No. 100: Hesitation.

Well... when the Corona pandemic began, right in the middle of our season, our first concerns were: can we still receive customers, and if so, how, and who from our team wants to work at the till?
A small team was willing to take on that challenge, while the rest (as long as they weren't sick or had a cold) managed the online orders. But it soon became clear that the webshop was "exploding". Where possible, we deployed even more people, so we could work 20 hours a day on your orders. Our industry is usually quite overheated during that period anyway, but when demand increased on all sides, there were also much longer waiting times and even scarcity among our growers and suppliers. We had to be patient, think creatively, put out fires, and marvel at the enormous influx of orders...

Ultimately, we managed to ship 99% of the seed orders, some too late for this season, but the garden team is still busy with plant orders. Many growers who ran out of plants too quickly in the spring are now supplying us with fresh stock again. Our sales garden is once again bursting at the seams!

Communication was sparse during this period; we did what we could, but the inbox has never been so full. We occasionally had to let go of that and choose to dedicate all our energy to preparing orders...

You can imagine that we are tired, but grateful. None of us has contracted Corona, and in the shop, things are running smoothly and as remotely as possible. Sometimes there's a queue of people outside, and we hand out coffee if the wait is a bit longer...

Meanwhile, the season of Autumn-Flowering Bulbs and Tubers is well underway. Autumn crocuses, Colchicums (also known as “dry bloomers”), Autumn-Flowering Crocuses (such as the very popular Saffron!) and the cheerfully yellow Sternbergia.

The spring-flowering bulbs and tubers have largely arrived. We still have to unpack a few pallets, and then about 80% will be in stock. Of course, you can already "feast" on all those promises that made last spring a little less dreary. To be honest, orders are already pouring in. The only uncertain group are the indoor amaryllis (Hippeastrum); we are buying as many extra-large sizes as possible, but these will mainly be offered in the course of this month.

We still have a nice assortment of South American tubers and plants from the Sweet Potato left. The tubers consist of the varieties Ulluco, Oca, and Mashua. You can pot them and let them grow outside in pots for another 1-2 months, then overwinter them in their pots in a frost-free area, and in the spring, you'll have early fresh sprouting plants that can be planted out after the frost. The Sweet Potato plants offer the same long-term vision. You put them in slightly larger pots and bring them indoors from November. They will continue to grow throughout the winter, and each time you can put cuttings into small pots (they are very easy to propagate), so you'll have plenty of plants ready in spring to conquer your garden.

The package consists of a mix of different varieties with a retail value of € 50.00. We are offering these at a clearance price of € 29.00. Don't miss out!

New plans, both small and large, are already maturing within our company. Naturally, some of these are aimed at smoothing out the processing of our enormously increased orders, and there's a surprise in store that I can't reveal yet. Other plans and activities will be put on hold as long as there isn't a reliable vaccine against Covid-19. As usual, my idea drawer is larger than can be realised in one lifetime.

There are plenty of new products again, and this will only increase in the coming months. I'm getting a bit more time to focus on renewing and expanding the assortment. So, regularly click on the link "New!" that we have at the top left of the website. You can filter and "finetune" by month. The latest news is the fantastic comic book "Biologisch Telen" that we imported from Paris and received yesterday!

As I mentioned in my introduction, we have an abundance of plant orders that still need to be fulfilled. It's a shame we don't have a huge garden behind our company, otherwise I could include many more edible crops. Now I really have to restrain myself.

Nevertheless, I want to draw attention to the last weeks of our strawberry campaign. In the past, you really had to plant by August at the latest, but due to the mild winters, that has been extended to mid-October. We will replenish our stock one more time at the end of September to be able to complete all orders.

Of course, I should also mention the very popular Strawberry Planter and the offer of planters + plants. You can find the strawberry assortment here.

Furthermore, you may have noticed under "New!" (see previous article) that interesting plants have been added over the past year. For example, I'd like to highlight the Cranberry Collection of 5 top varieties. Once they're gone, it will be a while before I can buy all 5 again...

And isn't the winter-flowering Viburnum bodnantense 'Charles Lamont' a beauty?

When the scent of garlic and other alliums begins to fill the air in our shop, I know: summer is transitioning into autumn. We source garlic from Spain, France, and Belgium, and it thrives wonderfully in our own country. However, it's important to understand with all bulbs and tubers you cultivate: they form from abundance, as the plant stores its reserve food in them. If the plant struggles during growth (drought), it draws energy back from the bulb/tuber, causing it to shrink. This leads us to the following cultivation guide for garlic and other alliums. We were able to purchase many interesting garlic varieties again; be quick, as some are scarce.

Hardy onion sets, hardy shallots, Utrechtse Uitjes, wild garlic, and many more alliums can be found here. Turn it into an exciting growing patch: a Garlic Adventure!

Amidst all the seasonal hustle and bustle, I am forced to maintain a consistent purchasing rhythm. This certainly applies to seed potatoes as well. We've already received the first shipment.

The next shipment will probably come from Scotland; our grower there wants to deliver well before Brexit. Of course, we will include new varieties again, I just don't know which ones yet. Fortunately, more and more resistant varieties are becoming available, which we will certainly expand into.