Open garden - öppen trädgård Stegaryd Sjöbyyget Gamla Skola

Every one is welcome to see our new created garden. We have been working in it from 2015 to rediscover. It is our dream to open up a showgarden with grandma's plants and a typical Swedish trädgardskafe. It will be some later, because of Corona, but we came so far yet. So we are very happy to show the result of hard working in the old garden till now. Beside of that, we try to fint out in the old archives about the old school days. We have been looking for old pictures and renovating pictures. When some one knows about former days? We like to hear your stories or to see the pictures.

We like to invite all interested people. We want to Open our garden this year already for a sneak preview, despite of Corona (it is a pity the Swedish Land open garden 15-7 was cancelled). All of this is outside, no problem when we clean our hands and keep some distance, or? 

Of course we will sell some coffee, tea and home baked cakes to have a nice fika somewhere outside in our garden. Everything is arranged till now, hopefully it will be nice (=dry) weather too!

We are prepared, are you ready to come and visit us? You will find us outside of Vittaryd on the way to Skällandsö (Bolmen). Hope to seen you soon!

Do you want to know about last years special (Swedish Tusen Trädgården) Open Garden, you can find more here Tusen Tradgarder 2021.

Bzzzz Buzzy busy times in the Swedish garden

 

It is buzzing all around me, lots of bees looking for new flowers.... very happy with our big wild cherry tree flowering. All wild animals are busy, all birdhouses are already booked, the red squirrel is running through the garden without even seeing us and the hare was too busy to prepare a solid nest for the small ones (so we gave her a little help outside our garden).

And we are very busy too.... there is a lot to do in the garden now, nature isn't waiting. It just goes on, like in normal life 😉. We fixed the fence around our garden (so we hope there will be less visits of hare and deer eating our flowers we worked very hard for), we made a southfacing herb garden, started a sunny fruitcorner, we have been digging, mixing and spreading compost in big parts of the garden, we restored the hedge (where some beech trees died in wintertime) and sawed and planted some greenery and summer flowers.

Because lots of rain through out the days last weeks, you can see thousand colors of fresh green 💚. As you know, green of nature around you give lot's of positivity and energy.

The result is also there is less time left to work outside, there is a swimmingpool on the grass (so we have problems to cut the grass) and everything is growing even faster. Even the weeds, they are growing so fast it's hard to manage (in less time outside) when your garden is 2500 m2. At the same time, I have to admit, it feels very good and healthy to keep busy outside (while being at home that much together with the two of us for months due to Corona), no need for the gym and the greens around us give lots of energy 💚.

And we have to hurry now, only few days of higher temperature next week and it will be also busy with midgets or knots, because it has been so wet till now. It will be impossible to be outside without being eaten, so we try to do as much as possible now when it's not raining. 

After one nice week with good temperature (half of May), temperatures went down again (average only 13 degrees). So nature is still little behind with flowering, only four weeks before Midsommar (the longest day of the year, after this days will shorten again till Christmas 😏). At the other side it's very good weather to recreate your gardendesign and replant some plants without spending hours for of watering.

Still I hope summer will start soon, we are longing for some sun and warmth after a long Corona year, with so much restrictions and without any traveling . I just took a quick look for next week, I saw some sun, higher temperatures and no raindrops anymore, let's hope 🙏

Work in progress spring projects outside

Yes, spring arrived in Sweden too! All of a sudden it's very sunny and 18 degrees....and in 2 days it became very green... I'm very happy my "Kungsängliljor" (Kievitsbloemen or Fritilaria Meleagris), the white and the black ones, are doing so well, this year (and they haven't been eaten (yet). They are lucky, they like to have wet feet 😂.

But what a crazy weather. Last week it was still frosty in the night, so I had to cover my small tiny plants (which got outside already) and new grown tomatoes every night. Yes, I know it's possible before the Icesaints come. But I was very lucky I didn't put out all my young plants yet. I was looking at the weather forecast daily 😬 and little stressed because they were inside too long. And I wanted to move forward of course, to be ready the end of May. For the first time I lost also several plants this winter, outside in the garden (my lovely Dutch red berries...) as well inside in the barn where I put them for wintertime (the Canna I found in my fathers garden 😢,) it became too cold. 

After the cutting down a lot of trees in the woods in our backyard, we needed to repair the lawn. Now it's planting time too. We chose some trees and bushes: a beautiful special and hardy oak (Quercus Rubus), a Flowering Cherry (Prunus Sagentii) with nice autumn colors and an Acer Japonica among other things. They were planted and started growing already. They had also little damage because of the late frost but now they are very happy on their new place and with al the rain they got later on😂

Meanwhile we try to get rid of the old Syringa, with the entrance. A very heavy job for us, getting a little older. So we try to fix very little parts each time we are working outside, bit by bit, but it is a tough guy 💪. We have been digging in our compost side to build a new one, we opened up the first one we made to use the ground which already is digested to new compost (from all weeds we took there from the start). We found already some older places where the old lady already made her compost, we use it and it is super ground with nutrition and moist to grow new plants with.

We were also very creative (to use old stuff in a new way): we planted an old rusty stairway (used for the chimney sweeper in former days), now it will be the Clematis Climber. An eyecatcher in our garden coming years!

We have been creating a new garden for some years now. At first we had to recover the old garden again because it was overgrown for some years. Of course we need to maintaine now as well. But now we are more and more creating something. It will be a mixed design of Grandma's Garden plants with a touch of Piet Oudolf natural garden (have a look at my Garden Dreams some time ago). It takes a lot of time but it makes us so happy, working, taking care of something and creating something new. Maybe one day...

Already a long time I have been dreaming about a sort of visiting garden, maybe just for people who are interested in gardening. It is very Swedish to have a coffee or tea with small cakes enjoying nature in a  small outside gardencafe (trädgårdscafe). Now we have the opportunity, a beautiful natural flowering garden (even it is work in progress) in the middle of Smålands nature close to a lake. Only Corona is responsible for some delay.. and the weather shows it is an unreliable partner too. The garden is not ready after winter to show yet.

PS We have a sort of try out to protect our new plants, just coming out of the earth after winter against the deers... we put some blinking CD's in the trees... in the dusk it's like "dangerous" animal eyes, they scare them away.... we hope 🙏 But we are not sure, maybe it also scares the birds? We will see, to be continued...

Time for sowing and growing

Finally, nearly spring... a little late this year. Inside I have been busy already. I bought some special plants at the Botanical Garden in Göteborg. They have been inside for some weeks now and started growing very well. They need to go out soon. But they need to get used to the lower temperatures first.So they will move downstairs to the hall and get outside daytime, to get used to it. After a week they will be planted outside.  

I have been very busy sowing in a very small but sufficient greenhouse in my room upstairs. The plants are doing very well also. They have beautiful names in English, such as: Grandma's Sweethearts, Peony Poppies, Limegreen Tobacco plants, Aster and Hollyhocks. But for now they have to wait a little more... because it has been snowing this morning, again 😟

But after this, it will be busy times in the garden. Like it is every year. Except we didn't have the sow the new grass anymore like we had to, last year. Don't you remember?

Spring is coming soon: Crocus time in Småland Sweden

The landscape is still looking like after winter, its very brown. Just now there is a warning for "grassbrandrisk"(grassfire risk). But the garden is already wakening up very quick. When you look carefully you see things coming out again. Also the deer in my neighborhood noticed. So we had to make some protect for the fresh leafs coming out. Already for weeks we hope spring will come soon. Every week we think next week will be less cold, less winter. We managed the biggest part from winter, the last steps are always most difficult. It challenges your patience again. But maybe next week?

We have seen already the snowdrops coming through the wintercover. We took it off last week in the total garden. We did some pruning of bushes and trees. We planted some now trees. We checked of the plants had survived the severe winter temperatures for some weeks. It looks like most of the plants managed to get through, except those in the barn. We'll be sure next weeks. We were lucky because we had a lot of snow (it isolates), it good have been worse. 

It's Crocus time now in Småland, but they will be finished soon. We wait for some more sun and higher temperatures. It's getting better but feeling cold. We will wait for the yellow Påskliljor (Narcis), Blåsippa (Hepatica) and Vitsippa (Anemone)..... It's Eastern soon, have very cosy days together with your beloved ones.  It will be spring one day too!

Last year this time  we were very busy with repairing the garden after the sewer disaster.... I'm very happy that's far behind now 😇

Living a more sustainable life

Living on the countryside, very close to a beautiful small lake means automatically living close with nature. And living more sustainable. We haven't got a kommunal watersystem or sewer. It's only forest around us, no industries, not much neighbors. We have our own source. And we share it with the people living around us. We have our own source in the garden and use it to drink and eat. It makes you responsabel for your own living, no one to blame but yourself when something happens. You don't want to spoil it. 

That means also we will clean the house, as well as the toilet, with ECO friendly stuff. No chlorine's or very aggressive detergent att all. When we really need things we use grandma's advice to clean up. Like you can clean the fireplace door, it's easy to fix (without expensive fluids) when you know how to (Grandma's wisdom: how-to-clean-your-fireplace-door. ). 

Nowadays you will find a lot of special made stuff in shops for special circumstances, which are extremely expensive and not really necessary. It will not work better most of the time and you can do it cheaper. Only very good to make extra money for the producers. 

We started to buy less, to consume less and to throw away less. We don't buy to have the newest trends, we buy something when the old one broke down or crashed and we really need a new one. It costs less money and brings less possessions to care about.  It will bring you luck and happiness, which is not depending on money at all. 

We are gardening without any pesticides. We have to clean the gravel by hand instead of buying some aggressive poison to destroy the weeds. We tried encourage the bees, bird and other wildlife in our garden (though the deer not always are liked that much because they eat the nicest plants...). 

We have our own compost side, where we throw all the digged out weeds from the garden. When it is full we will close the side and cover it. After some years alle the weeds died, the result is a beautiful gardencompost. No more need to buy any fertilizer. From the bigger parts, like pruning waste, we make a natural hedge, where birds can have their nests.

Living on the countryside made us more conscious about nature. It's about living together in a balance, enjoy the small things. To take care about Mother Earth. It's about investing in your (children's) future, it brings peace and harmony. You can feel the satisfaction immediately in your heart, also with small steps. And you know what? It's lovely to meet nature again. To see the seasons come and go, even if it it spring or wintertime. To see the cranes come and go. To see the moonlight once a month lightening your garden at night. To feel the circle of life, to be part of it. 

Enjoy the Vinterglädje (or winterpleasure)

What a beautiful weeks, what a lot of people I saw, just enjoying the winter atmosphere. I've never seen it so busy in this neighborhood around lake Flyxen. The grills beside of the lake were often used, they even had a grilling on the ice.... which I didn't understand.... was the ice that tick? 

There were people out for ice fishing whole day of very early in the morning. Some people went on skis or walked around the lake with sledges. With the badplats they had a icehockeyfield and the old traintrack was transformed to a real (langlauf) skiing path. Even we crossed the lake to the isle on the other side in the end. It was very good ice last weeks (because it was -18 at night) and because of the sun is was not cold at all. It was like a very healthy sunbath after winter. You could here the very special sound of the shouting of the ice. You could see the very well special shaped ice flocks or flowers on our windows in the house. 

In former times this was the time to clean your handwoven woolen carpets from inside. The snow needs to be very dry and powdery. You lay them outside, clean them with snow over it. Leave them a while to dry. put the snow off and take them inside again. It will refresh the colors and the winterdust/sand will stay behind. 

I walked to the rock I'm always looking at (You can not reach it bij boat because it's too less deep). Normally quit big, but not now. We even saw a scooter with a skiing person behind 😂. Enjoy it yourself.... 

Do you want ot know what it was like last year about the same time? Just take a look!

Travel to Vadstena

It has been so wonderful winter weather for a long time. Blue skies, sunny and a lot of frost. But in this Corona times it also gets boring to stay home for that long time, only shopping once a week. In the middle of the forest in wintertime with only the two of us. Although we know we have a luxurieus position because we live in a big house with lot of space around. But we also know we have to hold on for a very long time more. It will take till summer at least before we all have a vaccination and the world can open up again. 

To manage that we take a break after some weeks. We travel a little distance, book a hotel somewhere and have a good walk in a new area to have another view and see some new things. This time we traveled to Vadstena. A very old nice town at lake Vättern. It's medieval, has an monarchy, beautiful church, a castle and old town street with nice small shops. It was so very cold daytime (-13 degrees) it was biting in our faces while walking. So it turned out to shorter walks, some fika in between and a nice special brew beer in the end. New energy for some weeks in the woods of Småland 👍

Beautiful Swedish Winter Wonderland

 

This is so beautiful, I need to share....

It's like a fairy tale, we enjoyed these beautiful days so much.. . It's very nice winter weather. Daytime a lot of sun and a very blue sky and it keeps frosty. Nighttime it's clear, icy cold (minus 12 or more) and full moon. The only time in winter we can have a look outside. Mostly we look outside and see just nothing, just black. Like your eyes not working.

Now we really have to fire the wood stove to keep our livingroom warm enough in the evening time. Last week we have got a lot of snow. Even when it fells down, the nightly frost will cover trees again with a white paint. When you wake up in the morning, it starts a little bit clouded, but when Mother Sun arrives you can see the damp disappear. It creates a very mystic atmosphere. You can already feel the warmth of the sun, it doesn't feel really cold outside. If possible, I should buy a box to collect these days in. It gives lot of energy and makes me feel very happy. Probably because of the sun and the very blue sky. 

We have been outside and made an awful lot of pictures, all beauty's. We had a walk on the ice also but that felt a little triggy. The tick snow cover isolates the ice very well and harms the ice quality. It feels uncomfortable, though the ice will be tick enough anyway. It has been strong freezing for a longer time now. I cannot wait to share this very beautiful pictures with you, maybe you get some new energy too!

Maybe you also like this video? (oops... It doesn't always work that good on your handy)

Maybe you are interested why blue skies gives a lot of fresh and new energy to people. Some time ago I wrote an article about it: Winterblues remedies. 

Wintersleep in my Swedish Småland Forestgarden

It's like slow living on the countryside now... The winter atmosphere is magic. It's more light because of the snow and it's cold. We were very lucky, we had a very sunny days last week. It was -5 daytime but not cold at all. When you get one you need to enjoy it because it want be sunny in January that much. So we did and I like to share it with you!

One day we woke up with the old days flowers on the windows. What a beauty, so perfectly shaped. Just nature. 

All the plants in my garden are in a sort of wintersleep, like my Skimmia Kew Green. It is dropping it's leafs because of the cold. You can see it on the picture. It has been freezing -12. The plant drops down the moist back to the earth to stay alive and not freeze in peaces. It will recover when the frost is gone.  

That's the reason I decided to cover my Helleborus Orientalis (Julros) also. It can manage cold very well (but doesn't like it too cold and wet), but it's not necessary to cover it whole winter. It wil stay flowering next months anyway. 

I'm also enjoying the silhouettes of my (Miscanthus) grasses already though they are not that big yet, they are doing well. The rest of my plants? It is hard to believe but they hide away in the ground, waiting for spring. They need more hours of light (not even only sun) and higher temperatures (min 7 degrees) to come out again and start growing. I need to wait some weeks more. Time to make a planting wish list, a new garden planning and have a look for new seeds for next years. That's promising.....

Last year my big friends (deer and hair) had already been eating in my garden. This year it is a little better, or was it there was noting left....