first sowing of the year

I have procrastinated seed starting long enough!  It was such a daunting task with the lack of light, space and time I have right now.  But on Feb 20th, the season got underway with sowings of leeks, green onions, celeriac, parsley, some spinach(an experiment to see if spring transplants work better than direct sowing) and rocket/arugula.  They are on the radiator for now and the rocket has already germinated 2 days later!  Better get the light situation under control.

oops, already reaching

I also have eggplant and peppers planted, as these have always taken a long time to germinate for me.
This week I hope to get broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages underway as well as cape gooseberries. 

generalversammlung

We RSVPd to the Annual General Assembly meeting, thinking we would probably be one of few people there. We thought it would be good to go considering this is our first year as a member and we don't want to seem like slackers.  Boy were we wrong!  We walked into a room with about 300 people (it turns out that there was a free dinner following and free food lures college students and retirees alike!).  After a short lecture about earthworms and then a summary of last years happenings, we got to vote on everything from next year's budget to changes in the by-laws.  It was interesting, considering I only understood about half of what was going on due to prevalence of Swiss-German.  Dinner, conversation, and Folk music + old people dancing followed.  The relatively younger people at our table informed us that this was about as Swiss as it gets, which was interesting to experience considering how much the Swiss tend to keep to themselves.  Conversation was entertaining to say the least and consisted of me smiling and nodding a lot as well as responding to questions with ambiguous answers. (its hard to know if you are supposed to react positively or negatively when you don't understand the question, so ambiguous is the way to go...)  A local nursery 'sponsored' the table and stage decorations for the event, which were, of course, live flowering plants.  We were told that each family was allowed one to take home and we managed to snag a lovely orange-red rose to take home.  I'll have to find a good spot for it next spring. 

Freak winter cold front

Well, so much for the unseasonably warm winter we have been having.  Enter one of the worst cold fronts in recent European history.  Our highs have been about -5 C for the last week, and nighttime lows about -20 C.  This is supposed to continue for another week (update it lasted for 3 weeks) or so.  The only bright side (for the people) is that it has been relatively dry, which means safer travel whether by car, bike or foot.  I am sure my plants would appreciate the snow cover though.  I am sure that remaining pak choi and mizuna is long gone update they are looking yellow and ratty but hanging on, and I hope that the bulbs, tricked into early growth by the warm weather, make it through this cold spell. 

In other news, the balcony, which I use as a refrigerator in the winter months has turned into a deep freeze.  (Every inch is prime real estate in Europe! no space to be wasted on a large fridge)  Does anyone have ideas for frozen kimchi and frozen heads of cabbage?

I hope spring is on on it's way, so the excitement and planting madness can begin!

january update

It has been pretty cold, rainy and snowy this whole month.  Not too much growing right now.  The spinach, mizuna and pak choi is holding on, but it is so small it is not worth harvesting, I'll see if it makes it through the winter as an experiment.  The daffodils we planted last fall are starting to peek through and I have found a few other mystery plants coming up, very excited to see what spring brings!

There hasn't been too much gardening work going on, although we have been taking our compost up every week and on a walk though the forest discovered that the city was removing some older trees!  We found one pile of "mulch" from the sawing (got distributed on the berries) and another of pine stems ( I am going to try them around the strawberry plants we planted last fall to see if the sharp needles deter slugs).  So needless to say, we went back, grabbed our bikes and some large bags and filled up on some free, carbon neutral mulch!

Also, it appears after some research that our last frost free date is May 15th, later than I had thought, so I will be adjusting the seed starting accordingly.  Also our latitude is about the same as Seattle and shares a similar rainy and cool summer climate, so any tips from western gardeners welcome!

I think we have all the basic seeds we want in order, but I am looking forward to my next trip to the US so I can order some specialty seeds (especially Mexican chile varieties and Asian veggies).  Most of the US seed companies don't deliver here, and I haven't found a good supplier for interesting varieties here yet. 

first snow

It has been incredibly windy the past couple of weeks, we even had to give up on the row cover as it was just getting blown away.  However we got the first official snow on Dec 15th.  Quite late this year.  Up until this point we had been harvesting some pak choi, mizuna and spinach leaves, which were tiny due to their late planting but nonetheless delicious.  We even got a decent harvest of French breakfast radishes due to the unseasonably warm weather, although the mice seemed to enjoy them as well.  We also emptied and covered the two rain barrels as they were starting to freeze over and we didn't want to risk them cracking.

Our Plot

Our plot is probably about 200 square meters and on a south/west facing hillside.  I was initially a bit worried about not getting morning sun, as most of the other plots are south facing, but there is plenty, especially because it has been terraced into 4 levels.  The entire area is pretty high up compared to downtown Zurich, so I am more worried about wind at this point.  I will have to see how fast the snow melts away in the spring.

after clearing up the weeds,mulching and trimming back bushes

I am so used to gardening with hardiness zones that the whole situation has baffled me here.  Internet searches in German yield nothing, and most Germans have old fashioned ways of remembering when to plant things. (when -fill in the blank- blooms, or at Easter or at Pentecost etc.)  My best guess is that our last frost date in spring is in the middle of April (update mid May) and the first frost is mid-end of October.   Our wintertime lows would probably put us in zone 6b, but this is actually a moot point, because it is based only on winter temps, which are relatively mild here.  The biggest factor I think is that our summertime HIGHS are much lower than zone 6b in North America.  Leafy greens seem to do really well here in the summer while the nightshades seem to struggle. I am pretty sure Melons are not even worth trying as we rarely get temps above the 80's.

apple tree, unidentified variety, small but delicious!

left(west) side with pathway to the hut, currant bushes and raspberries

late planted greens and radishes under cover and rain barrel

our hut and the neighbors hut in the background

Our plot is pretty overgrown, but I actually kind of like the natural feel of it. Plus, it provides us with a bit of privacy in the back part. Don't tell our neighbors that, they seem to think we should tear everything overgrown out!  I think eventually the front half will be only raised beds and pathway and the back half will be grass, flowers  and bushes to relax next to.  We border right up on forest, so needless to say there are trees and such creeping in from behind.  We are allowed to clear 1 meter behind our plot, but that is the least of my worries. 

Community Garden "Familiengarten"

Community Gardens are widespread in Europe, mostly occupying unused spaces next to railways or tucked into various neighborhoods.  My In-Laws have a fantastic space in Munich, where they have been gardening for about 30 years!  When we first moved to Zurich we would take evening walks by the gardens here, and after a year of deciding we spent as much time "looking" as we probably would spend weeding, we decided to apply for one.  Well, after a year on the waiting list, we finally have one!  Pictures and details to come.  Knowing how (Swiss) Germans roll, I made sure I read all 18 pages (!) of the bylaws before we signed the contract.  I was pleasantly surprised by some of the differences compared to the German "schrebergarten"

an overview of our "area" our garden isn't on this google maps screenshot, but you get the idea

A Briefing for those interested:

The gardens in Zurich are mostly located on the edges of forests, apparently to act as a buffer for animals and wildlife so they don't wander into the city.  In addition, the gardens should provide an open feel/line of sight to the woods, again counteracting the many apartment buildings in the city.  This is definitely different from many German gardens that are in places that are too loud our unsightly to want to live near (train tracks).  In contrast, I would consider the gardens in Zurich prime real estate, many even have views of the lake.  I also like the open feel of them, no fences (for example between plots or to the walkway) are allowed and no large privacy hedges are allowed.  The entire area is enclosed by a low fence with openings large enough to let small animals, such as hedgehogs, through (each gardener has a key).  This is again in contrast to some German gardens where unsightly fences, sometimes with barbed wire are meant to keep anyone out.  The Swiss are very trustworthy.

The value of the "hut" is estimated by the garden association and we have to pay the previous owners for it (plus a transaction fee).  Unlike German gardens, only the hut's value is paid.  Trees, plants, walkways, tools etc are not part of the deal.  This worked out great for us!  I had been lusting a plot that was about to change owners.  First of all, it was huge with a pristine hut and they had prepared all the raised beds, removed all the garbage etc.  It was basically ready to stick transplants in for spring.  While this would have been less work, I am much happier with what we got, even though it is completely overgrown and weedy and almost every bush/tree needs trimming!  Mainly, almost everything I would have planted (currants, raspberries, rhubarb, apple, perennial herbs) is already here, so I don't have to invest in those plants with the fear that we move in a few years and don't get our investment back.  Also, the previous owners left all of their tools, 2 compost bins, a grill, table and chairs, making what we have to buy right off the bat pretty minimal. 

We pay "rent" yearly for the plot (this is actually caused club or association dues) based on its size and this includes our water fee plus administrative fees.  We are expected to help once a year with shared tasks and get a vote at any board meetings.  All in all it is very German and resembles a homeowners association, there are restrictions on what and where you can build and plant and permits are needed for certain things.  The plus side is that a certain standard of order is maintained (I have seen some community gardens in Germany that look like pseudo shanty towns)

Zurich is an exorbitantly expensive city and finding an apartment with a garden is pretty difficult here.  We are thrilled to have a little space of our own and I love the motivation our like-minded neighbors give to get things into shape before next spring!