Slowly Domaine Bonneblond is coming back to life.
The accommodations are still in rest mode, the animals are waking from their winter sleep, and we all took a bit of holiday ourselves. But now that the sun is showing itself for more hours each day and the temperatures are rising, something starts to stir.
Last year the vegetable garden experienced its very first season. Where in the years before two pigs used the soil as their home, it has now become a place for vegetables, fruit, herbs and millions of insects that find their way there.
Looking back at the first year in the garden, I really cannot complain. Beans, strawberries and courgettes grew abundantly. While in the evening I listen in the background to the lively atmosphere on the courtyard, I water the plants. Not a single evening passes without animals joining me. At dusk the bats fly straight over the garden, and hedgehogs also use this moment to search for insects between my vegetables. Biodiversity is thriving.
Still, this summer I hardly had time for the garden. My help was needed for cleaning and in the kitchen. And because sometimes things simply have to be done, I fully committed myself to that.
This season will be different. All my time will be dedicated to our farm to table concept. Which means that a plan has to be made. A plan for the vegetables, fruit and herbs that will feed our guests in the coming year. I am also doing a lot of research on different flowers, to decorate the two weddings that are coming up.
I sketch, visualize and make drawings. Later I realize that I need more space, so I ask Midas to remove the blackberry hedge that runs straight through the garden. Arno comes by with his rotary tiller and mills the entire soil. Something I initially wanted to avoid. Heavy machines on the ground and disturbing the soil is not the way I want to work. But sometimes you also have to do certain things to make a good start, so this is how we approached it.
Sowing in the greenhouse
This year I am finally putting my newly built greenhouse into use. People are giving me seeds and sowing tables, and together with my parents I build an extra high potting table. Over the past few weeks this is where you can find me. The seedlings are shooting up and it almost feels as if they know they have a beautiful destination, because the germination rate is much higher than last year when I had everything scattered around the property behind glass.
There will be ten vegetable beds, three plant and flower borders, and behind the greenhouse I am working hard on a pumpkin field, with nasturtiums, buckwheat and sunflowers. The extra space we have added this year is considerable, but it allows for more special varieties. And that is something you will hopefully see back on your plate.