Countdown for Christmas

It is nice to close the door for a while and go inside, waiting for the winter times. Not to be busy with other people or things. But just enjoying your own time. Doing the things you didn't have the time for before or in summer (because there is always something to do in a house on the countryside with a big garden). Time for traveling now and having good times meeting your dearest and nearest. Go out to enjoy a nice winterday with some sun. Go on the frozen ice when possible or making pictures from snowy trees. Or time to travel, having good times with family and friends by the fireplace.

It's also a very good season to clean up your house. Because when you get a bigger house your will get more stuff immediately, specially when you have been living there for some years. Like we, soon nearly 10 years 😏. So last weeks I started to sort out my stuff. It gives a good feeling to get rid of things you do not really need. Maybe I can sell some things in early spring. I want to keep the things what makes my feel happy or keep my busy in a pleasant way.  

For me it means creating nice Christmas decorations by myself. Of course not by buying cheap plastic things from China. I've have got a lot of decoration stuff from the years before. You only need some natural materials for the base. In the Netherlands I used to give workshops flower decorations, all year around but special in Christmas time. 

I love to create a Christmas feeling, to warm yourself with. I started a long time ago. When I would celebrate Christmas at home I started already early in november (when the weather gets dark and boring) with decorating my house, outside and inside. It makes me so happy. Just being busy with your hands. Feeling the creative flow in your body and getting out of your head. Forgetting the time...

I found a lot of traditional Christmas stories in Norway. The start was made when our friends moved to Norway and we had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in the Norwegian way. The food was cooked in the tradition way, so we had dinner like much Norwegians. We ate pinnekjøtt and svineribbe with beer and aquavit aside. Or like the tradition to take care of your ancestors outside of your house by offering them some rise and a drink. Or to the birds around the house, some food in form of a bun of corn called a Julenek . I really love them. I still think we can learn a lot of this traditions. It's a way of getting through the winter they found out a long time ago. Just go with the flow and be creative. Reflect on the last years experiences. Find some me time, real quality time. Find what feels good for yourself. Never mind the world around you, it will go on turning any way. Better you feel as good as possible. 

That's really me time. No hurry, No worry. Time to slowdown. Like the animals do. Just taking the time to have a very long sleep in wintertime. It would fit me too.

The garden is totally asleep now. Even the weeds stopped growing. I'm lucky I managed to go weeding in autumn for a long time, so nearly the total garden was done. Only the gravelpath needs still some attention, maybe I can fixe it in between partly when we have a single good day (not to cold or wet). The first servere frost arrived last week, only some days. Till that moment, there were some tough guys still flowering but now they are finished. The plants are back in the ground, making new roots for next season to grow and flower again.  For now the garden season is closed. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. 

Hunting spring signs

 

It's a pity, last time I wrote it was a real Nordic winter... some beautiful days. But within one week it was green, raining warm water or very misty in Småland again. We didn't see the sun for weeks. Only some moments we had to go out quickly to catch the sunlight for some minutes. Hopefully now it will change to early spring, don't you think? Maybe spring will come a little bit earlier this year 🙏.

While we keep ourselves busy inside we keep on hunting spring signs, till now we only found the snowdrops. Just now we are busy with next years planning. What days shall we open? What events we will take part of? This is the time to subscribe and upload actual information. I think we will start with Lingonställen beginning of June. They have an Easter event end of March (info is coming soon on the side) but that is really too early for a garden. Would be nice to start some earlier, somewhere in May. I'm hoping every year but I don't think nature will hurry, so it's wishful thinking. But you never know.

End of June it will be time for Tusentradgardar again. A lot of (private) gardens in Sweden open up for every one. An event I really can recommend. Organised it every two years. Full of energy, even more inspiration and meeting only nice people and gardening enthousiasts. 

Half of July I'm happy to join the open garden day 2024 by Land.se again. They have not got the new information on the website yet, but it will come soon. It was a big succes last year, we booked a visitors record!

End of July I'm very honored to welcome the members of  "Värnamo Trädgård Förening" in the garden for a loo around and a fika. 

The event season will end with a Lingonrundan in the beginning of September. 

So it's looking like we will open up every two weeks in summer, maybe some spontaneous openings in between, depending on time and weather. I'm sure the summer won't be as bad and rainy as last year....

But now it's time to get out of my head again. I started with cutting the pelargon. I have some nice English (French for Dutch people 😝) Pelargon. My collection is growing more as I thought. They are so nice to grow here in this climate and they seem to like it in my upstairs room. But last year I managed to sell them also in the small plantmarket att the street side. This year I had also an a refugee, staying over for winter. The neighbors had no place to put it so it had a sort of sabbatical inside with us before getting out at their side again. 

Of course i started with the seedlings. Maybe to early but  just can't wait. I started with the experimental ones. Some difficult plants I want to seed, some plants who need warmth inside on my kitchen floor and cold outside to germ or seeds I hope they will flower this season too though they are two years plants. So experiments first. After it i started with Hollyhocks and Sunhats because i like to sell them flowering. But then they need to be quick unless I'm so quick to seed them more early. 

Hollyhocks

Outside we started with all cuttings. A nice part is always the Willow trees. Because it triggers me always to make something nice out of it. Those tranches are so fresh and beautiful colored and easy to work with. I already have some ideas in mind, you will see later. Beside of the water in the garden, it really needs to go down because now it's like a swimmingpool. But also in the lake is very high water. At lease we have no problems with drinking water next summer season. As soon as the temperature will go up to 7 degrees or above it will go fast and all jobs need to be at the same time. Before you know you are in the middle of summer (when you take a rest for midsummer). 

After the snow i'v been looking for Spring signs every day. It took a while but I'm very happy to tell you I found some: 

• Last week I was waken up very early by a singel crane in the lake nearby. The very first one a heard. It's looking like his/her partner is not back yet. When I look for the place where they collect before spreading after migrating from Europa I can read the first one was seen the 19th of February 2024.
• The snowdrops I told you already about but I even found the new buds in the Clematis Alpine what is climbing on the iron stairs. It's growing in the total open air in the back of the yard, so a very cold micro climate you could say. But maybe this is a tough cookie. 
• The Alliums bulbs started growing already... that's the sign we will need to prepare for closing the garden. Otherwise the hares will eat all of it. Or even worse they will find a place to make their nest. 

I really hope the water will disappear soon. Because it is too wet at the moment. We will ruin the grass by walking to much on it, it's very weak. The good ting is you can see the very nice mosses all around. Some people think they only grow on sick trees. But in contrary, they only grown in very healthy areas with clean air. I think they are beautiful. I call them trollenmos, but I don't know their real name. 

Do you want to read about last year spring time, please follow this link: Following natures steps last year. Or we will meet next time again, same place same time 😊.

Christmas Time again

 

Finally we are there again, the last week before Christmas. Last dark days. And they have been very dark, after the snow disappeared. It felt like the evening time every day. But now on the way to the light again... Next Friday the days will be longer again, before we know time will be running and it will be Midsommar again 😁.

Before I close this year on my blog I like to wish every one a very nice time together with family and friends. And even the ones who are not that close this year, just know, there is always some one for you, you are always in some ones heart. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. See you next year!

Typical winter magic

 

It's Advent time. Every week one more candle to burn till we have four burning the last Sunday before Christmas. Only some days to go before we get more daylight again. It feel like time flies in some ways (Though the very dark days could go little faster when yo ask me...). But anyway, soon another year is gone. I really hope you can enjoy these weeks, together with friends and family. For me it's ok to get inside more and enjoy the warmth inside. Take a book to read, a very sweet film and prepare the house for Christmas visitors. Maybe even think about last year, before I start planning for next year. 

We've been visiting some places of Lingonställen last weekend with my neighbor friend. We bought good meat for Christmas at Kastebergs Gard and a special natural Christmas present at Lamm och Lera in Lagan. We also planned a short visit at the original hometown of Ikea, in Älmhult. A very small village in the middle of Småland where most of all companies belong to Ikea or are working for Ikea. Such as a Ikea of Sweden (including the Design Company), Ikea distribution, Ikea hotel, Ikea Congres Centre, Ikea Museum, Ikea Fyndis (special offer area) and finally also a normal Ikea store. They serve the traditional Julbord these weeks and it looked very popular because people were queuing to take part of it. We didn't taste this time, I'm happy we just had a quick visit. 

On the way to Älmhult we passed a very nice lighted marketplace in Liatorp. We went there for a visit on the way back. We visited both the loppisplace you can find beside of the postbox for Santa Claus and had a very nice fika in a Smålandsk atmosphere. We even trained our Smålands dialect...

Some weeks ago we were surprised by the spectacular Northern Light from my home in the western part of Småland Sweden. Of course we live in the woods, so there's not that much disturbing light. No streetlight, only around the houses. But I didn't know I just needed to walk about 200 meters to be able to spot it. Last winter a went to another lake in the neighborhood. I think I was very lucky too, it could have been in the middle of the night too. Now I just went out in the beginning of the evening, looked for the north, waited some minutes and the Northern Light show started. I even managed to make pictures with my mobile. 

Before the snow I managed to make a wonderful picture of the beautiful frozen winter lake. Mostly when it's frozen, there is also snow. But not this time, it was perfect black ice! Only shortly, before I could try out to skate is was covered with snow. When I finish snow shuffling around my house and drive way, I didn't have the energy left to clean the ice too for a skating lane. 

I made a sort of workplace inside, because of the coldness and snow outside in November and December. After autumn, I just can't wait preparing for Christmas (before the first of Advent). I could spend all days making Christmas Decorations. To decorate my house inside and outside, to try out new things and make some decorations for the people around me. Even my friend Petra, who was some days in Sweden in the neighborhood (only one hour driving one way 😜) visit me to make something together. Because we both like it so much. The result was a very nice natural green Christmas star. 

Countdown for winter

Nature rules in a garden. When winter is coming you need to be ready. But you never know before. Last year it was 20th of november, when we got the first snow. So I'm looking at the weather forecast very much right now. It's difficult to say what it is going to be like. Sometimes they say it will be sun or frost, but it always changes. Best is just to open the backdoor and feel what the weather is like. Last weeks I've been trying to do as much as possible when it wasn't raining. It's a pity. I'm close but not ready yet. Of course some jobs are never ending, like the weeds. I need to make priorities now. The frost is coming close now so there are other jobs more important now. All the batteries (like the grasrobot) need to go inside for protection, to keep them running next year. Also the garden furniture is important to get in (or to cover), garden pots to be empty and move some plants who aren't really hardy enough for winter. They will be transported to my friends house in the neighborhood, where the temperature will be kept on 10 degrees. 

I'm so happy I still can see a lot of flowers in the garden. The Asters, the grasses and the Pimpernel are still going strong. Even the Amaranth and Tobacco's are still there, colorful as always.

Last months I've been cutting the grass weekly for many hours. I used the gras to cover and feed the bottom. Also I've been weeding as much as possible, as long as my hands don't get too cold. The time the temperature is above 7 degrees it keeps growing, the roots even longer. So when you try to weed as long as possible you will have less to do in spring. I tried also to reorganize the parts who were growing out of control. Once I started with very small plants who are ready to split now. Sometimes a garden part needs some replanting because they are disturbing each other. It's very wet now so it's easy plantingtime, no need for a lot of watering. Only the midgets and aggressive mosquitoes are still there 😢. 

Recently I started with cleaning the gras from leaves, later I will cover the soil with leaves, to protect the plants for frost. Good for the grass and good for the plants. I even try to keep some less hardy plants outside, with some extra cover. Biggest problem is not always the frost but more the wetness. I saw some plants are starting to go for wintersleep and disappear, so I can't see them anymore (They will be back next year). That's the signal for stopping replanting, the rest is for next year spring. 

Also I have been collecting seeds (in my garden and others gardens) for next years seeding inside. Or preparing plants for winter. Sometimes they need some pruning, some extra chalk, new pots or just to be marked. I planted some perennials in pots, they will be planted in the garden again so they don't freeze. Some annuals I want to save in wintertime to make some cuttings in early spring. Some will stay inside at my place. Some will stay at my friends empty home.

In the end also the new compost is finally nearly ready again, it was a heavy job. The last part is to make it a little deeper but the water is too high right now, so I will make it next spring. We used all the fresh made compost everywhere in the garden to fertilize the ground. We covered the old compost area better. That one is nearly ready to use, good news for next year. You can see that all the plants in the compost area are growing like hell. Even the (too) small potatoes we thew away last year did very well. They gave a very good harvest! 

Last week they came already with the wintermarking. And soon we are ready for winter too (Though we have to change tires first next weeks). We will see when Winter will come in. Would be nice with a real winter, snow from december till Mars with sun and blue skies and after it just spring again 😄.

Don't be afraid, we won't be bored next weeks. We have some plants inside to take care off. My Geraniums are doing quit well, they flower like crazy ones. I have to fall in love with them. I can start making winter decorations and prepare for Christmas Time. It's good to go inside for some weeks, enjoy the warmth at the fireplace and take some rest. 

After that? I can start dreaming and planning for next seasons again...😜

Psst...  Do you know what it was like at this time some years ago? You can take a look here 😍.

Open Garden Times

Next weeks in June, July & August we will have open garden nearly every weekend (on Saturday & Sunday from 11-16 o'clock). Of course it's depending on the weather too, because we only have outdoor places. So when we have time and the weather is good, we can open extra. But with very hot or rainy cold weather it's not making sense to open.
 

Outside the garden you will find a small plant garden with some seedlings and plant cutting I have been growing last weeks. I'm very proud to show my garden to people. I'm trying to make it look like former days with grandma's plants, like the Midsommar Rose or the Hungarian Iris. So feel free to walk around or just enjoy the surroundings form a comfortabel seat in the middel of the garden, close to the lake. We also serve some small coffee & cakes. 

Please follow the actual announcements the week before on this weblog, (Facebook) or Instagram (Sjobygget_Tradgard). Feel free to visit our private garden in one of these weekends. We are very happy to meet you 😉. 

Ready to travel? Glad Påsk!

 

Happy Easter for every one 💛 We wish you all very nice days together with family and friends where ever you are. Just enjoy the time! We finished the decorations around the house and prepared the Easter program. So we are nearly ready to celebrate 😉

Of course we hope the winter will be over soon, like a lot of people. Although they say it's going to snow tomorrow again...😳. We still have the winter tires (spikes) but need to change them soon. We have an appointment next week. I hope we don't need them anymore and we need to change them before the 15th of April. But at least I found the first Crocus flowers last week. Finally not only snowdrops anymore. I saw also the first glimpse of the blåsippa. I will keep you updated. 

Finally. We started also with some gardenjobs outside. I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to go outside. It's still very cold and wet but when you have some sun it's ok as long as you keep moving and working. It's good the groundwater level is back on normal level again since the very dry periods last years. From 2018 it has been too dry. Though it's very high water at some places now, even in our garden. Mostly it will disappear in the bottom quickly because it's very sandy over here in Småland. And it will provide us and all the people around us with fresh drinking water for the wells. 

In the garden we are taking away the frost prevention, the rest of the leaves and burned the rest of the woods in the fireplace. We are making extra fences to keep the hares outside. All those little plants start growing now and they like special the new fresh leaves. I saw the new build flowers from the Helleborus where gone already 😕. The deer have a special nose for the first parts of the Daylilies, so we have been protecting them too. We made some chicken wire around the fresh youngsters. Last years we already made fence around the garden and it's looking like they are a little lazy. So they don't jump in that easy, only when they are very hungry. 

Inside the work of sowing already started weeks ago. A lot of plants are growing now but couldn't go outside because it still was freezing at night time. I kept them as cold as possible inside (around 10 degrees, so it's more easy to go outside. As soon as the frost will be less severe the next weeks the first plants -who are hardy enough can go out. Like the Sweet Williams (Borstnellikor/Duizendschoon), the Snapdragons (Lejongap/Leeuwenbek) and the Columbines (Akleja/Akelei). I've been trying to sow Verbena but I haven't been lucky with that. They need a period of cold, I know. So they have been outside and inside but still noting happening. 

Now it's the latest time to cut the Willow tree. You need to do it in winter. Somewhere between December and March before the juiceflow of the tree starts. That's for me the time to have some fun with Willow branches. I made a new wreath and a basket for my lady. Hope to see you soon in the garden for a fika 😍. 

Just in case you never heart about the old Swedish Easter Saga, please take a look. It's funny!

And for those how know about it? Have a nice trip on Thursday 😆.

Longing for spring

 

I've been celebrating these days. At least we had some of them last week (beside of some lighter foggy days 😜). When the sun is shining so bright my eyes nearly can not manage because they are not used to so much light anymore. It has been soooo dark, foggy and rainy from half December. We were lucky to travel away some days end of January. 

I saw already the hare was very hungry, so it has been eating my small beech trees. I will need to protect them better, I'll hope they still can survive.  The good thing was, we had so much snow the hare couldn't eat anything at all in my garden because all was very well covered with a heavy snow blankett. And we saw the traces where they get in the garden. I think it's a good idea to close this gates in spring to make it more difficult to get in and out.

Are you also longing for spring? For sure I am. But of course, I know it takes another 8 weeks at least. So I will have to wait for the real spring to start, maybe somewhere around March 😏( I saw looking in my old blogs.) So no Snowdrops yet, actually there is snow right now. But I found a nice quote, describing waiting for spring is full of expectations too:

"Every gardener knows, that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle....a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream by Barbara Winkler" 

To keep on dreaming I started making a planning of the year for the garden cafe and a seeding schedule. I made some cuttings of my French Geraniums (Pelargon). Next weeks I will go on sowing for next season. Just can't wait.  I like to see all small plants growing. It makes me feel ok, no matter what happens. Even when the world is in trouble nature just moves on. It's healing for people. It helps to stay positive. I'm still reading a book about gardening (Sue Smiths Well gardened mind). It's a good way to recover from all sorts of things, it gives happiness, energy and hope.

When the snow is gone and severe frost has left too, we will start preparing for next garden season outside too. We can start changing the robotlines, sow extra grass and cut the Willow tree back. When it's getting better weather (a little bit more like spring 😅) I can start preparing the garden decoration. I got a lot of stuff form the Netherlands. It's only three weeks till March...

Geranium cuttings

First of Advent again

Start of the Christmas Time in Sweden. And I can say: It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

In the shops it's totally Christmas, as well on the streets in the city and the private houses along the road. Only some weeks to go. Hoping for some snow to come.

I've been very creatieve last time (I was inside anyway 😜) and I have been working on Christmas decorations to create a real Christmas house. I like working with natural materials of course. I like them very much (the ferns, the mossa and pine cones) but it's also so difficult to buy suitable natural decorating stuff and very expensive too, when it is possible to buy it at all. Beside of that the assortment on the countryside in Sweden is very small, in the cities it is much better. 

For me it's always the best time of year. I like to decorate, to make new creations, to use new colors. It's like party time packing out all boxes with Christmas stuff. With a good herbs tea (filled up with pomorans, kardemomma, cinnamom and fresh ginger). a fresh baked almonds cake and a warm fireplace the ideal start of this time. When you need some inspiration, have a look on my earlier posts about Christmas decorations. And of course Pinterest is a good source to find extra inspiration. You can find me there too!

Meanwhile we take the time to visit some Lingonställer in the neighborhood, worth recommendation. Late Sunday afternoon there's the yearly Julskyltning in Ljungby. It's sort of partytime, with Christmas market, opened shops, Santa Claus and time to put on the lights of the enormous Christmas tree. 

We wish you lot's of luck next weeks. I know in working times it is always the most busy time of the year. We try to keep busy in the dark, starting to count down for Christmas....only 4 weeks to go.

By the way, we got just a little sun last week (just before going down again). I saw it on the perfect spot, at lake Flyxen. See you soon....😏

Advents Time is coming closer

Nearly time to go out and visit one of the Lingonställen in your surroundings. We are closed this time of the year but we recommend the places who have opened this time. You can find places of your interest here: Lingonrundan Jul 26-27-11 & 17/12/2022

It's really worth your visit! 

Very recently I saw already a glimpse of the Santa Claus office somewhere....Did you see it too?