Moestuin

The weather was so lovely on Saturday.
After a busy day of children's parties we sat outside on the terrace to have our first barbecue of the season. I finally managed to clean up the vegetable patch. After a whole winter of pretty much ignoring it you would be surprised to hear that parsley and chives still thrive there.

Finally I am ready to start again.
Let's plant some seeds!

Moestuin Time!

Yes!

I enrolled again.

Moesie de Moestuincoach will be guiding me through the whole process of reviving my vegetable patch. The new seeds just arrived in the mail yesterday.

It was a lot of fun last year and I cannot wait to start growing my own vegetables again with the help of my trusty assistant Heidi. Of course we will let Stella join in the fun.

Please don't judge me... this is what it looks like after months of neglect:

The ladybug looks pretty happy though :-)

End of the Vegetable Patch

The season is turning and the vegetable patch is going to be closed for business...

We had a good run and I've had the joy of growing my own food.

Pretty awesome stuff which I plan on repeating next year.

If you need guidance (like I did) then remember to sign up at the Moestuincoach!

My Cherry Tomatoes

I am so proud.

Really.

The cherry tomatoes went crazy while we were away. 

Last week I enjoyed harvesting them all.

They were bright red, ripe and ready for the eating.

My very own cherry tomatoes, grown from tiny seeds on my balcony.

Hopefully there will be a repeat performance next year.

DWZI - Carrots!

Earlier this week I told you how impressed I am with my lettuce crop.

Well that's not the only thing that my little vegetable patch on our roof terrace yielded this week.

Heidi harvested our carrots.

They were perfect.

Sweet and delicious.

The pest part is that we still have a few more to harvest this weekend!

Have a great, and hopefully sunny, weekend!

You can find all the DWZI participants here.

Lettuce from my Garden!

I am SUPER impressed with my lettuce crop.

We have been enjoying or own lettuce leaves in salads every (well almost every) night.

What a privilege, just walking out onto the terrace and harvesting our own food.

Pretty amazing actually.

DWZI - Jungle!

I went on holiday for two weeks and somehow my little vegetable patch managed to flourish. 

I came home to a mini jungle.

We asked our neighbour to keep an eye on it. 

He just shrugged and said he didn't have to do a thing.

Mother nature looked after it really well by sending down more than enough rain.

We've been back for almost a week and I am ashamed to say that I haven't had much time to spend on the garden. 

One thing is for sure, that lettuce is ready to be served in a salad!

Have a lovely weekend everyone :-)

You can find all the DWZI participants here.

Vegetable Patch #6

I'm really impressed with our vegetable patch.

It is a pleasure to tend to it, and of course to harvest from it.

Right now we are in the middle of a kitchen extension and it is surrounded by rubble.

Somehow it just continues to grow.

Today you will find me at the zelfgemaakte markt in Utrecht.

Come and say hello if you are in the neighbourhood!

Vegetable Patch #5

I am as proud as punch.

We actually did it!

The radishes were harvested this morning by my little budding gardener.

Heidi simply loved pulling them out of the ground, one by one.

They are gorgeous too...

Well done to us!

I'm already looking around for some ideas on cooking radishes. I'll probably be using it in a salad as well as roasting them. Definitely radishes on the menu this weekend!

Vegetable Patch #4

Things are growing!!

It is actually really exciting and I am doing my best not to be too impatient...

Today we transferred the little cherry tomato plants to their own little pots.
They will continue to grow inside the house, on the window sill.

Heidi was amazed at the progress they made and could not wait to 'help' with everything from planting to watering. Of course my husband did most of the work (he's the one with green fingers after all).

Now we wait some more.

I almost forgot to mention how I bought some lovely little plant labels for the vegetable patch from Dille & Kamille. The idea is that you write the names of the vegetables on it with chalk. Yes, you probably spotted it right away... we live in the Netherlands. It rains a lot. All my labels are gone. Good thing I have a rough idea what I planted!

Vegetable Patch #3

Things are growing!

Little tiny radishes are making an appearance :-)

And the cherry tomatoes are also flourishing.

I am really getting excited now, and Heidi is having a great time too. 

(Although you wouldn't say so looking at her below... take the photo already Mama!)

Vegetable Patch #2

And the fun continues...

We sowed seeds!
Outside!
Carrots, chives and radish seeds.

It was a glorious sunny day and after receiving the instructions from Moesie earlier this week I couldn't wait to get sowing.

Heidi was very excited too.
So excited that she dug a hole and dumped 12 carrot seeds into it.
I only realized later what she did and by then it was impossible to retrieve all the seeds.
They have been buried.
Oops.

On we went, sowing the rest of the seeds.
Reading and following the instructions carefully as we went along.

Let's hope for the best!

Vegetable Patch #1

And so it begins.

This week I received the second Moesie mail with instructions for the vegetable patch (moestuin).

How exciting! 

But also a little scary.

Because I am not exactly known for having green fingers...

The first seeds have been sown and they will germinate on the kitchen window sill for one whole week.

Cherry tomatoes, please don't let me down!