Category: Sowing and growing.

The sunshine is still warm.

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Dryer and colder winds will fly down over the country and I could feel it early this morning. 0C (32F) when the dogs and I went out for our morning walk. All the cars were covered in frost and the ground was slightly frozen so we weren’t especially muddy when we came back home.

Two male Bullfinches.

Sunshine all day long though and the heat from the sun was so strong that I could have the kitchen door open as long as the light hit the south heading wall. I can’t say it felt like early spring but it was really nice. This was however most likely the last sunshine we will see for at least ten days if the weather sites have guessed it right 🙂

The temperatures will fall so from tomorrow it will be a bit chilly here. Not below 0C (32F) during the days but perhaps during nights.  I took a look at the Kaki fruit kernels (an Asian relative to the Persimmon fruit) in the fridge, It does look as at least one might germinate so hold Your thumbs and cross Your fingers for good luck 🙂  This time of year is a bit boring when it comes to gardening and sowing. Well some plants need a winter or two to be able to germinate so I’ll start with those but not until January.

I bought myself a big Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulb when I went to the grocery store in Falköping after our walkThe ones I’ve seen has been ridiculously expensive but these were manageable in price. It says this one will have red petals with a white string in the middle of every petal. I don’t care if it is or not (usually lots of those bulbs are wrongly marked but who cares just as long as they flower 🙂 ) Have You ever sown the seeds from the Amaryllis? It is quite easy but it’ll take around three to four years until they flower and the flowers will most likely not look the same as the parent plant, sometimes one get the most amazing flowers from seeds.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and later I’ll watch On the Tracks on tv, it’s really the only thing I watch now days 🙂

Have a great day!

I already have too many seeds for next year :-)

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The moon yesterday evening.

It is raining, sort of a nice spring rain. Ok I know it’s autumn but that’s the feeling I get when being outside and not even the dogs seems to dislike it. We walked down to the creek this morning unlike yesterday when we walked out to the bog. It is strange but those moose flies survives lots of night with frost and they love it out by the bog so I didn’t want that to do that mistake again 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve noticed that there are lots fewer moose flies if we walk on the wider gravel roads even though they do sometimes even turn up here in my garden. Also it is seldom that any of them stays close to the creek, I have no idea to why though and it could just be coincidence but it’s like that every year. I think the moose passed just outside the garden yesterday evening because Alma was in guarding mood the entire time we were outside when it started to go dark. I could see some big tracks in the grass just outside my fence. If it had been a wolf she wouldn’t go outside at all 🙂 and the wild hogs walks closer to the forest on the other side of my home.

Our squirrels are quite shy so it’s always a joy when one can see them.

I always go out on seed sites this time of year and to be honest I already have many more seeds than I can sow next year 🙂 🙂 Then however, a couple of days ago I found seeds to something called Litchie tomato. It isn’t a tomato but a relative in the Nightshade family and even though I could see in photos that it must have been made in hell because it has zillions with really sharp small thorns I thought I have to test it 🙂 🙂 I’ve now been out on Youtube and watched a few videos and it is clear that it can’t grow in a place I have to pass at all because those spikes will hit me 🙂 🙂

Also I’ve learned that it is quite hardy, not that it will survive a winter here but night frost isn’t a problem at all. So it is either growing in the back of the greenhouse or it’ll just grow up there and later planted outside. Anyway it will be fun to try it 🙂 An odd thing happened when I tried to order it via my phone, for some reason I couldn’t get the seeds I bought by mail? Really strange since those packages I ordered hardly would even be noticed in an ordinary envelope. I could however go and pick it up at the seed firm not too far from where I live. That annoyed me so much that I cancelled the order 🙂 🙂 However I regretted it and did the order via my computer and then I didn’t even get a choice to pick it it, I could only get the seeds by mail 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thos are the problems we have in the village at the outskirts of the world 🙂 🙂 🙂

Well it is a long time until spring so I’ll place these seeds together with all the other seeds I already have in a plastic lunch box until it is time to start thinking about it again. It is time to feed the dogs and the monster and I already have a cup of tea by my side. I have caught a small cold, nothing serious just stuffed nose, freezing a little and sneezing a lot 🙂 🙂 I still have honey that my old neighbours gave me so I’ll have some of that and hope this will pass quickly even though it isn’t that bad 🙂

Have a great day!

Every fifth month.

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Looks like the cold weather scared som cranes to move south, usually they don’t do that until mid or late September.

Another cold night so I’m glad I covered the more sensitive plants. Yesterday we had several thunderstorms passing by and we had hail falling in at least three of them, there was even some hail left when we went out in to the garden when we had woken up.

The rest of the day has been really nice though. It was so cold on our morning walk that not a fly or anything but migrating cranes were moving in the air. Well a couple of Jays flew around screaming, most likely warning about us walking down the gravel road. The sun shone almost the entire walk and has continued to do so with the exception of a few clouds passing by. The clouds weren’t big but manage to pass the sun in a place so the sunshine couldn’t reach us. It has actually been enough warm to have the kitchen door open almost all day.

When there are like two or several individual mist clouds we’re saying that the Elves are dancing. Normally we see this in fields and usually in a ring formation. One doesn’t want to interfere in it because it usually means the end of life is here. These two however let us pass without being punished 🙂 🙂

It should have been open all the time if it hadn’t been because of Alma, she is now in heat. Malkolm is still chemically castrated so no such problems but he still behaves like a bewitched teenager 🙂 🙂 🙂 Almost all female dogs that have been living with me has done that every six months, not Alma though she does it every fifth month 🙂 which is at the time rather good because I was unsure for how much longer the chemicals would work on Malkolm.

Most spiderwebs had been destroyed by the heavy showers of rain and hail.
Some had however managed to build new ones.

I’ve planted most of the sown coneflowers (Echinacea) today. I really like them but for some reason I have never had one, bought or sown, surviving the winter here and that’s not because they aren’t hardy enough and the sand in the ground here should be perfect for them. The only one that I actually had for several years was the pinnate prairie coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) but those were slowly pushed away by some wild roses I used to have 🙂 🙂

This is a rather nice tasting mushroom and it grows in my garden.

My bigger citrus trees, smaller this year due to frost and my four Pawpaw seedlings. Two from last year badly damaged by mice and two from this year.

The coming three days will be much like today they’re guessing but after that we’ll get clouds and rain but at least not as cold as it washes last days. The tea is waiting and perhaps I’ll have a sandwich or two 🙂

Malkolm looking slightly ashamed all the time now 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Traditions and folklore.

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Sand cherries, so tasty but it’s hard to get any because of the birds 🙂

So yesterday was midsummers eve and that’s a big day here, treated like a holiday even though it’s midsummers day that is the holiday. Still very few work on midsummers eve and most of us is payed as if it was a holiday. Also the last holiday here until Christmas.

Mock orange.

The potatoes grow well now.
Eastern redbud. Doesn’t like it here at all.

Back in the days everyone danced around the midsummer pole and many still do but mostly because of the children. We dance around it while singing almost the same songs we do when dancing around the Christmas tree, like the little frogs, the priests little crow and Anders Persons house is on fire (he has actually existed and is said to have been a truly nasty person and no one was sad seeing his house burning down). The history of the midsummer pole is and has been under debate a very long time but I think it used to be a German tradition.

If You want something that spreads happily, smells rather strange and will flower until frost comes the Nepeta sibirica should be You choice 🙂 🙂

After dancing around people went home to have the traditional lunch/dinner. We swedes aren’t that uneventful when it comes to the food so it is more or less the same as what we eat all other holidays 🙂 🙂 You can’t celebrate midsummer without freshly boiled new potatoes and they should be boiled together with lots and lots of dill. Five gazillions of different pickled herring and either pickled or smoked salmon. For us that can’t stand the herring (and we are really few people) there’s always meatballs, a couple of different sausages, oven omelet with mushroom stew and perhaps some chicken as well. Naturally we also have different kinds of hard bread and normal bread plus different kinds of cheese, both the regular one and blue cheese and brie/ camembert. What never is missing is the cream-layer cake with Swedish strawberries. If You would happen to have strawberries from another country (mostly because the Swedish ones are nasty expensive) You will be seen as a person with little or no value to mankind 🙂 🙂 🙂

When the evening comes the old folklore comes to live. So if You are young and not married yet You can actually learn to whom You one day will be married to. This must be done while being totally quiet of course. You’ll have to take a walk in nature and, depending on from where You come, either climb over seven or nine walls/ fences and at each fence You need to pick a flower and of course it needs to be different flowers all the time. When the walk is done You’ll have to go to bed, putting the flowers under Your pillow and go to sleep so it is best to be one of those that actually remember Your dreams 🙂 🙂

My citrus trees was damaged pretty bad during the last frost but now they show new growth again.

The beings are also very active that night so never go close to a flowing water if You hear someone play the violin because that could be Näcken. They say he’s longing for company but ig he catch You he will drown You so I’m not so sure about the company part 🙂 🙂 He can also show up as a horse (Näckahästen), usually pure white, and trick mostly children to climb up on him. Once they are he’ll run strait out into the river and drown the poor kids. They do say that no one can play the violin like he so I’ve learned that one actually can ask him if he want to teach how to do it, there’s always a price to pay though.

Can’t be seen much but this basket is starting to fill up with nasturtium and peas.
The English walnut is growing slowly but steadily.

This is also the time to think of the coming winter and ones health. It is important to collect as much morning dew as possible this night because that can help You survive the long and hard winter. I’ve come to understand that dragging a sheet over the wet vegetation is the best way to collect as much as possible. When that is done one must save the dew in sealed glass jars and when winter comes and one feel a bit poorly just either add some dew to the bath water or perhaps mix it with lemonade/ tea/ coffee and that will make You better. I’ve never tried that but perhaps I should considering everything 🙂 🙂 🙂

One of the few Greater sea-kale that germinated and now I better protect it so the bugs don’t eat it.

This year the Rapunzel looks great. A bellflower where there once were several varieties for food. I think they taste like radishes.
The first potatoes are ready to be picked 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day, I feel I’m slowly coming back to normal after a week with evening work. Tired as h… but I think by tomorrow I’ll feel fine.

Have a great day!

No sunshine but so nice.

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The first strawberry flower. For some reason these strawberries give very little berries now but will produce lots in autumn, it shouldn’t be like that but I have no idea why they behave like that 🙂

Today was really nice despite no sunshine but it was warm, no wind and a few times we had some rain. Showers of drizzle is perhaps a better name for it though 🙂 Alma woke me up at 5 am , was outside for a minute, came straight back in and went to sleep on the sofa 🙂 I wouldn’t have mind sleeping an hour or so too but I had a cup of coffee and a bowl of corn flakes instead 🙂

We walked down to the creek and it’s so nice to do that this time of year when there are no flies annoying us and what’s even better is that no mosquitoes did either. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about ticks, I picked six of them from the dogs by the time we had come home and I also found two already drinking the blood from Malkolm.

I tried three of a work friends allergy pills this week, the kind one can buy over the counter. First day nothing special happened beside the fact that I didn’t have any nose bleed any more, second day nothing happened at all but after the third pill I suddenly wasn’t that tired any more and now my nose isn’t that stuffed either, so I went online and bought a packet together with eye drops. It’s not a nice feeling when it feels like having sand paper under the eyelids 🙂 🙂 🙂

I also did what I always do on Sundays, the laundry and the dinner for next week ate work. I’ve promised to work overtime on Saturday and I’m already regretting it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Then again I’ll have to start saving money again so I can sacrifice one Saturday and still survive it 🙂 I have also sown melon seeds, I always fail with melons but always try it again 🙂 I have actually sown a lot of seeds both yesterday and today but can’t for my life remember what 🙂 🙂 I’ve also replanted tomatoes and some other things and brought out the last plants from the patio, the risk of frost the coming week is minimal.

I have a Fuchsia in my garden, Hardy Fuchsia (F. Magellanic), and it has survived outside this mild winter. All parts above ground will freeze but new shoots comes from the roots.

The fight with the nettles and cleavers is also going on and even if I’m successful at the moment I know both will win over me in the long run 🙂 🙂 I still have lots of vegetable seeds to sow, like beans and peas but I’ll with with those until the ground is a bit warmer. It is time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich too and after that some snoozing in front of the tv 🙂

Three of my worst garden enemies at the same place. Stinging nettles, cleavers and white bryony. The last one can cover an entire tree during one summer. I have no idea where it came from but it always grows so it’s hard to remove it. Smells bad and is also poisonous 🙂

Have a great day!

The potatoes are down.

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Today I could feel that I was a bit faster while working than yesterday even though I’m still pretty slow 🙂 I got a better flow while working. I had a short day at work though because today I had my kidney x-rayed again. I guess I’ll have the result in one or two weeks. The ones x-raying aren’t allowed to say anything about what they can see just in case they misinterpret anything. I had my appointment at 12:40 but was lucky so they let me in twenty minutes earlier. It was much the same last year when I had that first x-ray.

After that I had some grocery shopping to do since easter is a four day holiday here and I really dislike having too do any shopping during that time 🙂 So I drove to the village where I worked before and did my shopping there and wished them all a happy easter, I have after all been shopping there for 28 years now 🙂 I also bought more solid so I can fill up the big box where I have my straw berries. The weather has been amazing today so I also put down the potatoes in the ground, a bit early for me but if there’s any risk of night frost I’ll cover them so they don’t freeze.

One of my favourites because of its wonderful smell, Bog Myrtle.

The Goose berries in the forest are in bloom, mine at home isn’t even close to 🙂

It will cool down considerable already tonight, northern winds will press down cold air from the arctic, still it won’t fall down below 0C (32F) but compared to today it will feel cold. They still keep saying we’ll get rain as well but the closer awe come the less rain will fall 🙂 🙂 I don’t mind the rain because it is so dry in the grass and forest now that if it will start to burn it will escalate quickly. The ground though is still not especially dry.

Finally the Dandelions are in bloom 🙂

This White Wood Anemone will become pale blue.

It isa time for that last cup of tea and perhaps a sandwich or two 🙂

The wild plum in bloom.

Have a great day!

The ticks and mosquitoes are back, yay.

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Below 0C (32F) again this morning, nothing strange to be honest because that’s how it used to be back in the days. April here back in the days could be anything from what we have now to bitterly cold and snowstorms, usually the latter. This year the warm weather started so early that it isn’t until now we can see and especially hear bumblebees in the air. Also the ticks are active, yay, and yesterday I killed two mosquitoes that tried to drink my blood.

The first bumblebee of the year 🙂

We are thankfully out on our morning walks so early that it is too cold for ticks to be active, the ground is still frozen after the nights low temperatures. It will be less warm the coming days with especially Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights being pretty chilly but we’ll have sunshine and almost 10C (50F) temperatures during the days so it will not be as bad as they first guessed.Tuesday will be the start of rising temperatures again. So I took a bit of a chance today by sowing annuals in the little area where I’ll have flowers for pollinators. I most likely did this too early so that those more sensitive flowers might get killed even if they during those chilly nights still only will be seeds.

I’ve also brought up more trees from the cellar but those will be covered with fibre cloth so the freezing temperatures won’t reach them. It’ll be nice when I can bring out all those plants down there so that I can use it as an earthen cellar. The cool cellar works fine as a farther cellar but if summer is hot it will be a bit too warm down there as well. It is perfect during winter though when the temperature usually stays just above 0C (32F) as coldest, especially now days when it doesn’t get as cold as it used to be.

I think it is time for a cup of tea and perhaps some hard bread with cheese and jam 🙂

I have a couple of old piles with branches I’ve cut of from trees and bushes and yesterday the monster kitten went in to one of them and Malkolm was upset, he couldn’t follow her 🙂

Have a great day!

Going through the garden.

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I think the birds want me to make sure the feeder is full of peanuts 🙂

I just realized that there are no hunters in the forest yet and it’s lunch time now. The sign they always put up is turned to show the back side and if it is no hunting is going on. My guess is that if they come they’ll come around 1pm-2pm. It could also be that they’ve given up for now and they all will be here during the weekend. The weather predictions have changed again, we’ll get rain from now on and all day tomorrow, lots of it as well but the storm will still miss us.

The seed sown Pawpaws are finally dropping their leafs so I can bring them down to the cool cellar.
The peach tree however looks like it still is summer.
I have a potted Ginkgo that I think needs to stay in the cellar as well this winter. Its leafs/ needles look a bit different from the one already growing in the garden.
The fun thing with sowing ones own trees is that one never know how they will look like. Now when they’ll drop their leafs some have quite red leafs while some turns to yellow.

The dogs and I have been outside in the garden for quite some time today though, Nova stayed indoors because she usually only go out when she needs to, she’s so old that playing isn’t that fun but sleeping is 🙂 Alma and Malkolm however got rid of lots of energy 🙂 Malkolm is so big now that even though Alma is still much faster she does have problems catching him while they’re playing and that frustrates her so much that she starts barking like a hunting dog while she’s chasing him 🙂 🙂 🙂

The peach tree in the garden also still has green leafs, I would like for them to drop as well so I can spray sulphur on it to get rid of the curled leaf disease. It would most likely be the last time I need to do that.
The shoots from the now dead Persimmon hybrid looks fine. They are touched by frost and will soon drop their leafs, so now all I can do is to hope they’ll survive the winter. The tree I planted last spring has already dropped its leafs.
I’ve tried to get rid of a Wisteria that I once planted in the wrong place, to be honest it shouldn’t survive here but grows like a weed 🙂 I’ve tried to kill it for several years now but it just comes back. Last year I once again dug it up but this time planted it beside a Laburnum and it survived. Still don’t know if the old one will come back again though 🙂 🙂 🙂

I can’t remember when the leafs stayed on the trees for this long. Some still have green leafs as well. I need those that will spend the winter in my cool cellar to start dropping their leafs, well the tea tree/ bush will keep its leafs so I can bring it in already now but the small pear trees, peach tree, all the apricots and what else still is out there need to drop them now, I really don’t want all those leafs on the cellar floor 🙂 Also I need to dig down the rest of the plants that will spend the winter outside but I still haven’t figured out where to plant them 🙂 I guess I’ll just do the panic thing and dig them down together in the ground with the pots still on and then figure out where to plant the survivors next spring.

The Black walnut thrives and I can see some walnuts hanging way up in the tree. This year I’ll use a hammer to crack those nuts 🙂 🙂 🙂
The bought Pawpaw trees still look to much like summer is here, I want them to be ready for winter now. The little one that only had a few leafs this summer is still alive but has dropped its leafs now.

The little Ginkgo looks fine as well. I’ll thin out the branches on the apple tree next spring so that it’ll get more light and rain reaching it.

Sara the cat is pestering Malkolm by playing with his tail 🙂 At first he looked horrified every time she did but now he’s just a bit annoyed 🙂 🙂 Alma is a bit worried every time Sara comes close to her when she’s in the sofa, it’s because she twice laid down over Sara and she screamed like she was being crushed and I had to rip her away but otherwise she adores the little cat. I’ve been trying to undo the damage by not letting Alma jump of the couch when Sara is there and it seems to have helped quite a lot, Alma is after all the mother of all living things 🙂

       

It’s time to figure out what to eat. I think I’ll make a couple of warm sandwiches. I have some mackerel in tomato sauce in the pantry or perhaps with meatballs? and perhaps sprinkling some curry over it all? I could do a real dinner of course but then it would mean so much more work 🙂 🙂 🙂

A really tired little kitten 🙂

Have a great day!

Last day of vacation but still the weekend left.

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The test photo of the day, my and my neighbors trash bins. The brown one is for leftover food and the green for non recyclable trash. I’ve used the brown twice, once when the freezer broke and once fr some really old food that I managed to hid in the back of the fridge 🙂 Still if I don’t have that brown bin I’ll have to pay more. It is more or less impossible to refuse to have garbage bins over here.

Another really nice day but it was a bit too warm in the morning and absolutely no wind so the flies were quite annoying, no biting ones though and that’s always positive. We walked down to the creek and I had hoped we at least would see the Roe deer we’ve seen lately but I guess they too were a bit tired of the flies and instead had walked in to the forest and hid in the shadow amongst the trees.

A bad year for acorns, normally this little tree is full of them but today I found five.
The spring was amazing when it comes to Rowan berries though. Old folklore says that if there are lots of Rowan berries we’ll get a cold winter. We had almost no berries last year and got a nasty cold winter again 🙂 All it says is that the spring was amazingly good for Rowan trees.

 

I think the beavers are back in the creek, even though the water level is really high on one side of the place we pass on our way home it’s really low on the other side. Last time they were here they blocked the big pipe passing under the gravel road and it looks like that’s what happening again now. I’m happy about it but I know the land owners aren’t. Still that was what saved the fields along the creek last time we had a drought for well over two months here. The rest of the area was so dry that the trees started to lose their leafs but everything was green and lush along the creek.

     

No risk of that happening this year though since the ground water levels now are higher in this area than there’s space in the ground 🙂 Still my garden has mostly sand so even though there’s lots of water in the ground the surface still dries out really quickly, so now the first thing in the morning I’ll go out to water what is newly planted and those things where the roots don’t go especially deep. The good thing with having sand is that almost nothing even get close to rot away because of standing water and the dogs are usually quite clean after being outside in the garden after a shower 🙂

     

I was disturbed twice when I tried to have a nap today. First time it was a phone sales person, I never answer a phone call if I don’t know who’s calling but my phone said it was trash and second time it was a text message telling me that a package had arrived and stood outside my gate. I know I should turn off the sound while having a nap but I usually never get a call that time of the day and when I do turn off the sound I usually forget to turn it on again 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I did get two short naps so I’ve fulfilled my vow to have a nap every day of the vacation 🙂 Today was the last day of my vacation but I still have the weekend to enjoy. Tomorrow will be much like today weather-vice but Sunday will be rainy they guess.

The perennial sunflower the Jerusalem artichoke is very early this year, they normally start to flower some time in Early September but I can already see buds. Badly eaten by snails this year.
I sowed sunflowers all over the garden this spring and the few that started to grow are still small and tiny. This one however, sown by birds I think, grows in the vegetable garden 🙂 🙂
My seed sown apple tree has lots of apples. They taste delicious but the tree almost always get attacked by fungus and the apples rot directly on the tree, doesn’t look like that will happen this year though. So this tree proves that seed sow apples always becomes sour and bitter.
The blueberries are coming fine as well but they ripe really unevenly, so I’ll have to pick and freeze them one by one.

Alma is in the dog basket, she isn’t sleeping but I can’t say what she’s doing either, could be chewing on something. Malkolm sleeps beside the vacuum cleaner, he has no fear of it what so ever and Nova sleep just beside me, both of them sleeps quite heavily and at least one of them has gasses and it’s bad 🙂 Time to have a last cup of tea for the day and then see if there’s anything worth watching on tv.

     

Have a great day!

Chicory. I tossed the left over seeds from yesterday all over the garden and one germinated. The ones that grew quite well last year died during winter.

Such a nice day.

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The Beekeeper has really managed to make beautiful meadow flower patches.

It has been such a nice day here, mostly sunny and just below 20C (68F) as warmest. The wind was blowing pretty hard in the early morning so I skipped the mosquito hat when we went out on our morning walk and it was cool enough to wear a hoodie. I sprayed us all with the anti tick, horsefly and mosquito spray but I can’t say it was because of that I only found two ticks in total on the dogs and no insects bit us either, the insects bit could be because of the wind though because the only place we came close to them was down by the creek.

     

Later in the morning my neighbors texted me asking if I needed an office chair because he was going to toss some away because they had ordered new ones at his work place and since there were nothing wrong with the ones they would toss away he thought of not only his family but also on me 🙂 So now I finally have a really good chair when I sit in front of the computer 🙂 I can’t remember when I didn’t have any pain in my back or legs while sitting here.

     

I’ve finally planted the last Mulberry tree I ordered but I still have four Sea buckthorn bushes to plant. I have also pruned the Laburnum so that the, so far, little Wisteria gets some sunshine and also the area behind the tree. I once had a rather nice flowerbed there but it went too dark when the tree got bigger. I also pruned the Japanese quince and a Ginnala maple, the Japanese quince because it has become too big and threatening the little new white mulberry tree and the maple because it gives too much shadow towards the root zone. I’ve decided to remove that maple just because it gives too much shadow and Ginnala maples tend to spread like weeds. I have another one that also needs to be pruned just because no sunlight can reach the ground where it grows.

     

I found the first tiny tomatoes on one of the tomato vines 🙂 I was fastening a string towards the cottage wall so that it has something to keep it in place and while I was doing that Alma decided that she would give me a visit. Alma has this habit where she must press her face towards mine and it isn’t a gentle touch, she press her face really hard towards mine 🙂 🙂 So while I tried to tie the string around the tomato vine she stood there pressing so I couldn’t see anything and managed to break off all the other flowers 🙂 🙂 Well I have more plants with more flowers so I’ll get my tomatoes 🙂 I also tore off the new shoots and planted them too. I will not get any tomatoes from them but I can save them till next summer. If they’ve become too long and thin I’ll just cut them down in large enough pieces and plant those in new pots.

     

The weather guessing on the weather sites are galloping right now 🙂 🙂 🙂 The big Swedish one says rain all day and around one fifth of an inch with rain. The Norwegian one that I trust most of all those sites says rain all day and two inches of rain!! Well in which case I think we’ll be able to have our morning walk but two inches is a bit much 🙂 🙂 🙂 Well I have things I must do indoors anyway so I won’t get bored 🙂 🙂 🙂

     

Have a great day!

The first Gooseberries are turning red 🙂
Red currants but I won’t get a chance to get any, the dogs and Magpies are there as soon as they ripe 🙂
This tomato variety is called Tigerella, I guess one could translate that to Tiger Ella 🙂
I’ll get lots of Blueberries this year.

It is at least warmer again.

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Misty morning looking up the road before leaving for work.
No the coming photos with morning mist isn’t from today, I had those in my car camera.

It is raining outside, a nice gentle summer rain and the temperature rose up to 18C (64,4F) so it’s quite nice outside. It looks like Malkolm doesn’t mind rain after all, he’s the only one of them that willingly goes out no matter how much it is raining, Nova and Alma just stand by the door opening looking at him 🙂 🙂 I’m still trying to figure out what kind of dog he will be as grown up, when it comes to behavior I men. There are no signs of herding characteristics, not good at fetch but is truly gentle and like rain.

Fur photos taken in the village on my way to work when we had a few misty mornings.
My work friend once said that this isn’t a village but a wasteland 🙂 Big open fields in the middle with a few groups of houses and cottages spread here and there around it 🙂

   

That sort of fits with both Cockerspaniel and Golden retriever. Border-collie isn’t a retrieving dog so that fits with him, then again no herding 🙂 So it will most likely be something towards the golden and spaniel . All goldens and spaniels I’ve met have loved water 🙂 I tried to see how high he is now and he’s somewhere around (he wouldn’t stand still 🙂 🙂 ) 42cm-44cm (16-18 inches) high. That’s actually higher than what a Golden should be at that age?! He’s still the little guy here, Nova is 52 cm (almost 21 inch high) and Alma is 70 cm (28 inch high).

Malkolm yesterdxay when I had come home from work. The big package behind him is the dog food and toys I had ordered :-)
Malkolm waiting for me to walk in with him and as You can see the dog food and toys I’d ordered had arrived.
Buttercups, in the real those flowers are slightly tinged with green, really hard to get in a photo.

The haunted tree.  Still can't remember the name on this one :-)

Our morning however was rather wonderful! Sunshine and cool enough to keep all mosquitoes calm but not cool enough to keep the flies calm. Still it was enough to wear a hoodie to keep them away from bot nostrils and ears 🙂 Later on a strong wind arrived so that kept most of the flies away as well. We walked down to the creek and Nova sort of thought that was a good idea, not great though so she did walk more slowly than usual 🙂 The only animal I could see, besides birds, was a deer. I had hope that we would meet the foxes again but perhaps tomorrow, They’re guessing that we’ll have much the same weather tomorrow, cool and sunny in the morning and warm but rainy in the afternoon. They are guessing much of next week will be much the same 🙂

Down at the creek, lots of flies there but surprisingly few mosquitoes.     

I let both Nova and Malkolm walk without a leash on the last part of our walk, turns out Nova had quite a lot of speed in her legs 🙂 🙂 She did stop and look after us every now and again but we were never really close to her until we came back to the gate 🙂 🙂 🙂 Malkolm followed her for a while but decided to run back to Alma and me. He is very slowly accepting the smell from the anti tick spray and I could only find one tick on him when I checked him before I let him go inside. Alma had five and Nova only one.

  Quite often we meet a fox here but I guess she has learned when we come by :-)  I'm pretty sure that if the deer hadn't moved I wouldn't have seen him at all but they are more cautious now when we have wolves here. 

Besides that I haven’t done much today, I did plant the dahlias I’ve sown but I don’t think they’ll last for long. Lots of hungry snails and slugs now when the weather is like it is. We don’t have the feared Spanish forest slug here, it behaves like a forest machine when cutting down trees, it eats anything and everything in its way but our native slugs and snails are enough as it is. One advantage we do have here though is the Panther slug, it eats other small slugs so we take really good care of those 🙂 🙂 So to be honest, it could have been much worse.

Nova and Malkolm walking ahead of us.  She did stop every now and again to check where we were :-)  Malkolm stopped and waited for us. 

Time to go down to the tv and watch the European championship in football (soccer for You Americans). I’m not a huge football fan but I do like to see these big championships 🙂

Malkolm then decided he wanted to walk with me and Alma.     

Have a great day!

I had forgotten to bring in the water bowl and (lying inside the bowl) the treat cup yesterday :-)
The water bowl I forgot to bring in yesterday 🙂
The dog yard fence is now slowly covered in Boreal vetch (and stinging nettles) on one side and
One neighbor once threw away hops he had in his garden not knowing how great it is at surviving. Male plants though so nothing to use for either scent or beer making :-)
hops on the other.

Cooler days and soon long weekend :-)

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Old Nova, she's 18 years old now and still going strong :-)

It is finally a bit cooler outside. Not so much when being in the sunshine but a lot when staying in the shadow. I had to water everything when I came home yesterday and suddenly it was evening and time to go to bed, so that’s why I didn’t write anything. Today the ground still was damp so I only watered the trees and bushes I’ve planted in the garden this spring. Well to be honest we haven’t had much of a spring this year, it went from winter to summer in a day or so 🙂 🙂

More and more wild flowers flowers now.  Cooler and nicer in the forest but oh so many biting insects.  The Swedish name for this flower is Hags' tooth.  On our way out on the peninsula out to the bog.

Something is chewing on the new beans, have no idea what it can be but oddly enough only the ones sown in a straight line, I had a few beans left so I just put them down close to the fence and those are untouched. I also had a few peas left so I sowed those in the old broken wheel barrow, they seems to grow even better than all other plants I’ve sown this year 🙂 🙂 Lots of potato plants showing up in the vegetable patch I don’t use this year, I have instead sown seeds (not too successfully I might add) I haven’t had potatoes there for three summers and they still pop up 🙂 🙂 Can I cal them hardy now? 🙂 🙂 🙂

Despite the harw wind this place was packed with mosquitoes, that sort of dampens the joy of having a walk even in plsces where one loves to walk otherwise.    The bog is now full with Hare tail cotton grass.  They are already releasing their seeds now.

Yesterday we had a strong wind and walked out to the bog, normally that ,means the mosquitoes and flies will stay away from us, now we have so many mosquitoes that we were attacked badly when we arrives at the Birch woodland. So today with less wind we stayed at home, Nova is once again so badly bitten all over her head that I thought it would be cruel to bring her out to even more biting insects, it’s bad enough here at home to be honest. It’s a price we have to pay for having so many trees and bushes in this little garden of mine.

Malkolm grows so fast now.

Alma reacted as if she had injured the ball when it started to squeak, I don't think she'll touch it again until I've removed the squeaker :-)
Alma with the new toy, she loved it until it in, her ears, started to scream 🙂 It’s a squeaky thing in that ball and neither she nor Malkolm liked that 🙂 🙂
Those two are playing all day 🙂

I had a little walk in the garden before the mosquitoes chased me indoors. The Black Walnut is flowering, the English is living and now have two branches. The trees I plated this year all look great and the Pawpaw from last year now have green small dots all over the branches, even the ones I thought had frozen. The green dots are tiny, tiny leafs. Also the Persimmon hybrid that dies but where the Persimmon root (Diospyros virginiana) now creates at least eight new branches 🙂 I’ve read that it’s fairly easy to take some of those branches to create new trees from. Well they will. technically all be the same tree but I did also buy a new real persimmon this spring so I hope that at least that I’ll get both male and female trees from this.

This is a favorite in parks and everywhere really, Rose rugosa. It is now seen as invasive and I have no idea how they'll be able to remove them all, especially since it does spread like wildfire :-)
Rosa rugosa, the Swedish name for it would be something like Grumpy rose 🙂
We call this Iris for Swords lily.
Yellow flag.
See all those new branches the Persimmon tree creates now when the hybrid is dead :-)
Lots of new growth from the roots of the Persimmon tree 🙂 The inoculation dies during this winter but the Persimmon root survived and now gives lots of more branches 🙂
I found Morning glories, peas, poppies and Californian poppies growing here now. The poppies refuse to grow in my garden but always grow well in the wheelbarrow for some reason and no summer without Californian poppies at my home :-)
The old wheelbarrow will look good this year 🙂

Tomorrow will be the last working day this week, we have our national day on Thursday and I took Friday off. The weather will be cooler as I’ve already said and they are guessing we’ll get rain as well. I don’t care as long as we at least have sunshine when we’re out on walks, the rest of the time will be good napping times 🙂

Have a great day!