, for example, prefers the wind, while another prefers insects. If in doubt, gently tap the plant regularly. That certainly won't hurt. Because there's virtually no wind in a greenhouse, and if this is the plant's reproductive preference, you can tap or gently shake it to mimic the wind outside.
Cherish the bumblebees; they also work very hard for us.
Some plants could really use a little extra guidance from us. Pumpkins and zucchini, for example: luckily, they have very distinct male and female flowers. With the female flowers, you can already see a mini zucchini or squash at the base of the flower; with the male, not so much. With a cotton swab, for example, you can collect some pollen from the male flower and apply it to the pistil of the female flower. Bumblebees will also take care of pollination, but a little extra help with this for even more fruit certainly wouldn't hurt.
Sometimes plants produce only male flowers at first. This is often during the early growth stage, and later the female flowers also appear. Very occasionally, no fruit is produced. Last year, I sowed French beans twice. And while I saw my fellow gardeners taking home bags full of French beans, I didn't harvest a single one. This year I'm taking on the challenge again, but with a different variety. Well, that's part of it.
5. Watering
The heat is nicely regulated by the sun and the greenhouse. Watering: we have to do that ourselves. Personally, I sometimes find it quite a chore. Especially when you unfortunately can't always find the time to go to the garden. Then I start to worry a bit about my vegetable children. To give myself some peace of mind, I've now chosen to give myself a
An irrigation system, including a small computer, is a gift. Or rather, it's a birthday present from my very kind parents-in-law because I still had some of their envelopes.
I'd already searched online, but I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I understand some systems sometimes seem to have trouble with pressure distribution. As a result, a lot of water sprays at the beginning of the hose, but much less at the end.
So I was very pleased that Wouter was testing a system in his own garden. Ultimately, I opted for convenience and ordered the supplies through him.
My husband and I laid the main hose with its branches in the garden. That was a bit of a challenge; we obviously couldn't injure the plants. But we're a good team, and the plants came out unscathed. I did have to put a band-aid on my husband's hose in the meantime. The system is working, and I'm happy with it. We can sleep peacefully again.
If you also choose this system, I would like to share some tips with you:
- Press the ends of the main hose firmly into the connectors/end fittings. We were too gentle, and as a result, water accidentally leaked out here too. Fortunately, that's easily remedied.
- When installing the main hose in your garden, secure it here and there to the fence/a pole with rope/tie wraps or anchor pins. Because the hose has been coiled, it can be a bit stiff at first. Once it's been in place for a while, it will respond.
- Don't pierce holes for the sprinkler hoses until the main hose is already in place. This gives you a better overview of where you need the sprinklers.
- Before drilling a hole for the sprinkler hose, it's helpful to first place something hard (a piece of plank or stone) under the main hose. This provides a firmer base, making drilling easier.
- Keep the spray hose handy and slightly wet the end that goes into the hole (thanks for the tip, Ingrid)
- Once you've pierced the hole and removed the skewer, immediately insert the spray hose, as the hole will shrink back up quickly. If you can't get the hose in properly right away, briefly insert the skewer again and "stir" it around a bit to widen the hole. The spray hose should then go in easily.
- You then press the other end of the hose onto the spray spike, which you can then insert into the ground. The spike allows you to adjust the spray range.
- You can also attach the spray pen to a stick with some string or something similar. See the photo below. This will raise it a bit, increasing the spray range. In short, you can "MacGyver" with it a bit if you like.
- Need some practice poking holes first? There's a piece of "practice hose" hanging near my garden by the main path. Ingrid kindly provided it. Thanks again.
- By the way, if you accidentally poked a hole where it wasn't needed, poke another hole next to it and push both ends of a piece of hose into each hole. It's a kind of bypass. I haven't tested it yet, but it sounds like a good idea. (Thanks, Geraldine and Marco.).
6. Wilted harvest
The final topic of this blog post. Some of you will probably recognize this: You've finished working in the garden and harvested your crops. It's warm in the car/on your bike. Suddenly you realize you still have to go to the supermarket. And then you finally get home, and your leafy greens, especially, have wilted considerably due to the heat in your car/bike bag (and maybe you too, after a long day). You can often revitalize the greens by soaking them in cold water for a while.
Since the summer, I've been taking the harvest with me in a bucket with some water in it. That works well to keep them fresh on the road. It's a fairly low bucket with a wide base; it doesn't tip over easily. To be safe, I put it on the ground during the trip, not on a chair. And I carefully struggle over those speed bumps on the way home... If you're cycling, you might find a bucket that fits in your pannier.
I don't always have enough containers at home to store the vegetables in the fridge. I've found that wrapping them in a damp tea towel and placing them in the fridge keeps them fresh and crisp for days. Be sure to rinse the fabric softener out of the towel first, though. Unless you enjoy a touch of Robijn in your food. Perhaps this is another way to transport your vegetables home. I haven't tried it yet.
7. Finally
Well, that's it. My blog. The first one I ever wrote. And indeed, it's quite long and sometimes a bit rambling. Sorry; it's not my daily work. Still, I hope I've been able to give some of you some tips (or at least a smile of recognition).
I look forward to your tips, tricks, and gardening adventures. I wish you all a wonderful gardening year with a beautiful harvest and wonderful moments.
