Belgium EX UK

[Kew]

Having given up my large UK garden and allotment, I was really at a loss in my new country. I did eventually get hold of an allotment which I ran for 5 succesful years. Sadly, due to one too many break-in's and loss of produce, I gave it up just last week. However, the call is strong is it not?..and I actually, at the ripe old age of 62- start a training course on horticulture in three weeks time.
Apart from helping out in allotments and gardens around my home, I walk for miles...or rather kilometers! with my border collie who can dig the ground over better than me!
I am, at present, awaiting my Genie softwware CD and am looking forward to putting it into practice. Books are OK...but a bit cumbersome and not always so user friendly, so having details on screen should slow down my hair loss.
Nice to meet you all and I look forward to chewing over some of our pooled information and techniques.

[greenfinger]

And nice to meet you, Mister "Kew". I'm a bit intrigued by your moving to Belgium. I myself live in Linden, near Leuven, the city with our oldest university. Did I understand it well you had such a lot of break-in's here in Belgium? That would be a shame. How long exactly do you live here with us? Have you already mastered the Dutch language? I'm curious about your experiences here in Flanders, as gardener or otherwise.
Welcome!

[Kew]

Hello, Greenfinger, nice to 'meet' you.
I've lived here for 9 years but due to my type of work - from home - I didn't get too many chances to mix so much with the local populace so I'm afraid my 'Nederlands taal' is pretty basic although I am doing some study at a school in Antwerp.
Ik woon in Hoevenen, Stabroek with my Belgian partner and her son and my best pal, Ski...my border collie.
Yes, sad to say but the plot I had, complete with concrete shed, kept being targeted. Mainly it was produce, my scrummy strawberries, cherry's, red, white and black current, gooseberries, tomatoes, the odd cabbage and cauliflower....that was bad enough but the damage caused to my new fence and gate got beyond a joke. The problem was the plot was 13kms away and I only managed to ghet there at weekends and possibly the odd weekday. So, I let it go at the end of the year. Sad, but that's life!
I lost my job last year but to keep busy I volunteered to work for the local PWA. They have people on their books who are elderly or infirmed and who need help around the home. I toddle off to see them, usually on my bike!.. and I do things like painting, decorating and all those garden jobs they can't do. The course I hope to start next month will probably put an end to that but maybe I'll time in the evenings to still do something in that line.
Leuven...not been there yet. I hear it's a beautiful place...
Gawd....don't I ramble on! I better let you get your breakfast!

[greenfinger]

No, you don't disturb me.
I can imagine working for the PWA can expand your knowledge of the language of the local tribes as you come everywhere doing such work. My mother too uses this service to do the house cleaning twice a week.
By the way, I have a brother in law living in your neighbourhood: in Kapellen right at the frontier with Netherland.
The course you want to start next month is that a language course or something else?
Giving up your allotment do you have other opportunities to do something with plants?
My own interest in gardens and plants is a rather shifting one: till the last autumn it were mostly borders that carried away the biggest part of my attention, but now I'm doing a few careful steps in the direction of creating a little plot with dappled shadow, I call it my "wood edge area". Perhaps you have found already some of my notitions about it here at the Forum.

[Kew]

Hi GF. The course is 3 months full time and to do with plant care, garden design (basic) pruning, cultivation and progation of plants. I'm busy trying to learn the latin to go with it at the moment. Snag is, the course is in Dutch which I admit to struggling with. The first week will be an assesment week and actually, I was really only given the chance of the course due to past experience seeing as how my age is not in my favour. Most of the others are in their 20's but I got the impression when we all met up that to them it's just a gateway to employment and not something they are all that keen about. Myself, on the other hand am hoping to survive the assesment week and with the experience I already have, there is a chance of moving through the course quite quickly and onto more advanced stuff which can only benefit me long term.
Kapellen is only about 3 klm's away and it's a walk I do from here about 4 times a week with my dog. The return journey late on a Friday night must look quite funny as in the wood it's pitch black and I have to follow the white flash on the tip of my dog's tail!
I have friends who have allotments and gardens and I help out there. I also erect greenhouses, in fact I built 2 awhile back. One is quite small but ideal for tomatoes. The other is a bit bigger and will accomodate almost any tender plants. Both these I took down last month and gave to a friend. Next month I'll go to his allotment and re-erect them. On the plant front, I'm not doing anything physically for myself, all for other people, but I do have masses of notes taken over the years which I'm trying to put into a sensible and usable form for future reference. Should come in handy on my course - providing I get through the assesment week!
Sounds like your having fun in your garden. Strange places, eh? Gardens never seem to stand still for long, always something changing. I got rid of all my garden grass last year and laid a stone tiled patio instead. Mainy due to my dog making a mess of the grass area. Also I got a bit fed up of cutting it and then paying the council every month to take it away...what a waste of money. I built 3 compost heaps at the plot but with not having regular use of a car I couldn't move all that grass down there, pity.