Hello and welcome back to TyVert
For three years, every season we sent an enthusiastic newsletter about our activities in Brittany. When we stopped doing so, we got such great reactions that we picked up the thread again. Now in the form of an annual report. What was it like again? November 2020, we moved from the Netherlands to the Brittany countryside in France. We named our place ‘TyVert’. Ty is Breton for home, Vert refers to our green lifestyle. We, Erika and Dennis, are TyVert. In this first annual report, we describe our gardening experiences, cultural highlights, a homemade recipe and announce our Summerschool 2025!
Nothing as changeable as a human being. When I, Erika, started vegetable gardening 40 years ago, it was at an allotment with a then-common method: digging the soil two-spade deep every spring, controlling pests and weeds with chemicals. Now I passionate practise the new insights about a healthy soil and ecological gardening. My way of gardening has become looser and more natural, resulting in better and healthier harvests and a biodiverse garden life.
Natural pollinators and ‘plant guards’ are my garden friends. Birds and insects eat aphids and such. And by putting a strongly scented ‘good friend’ near certain seedlings / edible plants, they are less attacked and grow better. Moreover, it looks more attractive. No vegetables and fruits in a row, but in a dense web of flowers, herbs and ground covers. There is no bare earth to be seen and that means better soil life, less leaching of nutrients and I have to water less. In fact, this year, not at all. In one section, I experimented with the principles of no-dig and polyculture. Asparagus, wild fennel, aniseed, beautiful dark red carnations and native self-seeders casually and airily mixed together. So beautiful. And yes, those carnations smell so strong that nothing has been eaten, except by us!
Polyculture gives divers and healthy harvests
Our neighbour Eliane invited us to come and harvest apples at her place with a few jars of homemade apple jelly for her in return. Thus done with a TyVert twist!
The ingredients are: apples, sugar, lemon and lime zest and juice, sherry, thyme and fragrant rose petals, all organic of course. Quantities to your own taste. Wash the apples and chop them roughly. Put in a large pan with a bottom of water. Bring to the boil until the apples are soft. Let cool and drain in a cheesecloth, or use a de-simmer. Put juice and sugar -per 1.5 litres 1 kilo- in a spacious pan and bring to the boil. Add the rose petals, lemon and lime zest and juice, thyme and sherry. Allow to thicken on high heat while stirring. Fill clean jars with the jelly, seal immediately and leave to cool upside down. Délicieux.
TyVert appel jelly recipe
The dogs enjoy the flood in our small wood
The meandering stream, which borders our plot on the north side, is a good indicator of the weather. While last year the stream regularly fell almost dry, this year the water churned furiously on several occasions and flooded the low parts of our forest. All that precipitation also meant many gnats and snails and very moderately flowering Dahlias. The soil was completely waterlogged by early autumn, which did not bode well for our organic bulbs. With climate change, the weather is changing rapidly and becoming more extreme. Fundamentally greening our lifestyle and living environment is needed to reverse global warming as well as the alarming decline in biodiversity. More than ever, from a healthy self-interest, ‘green does good’ applies.
‘Anastazia’ by Ursula von Rydingsvard
The domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire is a mecca for lovers of garden and landscape architecture, floral design, modern art and cultural history. Its annual garden festival is a laboratory of good practice. Special attention is paid to promoting biodiversity, economical water use and climate adaptation: all TyVert themes. The English-style landscape park is adorned with sculptures by renowned artists. One of the highlights, on which the sun fell beautifully when we were there in September, is ‘Anastazia’ by Ursula von Rydingsvard. The monumental sculpture, composed of many pieces of cedar wood, has a texture like the bark of an old tree and blends beautifully into the park landscape. For more information, see www.domaine-chaumont.fr. Well worth a visit!
Although we were certainly no ‘rookies’ on arrival in 2020, the conditions and size of the TyVert plot presented a huge challenge. How to start? Immediately it was clear that the kitchen garden should be right next to the living kitchen, at the back of our elongated house the ornamental garden, between the two a large flower meadow and in front of the house a gravel garden with pots of roses and a welcoming picnic table.
The design language for the layout was borrowed from paradise and monastery gardens. Organically, we created a patchwork of rectangular and round squares, packed with native and exotic flower bulbs, annuals, biennials and perennials, shrubs and fruit trees. 'Enriched nature “for its beauty and usefulness”. The layering, transition zones, different planting types, long flowering season and ecological management promote biodiversity. Self-seeding, wildflowers and natural succession are given space, contributing to the playfulness of the garden as a whole. Our burgeoning Garden of Eden. The play of light during the day through the seasons offers ephemeral moments of visual magic, see TyVert garden spheres 2024. And yes, fine art prints (A3 or A2) are for sale and shipped internationally.
Stylised, playful wilderness
We found both inspiring and disturbing Dorian Etienne's participatory art project Pays'Ages at Beauport Abbey. Aerial photographs of coastal areas in danger of drowning due to sea level rise are projected onto large sheets of paper, drawn in by residents and manually tufted into huge rugs. The yarns are made from natural materials collected locally and dyed with natural pigments. The monumental works testify in a ‘clean way’ to the ecological disruption caused by climate change. Aerial shots of the same spot over the years and rugs made from them will show the loss of ecologically valuable coastal areas across France. Hopefully, the tide can be turned!
Impression of Pays'Ages at Beauport Abbey
Landscape, nature and gardens have traditionally been an inexhaustible source for art expression. Summer 2025 we will organise painting courses on paper and canvas. The TyVert garden and rural surroundings offer plenty of inspiration for realistic, abstract, dreamlike imaginations. We work with acrylic paint, but also experiment with other materials and multimedia. We will cover technique, composition, use of colour and perspective. The course is for beginners and advanced students, lasts 5 days and is conducted in Dutch/English. The number of participants per course is minimum four, maximum six. On request, a tailor-made course per family/group of friends or focusing on a specific theme/technique is also possible. We provide the basic materials, lunch and dinner. Overnight stays during the course can be arranged in the immediate vicinity at a campsite, B&B, holiday flat or hotel. If you are interested, please sign up for the TyVert Summerschool 2025 Newsletter. If you know someone who might be interested, please forward this newsletter.
Starling painting by Erika Meershoek
Comments are welcome as always. Happy and safe holidays Hope to see you again at the TyVert annual 2025!
Salut Erika and Dennis
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