The warm sun rays had to be exploited, since a lot of small tomato plants were waiting to be pricked. We are not talking about 50, 100, or 500 delicate small plants, but about several thousand. Grete grows about 60 old breed of tomatoes in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Wicked! We were also pretty surprised that Grete left us alone after a short briefing – there was enough other work for her to do. For us, this was a huge mark of confidence, since we were now responsible for the wellbeing of quite some of her plants, and therefore for the later harvest. We spent some hours or days with Pilu, Oeuf de Pigeon, Orange Banana, Green Zebra, Black Cherry, Friesje, Pernau Orange, Danko, Black Plum, Kariolle, Negro Azteca, Dikaja Rosa, Guernsey Island, Bianca Cherry, Persimon and what else they are called. The pricking had such a soothing effect on us, we were always pretty surprised how much we had done when we looked up to get new plants, potting compost or water. The whole climate in the greenhouse led us into another world. It was gorgeous to come from the cold, windy, partly rainy outside into this warm coziness and to smell the wet earth. Immediately, we were comfortable.
Every year, we plant our balcony, and we seem to be on the right track when you look at our haul. Gorgeous tomatoes, numerous cucumbers, herbs, salads, colorful carrots, beets, and radishes, peas, zucchini, and last year, we even harvested a basket full of eggplants from our balcony. And we really have little knowledge of trucking. As you see, so far, we were just lucky. We definitely wanted to change that and for this year, planned to do some sort of internship at a nursery. Spread over the whole year, we want to help out for a few days to get an insight in the everyday course of action. We found the perfect nursery incidentally. Do you remember our trip to Rensow? There, we heard from „Grete’s Gärtnerei“ for the first time. In a small village in Mecklenburg, two hours from Berlin, Grete has her eco nursery with seed growing and vegetable sale with a rural and sustainable production. A lot of handiwork is needed to grow the old breeds, for which Grete fell especially. Helping hands are always welcome, and now in spring, there is especially a lot to do. The vegetables have to be sowed for the season, or are even ready to be pricked and planted. On Sunday noon, we were led to the greenhouse after a short tour across the farm.
