Category: Sowing and growing.

Cold and sowing bananas.

January 7, 2026 · 2 Comments ·

WordPress is really slow today and has been for a while but I hope it will allow me to post something. We had a warning about heavy snowfall today but barely nothing extra had fallen when we went out on our morning walk. I could even see some blue spots up there in the clouds.

We walked out to the bog and I must say that Alma has become much better now, ok she still have these high pitch whining that drives me crazy but they are fewer now days and Malkolm has really learned how not pulling the leash makes my mood so much better :-)There was some new snow on the ground but it was still pretty easy to walk in the tire tracks the hunters had made two days ago.

So it wasn’t until we walked in to the forest that walking became a bit harder, it is like walking in potato starch, two steps ahead and one back so to speak 🙂 but then the sun broke through and we had a huge blue opening in the clouds and that made life so much easier, even the walking in the snow 🙂 🙂 When we reached the end of the peninsula roe deer were jumping around everywhere 🙂 I did manage to get photos of one that stood still but the rest were like bouncing balls 🙂

It tried to stand so still that we wouldn’t see it.The sun kept shining almost the entire way home and when I had closed the door behind us the snow started to fall and it was a lot of snow falling. It didn’t last for long that time but it came back several times and enough of it for the guy that plows our road to get out working. Now the weather sites seems to have lined up and says the same thing, just a little more snow but nasty cold instead, especially during the weekend. I’m not happy about that at all but can’t really do anything else than to except it 🙂 Well they aren’t too good in guessing the weather so it can be just the opposite instead 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a sandwich or two at the same time. I baked a couple of loafs yesterday and they turned out really good, no I can’t make the same again because I just tossed in what kind of leftover flour I had at home 🙂 🙂 But to be honest, I think that it actually is the cheese I put in that make all the difference 🙂 I’ve also started with the sowing today, two different bananas, Oriental raisin tree and Chinese dogwood.

These are the seeds to the Pink Banana. I soaked them in hot water over night.

I then placed them in a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag. Now they hang over the kitchen radiator so they will be as warm as possible.

This is the seeds for the Ethiopian Banana. Ten times bigger but will be treated the same but soak in that water for a couple of days.

Haste great day!

I’ve been sleeping so bad lately.

December 30, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

I’ve slept bad for a few days now and the closer I came to today the worse it got. I haven’t had especially many hours of sleep to be honest and the reason? The annual vehicle inspection 🙂 🙂 🙂 It doesn’t matter how new my car has been and also knowing there’s absolutely no wrong with it, I still have a slight panic when it comes closer 🙂 🙂

These are taken through my kitchen window so they are a bit blurry.

I had the appointment at 7 am today and my first thought when I woke up was, why didn’t I take one later in the day 🙂 🙂 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I really think we do need this since I want my car and the ones with me in the traffic as good as possible but I just can’t stand it 🙂 🙂 🙂 I knew it wouldn’t pass this year because there’s a clonk sound when I drive over bumps or potholes, I didn’t know why though. Turns out the spring to the front right tire had broken. At the bottom and just a little so it is still safe to drive it. I was also tole that the Lamda value, something to do with the exhaust fumes) was a bit too high. 1,03 is ok but my car had 1,05. My car had that problem last year as well but and it takes a few minutes to fix so no bigger deal.

They build “tipis” several years ago and it looks like they still use them, It’s for the grandkids to the forest owner.

So now it’s over for this time and I know I’ll sleep like a baby tonight 🙂 🙂 Well below 0C (32F) this morning but there was no ice on the car! I had it on the inside instead 🙂 The humidity here is almost always high so it creeps in to the car and when one doesn’t drive every day it builds up inside and I’ll have to dry it off as soon as the motor works and heats up the ice. I drive perhaps once a week now so I’ve just accepted it 🙂 The weeks before when I drove to pick up parcels however I had no such problems at all.

The horrible wind we had yesterday was even more so today, not even the forest managed to keep it away. So I’m now for the first time this winter wearing my winter jacket. The wind will calm down towards Friday but instead we’ll get snow!!! I had hoped we had seen the last of that white garbage this winter 🙂 I know it was stupid because if we’re unlucky winter can continue here until early May but it was a long time ago that happened.

If I had known if we would have an early spring this coming year I would have started the sowing now. Some I think I need to sow now, perennials, bushes and trees that needs a period with cold temperatures to be able to germinate. I also have some things that needs a long growth period before they start to flower, like tomatoes for instance, but it is way too early to sow them now, too warm indoors and too little daylight so they grow slow enough. Not even having a greenhouse now will help a lot with that.

There’s a newly dug hole in the old tree stump, I wonder what animal lives there. Could be a water vole, Ratty in the Wind in the willows are a water vole, I only see them as big aggressive monsters 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day. I baked two loafs of bread earlier today. I’ve already had a couple of slices but one can never have too many when they are absolutely fresh 🙂 I haven’t caught a mouse in two days now. I know there’s at least one still here, I could hear it earlier today. I hope they haven’t learned that they’ll get caught in the box trap 🙂 🙂 The monsterkitten has been down in the cool cellar so I’m pretty sure she’s after it and hopefully successful in taking it.

Have a great day!

The sunshine is still warm.

November 7, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

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.

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 :-)

October 7, 2025 · 8 Comments ·

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.

August 23, 2025 · 7 Comments ·

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.

June 21, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

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.

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.

May 11, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

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.

April 17, 2025 · 6 Comments ·

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.

This White Wood Anemone will become pale blue.

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

Have a great day!

The ticks and mosquitoes are back, yay.

April 3, 2025 · 4 Comments ·

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.

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.

October 9, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a great day!

Last day of vacation but still the weekend left.

August 2, 2024 · Leave a comment ·

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.

June 29, 2024 · 6 Comments ·

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!