https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog daily 0.75 2024-02-05 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/the-garden-begins monthly 0.5 2024-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/cdfe05de-05e9-431b-962c-d25e07c5529a/Lex+and+Eric.jpeg Blog - The garden begins… - Make it stand out Lex (left) and Eric assessing the garden. Behind Lex you can see the pear tree, which we’ve kept. To Eric’s left is the dogwood, also staying. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/584f226b-e105-4614-9bb0-99b1f8170e84/old+garden+in+summer.jpeg Blog - The garden begins… - Make it stand out The garden last summer. Lovely & lush but overgrown. At the rear is our horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/dfd663b2-b110-4dab-bc43-9e523123e649/Frozen+pond.jpeg Blog - The garden begins… - The pond has frozen and the plants in the garden are dormant and inert, waiting till spring to revive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/6a05d0e8-2857-4fc2-919c-b6697672be1c/tiles.jpeg Blog - The garden begins… - Make it stand out The hexagonal pavers delivered outside our house. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/27abf27f-7674-4f3a-ad97-9dd2e8ba4076/Frozen+leaves.jpeg Blog - The garden begins… - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/construction-and-plants-go-in monthly 0.5 2024-01-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/bd0b7a5d-763b-46b9-9f41-e13189b96cb6/tiles+being+positioned.jpg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - The tiles are laid out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/0143c4ad-0436-48af-a09b-693c590a6910/tiles+in+place.jpeg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - The pond and tiles are in, along with the soil for the plants. The existing tiles at the rear are where we’ll be putting in a garden table and chairs, along with a potting bench. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/e4d9e02c-cb6f-4eed-9ed5-b49e04c08c37/Screenshot+2024-01-17+at+16.16.18.jpg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - And speaking of latitude, a few years ago I came across this fascinating map, created by Ian Allen. It superimposes a flipped Australia onto Europe, positioning it with the same latitudes, but ignoring the north/south element. While Australia feels far south, in fact even its point closest to Antarctica, in Tasmania, is equivalent to Spain in relation to the equator. Little wonder that winter here in the Netherlands is so... wintery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/e6904342-9172-428e-9e32-7eb5ba9b3e42/Ruby+by+the+Delfshavense+Schie+canal.jpeg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - Meanwhile, Ruby the Spoodle, the gorgeous pooch who immigrated with us, says hi. Here she is on a morning walk along Rotterdam’s Delfshavense Schie canal. She’s still getting used to the curious white fluffy water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/026d6bbc-f963-4e00-a086-44974f1dd2f4/preparing+for+tiles.jpeg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - Steven and the team prepare the ground for the tiles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/74112c10-13bc-4e50-b59a-eeb560cb302f/Finished+garden.jpg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - Make it stand out The main part of the garden is now complete, just waiting now for spring. Then I’ll also fill up pots with annuals, maybe a lavender or two. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/ea742772-4937-4a9d-90a9-8c564a763442/Lex+Steven+and+Eric.jpeg Blog - Tiles, plants and pond - Make it stand out Lex, Steven and Eric. Lex and Eric returned to put in the new plants. Because they’re dormant, the seedlings won’t be growing much in the way of shoots or roots till the weather warms up, but will be acclimatised and settled and ready to burst forth into life. (Have you gleaned yet that I’m a little bit excited about that?) You can see the plant list here. In some of the gaps in the pavers, they planted a winter-hardy European groundcover, Sagina subulata, also known as Irish or Scottish moss, or heath pearlwort, and in Dutch, vetmuur. In others, creeping thyme. We’ll see which spreads and works best given foot traffic. The pond has a capacity of 530 litres and is 205 x 130 x 50 cm. We’ve put in a pump to keep the water moving and avoid stagnation and to stop mosquitoes breeding there in summer. (The mosquitoes here are ferocious! Finally, we’ve found a creature that puts Australian beasties to shame.) Once the plants have grown around and among the rocks, it’ll be transformed. At the end of winter, I’ll introduce the aquatic and riparian plants. At this point, I’m not planning to have fish—I don’t want to risk them eating tadpoles. We’ve also installed bird nests and feeders, and word has clearly got around. The bird population here is flourishing. More about that next post! https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/STEK monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Eric+van+Ulden monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Landscaping monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Steven+Bol monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Indigenous+plants monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Garden+design monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Biodiversity monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Lex+Kortenoeven monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Ivy monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Sagina+subulata monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Pond monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Winter monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Tiles monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Sustainability monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Aesculus+hippocastanum monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/blog/tag/Ruby monthly 0.5 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/home daily 1.0 2024-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/f7297653-64ff-46fe-9cf4-d7a39d7135e7/magpie.jpeg https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/about daily 0.75 2024-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/a2d22b4b-4553-40d7-b73c-6c47d72568b1/_BKS8757_8x12_lowres.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/2a0a7785-ef24-40cc-b84a-398428d63240/Heemraadssingel+in+summer+2.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/a87cdc6a-a7da-450b-9275-d13651a9c017/gull+on+ice.jpeg https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/plants daily 0.75 2024-01-08 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/birds daily 0.75 2024-01-08 https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/contact-1 daily 0.75 2024-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a7955ce39895c4f74cc25/5f00b38a-25e8-4966-925a-1cab09a17359/Horse+chestnut.jpeg https://www.urbangardenrotterdam.nl/new-page daily 0.75 2024-01-15