Journal of work in Proeftuin Meerhoven in 2020
Posted on wo 24 maart 2021 in blog
Since Sunday 2017-07-30 I have been involved with gardening at the Proeftuin Meerhoven in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. This is a community garden maintained by volunteers in the neighborhood adjoining ours. We use the space with approval from the local council. In addition to helping with gardening, I learned a lot. The harvest from this garden has supplemented our lunches and dinners with many freshly grown vegetables and a few berries.
The main obstacle has been the lack of reliable water at the site. We remedied this by installing 2x 1000 liter IBC containers on site.
I have not been keeping meticulous records. What you see here is pieced together from e-mails, notes in my bullet journal and the spreadsheet I keep of incoming groceries from buying in the shops, harvesting in our gardens and foraging in the wild.
Fall 2020 (September, October, November)
Harvest
- bean / boon
- cabbage leaves / koolbladeren
- carrot / wortel
- haricots verts
- potato / aardappel
- pumpkin / spaghettipompoen
- rocket / rucola
- tomato / tomaat
- zucchini / courgette
Sow
- Elaeagnus umbellata (silverberry / zilverbes)
- Asimina triloba (common pawpaw / gewone pawpaw)
Plant
- mirabel seedlings
- planting cuttings of Rubus × loganobaccus (loganberry / loganbes);
- relocating seedlings Salix caprea (goat willow / boswilg);
- relocating seedlings Prunus and Corylus avellana (common hazel / hazelaar)
- divisions of raspberry (red and white) / framboos (rood en wit)
Infrastructure
- hedgelaying of a few existing willow sapplings
- incorporate downed birch in hedge
Observations
- most cuttings of Salix caprea (goat willow / boswilg) failed
- all raspberries from Doorntuin failed
- all currants from Doorntuin struggle
- unknown if spring cuttings of Rosa pimpinellifolia (burnet rose / duinroos) survived
- unknown if spring cuttings of Salix caprea (goat willow / boswilg) survived
Summer 2020 (June, July, August)
Harvest
- potato / aardappel
- chives / bieslook
- kale / boerenkool
- spring onion / bosui
- Pisum sativum subsp. arvense (field pea / capucijners)
- doperwten
- gele courgette
- graan
- gras voor Erica's konijnen
- groene courgette
- haricots verts
- knoflook
- komkommer
- koolrabi
- palmkool
- rode biet
- spaghettipompoen
- tomaat
- wortel
Infrastructure
- hedgelaying (20m)
Spring 2020 (March, April, May)
Harvest
- winterpostelein
- rhubarb
- spinazie
- aardnoot (van Gert-Jan)
- asparagus
- bloemkool
- koolblad
- brandneteltoppen
- munt
- sla
- citroenmelisse
Sow
- wheat
- kikkererwten
- Lens culinaris (lentil / linze)
Plant
- potatoes
- cuttings black currant
- plant onions
- relocate apple tree
- relocate kweepeer
- cuttings of willow
- daglelies uit park
Infrastructure
- repair hedge
- augment walkways with wood cuttings
- change container
Observations
- mirabel blooms
- peach blooms
Winter 2019 (December, January, February)
Harvest
- winterpostelein
Plant
- laurierkers
- cuttings laurier
- cuttings willow
Sow
- seeds of asparagus
- aardpeer
Infrastructure
- repair hedge
Fall 2019 (September, October, November)
Plant
- donations from Doorntuin: raspberries and currants