Still rather cold nights but after follows sunny and spring warm days. It was supposed to be windy all day but it seems the wind lost its breath after noon, so both me and my neighbours have been outside in the garden today and when my neighbours are outside none of the dogs can hear my voice or understand what I’m saying 🙂 🙂 🙂 Not even the monsterkitten was interesting enough for Malkolm to keep an eye on 🙂 🙂 Then again she mostly lays on the kitchen stairs sleeping in the sunshine 🙂
It was just above 0C (32F) when we went out for our morning walk and there was still frost on the trees and snow on the ground where the sun can’t reach it. Cranes flew above us and the small birds in the forest sang their spring songs. We saw a deer out on the bog but it was too far away for Alma to start screaming 🙂 🙂 🙂 I didn’t mind 🙂 she screamed enough when we passed the new neighbours 🙂 🙂
I’ve been busy in the garden for three days now and I must admit that I have some training sourness all over my body 🙂 🙂 I’ve done the first more serious weeding both in the vegetablegarden and the bigger one that used to be for vegetables as well but I last year decided should be a sort of flower meadow. Well I failed badly last year but can see signs that it might be better this year. If I had wanted it to be filled with only our wild flowers it would take lots of year to be successful, so instead I’ll have any kind of annuals bees like and also a few perennials. Plus I have lots of garlic growing in there as well 🙂 Perhaps mice, voles and deer will stay away from it if I have 🙂 🙂
So I’ve now filled my composts till maximum and I still have more to remove, well that’s a problem for later. I have lots of vegetable seeds but perhaps I need a few more flower seeds, annuals. Still lots of time for that since nights will continue to stay below 0C (32F) for quite some time more and one never knows what April will be like, could be anything from summer warm to snow storms. So my body is aching but in a sort of good way 🙂 I slept unusually well these two last nights though 🙂
Since something bit off big parts of my Pawpaw seedlings last autumn I bought five more seeds this winter and they arrived three days ago. These seeds are really tricky and even though I managed to get five small trees last year means nothing, I’ve read that not even in nature are the success rate higher than 25%. So all I can do is to hold my thumbs and cross my fingers because they might just as well rot instead. If any start to grow I have no idea how to make them survive next winter since what ever it was that bit them off did it in my cellar. To be honest it could just as well has been a certain monsterkitten that did that job 🙂 🙂 🙂 She will not be permitted to be in the cellar next winter 🙂 🙂 🙂
It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps I’ll have one of the newly baked french rolls just waiting in the kitchen 🙂
Have a great day!
The Cottage by the crane lake. 
I finally got caught up with your natural history diary, with dogs, cat, cranes and Germans in fancy motorhomes. And your fresh vegetable garden. The MonsterKitten is well named, but Malkolm will make sure she doesn’t get too big for her britches.
I have been doing transplanting ork for our giving gardens in the city, and it tires me out. I’ll be glad when it’s over and I feel like reading books again!
Cheers!
Carol
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Hi carolannie!
He sure will 🙂 🙂 🙂 At the moment he makes sure that she doesn’t wander of to the front side of the cottage where the gravel road is just outside the gate 🙂 🙂
I must admit that transplanting work is only fun the first ten minutes 🙂 🙂 🙂 Books are so much better 🙂
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Hey, Christer — so good to reconnect with your world after dealing with crazy busyness here. Love seeing the green, and buds on the bushes!
I’ve heard that planted wildflower meadows do better the second year, so maybe that’s the case with yours.
Our seasons are similar to what you have — we’re just now seeing buds on bushes, with snowdrops and crocuses putting on a show.
Wonderful that you’re able to work outside, but I know what you mean about getting the gardener’s muscles back into shape! I depend on lidocaine patches for the first week or two. 😉
Goodport
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Hi Goodport!
Hard to keep up with what happens over at Yours, they must be stopped soon or otherwise I’m afraid it will be too late.
If I want a wild flower meadow it would take at least five years before it would be stable and lots of work every year to keep it that way as well, garden soil is usually too full of nutrients for wild flowers. So that’s why I tried with garden flowers since they like a richer soil. That didn’t work well at all 🙂 🙂 🙂 I won’t give up though 🙂 🙂
It sounds just like here but this is a cold hole so we’re a couple of weeks after the rest of the village 🙂 🙂
I’ve been so lucky with the weather during days but it’s still rather cold at nights and we still have snow in the forest and ice on the water in the bog.
Yeah, the muscles aren’t fun but since I actually have done something usefull it’s a good sort of pain 🙂 🙂
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Spring is slowing starting to come here. No growth yet of course, the ground is still frozen, another three weeks and there will be crocuses and leaves starting to bud out. The ice has not yet gone out on the lakes, but when it does, the geese will return and we will hear them from morning to night as they migrate north.
Peace to all,
John
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Hi Inspiredbyo!
I think not lake still has any ice to talk about here in southern Sweden but the bog is still full of it and some snow on the ground. The buds on trees and bushes are growing quickly now 🙂
Yesterday we had 12400 cranes by the lake, no one seems to count any other birds but I can see lots of differe3nt geese and quite a lot of swans as well. It’s like a wall of sound hitting when stepping outside in the morning 🙂 Cranes are anything but quiet birds 🙂
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