The weather is going to change the coming weeks

so better get the garden plot ready for rain!

Now that September is almost October, the gound is still warm and there is still enough time before the frost comes I thought I would plant something to help improve the ground quality.

Winter Rye it is!

That's done! The allotment can now recieve the rain the coming weeks! The rye can grow so that next Spring the rotatiller can turn the green compost under and we can start getting raised beds ready for the growing season!

Saturday! Off to the allotments for 8 am!

"All gardeners live in beautiful places

because they make them so!"

"What a man needs in gardening is

a cast-iron back,with a hinge in it."

-Charles Dudley Warner, 1871

My Summer in aGarden

There was music coming from an event down the road,

the weather was sunny and warming,

a good day to work in the garden.

The music? There was a flea market/junk sale at the outdoor ice rink building! Just had to check it out! I bought this, a candle holder in the form of a tree. I think I'll turn it into a big flower-Christmas arrangement by putting oasis in the glass holders. Then using Holly, Ivy, evergreen, silver balls, long thin candles and other nature materials I'll create something unique!

The calendar says that Autumn has arrived!
But there are still a lot of flowers....

...and a lot of colour...

which is great for the insects!

Yippie! Hoera!

Today the allotment is free of garbage and weeds( for now!).

Time to go for a walk around in the Canton's Park

Fall colours are beginning to appear!

The Dogwood Tree fruits

Well, after a few hours here and there this week, the allotment is starting to take shape! Wednesday I managed to take four large blue garbage bags full of bits of old black plastic and other junk plus the bike trailer full of rotten wood bits and iron bars to the dump. This is just a couple minutes down the street by bike! Then another 3 trips to get rid of the weed pile!

I'm glad you can't smell what was under all that plastic! Thursday I managed to fold up the very big piece of plastic that was covering the ground. That's that big thing on the left hand side in the photo! What was under that 5 x 22 m sheet? More plastic, old plastic, large pieces of thicker plastic, plastic bags...you get the idea. Old plastic seems to fall apart, disintegrate, break into more pieces. So, more walking back and forth to tidy that up while the clay mud cakes to the bottom or my walking shoes! Just like back on the farm when we walked through the fields with rubber boots on. One minute they're on your feet and the next, one is suddenly left behind. Stuck in the mud!

The first green thing has been planted! At the bottom of the garden I planted a small Shumac tree and a few even smaller. The parent tree is in the garden where I was working this morning. The little ones grow from the roots so this tree can soon fill an area in the garden. We will first have to see if this new tree gets through the winter! Fluweelboom or Azijnboom in Dutch. Originates in North America! Grows to about 4.5 meters tall. Don't know what it will do here! A nice tree to create a place to sit in the shade in the summer!

Now I just have to make a phone call to ask about getting all that plastic and garbage from the garden removed and who can I contact about a rotatiller! The winter rye is waiting to be seeded!

A few free hours this afternoon! Sun, wind, Autumn in the air! Time to head to the allotment to begin with digging up and turning the clay soil by the ditch. What a work out!

I don't think that I will be doing the rest of the garden this way! In Amersfoort there is a rental shop that has a rotatiller. A 12 kg model that runs on gasoline. There is a gas station down the road from the allotments! Should be a few runs back and forth before the 120 m2 are done!

Then it was time to fill the trailer with this years harvest! The year just flew by! No, you'll be reading that story next year! This veg is from a new gardener further up the path. Cloe, from England, is starting to use an allotment that has already been planted. A gardener, using three allotments, has let Cloe take over the third. This had been planted with a lot of the three veg you see in the trailer in the photo! Quite a social place the allotments!

Between the rain there was a lot to see and do today.

This afternoon we stopped in at Buitenzorg

to see how things were progressing with,

not the wasp activity by the apple tree, but with...

...the totem pole.

It is amazing how fast it is progressing.

The second half of the pole design is being draw on today.

There is a new nature activity to test your plant knowledge.

Are the mushrooms poisonous or not?

Are the berries edible or not?

...and over by the Fruit Circle

there are still flowers in blooom to be found.

One of the flowers in the wild flower mix is amaranthus.

Another place close by in Eemnes that is

definitely worth a visit is Het Landje.

www.hetlandje.nl It was open this weekend!

There are so many ideas!
Have to take a closer look!

Oh yes, this is also a great idea!

Lead sheeting to stop the rain!

Wow!! There is still more to see...

Another idea. Use inner tubes

from bycicle tires to give the effect of lead.

Orange trumpet flower, Campsis,

makes for a good climber over a pergola.

This plant has nice seed pods too.
A sheet of lead as an outdoor table cloth?
Why not! Won't blow away!

And a decorative bowl of frogs to finish off the look!

It's too big! It is time to split the Hosta's!
The roots have filled the pot!
Divide the plant into two or more.
Sometimes a saw is necessary!

Put the now smaller plant back into the pot and fill with soil.

Water well.