ABC Wednesday 4: I is for...



... In Bruges on market day
NB If you'd like to look at an image for longer, just hover your mouse over it and the pages will stop turning until you move your mouse again.

On our first day in Bruges we kicked off with a walk to the local market. I loved being merged in with the locals - trying to make out key Flemish phrases, hearing the cries of the hawkers and comparing it with markets back home. There's a lot of similarity, but I liked being able to try lots of fruit before buying and I reckon about half of the veggie space was devoted to Witloof chicory - hardly seen on sale in the UK. I did find some sprouts too. A small livestock section was a surprise and at last there were lots of garden plants on view. Judging by what was on offer, Bruges and its surrounding area must be on an acid soil. Nearly everyone was stopping off at the flower stall to buy an enormous bouquet to brighten their weekend.

Here's a selection of images from the 'living' part of the market, tucked away down one of the side streets and a smaller square. I've spared you the clothing and household sections, though I can't believe I didn't take any photos of the mouthwatering cheese and meat stalls. Perhaps I was concentrating too much on the free samples at this point! And we found the cheapest fresh coffee in town - 1 euro, complete with mini praline Belgian chocolate egg :)

For other Interesting Images for today, head on over to the ABC Wednesday blog.

Comments

  1. Sylvia K17 March 2009 at 21:07

    Great idea! And I love markets! We have such a fabulous one here in Seattle and it's such a treat to go shop there! Thanks for a great post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna17 March 2009 at 21:45

    What a treat VP. I imagine that you must have spent a good while there just mooching, sampling and soaking in the atmosphere :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous17 March 2009 at 23:50

    What a lovely trip in the market. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown18 March 2009 at 00:15

    Oh, your market seems so delightful! I don't think we have any markets like that around here in Pennsylvania. Maybe Flea Markets in the Summer : ). Delighful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tumblewords:18 March 2009 at 03:24

    A delightful place! I'd love to stroll about and look at all the exciting images. Thank you for sharing your very fine photography!

    ReplyDelete
  6. themanicgardener18 March 2009 at 06:11

    Oh, I am so envious. That is definitely a place I want to visit. Thanks for the images.
    --Kate

    ReplyDelete
  7. Threadspider18 March 2009 at 07:33

    I have enjoyed my morning stroll around Bruges market-thanks VP. Sure beats Chippenham market....

    ReplyDelete
  8. HappyMouffetard18 March 2009 at 08:15

    That looks like a wonderful market for a mooch around. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bradley Hsi18 March 2009 at 08:51

    I like your slide presentation, make me feel almost with you at the market.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Linda18 March 2009 at 10:34

    What a fabulous market. Markets are one thing that I really miss in my part of Canada. We do have them but they just don't compare to the ones in England.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Helen/patientgardener18 March 2009 at 12:18

    It looks like a wonderful market - very tempting

    ReplyDelete
  12. petoskystone18 March 2009 at 12:23

    if one picked up an interesting bulb or two, would there be a problem bringing it into the u.k.? i imagine scooping up a chick or two to bring home might be frowned upon...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Carrie18 March 2009 at 12:24

    Wonderful!! How come everyone seems to do markets better than us???!! That was a great show; so much on offer and lots of colour. The animals were a nice surprise!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Monica the Garden Faerie18 March 2009 at 14:05

    Awwww, baby animals are so cute (I'm sorry I don't find male adult mallards cute...).

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gail18 March 2009 at 20:09

    VP, Wonderful photos...I was ready to load my grocery carryall with all kinds of goodies from the market...gail

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous18 March 2009 at 20:24

    I want the cheeses and meats and I'll be back for the flowers and bulbs.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous18 March 2009 at 20:45

    I love Bruges. Sometimes I wish I could take a large van over there and fill it up on market day. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Rose18 March 2009 at 21:57

    My goodness, I would be in heaven in a market like this! I don't suppose the ducks and rabbits were for sale as pets, though:(

    I've missed your last two posts and didn't realize you were in Belgium. Didn't you just take a holiday to celebrate your birthday and anniversary? NAH is such a sweetheart for arranging such a beautiful trip! I'm trying to remember just what this city was famous for...perhaps the home of some famous Flemish painter? Sorry, my memory of history classes is a little shaky at this point. Enjoy this wonderful holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen19 March 2009 at 08:32

    I've just been reading all your posts on Brugge. I enjoyed them very much as I've been to Brugge last year and I recently watched In Bruges. ;-)

    The pics you showed of the market all look so familiar as we have the same thing in the Netherlands. When I went to the market in Leiden (I used to live close by) I was always amused by the exclamations of the British tourists when they spotted the flower stalls.

    ReplyDelete
  20. VP19 March 2009 at 20:43

    Hi everyone - thanks for your kind comments. I'll catch up with you over at your place :D

    ReplyDelete
  21. this is my patch3 April 2009 at 11:30

    I have great memories of visiting market day in Brugges a few years back, ornamental cabbages spring to mind. Nothing comes close to it, not in the area I live anyhow. It goes without saying, the edible produce and flower/plant stalls were out of this world. x

    ReplyDelete
  22. VP8 April 2009 at 21:50

    And I'm pretty sure the whole of Bruges turned out to shop there. Sadly that doesn't happen in Chippenham, but sadly our market's a much poorer affair :(

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

The 52 Week Salad Challenge Begins

Image
Hurrah - lots of you have said you're up for the 52 Week Salad Challenge and lo, here we are in week 1! We have people from the UK, France and the USA all eager to have a go, so our salad is fast taking on an international flavour :) Quite a few of you asked questions on how this is going to work, which is where today's kick-off post comes in... The main idea is that we all grow and/or forage some salad leaves to eat every week this year. What and how much is entirely up to you. We're in completely different locations, have different tastes, levels of skill and resources available so devising something more specific to suit everyone would be very hard and might not be what you'd really like to do. Over the year I'll be posting every Friday with ideas of what to grow, techniques to use and anything else I can think of that's salad related. I've already got oodles of ideas, but if there's something you'd particularly like me to post about, t...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

For National Tree Week

Image
It's the final day of this year's National Tree Week today and I want to celebrate the tree which stopped me in my tracks recently. At other times this has been a very big week for me, having organised and helped to plant thousands of trees in south Wales as part of an Earthwatch project in the 1990s. Those days feel like they're part of another life, but it's good to be reminded how important trees still are to me, simply by just being there.  The pictured tree is towards the end of my walk into town and I must have walked past it hundreds of times, but for once I saw it properly for the first time. It was just as the different combinations of colour from green through yellow and orange to red were at their finest which helped to catch my undivided attention. It's not the tallest specimen in the world, but wow, it really helps to soften the brutalist concrete of the shops behind it. Then I looked at the leaves more closely, and realised it's a liquidambar aka...
Read more