woensdag 21 augustus 2019

Allotment garden

Yesterday we made a walk in the neighbourhood and passed some allotments gardens.

They looked so pretty and well taken care of. That brought back memories of our own experience with an allotment garden.

When we moved in 1979 from Amsterdam to a new built city Almere in the Flevopolder, we could hire an allotment garden in our neighbourhood. Optimistic as we were we, both born city people,  decided to grow our own vegetables.

We could choose for a small or a big garden, well you guess, we went for the big one! With no knowledge of gardening we planted tomatoes, potatoes and many vegetables, all lined up in rows.
We hadn't realized that with the growing vegetables also a lot of weeds are growing as well, even faster than the vegetables. At the start it was fun to eat you own products but with two little kids around and a husband working all day, it  became a challenge to find the vegetables between all that weed. We had not enough time to handle such a garden and gave up in the end.

13 opmerkingen:

  1. You need a green thumb to take care of gardens like this. Nice to see your flashback photos.

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  2. Allotment gardens are very popular in Germany too. I remember them when we lived there.
    We have a big garden, but don't have many vegetables are they tend to die in the very hot Summer. Still it's nice to eat vegetables and fruits without pesticides.

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  3. So many times I've thought about growing veges Marianne, but it's the weeding and keeping bugs off them that put me off! Love your old photos 💙

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  4. Hahaha. Ik heb ongeveer dezelfde ervaring.

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  5. Haha ja ik herken dat ook wel. Toch smaakt alles vanuit eigen tuin veel lekkerder als uit de winkel.

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  6. Well, it looks like you and the kids had fun with it for a while anyway. I've never been any good at growing anything (except weeds). After trying so many times I've finally given in to the fact that I do not have what it takes to be a gardener.

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  7. Mijn vader kon een tuintje krijgen. Alleen dat was geen tuintje, maar een zeer grote lap grond grenzend aan een bos. Oh wat waren de konijnen blij met de sla en de worteltjes! En alles kwam ook tegelijk op, dus at je tegen de klippen op alweer andijvie (met slakken).

    Heel veel werk, maar als je tijd genoeg hebt en snapt wat wortel is of onkruid, is het wel aardig. Maar heel herkenbaar.

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  8. My parents spent the better part of their lives living in the country, and so would have a vegetable garden out back, usually for things that weren't so readily available in grocery stores.

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  9. Growing your own vegetables sounds a great idea but easier said than done. At least you tried.

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  10. Honolulu has the same! Thank you for sharing your story

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  11. Through the years we had allotments and yes the weeds were a pain to keep up with. We hated it and the next time we had a garden it was in raised beda where we could keep most weeds out. That was much more enjoyable.
    Love the old photo, good for the memories.

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  12. I'm an obsessive gardener. I love food from the earth like carrots, potatoes, beets...

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  13. I bet the kids had fun digging in the dirt.

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