Category: Gardening.

Thunder closing in.

May 4, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

The day has been really nice and still is even though thunder is lurking at the outskirts of the county. It has never come especially close but I can hear it and we’ve had a gentle rainfall while the dogs and I had a nap. More rain is on the way but the different weather sites shows either more thunder tonight or no thunder at all. 20C (68F) today but now we’ll have two slightly cooler day without sunshine and with rain. We’ll know better after those two days if they were even close to guessing it right 🙂 🙂

I can see the windows at both ends of my cottage from my bed and this morning the sky was bright orange when I woke up. It was so nice because none of the dogs were in a hurry to get up and out so we stayed in bed for quite some time. So for once our morning walk was late, not because of the weather but because we all were a bit lazy 🙂 🙂 That has never happened with any of the old dogs that once lived with me 🙂

I’ve continued to plant the trees and bushes, some of them I’ve bought and some sown. I’ve also placed all the Pawpaw seedlings and Guava seedlings on the north side of the cottage. I’ve tried to place them so that the bigger citrus trees that I have shield them from the burning sun. Just like us plants get burned if one just place them in the sun after having them indoors for a longer time. Five pear seedlings of one of the two kinds I’ve sown seems to have survived the winter indoors and four of the other kind. Still a bit cloudy on a few of the seedlings that sort of looks dead but still have a chance 🙂

A goose couple flew just in front of us while walking along the creek. I think it is Greylags. Sorry but I don’t think You can see them if You look through Your phone, they are hard to see even on the computer screen.

I took my time doing this of course but so far I can say that my back isn’t any worse, not much better either but at least not worse 🙂 I think that it’s all that ice cream I’ve been eating that has done the trick 🙂 🙂 🙂 Still sunny outside but the thunder is closing in. It’s a bit south of here and when it is it usually follows the mountain and miss us totally. When it comes however it’s usually furious. The worst time was when the lightning split in two and four of the homes here were hit. The light ramp on my aquarium jumped up in the air and sort of exploded in a bright light, my closest neighbor had a arch of light in their bathroom (from a fan straight in to the wall on the other side), the third down the road didn’t notice anything because they are heavy sleepers but the fourth home was hit so bad that the entire electrical cabinet blew in to pieces 🙂 🙂 🙂

I would have liked to have another walk now when the weather is nice but thunder nearby is no good thing. Once we were surprised by how fast the thunder arrived and I had to chose between being the highest point in the fields or walk in amongst the trees and hoping the lightning wouldn’t hit a tree 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Nova has always loved to sleep in the sunshine, no matter how hot it has been 🙂

Finally Friday.

May 3, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

IT has been a lovely day, lots of sunshine, 20C (68F) warm and no wind. Thin clouds cover the sky at the moment but that’s ok. I was thinking of wearing a hoodie on our walk but decided a t-shirt would be enough and I’m so glad I decided that 🙂 It was more than enough when walking in the shadows but almost too much in the sunshine, after all it wasn’t that long ago we had snow here so we aren’t used to warm weather yet. Even the dogs thought it was a bit too warm in the sunshine.

The wild hogs have really concentrated to dig up all roots on one side of this field. It’s just 20 meters (much the same in yards) away from the Beekeepers cottage.

A new tree growing up from an old tree stump.

My back is worse today but as long as we were walking it felt quite ok. I opened the kitchen door when we came home so the dogs could go in and out as they pleased. Went to the toilet and while sitting there my neighbor called and told me that Alma was walking around in the cow pasture up the slope 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I was in no position to do anything about it, just trying to stand up would take quite some time 🙂 🙂 🙂 So my neighbor helped me to get her back home. That dog is going to give me problems if she continues like this 🙂 🙂 🙂 She doesn’t like cows so I have no idea what made her think walking around close to them while having several new calves would be a good idea 🙂 🙂 🙂

Lots of butterflies flying around today. If this one had opened its wings they would be bright sky blue.

Well my neighbors had a good laugh anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂 I was thinking of planting more trees and bushes today but I felt it was enough to just water what I’ve already have dug down. I couldn’t find my rice bag to warm in the micro but I did find my old electric heating pad. I’m always a bit worried to used that one because it’s so old that if the insulation inside it is broken it might start to burn while using it 🙂 🙂 So far so good though. It does help a lot though.

I have several blue-berried honeysuckle bushes and the bumblebees love them. Unfortunately for me I didn’t know one needed at least two different varieties of this to get berries so I hope this will be the year I’ll get berries because last summer I bough two other ones 🙂

More flowers are opening up now and the grass is growing so I’m afraid I might have to mow the lawn tomorrow because we might get both rain and thunder during the night and mowing wet grass is a nightmare. I’ll just have to put together the new mower that I bought last autumn, I haven’t even removed it from it’s box yet so I do hope nothings wrong with it because who has a receipt left after a long winter 🙂 🙂 🙂

This is an oddity because it’s a natural crossing between the white wood anemone and the yellow wood anemone. It’s sterile but spreads happily via its roots. I’ve never bought one so this crossing is from my own white and yellow ones.

This is the yellow one and it has a much deeper yellow.

It is time to go down to the recliner and the heating pad again and I will have ice cream but perhaps also a cup of tea?

Have a great day!

Always that wind.

May 1, 2024 · 2 Comments ·

We’ve had a really nice day here today. Mostly sunshine and almost 20C (68F). The only thing that sort of made the day less nice was the wind, the gusts were too strong and dried out the trees I have and had planted these last day. It’ll stay warm and so will the wind but I guess it is good all those wind power plants produce all that electricity so the price stays low.

We had a pancake day today so now I need to buy more jam, the one I had made myself is long gone 🙂 Nova has been unusually picky with her food lately. I know she liked it because they sometimes get that dry food as a treat so I just couldn’t understand why she refused to eat it. I always boil up water and pours it over the food and then cools it down with cold water so it isn’t too hot. Turns out that this food instead of swelling just falls apart and becomes some kind of porridge and that’s what she hates. So later in the morning I gave it to her dry and everything went down in a hurry. So I wasn’t sure if she would eat much pancake shortly after that but she gulped it down and did the same with her afternoon meal. It’s nice when problems are so easily solwed.

I have as I mentioned planted most of the trees I had delivered the other week. No matter what place I found it would mess with other plans for the future 🙂 🙂 🙂 Plus having two walnut trees makes it a bit harder. Walnut trees tend to spread a toxin called juglone in the ground to keep other plants away from them, but to be honest I have the Black walnut which is said to be the worst of them and so far everything around it is just as healthy and happy looking as they were the day the walnut was planted and that was well over 15 years ago. Still it is a bit risky to plant anything that might be sensitive to it too close and in my little garden everywhere is a bit too close 🙂 🙂 🙂

Also all good places are already having trees growing there 🙂 I do have a plum, gives tiny yellow plums but usually flowers too early so frost takes both flowers and fruits that I’ve planned to remove so I did plant my Persimmon tree close to it. The tricky thing with cutting down all kinds of Prunus (plums, cherries and so on) is that they tens to spread a lot via its old roots so the best thing one can do is to ring bark it. That means one will remove a ring of bark around the stem so that no water and nutrients can move up the tree. it tales two years before one can remove the dead tree but it will not start making new stems from the roots. I really don’t like to cut down trees but there will at least grow a new tree just beside where the old one stood.

The early flowering plum tree has lots of flowers and buds right now.

This and the rest of these photos show the newly planted trees and are actually quite useless since it’s hard to see the thin stems and needles 🙂 🙂 🙂 This is the Apricot.

This is the best looking Himalayan Cedar, There are new needles growing in between all the dead ones.

This is the Persimmon hybrid and peach tree I planted last year. Both are alive anf
d healthy.

This is the Cedar I think might be doomer already but there are green needles even towards the top so I thought I would give it a chance.

I’ve also planted an Apricot ‘Hargrand’, one of the hardiest there is and a white mulberry tree (can’t remember the name of it). The white mulberry tree usually gives berries that tastes somewhat like grass 🙂 🙂 but this one will have pretty tasty berries they say. So now and for at least a week ahead I’ll have to water everything I’ve planted with at least ten litres of water every day and continue to help with water all summer long if we’ll have a dry summer. Good thing I don’t have to pay for my water 🙂 I still have two Pawpaw trees to plant but I want to buy more peat because they like a slightly acidic soil.

All the Apricots and pears I sowed last year and have survived will have to stay in the cool cellar for two more winters, well except for those two Apricots I’ve already planted, I thought I would test how they manages a winter already that young, I have after all four more Apricots and very little space in the garden 🙂 🙂

Just look at Alma’s eyes, she’s not impressed 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Still so windy!

February 3, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

The first skein (or wedge or team) of Canada geese in the sky. I’ve learned that a bunch of geese in the water is called a gaggle of geese but that it changes when they either flies above the water surface and again when they fly high over the water. Sometimes they just make the english language a bit too tricky 🙂 🙂 Especially when a flock of geese also is ok to use 🙂

You know You’ve been disconnected from the world by working the evening shift when You get surprised that the Swedish parts of the European Song Contests starts tonight 🙂 It is after all the biggest talent show we have here (well some artists are well known and experienced but quite a lot of them are mostly known from sites like Ticktock or YouTube)In this country 🙂 🙂 🙂

Another storm is passing by and I would have been much more tired of this wind if it hadn’t brought warmer weather at the same time. The winds just never stops blowing even though it was a bit calmer yesterday in the morning when we had our morning walk, After that the wind came back and we even had some rain. Today was very different, a full blown storm but sunny and warm weather. I only wore a t-shirt and hoodie when we went out, must admit that it was too little to wear while walking in the open fields but just enough when walking out of winds reach. I always have to plan for how Alma pulls the leash and how I always have to hold against it, so normally I would sweat like a pig even if I walked totally naked in a blizzard 🙂 🙂 🙂 Lately though she has started to stay mostly calm and I do hope this is the beginning of how she’ll behave for the rest of her life 🙂 🙂 🙂

We walked down to the creek, followed it up-stream and went back home via the gravel road in the forest. I never saw any animals but I know there were wild hogs nearby because we walked up wind to them and they do smell rather a lot 🙂 🙂 🙂 The wind was so strong that not even ravens were out playing in it and it needs a lot of wind to stop them doing that 🙂

Still lots of ice where the sun can’t reach. I’m glad I have my studded boots!

I’ve started to check the seeds I’ve sown in damp paper towels and put in the fridge. Normally I only do that with seeds I want to keep an eye on because I have few or they’re hard to get. This time I had sowed columbines, I had already tossed out loads of columbine seeds in the garden but wanted to be sure that I at least have a few new ones just in case those outside wouldn’t make it. All seeds but the columbines were still dormant but six columbines had germinated, so I planted those in a pot, put a see through plastic bag over them and then took them down in to the cool cellar. The cool cellar will keep them calm so they don’t start to grow too fast and now at least I know I’ll have new columbines this year 🙂

Also the sixth pawpaw seed that had started to germinate has now a small stalk and at first I thought something had gone wrong because it looked like it had broken at the top but I took a photo of it and magnified the photo and to my surprise there actually is a tiny, tiny new leaf growing at the top of that stalk 🙂 I’ve also checked the pawpaw “trees” (so small that I refuse to actually call them trees 🙂 🙂 ) and two are totally dead while the third seems to have made it through that nasty cold night we had when it dropped to -24C (-11,20F). The English Walnut, the peach tree, the apricot tree and the persimmon hybrid tree all seems to have managed to cope with that cold weather we’ve had 🙂 Plus I’ve checked the trees I have in the cool cellar and the most of those, pear, apricot, sea buckthorns, peaches and the small pawpaw seedlings that dropped their yellow leafs because I think they thought it was time to rest before spring all look really good as well.

Well everything but a citrus plant looks rather well but winter isn’t over and it is soo easy to either over water or let them dry out too much when having anything indoors. Plus many plants are killed when they are brought out in spring, the shock of going outside can actually be too much for some plants, especially if they already have leafs growing, the sunshine will burn those leafs just like it would burn our skins.

The little pawpaw stalk. I had to magnify it a lot to be able too see that tiny little leaf at the top. It is so small that the camera couldn’t focus so I had to place a hand carved spoon made from cherry tree by myself for about 42? years ago 🙂

The pawpaw outside is still alive despite that cold weather. It is well protected by a huge Hungarian lilac though.

Unfortunately another hazel I have believes that only because we now have a few days with warmer weather it’s ok to open up the leaf buds 🙂

I better get ready for that song contest now, it’s a few hours left before it starts but I’m pretty sure I’ll fall asleep while waiting for it to start 🙂 🙂 🙂 Also yesterday I heard from a work friend that I’ll be informed on Monday that I’ll have new working hours, any other hours but the ones I have will be better and You’ll know next Friday.

I try to scare away the woodpecker as often as I can, the male one is easy but the female one is much tougher 🙂

Field sparrows are plenty around the peanut feeder.

It isn’t all peace and quiet between the different birds 🙂

Have a great day!

I was surprised today!

October 22, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

The rest of this weekend has been much less eventful and I’m so grateful for that 🙂 🙂 However I keep finding a lot of wasp queens here indoors and I have no idea how they get in here. Normally I try to just catch and release them but lately they have been a bit angry so I’ve had no other choice than to kill them. I don’t like that but I just can’t have angry wasps flying around in my home.

We went out to the bog this morning and everything was just fine. Nova leash free as always a bit ahead of us and the rest of us following her. We went out on the peninsula and stayed there for a few minutes and turned back homewards again. Then suddenly Nova, 17 years old, started to run on the path. Albin did look a bit worried frowning and Alma did suddenly behave as if she had been to obedience school. So I guess we might have had a wolf rather close to us. I never see them though even if I now days quite often look back to see if anything is following us. I guess wolves just are too smart to follow us on the roads or paths.

My orchid is finally opening up its flowers. They don’t smell anything but that’s quite common with orchids we have in our homes. I think it’ll get at least four more flower stalks before it’s season is over. The flowers look a bit more yellowish in the photos than they do in the real but I guess that’s because I used a flash when I took the photos.

I also found something in my garden that made me really surprised! I found four fruits beneath my Black walnut!!! I haven’t even seen it in bloom. At first I thought it was odd that I found four figs beneath the canopy since my fig tree stands closer to the kitchen door but then I picked them up and realized that it was walnuts 🙂 I know I should have waited to open up any of the fruits but I just wanted to see how big the nut would be, so I opened the smallest one. I figured that since it is so small I’d rather plant it in a pot and place it outside, if it germinates there’s always someone who would want a walnut tree and if not the forest is quite big and most people would see it as an ash tree instead 🙂 🙂

I’ve started to bring in more of what is going to spend winter in my cool cellar, like these apricot trees.

A16841_008Af — Nova taken with the Minolta 8000i.

I didn’t win the lottery so tomorrow it’s back to work again, it is at least a short work week this time. It’s dark outside now but tomorrow morning I’ll check if there are any more walnuts in the tree. To be honest I’m happy about the four I got since I didn’t think I would get any at all but as we say here: much wants more 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Wild hogs.

August 27, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

It was a nice and cool morning but those mosquitoes are just awful.

Even though the sun has been shining all morning and that it is fairly warm I still can feel it in the air, autumn has arrived. There’s a sort of bite to the air that I only can feel in autumn. Still the morning walk was really nice even though the mosquitoes doesn’t understand that they now just should fall down to the ground and die 🙂 🙂 🙂

Alma was just as annoying this morning as she was yesterday morning. She were all over the place and in the end she entangled both me and Albin in her leash. Both she and Albin also sniffed in the air all the time. Nova didn’t but instead of walking far ahead of us she walked by our side. I thought it was because I possible had taped her knee in a bad way. As soon as we had come to the long straight road towards the creek she resumed to her normal position, far ahead of us.

I saw something but couldn’t really say what kind of animal it was.

Then a much smaller one came out to the road too. Then I saw the ear of the bigger one.

I didn’t think more of it than that she perhaps didn’t feel that bad in her knee anyway. We walked up-stream the creek but neither her nor I wanted to walk in the high grass and in to the more dense old forest, so instead we went back the same way we came and I thought that we perhaps would walk in the forest where we walk out to the bog. I didn’t look especially much ahead of us but when I did I saw something I first couldn’t figure out what it was, an animal that I could guess but not what.

I think I could see seven or eight piglets.

Turns out that where Nova suddenly walked ahead of us again now stood a rather big wild hog sow 🙂 Thankfully far away from us but I am annoyed at myself for not bringing the right tele photo lens. Then suddenly a piglet came out from the trees and then one more and suddenly I think it was seven or eight piglets in total. This is the moment when Alma actually decides to stand still and be quiet. There’s something with wild hogs that makes her do that, never otherwise but always when we see hogs.

My spring flowering Clematis has restarted 🙂

The Sarracenia sure is slow to open up. I do hope that at least one of the four buds will before frost takes them all.

One can hate or love the Big Dragon flower (Nepeta sibirica) but bees love them and they flower from early summer till frost take them all.

The wild hogs crossed the road and in to the forest where I had hoped we would walk so no chance on doing that 🙂 🙂 I started to talk loudly to the dogs because I didn’t know where the boar could be or if there were more sows waiting to cross the road. Both Alma and Albin did look at the direction they had come from but that doesn’t mean there were any more out there. I don’t really like to come close to wild hogs but it is fun to see them from a safe distance 🙂

No more sightings of hogs though. I took a tour in the garden when when we had come home again. There are still flowers in bloom, even potatoes flower still. This is the time the Hardy Kiwi decided to finally start growing and I do hope it calms down before the frost arrives. I’ve re-potted all but one of my apricot trees and also the cherry plum tree seedlings I have. I’m not sure what to do with those cherry plum seedlings to be honest. I really don’t need any more but have no place to plant them and since they tend to spread like wildfire via their roots I’m not sure I can give them away either. Well I do live beside a forest 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have three Hardy Kiwi vines planted towards the fence around my vegetable garden. They have finally put some speed in their growing.

I managed to break the top of this vine when I tried to pull it through the loops in the fence. I have no idea if the top will grow new roots but I’ve put it in a pot and either it dies or it starts to grow new roots.

The third one is a sad one. It does grow but slowly and when it finally put some speed into it something ate the top of the vine 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

A15398_016 — Time flies and it won’t be long until we’re back to snow again 🙂 Taken with the Agfa Ambiflex.

We had a rain free day!

August 20, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

Yesterday we had a rain free day!! Not any sunshine but still rain free so we all did those chores in the gardens and on the farms that has been impossible or too hard to do when the rain is falling. I was the one who started the mowing, a couple of hours before the rest. The grass is growing like crazy now and even though I do like my electric mower it sure doesn’t work especially well when it is filled up with long and wet grass 🙂

I think we actually have a couple of real Wild apple trees (their Swedish name is actually Wild apple) Malus sylvestris.

They are becoming rare, we don’t even know if there are any real left because they cross pollinate with our garden apples. It’s always great to have a real Wild apple tree close by especially if one only have one apple tree because the Wild apple will help pollinating the garden apple. The ones we have a shoots from the old one that grew here when I moved to this place and that tree were old enough to actually be a real Wild apple tree. The apples are really small and mor sour than any lemon 🙂 🙂

The mowing too three times as long because every thirty seconds or so the mower stopped because there was just too much grass glued to its inside. I now have loads of small mounds with wet grass all over the lawn. I started to spread out the grass so it would dry up better but since it is pouring outside there’s no use in doping that any more. The farmers were out fetching those white balls that contains the silage they’ve made from earlier this summer. Also one neighbor was out cutting the grass and flowers along the gravel roads. They normally do that earlier in the season but since everything went late they waited long enough for most of those flowers to release their seeds.

These are the seven Apricot trees from seeds this winter. Growing well.

The pears however was hit by mildew and some died but they are finally growing again 🙂

I doubt that the hunters had any luck yesterday because of all the noise, I doubt there was a single animal even remotely close to the village 🙂 I don’t think they’re out there today either since it is pouring down and I really would like to take a walk today but then again my dogs refuse to step outside while it is raining so here we are, quite restless to be honest 🙂 Well I can do the laundry, bake bread and make dinner for next week at work but then again I’m not sure I’m restless enough to do more than the bare minimum 🙂 🙂

A15398_008 — Four photos from the Agfa Ambiflex.

A15398_011

Have a great day!

e (8) — Well, I do at least get grapes 🙂 🙂 🙂

A second harvest and autumn colors.

August 12, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

We haven’t had as much sunshine today as they guessed yesterday but instead it started to rain much earlier 🙂 To be honest it was mostly drizzle but the grass went wet so I decided that I wouldn’t detsroy my day with mowing the lawn 🙂 Also the few flies that still flies around are nasty now and I don’t know what kind is biting but it sure itch a lot afterwards.

We went out to the bog on our morning walk. Nova wanted to walk there yesterday but I managed to make her walk to the part I wanted to walk in 🙂 🙂 Today we went out to where she wanted. Lots of mushrooms everywhere now but I still haven’t picked a single one. I guess I still have plenty of time because the rainy weather will continue for quite a while they’re guessing now. The trees in the bog have started to change colors and it feels like it is a bit too early even for here but it has been quite cold and rainy for quite some time so I guess the trees just thought it was time to give up for the year 🙂

I also found several flower buds on my rhododendron today, I guess for the same reason but it believing we’ve had an unusually mild winter 🙂 🙂 🙂 I guess that it’ll flower in early September, especially if we would get some more warm weather again. It will from now on reach 20C (68F) if they’re guessing right but they seldom do that 🙂 🙂 🙂

I took a look at my cacti that I placed in my apple trees this summer. They all look pretty fine and the Christmas cactus now have small buds 🙂 I also have an orchid hanging out there but that one only flower once every year and just before spring arrives so I won’t know if it liked this or not until then. I did forget to check the ones that grows in my old woodland but I’m pretty sure they like it too. The only problem with hanging all these potted plants in my trees is to remember to bring them indoors again before the frost arrives 🙂 🙂

I have a second harvest of potatoes as well 🙂 I poured out the soil from the second bucket where I planted only the broken off potato sprouts. More in this bucket than in the previous one but not as many as I had last summer. Still I’m quite content as it is because I didn’t have to sacrifice any potatoes to get these, just the broken off sprouts 🙂

My Black walnut is rather big now, higher than my cottage actually.

The English walnut does grow too but I would be surprised and happy if it survives the winter here.

But tiny white ones on my Christmas cactus.

It is time to have a last cup of tea before dozing off in front of the tv. I will not miss anything on tv if I would sleep alla night, I think the quality of the programs they show now days are crap to be honest.

In the front but hard to see since it is green towards green is my Persimmon hybrid tree. Behaind it the peach tree.

The potato leafs showed it was time to harvest the potatoes.

Have a great day!

My first harvest :-)

August 5, 2023 · Leave a comment ·

The weather has been mostly meh today. We had some sunshine in the early morning and about two minutes in the afternoon but it has at least not been raining. That however will change tomorrow evening if they’re guessing right. From Tomorrow evening till Tuesday night, perhaps early Wednesday, we’ll get around 4 inches of rain. I am happy for the rain we’ve gotten but now we need some sunshine and warmer weather so that the fruits will ripen properly and become sweet.

They’ve removed the warnings about low ground water levels now and I haven’t seen so much water in the creek since the snow melted this spring 🙂 🙂 I think these last heavy rainfalls have killed off a lot of flies because I really don’t need to wear my mosquito hat on our walks now. I can’t say I mind especially much but I guess birds still need them so they can build up energy for the move south. Still lots of mosquitoes though so they can fiest on them instead 🙂 🙂

The ice cream van came by today, I missed it the last time because I was in the bathroom and had no chance of getting outside in time 🙂 🙂 Our ice cream vans doesn’t sell individual ice creams but only sell packages of different varieties or mixed boxes with their most popular varieties. I actually don’t know if they’ve ever sold individual cones or popsicles, they did however sell both frozen fish, ready dinners and hamburgers back in the day. I couldn’t see any of that today though. So now I have one box with gluten free cones with chocolate ice cream and one with vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate and crushed almond on sticks. So if I don’t win the lottery today I can at least have some ice cream to comfort myself 🙂 🙂 🙂

Do You remember that I planted those sprouts that broke off when I planted the potatoes in the potato patch? Today I emptied the bucket with just two stalks. Last year I got enough potatoes in each bucket/ pot to last a week but in this one I got enough potatoes for one dinner 🙂 Well first they almost drowned because I had forgotten to make extra holes in the bucket so one shower was enough to fill up the bucket with water. After that the drought came and I forgot to water every now and again so I think this isn’t too bad after all. I do hope for better results in the coming buckets/ pots. This variety of potato is called Asterix.

I think it is time to go downstairs and to have one of those ice creams 🙂 I think I’ll have one of that vanilla with chocolate and crushed almond 🙂

I bought a Mahonia yesterday just because I wanted the plastic pot it was growing in, narrow and deep. I’m now using that pot for one of my Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) seedlings, well it’s just a seed with a tiny root so far. I did want the Mahonia as well because it gives quite tasty berries that both look and taste rather much like blueberries.

The harvest 🙂 🙂 To be honest I did find two more as big as the two smallest in this photo 🙂

Have a great day!

The rain has given back what the drought took away :-)

July 30, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

a (2) — We were caught in a heavy shower this morning and all of us,except for Nova took shelter beneath big trees. I understand why she didn’t want to go there because that was the place most biting flies decided to stay as well 🙂 🙂 🙂

The weather has really been mixed today. Steady rain in the early morning but after that it has been mixed between heavy showers and sunshine. One minute sunshine and one minute showers just to go back to sunshine again. The dogs refused to go outside until rather late for being us so when we finally went out on our morning walk the flies were already there waiting for us. I can happily say that there now are fewer biting ones than there were before we went out on our walk 🙂 🙂

a (4) — I wasn’t expecting to find any mushrooms on our walk since I guessed that Nova would chose to walk down to the creek today. So I could unfortunately not pick this rather delicious mushroom because I had nothing to carry it in.

a (7)

I’m glad I mowed the lawn yesterday because it would have been impossible to do it today. My neighbor however mowed the last parts along their hedge and that mower can’t have been fun to clean up afterwards 🙂 🙂 But I haven’t been lazy despite the weather. I’ve trimmed away lots from the lilacs (and some of a mock-orange) that now made life hard for my Chinese catalpa. I’ve also ripped up some weeds around one of my ginkgos and I realized that I also ripped up a stinging nettle. I now have that burning sensation in my finger on my right hand.

a (11) — Lots of water in the creek now, so I would say that what the drought removed when it comes to water the rain now has given back.

Some of the summer apples are ripe now, I don’t like them especially much unless they are slightly un-ripe because when un-ripe they’re slightly sour. When ripe they are more bland and sort of mealy. I guess they could be great for apple sauce though so perhaps I should pick some for myself, I give away most to my closest neighbors because their oldest daughter really likes apples and especially those. In September I’ll have too many winter apples so I hope they take lots of those as well 🙂

a (14) — Snails are now eating my melon vines. I removed this one before it ate those tiny flower buds 🙂

I sowed some cone flower seeds just a few days ago and they first one has already germinated 🙂

So tomorrow starts the last week of my summer vacation. I can’t say I don’t like my work place but I desperately wants to win the lottery anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂 Just thinking of having to drive to work when the roads are slippery with ice again and most parts of the days will be dark again is depressing 🙂 🙂 Ok I’ll start working evenings in September so I will actually see daylight but still I really don’t look forward to winter again.

The Catalpa doesn’t stand a chance if I don’t do something about those lilacs and the mock-orange.

This is the result. I’ll leave the branches where they are and later on I’ll drive over them with the mower.

Finally buds on my squash plants. They really didn’t like the heat wave we had but grows better now.

The same with the chicory. They do look a lot like dandelions 🙂 🙂

The Catalpa is in bloom but the flowers are hard to find since they all are up at the top of the tree 🙂

Have a great day!

No rain today :-)

July 29, 2023 · 4 Comments ·

Rather nice weather today, mixed cloudy and sunny and I think it reached 20C (68F) when it was as warmest. No rain thankfully, the swedish weather site says lots of rain tomorrow while the Norwegian says almost nothing but both says we’ll have sunshine in the afternoon. I trust the Norwegian more than the Swedish one and I hope it’s right because I am beginning to feel tired of the rain now. Not that I would do anything anyway but it is nice to be able to be outside and enjoy the day.

I’ve been busy in between naps today. I’ve mowed the lawn and the grass was so wet that I had to stop and clean it out from the mower all the time. Also the flies were insane so I wore my mosquito hat all the time. I was sure thunder was on the way but so far nothing. I’ve also done some laundry and baked some french rolls.

This time I used milk and butter and they do taste delicious but they didn’t rise especially well. I think it’s because I melted the butter and then pour in the milk to the melted butter. Sometimes when one does like that the fat can sort of embrace the yeast so it can’t do its job properly. Still they are rather light anyway and with melted cheese on them they are delicious 🙂

Besides that nothing much has happened here and since it has been really quiet in the entire village I doubt that anything happened there either 🙂 The last two peach kernels that finally started to germinate are nos showing above the surface in their pots I’ll place them outdoors as soon as they start to grow properly so they at least know that there is an outside world with varying temperatures and humidity. They, like the apricots will later on stay down in my cool cellar and hopefully I won’t kill them during winter 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

The two peaches. They took their time to start their lives 🙂

Lots and lots with rain.

July 28, 2023 · 2 Comments ·

So after this weekend I’ll only have one week of vacation left, well until Christmas time when I’ll use my last week. We have no holidays at all until then so I really hope I’ll like working evenings again. AI’ll at least get fewer hours to work with slightly more in pay but I still don’t look forward to work evenings. Still I’ll have a job so I won’t complain too much.

This week had been rather chilly and we’ve had so much rain that I haven’t had to water anything out in the garden. I really didn’t mind that much but some of those showers were so bad that I thought much of what’s growing in the garden would break. That didn’t happen but I still hope that the coming rain next week will be less heavy 🙂

Nova decided that we should walk in the forest this morning. She went out to the peninsula in the bog and I hoped that there would be lots of fog because we had fairly thick fog everywhere else. I was sort of disappointed because there was almost no fog at all. We hadn’t been out there for especially long when the dogs suddenly wanted to walk home again and they seemed to be in a hurry. We hadn’t walked far when we heard the deer “barking” around the place we had been at so my guess is that a wolf must have arrived.

It was while standing here the dogs suddenly wanted to hurry back home.

I read an article that most dogs when smelling a wolf nearby reacts just like that, they want to leave unless they are terriers because they want to attack 🙂 🙂 but as the article said since they were so aggressive towards wolves the wolf would most likely run away even though they were so small. Well one terrier didn’t react like that and that was the Amstaff, Albin really doesn’t like other dogs and would love to be able to attack but as soon as he smells wolf he reacts just the opposite 🙂 and I’m glad he does 🙂

I haven’t been able to do much because of the rain but I have weeded (well to be honest that sounds a bit lame because I used spades and secateurs to get rid of what was growing there. I used to have blueberry bushes there but all the sand that I dug up while doing the root zone had to go somewhere and that was the best and closest place to put it. I did find three blueberry bushes still in there amongst the high grass, wildflowers and grapevines though 🙂 I let the blueberries stay and added some peat around them. After that I placed all the pots with the apricot seedlings and some citrus trees there but couldn’t stop myself from planting the seedlings I had this year. I have even sowed some seeds from perennial Hollyhocks and they’ll look good already next year . I also found lots of things I forgot I had placed there before the weeds and grass started to grow in the sand 🙂 🙂 🙂

This is the after photo. The angle of the photo make the place look smaller than it is but it is around 4 square meter (much the same in yards).

a (4) — I also placed the rubber sheet from my old pond over all those shoots from the thorny sloes, roses and the false spirea.

I’ve “pruned” (with big and heavy tools 🙂 🙂 ) the Rowan tree that grows beside the plum tree. It sowed itself and I like it but it was starting to push away the plum tree plus it was so dark and dry on the ground that almost all ferns that grew there had died.

No all the plums will get sunshine and ripe nicely 🙂

It is time to have something to eat and after that I have no idea. Nothing worth watching on tv so perhaps I’ll start reading a book?

Have a great day!