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

Beauty of winter

Today it was a very sunny day. What a beauty. What a blue sky. What a long time ago. It hurts a little into our eyes. It makes you happy. Today is a gift. This is really the beauty of winter.

Suddenly Snow in the end of winter

Suddenly we got a lot of snow in the end of winter. We didn't expect any winter at all. Last months has been very wet. It rained many days for days. The waterlevel in the west of Småland (southwest of) Sweden is extremely high. It is the first time in 50 years we were told by our neighbors. The rivers overflowed a lot of fields in this region and sometimes they need to  have extra security from military's to save houses or dikes.

Then all of a sudden there is snow. A lot of snow. We didn't expect any winter anymore actually. Also we are longing for a sunny spring. Less cold, less water and some sun. More then 1 day with little sunshine in tree weeks. But I must admit, it is a nice view with snow. It is very easy to deliver beautiful pictures as you can see below. Enjoy!

Big friends in the garden

Plastic in the tree

In wintertime our friends from the woods (mostly the deer and the hare) are often looking for food in our garden. That's not a big problem in autumn because the plants will die for wintertime anyway. But at the end of wintertime, when my plants are starting to grow, it's not that funny. Because they like to eat all the freshly new made green tops from plants getting ready for spring, so they cause a real damage.

Protection for deer damage

 The best way to protect your garden for animals like that is to make a fence on 1.80m high. But our garden is a little too big for that, beside of that we don't want to live in a fence ourselves😉. Partly we also like that animals around us, it's nature and they need food also. But when spring is coming we want to reduce the damage a little bit, you will see it whole summer. Or even worse, when they eat the top out of the tree, it will never have the form of a tree anymore.
Now we try to protect our plants with chicken wire around the small green tops, as far as the not have been eaten yet... Also we taped bigger plants with plastics (something we saw in the woods because they damage young trees also), so we hope they don't like that plants any more.
We hope it will work, we cross our fingers... But maybe some one has good advice?

Groundwork in the garden in Småland Sweden

It is heavy and a lot of work to repair the garden after they renewed the sewer in our garden in Oktober last year. They destroyed the lane (grass) and the driveway. But worse of all, we have a lot of clay and stones in our garden. I didn't know there was clay, till now it was only sandy acid soil. So I assume it came from a lower level.

What a mess: in the middle the new tree room sewer well

At the same time it is a very warm and wet winter, so a got some extra ponds in my garden. Also in the area they have been digging. On that places the water won't go down but keeps on the surface. That's why we try to dig in the ground to open the soil for drainage. We also try to equalize the ground so we can sow grass again in spring. But that is a very heavy job, it will take some time to fix it (we are not the youngest people anymore😉).
Next weeks we will go on with this project. Till now it has been the warmest winter since a long time. When it stays like that we can sow grass as soon as possible. Around the sewer wells we will create a flower border to cover the wells. They are awful to see (not only as a garden lover) so we started to higher up. Maybe we can cover them in some way.

New year, new dreams & new chances

Skål! This year 2020 is the beginning of anything you want... For us it will be the year of making dreams come through. To live the life we would love in the middle of nature, with respect for nature. A little bit back to basic. Less is more. We like to share our happy feeling with people around us, who ever they are. We like to show that the luck is in the small things. It doesn't cost anything to be friendly. You do not need much, only something to do, something to love and some dreams...
We wish you all the best this year, greetings from Peter and Brun form Småland Sweden.

Traditional Swedish Christmas Food

I already promised to write about the traditional Swedish Christmas food, as they like to eat the same every year. It is a sort of buffet. A must have is the "Julskinka", a cooked and grilled bacon, which you can slice. Of course you have some handmade cold mustard honey sauce.
You will find also the "Jansons Frestelse" (potatogratin with anchovy), "rödbetarsalad"(red beetroots salad), different sorts of inlaid hering, "Prinskorv" (a grilled curly sausage), meatballs and ricepudding.

Beside of all you need to have some Glögg (hot red wine with herbs), Christmas beers (Julbruggd), a lot of sweeties (named "Godis" like chocolates and sugargummies). You need to have a Christmas hat and sing a lot of Swedish Christmas songs, which will go better and better after some drinks (even you don't speak the Swedish language.

They think this tradition came already form the Vikings, they celebrated the longest night in wintertime, from that moment the days will be more longer and lighter. Later, after Christianity, people used to fasten in the Advent time (4 weeks before Christmas) till Christmas. Nowadays it is very popular to eat Julbord (a sort of Christmas buffet with all the same recipes) already in the weeks before Christmas with your work, your friends and family. A big contrast with former days and also maybe a little boring every year the same? 😜 When I ask the Swedish it seems they still like it!

In Sweden the most important Christmas celebration day (mostly with family and maybe some friends) is on the 24th of December. On the 25th and 26th they start enjoying holiday and doing things they like and never have time for. Like in the UK, the shops also start the Christmas sale on Boxing Day.

All the recipes all easy to google when you want to make it yourself, they are at least worth trying 😋