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 😊.

Finally a nordic winter

full moon in late afternoon

Finally it looks like we have got a real Nordic winter (on the average). Though sometimes the climate change comes in between and we jump up or down with 20 degrees in some hours. We had some weeks of autumn and then the frost came in. It has been very cold now for a long time. Sometimes the warmth tries to get in for a day or two. But in general we have got winter since half of november. It has been freezing most of these weeks at daytime too. They got even a cold record, both in Sweden (43,6) as in Norway (43,5) last weeks. The record here at our place while we are living here (in the south of Sweden or Western Småland) is -18 in the late night. At the same time it feels even more cold, like -22 depending on wind and shadow. I can tell you that's really cold. Nature is building art, nice frost flowers on the ice or on the trees. You have to cover your face very well when you get out!

When it's that cold for a long time, other problems start. Like to open your car doors 😨. We had it when we came back from a travel. We parked at the station. We only could open one door, so we had to climb a little. We were so happy the car actually started unless the coldness. And the roads were dark and not well maintained. Most important? We made it to reach home save. 

Since Christmas we also have had snow. Yes, you read well: we had a white Christmas, with a lot of snow. In between all disappeared a little while and we had some green days in between but now we have been living in a white world again. At the moment it's only a small layer of snow and mostly frost. And finally the sun came back, after a long time of darkness in November and December. When you go out this time of the year, it feels like taking a sunbath. Of course, it has been very cold too. But after being outside you can feel the fresh energy it gives you.

We have been out many times already, making long walks in the woods (looking for animal traces) or on the lake (enjoying the sun and wondering about the beauty of nature by looking around). Yesterday we made an extra long walk around. We found a lot of traces. Most happy we were because we found a lot of moose traces. It is some time ago we saw a moose live. But it's looking like mama moose is walking around in this neighborhood with a kalf. 

Of course we are feeding the birds too. It's really busy around the place. We see a lot of Blackbirds and Tits and even Woody Woodpecker knows how to get out the seeds. Last week we saw beauty full waxwings at our feeding place. They are seldom seen in the Netherlands (in Sweden more common though). 

Picture unsplash.com/@dmitry_beloglazov

The ice on the lake is very strong now, as long as you stay on the save side where is no stream. The ice is not suited for skating because it's very uneven. The wind has been blowing hard when it started freezing. In the weekend you see an lot of people visiting the lake for grilling, ice fishing or just taking a sunbath. It's very popular. We heard our neighbor is a specialist too... Maybe we can go ice fishing in the weekend? I'm wondering how tick the ice is....

Lights in the dark

Most of the people know Rudolf the red nosed rendeer, of course. Influenced by all the american films and videos. But for those who don't know... The rendeer pull the sledge with Santa Claus through the universum to bring the presents all over the world. So that;s why we see their sculptures everywhere in Christmas Time. These ones have been seen in Stockholm City. They put a big effort in Christmas lightning and I want to recommend it to every one, it's worth visiting. 

But did you know the story about the Christmas balls? The one you can see above is a very big old fashioned one, called witches ball. They are about 15 - 20 cm diameter. You can still find them on antique markets. In former times they put them in front of the windows to scare the witches by the glitter. Maybe that's why we still have Christmas balls in the Christmas tree.

As you can see they created a nice lightning of Christmas balls in Malmö. Actually they made a couch in it, so you can sit in it for taking a selfie or picture. 

Beside of the Christmas Balls they made a fantastic lightning in the central park too. With endless presents, bells and hearts in the trees. But also rabbits and rendeer of course. For now I just want to wish every one a very good new year. Or like they say in Sweden "Bra Fortsättning". With beautiful nice travels, chances to meet new people and possibilities to discover.  Don't forget, it is not about making as much money as possible. 

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. 

Jullingonrundan 2&3 december 2023

 

Sorry, we are closed. It's too cold outside for gardening. But there are many colleagues who open their doors in wintertime, who like to see you. They join the lingonrundan. A network of small companies on the countryside in Western Småland. The weekend of 2 & 3 December some of them will join the Jullingonrundan. 

Obs: Please check their homesides for opening 😉times before driving...

We like to see you in summer again. For now, in these dark days, we prepare for Advent & Christmas time. We put on the lights in the darkness outside and enjoy the quality time inside. 

Of course we hope to start gardening again soon, but I'm afraid it will be March or April before we can start. Hope to see you soon. Can't wait....

 

For now I like to wish you a cosy First Advent time with family and friends. Enjoy the wintertime 😄

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 😍.

Autumn impressions from Småland

After this tropical week here in Småland, we went upp north to Dalarna for some days. It was very cold, we winter already 😳. Back home it's like autumn again. It feels we didn't have summer at all. It can be very friendly sunny, but also very stormy, cold and windy. Don't forget the rain. It has been raining soooo much, the level in the lake is quit high again. 

When you think there is nothing happening at this moment, because the open garden is closed.... You're wrong. It's busy season again. Hands on. It keeps going as long as the weather is ok. That means the daily temperature is above 7 degrees (everything keep growing) and there's no endless rain.

I have the feeling I've been cutting the grass by hand endless. The outside parts and totally in the back of the garden. It takes about 3-4 hours, depending on the highs and wetness. I'm happy I had some help from Herbie (Herman officially). But he's get little older already, sometimes behaving like a crazy old man. That means he's more quick getting out of battery and not finding his home anymore. Or taking his own way sometimes in the opposite direction he needs to go. Or missing the guiding cable continuously so we have to help him getting back home. But we are still happy for working everyday and hope he will keep on moving. 

For now I need to make a totally round in the garden for cleaning up from weeds. When I don't do it before winter it will develop quicker as the "show" plants and it will be more and more difficult to get it away. In the end the weeds will kill the plants. When I have enough time left (and the plants can root before frost is coming in) I can start splitting the plants to make the groups of sorts some bigger. In the end it should be totally filled upp like a painting, where the weeds don't get a chance any more. 

When I started this garden at first I started making places free from weeds because the garden was totally overgrown. After that I started planting with the first plants and find a place where they were doing well. Some plants had to move several times, till you could see they liked it over there. It took a while, because the ground and circumstances are very different in my garden. The back is very acid and wet (special in autumn and winter). The front is sandy, dry and very sunny, special in spring (the plants burn easily). In the middle you will find heavy chalky clay. 

Another jobb I had to do was cutting back the wild raspberries in the back. They liked the rain so much that they started invading the garden in the back, at the compost site. When you only cut them down it will stimulate them to make even more new shoots. So I tried to get them out as far as possible. Around the compost place it was groing like crazy anyway, good food and lot's of water 😅. When I have to run inside for the rain I can organize my seeds which I have been collecting last weeks. They have been drying now and will go inside before frost comes too.

I already moved my two varieties of French Geraniums inside, they don't like the wet weather at all. In Sweden they call it English Pelargon but only because they once got them from England. I think that's the same reason why we call them French. Originally they come from Afrika. But guess what, they start flowering again now. I took some cuttings in early spring, I sold some of them in summer and they are doing so well. The funny thing is, I really like them. But I was a little afraid of buying them: in The Netherlands they say when you are getting old and you only will sitt behind the Geraniums because you start doing nothing anymore. But don't worry, it's the opposite right now. Sometimes I walk 5 km a day while working i'm my garden and I can ensure you, you won't need a gym anymore. Only a yoga session for cooling down the painful muscles 😂. 

Some months ago I told you already. We have been chasing the hare(s) a lot. She was really provocating us. Eating the young plants who just came out, destroying my gladiolas or cutting the all buttons of new flowers build up for this year, even on my terrace. We surrounded the garden with extra chicken-wire twice. We had often extra inspections of all places she could go under the fence and locked it directly. We closed the entry gates extra and made extra fences to protect the vulnerable plants she loved the most. It was really cat and mouse game, driving me crazy. I've been to an enthusiastic garden neighbor lately in the middle of the woods. She didn't have any fence att all, but no problems with hares (only some badgers scraping in the grass) and a garden full of flowers. Even the ones who had been eaten at my place. We couldn't understand why.

During summer something changed. In the end of July a youngster was born again. We were very happy it was outside of our garden, this time.... in our neighbors garden. Maybe this could make the difference? We think so, because they always return to the places they are born.... or she grew too thick and she couldn't manage go under the fence anymore. We didn't see her anymore and didn't find any damage anymore since August. A big relief for now! Let's see what happens next year, I think we have to close the gates before the youngsters are born. For now I hope last week will be the last time of cutting the grass and will go on picking weeds, when the today rain will finish in time....

By the way: we closed the plantmarket at the roadside now for this season (växtloppis är stängt också nu). We like to see you back next spring. 

Closed for the season

 

The season to visit the garden is finished now, no more opening times this year. Time to get out all the sunscreens and furniture and start preparing the garden for winter. I'm happy a lot of flowers are still showing their best, even when heavy rains are falling down. But you can imagine they would be more beautiful in the sun without storm and rain. 

The annuals who totally broke down...

This week it was suddenly very stormy at night, with heavy windcasts. Totally unexpected. Many flowers were broken brutally and some plants got a severe damage. The tomatoes started rotting after all this rain and the round we made out of annuals was totally destroyed. That's why we already started cleaning up all stuff. So we have been busy already when it's dry outside. And what about the gras, it is growing soooo fast 😲... It feels like I can keep on going cutting the gras. When I'm finished at one side I can start at the other side.....

Never the less we hope to see you back next year. There will be Tusenträdgården (a thousand open garden event in Sweden) again (beginning of July), of course the Land Open garden (half of July) and the Lingonställen Västra Småland (beginning of June and September). 

For now we like to thank you for your interest and visits this season. I hope you will keep following our garden adventures on the countryside, even in wintertime. It can be fun too 😊.

PS: Beside of that, I've got new information about the lady who lived here for a long time. She was really very special. I will tell about her later (when my gardenjobs are done). See you back soon!

Extra open garden 9 & 10th of September 2023

 

Suddenly some short summer again 😎, not as warm as The Netherlands of course....but at least the sun is shining and we see some blue skies again. Today we reached even 27 degrees. Very nice, because  soon it's Christmas again 😂.

So we decided to open up the garden again for this weekend. The garden is still in good shape and showing late summer flowers and the waterlevel went down a little again (enough to make walking around possible without wet feet). I've been baking today to have some fresh cakes with special tastes to serve tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to meet you soon 😊

Brün

PS: Take your chance to visit the garden now, it's the last opening this summer season.