Busy times in my Swedish garden in april

This is the busiest time of the year in the gardening world. A lot of jobs in the garden in april. The positive thing about Corona is that we have a lot of time to spent in the garden.  And there is no need to go to the gym anymore because we already had our workout. Being not really used to this habit it hurts a little in our bodies.

There are some special things to do this year. There was a special project called The Swedish Sewer Project last autumn, which ruined half of my garden. A lot of work we could do in wintertime, such as rebuild the entry, equalize the ground and remove the clay and recover the gravel of the driveway. But some jobs were left for springtime. Such as:

• We had to saw lots of new grass for the new lawn
• Plant a beech hedge, to fill the empty spaces after cutting the tree trees and create a more hidden place
• Cover the sewers in some way, so you would not see that ugly concrete things anymore
• Restore the auto movers area

We have some extra jobs:

• It was a very wet winter, there for we have to make some extra drainage because we don not want to have a pool (we are already close to the lake 😊)
• There is a very big dead tree in the garden, before it falls on our barn it has to be cut down by a professional. Afterwards we have to take away the wood and lots of branches.

Of course we also have a lot of normal yearly jobs:

• To clean up old autumn leaves (every year at least about 100 wheel barrows...) and ferns
• Prune al the shrubs and trees before it starts growing (except the ones which flowers before the longest day of the year. We also have a willow tree we have to prune. 
• Fight the weeds (it is growing very fast with good temperatures and sometimes a bit of rain)
• Divide and change some plants positions, best time to do because it's wet and not too hot for rooting
• Prepair sawing inside: This year I prepared some Verbena Bonariensis, Echinacae White Swan and Mirabilis Jalapa.
• Preparing to grow potatoes in an expirimental way, I read about
• Prepare the grass for cutting (repair the robot lines and collect or take away all the branches from stormy weather) ...)

As you can see, we are very busy this time of the year. But don't worry, we have got all the time (no work now because of Corona) 😉

Signs of spring in Småland Sweden

Sundet, lots of water

Let's hope spring will come soon in Sweden. It has been a very long and wet winter. There is too much water. The corona disease is getting around and causes a lot of fear and pain. Suddenly we feel very vulnerable ... We never thought that's possible. We feel confrontated with ourselves and mother Nature. But we have to believe we will come trough. We can trust ourselves. We are strong people, we will manage. We will find out not every thing is that important as we thought it should be. It will be alright one day. A little more sun and warmth form Nature would help a lot. Just try to see the small signs of nature in the circle of live. Everything will be back after some time. Today I saw the first cranes again, they from Africa and Spain. They are around the corner in my garden at the lake. It means the spring will come soon 😊

Lake side Vidöstern

After the storm last week...

First Crocus this week

Winterblues effects and remedies

Very healthy blue sky

Daylight and blue skys are very important for the well being of humans. Did you know too low light (lux) in a longer time (some months) can have effect on your health? On a cloudy day the light is around 1000 to 2000 lux. This is around the minimum for the body of a human body to work properly.
Inside the light is mostly too low. One lux is the same as one candlelight. In your living room mostly the light (lux) is around 150 lux (if you are lucky) in the office mostly some more (300 to 500). Daylight is much stronger. In summertime with full sun you can receive around 100.000 lux.

Foto: lightexpert

By the way, it is not only sunlight you need, but the light in general. The most important part is the blue sky. Your eyes react on that, they absorb and give information to your brains it is time to wake up. (Be aware of the fact that the light from your computer or tablet have the same effect when you use it late in the evening!)

When it is turning darker your brains get the information to get ready for sleeping. You can already feel the difference when you look at the picture from an inside lamp and a picture of a sunny day with blue sky. Just try it!



Special circumstances:

• It depends per person: Not everyone is as sensitive, so one feels more effect then another person. Youngsters need less light then older people. Women have more problems then men because of the disturbing in the hormonsystem
• The light in wintertime is very low on the average in the northern part of the world. Especially when it is a very dark winter without snow (it lightens) but with a lot of rain. Or when you are living in Northern Europe or Scandinavia.

 Effects:

• Low energy and tired
• Heavy to concentrate
• Bad temper or depressive
• Eat and sleep too much (special interest for sweeties)
• Getting more wight

Remedies for me (to save my healthy biorhythm and energy m in wintertime):

• Go outside as much as possible, even in wintertime. Daylight is the most important ingredient.
• Be sporty, have a walk outside or take your bic to your job. 
• Spent as much time as possible in a room with good lightning, or stay close to the window.
• Buy an energy lamp to get some extra light in wintertime. Each morning some extra blue light for 20 minutes (only use it to wake up). 
• Take care of a healthy sleep and wake up rhythm. Don't use your social media late in the evening.
• Concentrate on green and fruity healthy food and drink a lot of water, avoid alcohol and coffee.
• Take extra vitamin D, B12, zinc or magnesium. 
• Look for food which contains a lot of tryptofaan like milk, pure chocolates and bananas.
• Take a holiday to the sun 😄

You can at least try some of them. It's important to find a remedie who works for you personally. Because it will be back every winter. It makes you happy to feel good anyway. Good luck!

Winter light

Painting old vintage stuff

Last week I painted my vintage furniture, a table and 6 chairs. It was very white, now it is a little more sandy. I took the colors of Jotun matt (skandinavisk ljus) for the wooden table and chairs. But I even painted the textile parts with Annie Sloan Country Grey. We didn't like the grey white stripes, so now it is looking less cold, more warm, let's say sandy.  It was some work but worth it. Take a look yourself.

Old white chairs with one new textile

Old and new style chair

Every thing is ready