Category: The fields.

Frost tonight?

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I have been a little bit stressed today, suddenly the entire internet connection died. I called my phone and internet company and the AI voice said I needed to identify myself with my bank Id, well can’t do that when the internet is gone 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway I was told someone would call me when it was my turn and there were a lot of people before me. Well everything suddenly started to work again so I guess that all those before me in line had the same problem. The Russians? have targeted our telephone/internet companies quite often lately so I guess it was the same again.

It was rather chilly last night, 4C (39,2F) when we woke up. But it might have been even colder in the garden because some plants looked rather sad today. Good thing though is that not even the moose flies fly around in those temperatures 🙂 As soon as we had come home again I drove to the grocery store in the village I used to work. After all I’ve been shopping there since the day I moved to this region and only because I moved elsewhere and don’t work there any more doesn’t mean I never would go there again 🙂 They are like old friends at that place and that’s more important than going somewhere closer or cheaper 🙂

I came back so early that we managed to squeeze in a second morning walk 🙂 This time out to the bog and I kept my eyes open for mushrooms and found plenty so we’ll head out there tomorrow morning again 🙂 It was still chilly enough to keep the moose flies calm 🙂 I’m not sure if there are especially many of them out there to be honest but one moose fly is way too many anyway. The wild hogs had dug up big parts of the path to the bog, it seems it doesn’t matter how many they hunt because it just takes a few days and then they’re back again. Well as long as they stay calm I’m happy.

I had planned to wait to bring in the last potted plants to the cool cellar, they can usually manage the first frost night really well and even more after being outside all summer (totally different in spring when they are brought out again, then they can’t take any frost, that’s why mu citrus trees are rather small this year 🙂 🙂 🙂 ) but I noticed that some have new shoots and they looked a bit sad after tonight so I brought in almost everything I still have out there. I can’t however not bring in my tomato plants. So I’ve just been outside covering them. I want at least one ripe tomato before frost can take the rest 🙂 🙂 🙂

I made rice porridge yesterday and today I think it is time for rose-hip soup, perfect a chilly day or evening when it is a bit too chilly outside. So I think I’ll skip that last cup of tea and have rose-hip soup and some ice cream instead 🙂

I found this and the next one for sale at the grocery store, less than US 3$ each, so I bought them 🙂

Have a great day!

Just as it dried up it started to rain again :-)

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I have no idea why but today I slept until six thirty am. Just in time to see the sun rising. So the dogs had their breakfast and I a cup of coffee and out we went. Lots of birds tweeting, a few song swans flew by and we even saw a Roe deer. Alma behaved so good today that I was really surprised, we passed the new neighbours but soon to be moved away neighbours she actually didn’t scream or whine at all. Isn’t that nice, just as they will move she has become calm about them being here 🙂 🙂 🙂

Despite all the rain we’ve had lately I still continue to water the more dry sensitive and newly planted plants in the garden. One can see that the water has started to sink down in to the ground but only perhaps 30 cm (12 inches) ad that’s not enough. The sun kept on shining so I placed my garden shoes, meaning old shoes that no longer can be used while being out walking, to dry in the sunshine. They are full with soil and sand and now days constantly wet so my feet are packed in with that mud as soon as I have worn them 🙂 🙂 Suddenly we had two rather heavy showers passing by so now they’re more wet than before 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve been looking at my aquarium for a while now, I emptied it to one third oaf how much water it can hold because I worked evenings one week a month and had to have the dogs in the cottage because they bark at anything moving when it is dark outside. So after some thinking I said to my self why not making it to a sort of aquaterrarium? A third of water and two thirds of open air where one can plant small plants and so on. No I won’t have any replies or frogs in it just a sort of land part. So I checked the water quality and most parts were ok but not the nitrate levels, that means there’s too much waist after the fish I had and decaying plants.

So I think I have around 35 litres of water in it at the moment. So I thought I have plenty of rainwater now so why not use that? The water I have to drink has a lot of lime and most fish and plants don’t like that. I think I’ve changed over 60 litres (15.9 gallons US) and finally I can see the water getting a bit better 🙂 🙂  I really cleaned the sand while getting the water out but it is clear I have to do more 🙂  So now I know what I’ll do tomorrow 🙂 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and today I’ll have an ice cream as well. the ice cream lorry drove down on our road  for the first time this season, turns out the driver had been hit by a brick wall hitting one of his legs and had been on sick leave until now. The one replacing him never cared to come to us on my little gravel road. We are very pleased to see him again 🙂

Have a great day!

Both fog and morning mist.

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The morning was really perfect today. It started with rather thick fog but moved in to morning mist when the sun rose just to turn back to fog when the rising fog made clouds so it blocked the sun again 🙂 Also chilly enough to even keep the moose flies calm. What made it even better was that Alma actually behaved almost the entire walk 🙂

The sun stayed until just after noon I think it was so I decided I would cut down the other plum tree as well, it never gives more than six or seven plums and always get hit by some kind of disease. I did de-bark in in early spring but it has stayed green all summer so I thought it best to do something about it. I know I now will have lots of root shoots but I’ll deal with them when they arrive. No thorns on this one thankfully 🙂 There was some damages on those other things living in that area but I think they’ll survive. It was where that plum tree is growing I had my old pond but since the ground now is filled with loads of roots I won’t be able to use it for that any more, I really don’t want to hire a digger to get those out 🙂 🙂

I also cut of the top of the thorny wild plum, the strong wind we’ve had today helped me to bring it down 🙂 I really don’t like cutting dow my trees but there are other trees I can plant there next year instead.  As long as I keep fertilise the ground all summer, for quite a lot of years, because there will be nothing left when it comes to nutritions for another tree and it can’t be another tree in the same family since diseases easily can stay in the ground and attack the new tree.  It didn’t take long after that when the rain arrived. Mostly a nice autumn rain but also a couple of heavy showers.

The sun came back after five so I planted the two remaining pawpaw seedlings just behind the Laburnum. It has been very dry there for quite some time but I’ve thinned out the branches a lot so now when it rains it actually reach the ground as well. So cross Your fingers and hold Your thumbs so they survive the coming winter, all five of them 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and after that I’ll watch a science program on tv. I think I’ll actually have some ice cream with that tea, orange ice cream with chocolate strings in it 🙂

Have a great day!

Now I can see the mess :-)

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We were supposed to have rain all day today, not much though, so I’m not the least surprised that we until 5:50 pm had sunshine all day long 🙂 A strong wind has been blowing and that kept the flies away and it has been warm as well. 

I didn’t look outside the window when we went up this morning and since I do have a rather high lilac hedge around big parts of the cottage I missed that we had morning mist. I did notice it before it evaporated though so there was still some left when we had our morning walk. A walk in a sunny, misty and cool morning is better than most things in life to be honest. Small birds were flying around everywhere, Jays argued somewhere in the tree tops and I could hear some animals trotting away from us.

The ground is drying up again so I still need to water the most vulnerable trees and perennials and I do that either just before we’re out on our walk or just after. Today I once again had to pick up a parcel, this time it was a LED light bar. The old fluorescent lamp I have down there is long gone, I’m not even sure if one can get parts to it any more. During winter I always have plant lights on but now one of those broke as well. I’ve put the new one up and almost regretted it because now I can see the mess 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll need to clean it all up before I start taking down the trees I must have indoors during winter.

I haven’t done much after that, we did take a long nap though but I’m not sure that can count as doing something 🙂 🙂 🙂 Isn’t it strange that the phone can be quiet all day but as soon one is falling asleep the entire world wants to reach You 🙂 🙂 🙂 and then as soon as the nap is over the phone gets quiet again 🙂 🙂 🙂 Mostly it’s telemarketers so I’m happy to say that they now are discussing a new law that forbids telemarketers to call privet persons unless we specifically have allowed them to 🙂 This is a law I’m really looking forward to!

The Dahlias I sowed had only bright yellow flowers in the beginning.

Then some showed some orange as well.

Yesterday morning I found this bud.

 

And today it opened up bright red 🙂 Dahlias are supposed to have migraine-inducing colours according to my taste so this one I like 🙂

I is time for that last cup of tea for the day. To be honest I think I could drink an entire pot without having problems to fall asleep because I’m still just as tired as I was before the nap. 🙂

Have a great day!

Finally lots of rain (but still not enough :-) ).

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They finally got it right, we have rain. Most of the time it’s nice summer rain but every now and again heavy showers and we’ve even had thunder passing to the west of us. I’m so annoyed that I haven’t found the jigsaw because if I had I now would have had three full water barrels, all containing around 300 litres (79,3 gallon US) each. They’re guessing we’ll have rain all weekend so if I just find it I’ll be able to open up the third barrel that’s just waiting to be opened up.

From the window beside the computer upstairs.

The morning walk was quite different though, slightly cloudy but with huge gaps between the cloud masses and enough cool top have morning mist, something I really like to see. t was more or less vanishing by the time we went out but there were places it still lingered. Jays were arguing loudly but besides them it was quite quiet. Alma and Malkolm behaved so well and it was cool enough to keep even the moose flies calm. So far I haven’t seen many of the moose flies and I do hope the drought has killed most of them.

We woke up rather early, even for me, at 4 am so I opened the door for the dogs so they could do their business. Well that didn’t happen because Alma found some animal in the garden and started to bark like insane. It was so dark that I couldn’t see anything but I’m pretty sure it was the badger again 🙂 🙂 🙂 It has now dug a hole beneath the fence to my neighbours, I found it yesterday. She (I think it’s a she because of the size) hadn’t been able to get in to my garden for a while, instead she has dug her small holes in the ground around my garden just beside the fence. It does seem I have lots of things she likes to eat here, frogs, slugs and snails (and fallen apples on the ground) so she decided it is worth the risk of meeting fierce Alma 🙂 Malkolm was smart enough to stay by my side instead of joining her 🙂 🙂

So I think it might be time to put up that wildlife camera again. I hope the batteries still work because I really don’t want to have to drive away just to get batteries. If it catches any nightly visitors I’ll of course show them here. I know the fox tends to visit us as well and lots of cats of course 🙂

It is time to have that last cup of tea for the day, after that I don’t know what to do. I actually have lots of things I can do but for some reason I don’t want to do them and I don’t mean chores but old hobbies I used to have. I guess I still have those hobbies but at the moment I just can’t get myself to start with any of them 🙂

Have a great day!

I just can’t find it, or the hammer.

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The rain we had lasted two days, now the trees look just as sad as they did before the rain, not even the grass started to grow especially much. They once again say we’ll get bucketloads of rain, if the showers come our way  🙂 🙂 There will be, from what I understand, a steady rain falling though so lets hope both the steady rain and the showers comes our way.

It has been really nice today, no rain but rather windy with mixed clouds and sunshine. Ok it dried out the ground and vegetation even more but it was really nice to be outdoors :-)I did almost everything I had planned to do except the cutting down the elder trees. I’ll do that tomorrow before the rain arrives, if it does. I still can’t find my jigsaw, I even went through the old garage and the wood shed and even went down and checked the cool cellar.  I can’t for my life understand where I’ve placed it 🙂 I can’t find my hammer either?!

I wanted to hang up the orchids I have had outside all summer and was only going to put up a hook (unfortunately I couldn’t find any hook at home that is supposed to be screwed in, only ones one need to hammer in). I have however found my (Have no idea what they are called in English) exchangeable bits I put in the  screw driver, I don’t need them at the moment but I’ll put them where they are supposed to be so I can find them again 🙂 🙂 🙂 also all my drills and a few cameras I’ve wondered where they were 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’ve just had my last cup of tea for the day and tonight they show Death in Paradise again so I have that to look forward to. Tomorrow I’ll continue to search for that jigsaw and now also the hammer 🙂 Both must be somewhere and perhaps they’re on the same place. Sometimes it feels like I get blind when looking for something, it can be just in front of me but I still don’t see it, happens all the time when I place my mobile where it shouldn’t be 🙂

Have a great day!

By the way, I remembered to buy ice cream today so I’ll have some of it while watching tv 🙂

It did rain all night.

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We never had those heavy showers here and I haven’t heard any news about them either so I guess they never happened. We did however have a nice summer rain all night so that’s at least something. The rain water barrels are perhaps filled to a third but I had hoped they would be more than half full. Well we can’t get everything I guess.

Still we had a cool and nice morning just as the last fog vanished. Both Alma and Malkolm behaved really well, even when we passed the soon to be former neighbours cottage. We scared a Jay that was walking on the gravel road and I could hear ravens nearby and cranes from a distance. I also noticed that there were plenty of tiny toads walking across the  gravel road, from one ditch to the other. I’ve had unusually many in my garden this year and unusually many frogs as well. They’ve been hiding in the higher vegetation close to where I’ve watered all summer. I do hope none of the dogs see the toads because they are poisonous and if a dog chew or eat one they can die.

I’ve ordered a paper shredder today. back in the days when one had paper bills here in Sweden they always wrote our social security numbers on the bills or any kind of paper to be honest. It seems that back then identity theft wasn’t a thing. When we had paid the bill we just tossed it in the trash. Things are different now days I’m afraid. So I have loads of old bills that I should have thrown away (recycled) years ago but then I would have to tear away that part where my number is printed and to be honest there are funnier things to do during the day 🙂

The recommendation here is to save those papers for ten years so I have loads to destroy now. I belong to those who are happy we don’t have it that way any more, instead I just save my bills in the computer  until they are old enough to delete. Thankfully they don’t write our numbers down in bills any more. Envelopes are another thing, we can’t recycle them because of the glue and I don’t think the shredder likes that either but then again they’re easy to just throw in the garbage bin 🙂

I’ve also managed to put the new chain saw chain on the chainsaw and even managed to stretch it enough so it won’t loosen its grip while working with it. We’ll have a rather nice weather tomorrow so after our morning walk and the grocery store trip I’ll have to do I’ll start cutting down the grape elder trees I’ve started to cut down. Grape elder tree is so bad that I don’t think it even works as fire wood when it is dry and I think it’s the same with our common Elder.  I would like to get that wild plum tree cut down as well but I think it’s best to cut off the branches one by one because those thorns are terrible.

It is time for that last cup of tea and I think there actually is something I want to watch on tv before it is time for bed.

Have a great day!

Fog.

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To my surprise I woke up to a slightly foggy world, not a great fog but still foggy enough 🙂 No wind, a few birds tweeting and I could hear cranes flying south west towards the coast and the ravens of course. Alma behaved so well today that it surprised me, yesterday she did anything but that 🙂

Yesterday I also learned that the moose fly season has started over a month to early. I caught one of these nasty insects while it walked up my hoodie towards my neck. I truly hate them, even more than I hate ticks. So I actually texted friends I know are out in the forest a lot so they can make sure the flies can’t get in beneath the clothes in any way. No nasty one today though. Instead we didn’t even have a single annoying fly either despite it being rather warm and that sort of made me happy 🙂 🙂

I was going to get two packages from the post office in the grocery store in Gudhem today. I had ordered a saw that one puts on a long shaft so I can saw off dead branches on my trees higher up and I have bought a “new” lens to my camera. You’ll not notice anything though because it’s the same brand as the one I have but a bigger telephoto lens. The lens works perfect but when I took a look at the saw I noticed I’ve bought one with another coupling than what I have to the rest of the garden tools I have from the same brand. It’ll take longer to ship it back than to actually buy a new shaft 🙂

Anyway now days it’s almost impossible to get the package if You don’t have a mobile phone and just as I drove in to the parking lot I realised I had forgotten the phone at home 🙂 🙂 So I had to drive back home, upset my dogs since I didn’t let them out from the dog house and drive back to the store before going back home again 🙂 🙂 🙂 I felt so annoyed about it that I forgot to buy ice cream and I do long for ice cream right now. I do however have custard at home and apples in the trees so perhaps I’ll bake a pie instead 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and a slice or two from my newly baked bread, it’s cooling off down in the kitchen right now 🙂

Have a great day!

It worked after all these years.

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+1 C (33,8 F) this morning but since there was no wind what so ever it actually didn’t feel that bad. I’m glad I covered the sensitive plants last evening. I don’t trust those temperatures the weather web sites show though, they say around 10 C (32 F) so I’ll cover them again tonight.

Perfect weather during the morning walk though, the sun was mostly shining, there were a few clouds that managed to hide it a few times, so it was nice in the sunshine but still so cold that the flies didn’t fly around. No cranes in the air this morning but four song swans (like Your trumpet swans) passed on their way to the little lake in the bog. I also saw a Jay fly away but that’s it when it comes to wildlife. All that rain we had last week has already dried up and very little dew as well but I managed to pick the three ticks that were climbing on the dogs. When we have lots of dew the grass is too wet for the ticks to stay there since there’s a risk they actually drown.

I also mowed the outside of the garden grass but the mower barely trimmed the tops 🙂 That’s the positive part with a long drought 🙂 🙂 🙂 I then remembered my compost grinder that has been standing beneath the roof of the patio for I don’t know how many years. So I brought it out on the lawn and took a look at it. The grinding parts were covered in rust and it was impossible to see how it looked inside the motor. I plugged it in just too see if it showed any signs of life anyway and to my very big surprise it started!!

So today I have started to work away the two big piles with all the branches I’ve cut away lately from most of my trees and bushes. I managed to grind down a lot even though it doesn’t show to be honest 🙂 🙂 and the mound of grinned branches isn’t especially big either but I thin I’ve actually done half that pile oaf branches today. I’ll continue tomorrow and I hope that I’ll at least worked through the rest by tomorrow evening. After that I’ll start with the second pile.

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then I’ll watch a show on tv called Elsbeth, It has gotten good reviews so why not 🙂

Have a great day!

Trellied tree, or at least it will be.

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Once again we woke up to a pretty and cold morning. No frost but I had still covered all the more sensitive plants. I will not do that this evening because from now on nights will be warmer again and therefore we’ll be annoyed by the flies again. They might not be many but oh how good they are in annoying me 🙂 🙂

This morning however was more or less fly free, later in the day when it warmed up though lots of them did their best to irritate me here in the garden. we actually saw two deer on our walk this morning and thankfully Alma only noticed one of them 🙂 Today we walked down to the creek but from the other direction than we usually walk there. The beavers are damming up the creek so almost no water runs away from it. I noticed that they’ve brought lumber there so I guess they’ll try to trap it, don’t think regular hunting is allowed now in summer since they have small ones.

I’ve continued to cut down the big rose in the corner of my garden, it is anything but fun or enjoyable 🙂 🙂 I managed to cut of a branch that went above my head. Do You know what it is like to remove thorns from ones scalp and not being able to see what one does 🙂 🙂 🙂 I also planted that last pear tree seedling (are they called seedling when they are over two and a half years old?) I didn’t know what to do with it but then I started to think about trellised trees! So that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve put up the poles to the side of it. It is still to small to do that but all I need to do know besides waiting for it to grow 🙂 is to get some steel wire to be able to trellis it when it is time to start.

It is time to have that last cup of tea for the day and after that I think it will be an early night. I’ve had loads of tea and coffee but still feel pretty tired. Tomorrow I’ll go to the supermarket, I don’t need much but I hope they still have some of the Juniper berry soda I loved as a kid, Hadn’t seen it in years but then suddenly I found it in the super market. If You wonder how it tastes I can say that it is something between cola, dark beer and Dr Pepper 🙂

The big rose. This is what it looked like when I started

and this after twenty minutes work. My hands and head were really in bad shape after that 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll continue slowly and steady 🙂

Have a great day!

The work had begun. To be honest this will be so much easier to manage than a big tree. Perhaps not as much fruit but the quality of the fruit will be better. Plus it doesn’t take up as much space and it will not shadow anything behind it.

So nice!

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Today has been pretty wonderful because the temperature fell down to 20 C (68 F), the sun has been shining all day and a slightly cool wind has blown all day long and with the exception on Monday when it will be hot again, this is what we’ll have 🙂 No rain though but a ten day prediction isn’t something that most likely will be right.

So every time they’re out hunting they put up this sign at the end of the road. We did have a “conversation” about what if we walk from the other side of the forest, why isn’t there a sign there too. It ended with them texting me every time they’re out (works mostly really good). This time of year they’re hunting wild hogs and for that we’re grateful. The only thing we really hate is when they for some reason hunts our foxes, they can’t sell the skin and they don’t eat it, our foxes eat so many rodents so we don’t have them in our homes instead.

Do You remember when I wrote about why my neighbours down the road moved instead of buying the place? It was because the seller suddenly, after agreeing on a price, rose the price considerable. So the new neighbours will move at the end of this month, because he did it again! Three different businesses have made the same valuation on the place and still he demands almost the double when it’s for sale! Greed of course but it really doesn’t work when people know the real value of the place 🙂 🙂 🙂

Yarrow, yarrow, yarrow. Everywhere I looked I saw yarrow and since they say ticks avoid it I’ll be happy to see it all 🙂

It was 8 C (46,4 F) when we went out on our morning walk. The hunting sign was up so this time we had to walk elsewhere. They had forgotten to text me but as long as the sign is up it’s ok. We still have lots of dew so both the dogs and I were soaked when we returned back home 🙂 🙂 Still no ticks on us so it was worth it 🙂 Also the entire way was covered in Yarrow so that could have helped :-)We went out after most of the morning mist had risen but in the shadowier places I still could see some and today was easy to see spider webs 🙂 There were so many more than what You see in the photos.

I noticed that despite a drought the water level in the creek was unusually high on one side of the road but, as You can see in the next photo, very low on the other side. Suddenly I heard a huge splash and realised the beavers are back again 🙂 Beavers have attacked people , for instance at a bust station in a bigger city, without we knowing why so I didn’t go any closer to check 🙂

I haven’t done much rest of the day, I baked s spongecake and put an apple in tiny bits and put them in the batter plus I also put some cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves in it, I wanted that gingerbread taste. I did one mistake though, I didn’t think of how much liquid the apple would give 🙂 🙂 🙂 So it had to stay in the oven two times longer, I did reduce the heat after 30 minutes otherwise I would have had a charcoal surface on it 🙂 🙂 🙂 Tastes Christmas but to be honest I can’t taste any apple in it 🙂 🙂

It was 28 C (82,4 F) Yesterday so the playing was at a minimum.

Malkolm decided eating all the strawberries were more fun while

Alma decided she wanted an apple instead.

After eating all the strawberries he went for the Sand cherries instead 🙂 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I’ll have a slice or two of that spongecake as well 🙂

My first tomatillo 🙂

The tomatoes are on the way as well 🙂

Have a great day!

I never heard the thunder.

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We’ve had a really wonderful day here today, just enough warm with a lukewarm wind blowing, mostly sunshine but also some clouds every now and again. We must have had rain during the night because the grass was a bit more wet than it would have been if it only was morning dew. According to my phone we also had thunder in the middle of the night but even I having the window open all night I slept through it without noticing it 🙂

After we had come home from our morning walk I started to continue to remove the old stump and as many roots as I could from the old Japanese quince. There’s still lots of big roots left in the ground but what ever will grow up from them will be thin twigs and those are easy to remove until they finally gives up. I’ve removed almost all flowerbeds in my garden but this one will stay, I’ve even started to make it slightly bigger. Also I’ve planted some young perennials in to it, well the Kankakee mallow isn’t small but the others are.

I’m visiting my friend in the gardencenter tomorrow and see if they have anything I want. Nothing unusual as I had back in the days but more common flowers, I really don’t want to fuss with plants just so that they barely survives 🙂 🙂 🙂 Easy and beautiful is my new goal 🙂 🙂 Plus I bought seeds on sale online so anything growing from those will be in that flowerbed and any leftovers will be planted here and there in the garden and what survives our winters and the dogs running around like crazy over them will be welcomed 🙂

It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and I might also have a bowl of cornflakes. I think it actually is the milk I’m after, cornflakes do after all not taste that much 🙂 I have to admit that I pour cinnamon all over it so it could be the combination milk and cinnamon 🙂 🙂

So the Japanese quince is gone and now I’ve put some perennials in the bed.

The Kankakee mallow stands just beside the white mulberry tree that died but started to grow from the roots again 🙂

Have a great day!