Here’s what my garden looks like from a distance. Canals on three sides keep it dry. Around the corner to the right is also a canal. The canals also function as a security barrier, keeping out unwanted visitors.
The water level is only 30-45cm (1-1.5 feet) below the surface of the garden, keeping the ground at least a little wet almost all the time.
Sometimes the ground is too wet. Over the weekend I was digging in the greenhouse. Even though the weather was clear and warm (just like this picture), when I came back on Monday I found it raining inside the greenhouse because the water was evaporating from the freshly dug earth and condensing on the inside of the glass. I think it may be a challenge to keep the inside of the greenhouse dry enough throughout the summer.
In case you are all wondering why I posted pictures of the rain water collection containers a few days ago, when I have all of this lovely water right next to the garden, let me assure you it is not suitable for use in the garden. There is too much dumping, legal and otherwise, and the water is very dirty. We had to dredge some of the canals a few weeks ago, and what came out smelled like a mixture of motor oil and sewage. There is enough flow through the canals that the water is exchanged about once a day with fresh water that comes from the ground together with rain water, and this flow is enough to keep our gardens clean.
In theory at least I could dig a hole, a pond if you like, that I could use to grow water plants or as a source of water for the garden. I think with this I might have the problem of mosquitoes or other insects. I don’t know of anyone else in the garden complex who has tried this. Perhaps with a little work I could create a balanced ecosystem with fish and so on. Anyway, this is a project for another year, first a garden!
How far is the garden from your house? It’s too bad you can’t use the water for irrigation, but no telling what’s been dumped in it over the years. I don’t imagine irrigation is much of a problem with the water table being as high as it is?
Hey, that’s pretty cool! Too bad you can’t use the water in the garden. Does it keep critters from getting in, or do they manage to find their way over the moat and through the fence anyway?
Hi Steven,
As the crow flies, the garden is about 5km (3 miles) from our house. It’s a doable bike ride for sure, but not very nice as among other things the Amsterdam harbor is in the way meaning a boat ride or going over a bridge that’s not very handy to get to. There is a round about bus ride which I take sometimes that’s about an hour. Mostly I drive, which takes about 15 minutes.
There are some other gardens closer to our house, but these are much smaller and dominated by the kinds of people in the HOA (Home Owners Associations) you just posted about. They are more for people who want to grow grass and a hedge, and spend the summer in the garden with a lawn chair and barbecue. Also these gardens have NO public transportation, so you have to either walk, bike or drive your car.
Our garden doesn’t allow animals, but there are a few gardens around where you can keep chickens and other animals.
As far as irrigation in the garden goes, it’s no issue for any plants with roots at least 10-15cm deep, which can find their own water. Mostly I need to water right after sowing to get seeds to germinate, and shallow rooted plants during hot and dry spells. The ground is loose sand, which drains quickly and the top few centimeters can easily dry out.
Hi Meg,
It doesn’t stop the critters. There are a lot of rabbits around, that can cause a lot of damage. I think there is a hedgehog sleeping in the straw covering my garlic, but I haven’t investigated it too carefully yet. I have a fence around the garden that keeps most of these out, unless someone leaves the gate open.
By far in a way the worst are the birds! This includes a lot of parrots and other domestic birds that have escaped and are now wild. They wait until you leave, then eat seeds right after you plant them. They also like some plants, for example cabbages, which they eat in their entirety. I’ve just been planning some nets to protect the plants.
Hi Patrick,
With the new design launch I’ve been way behind on my reading. I’m glad to see you’re posting more on the allotment. There’s so much to do in establishing a garden and getting things off on the right food, eh?
BTW, if you read blogs with a reader, the previous RSS to mind is no longer working. Still trying to figure that one out.
Robin at Bumblebee
My OH is Dutch (although he lives in the uk with me) and his family live about an hour’s drive south of Amsterdam. They have a canal at the bottom of their garden, and the one summer i stayed there i got bitten to death by midges and mosquitoes (here’s something to make you laugh: when i got back from the netherlands i had a cold, went to a chemist to get some medicine and the woman there, when she learned i’d just come from the netherlands, tried to convince me i should get tested for malaria, despite the netherlands having a lower incidence of malaria than the UK.. lol). i don’t know if you’re used to it by now (the mozzies, i mean) but if not, i’d get some cream for it for the summer!
having said that i do love the Netherlands, especially the canal network. there’s something peaceful about all that water. a fish pond would be lovely, i think.
keth
xx
Robin —
Thanks for the comment and thanks for telling me about the RSS problem! The new blog layout looks great. I was wondering why I wasn’t seeing any posts from you lately. I’ll change that in my reader right now.
Kethry —
Thanks for the comment! We’re pretty lucky here in Amsterdam, not too many mosquitoes. In the summer we sleep with our windows open, and we don’t have any screens. I guess we end up with about 2 or 3 mosquitoes a week, which we either have to get out of bed to kill or turn a fan on for the night to blow them away. Some parts of the Netherlands are a lot worse! I don’t know anyone who’s caught malaria however…