Wild Iris & Trouble in Paradise

Over the road from my frontgarden is a smaller stream. 

Everybody that has been following my blog know that I'm maintaining the area on the other side and that I've discovered and taking care of Rhubarbs, Black Currant, a White Lilac and cutting the grass there.

For a few weeks I felt a strange smell while being over there picking Rhubarbs! I thought it was some small dead animal somewhere and thought it would disappear sooner or later.

The other day when I was suppose to take photos of a Duck family in the stream did I to my horror discover what the stench came from: In the stream was a dead Wild Boar/Vildsvin laying :p

I called the police, that called the community service and next morning they came to take away the cadaver!

Wild Boar doesn't belong in Sweden, but was taken here for hunting pleasure by the landlords in Castles and Manor houses for many years ago. Now they are totally out of control and destroy parks and gardens, so one down!

Paradise restored

Here by the footbridge do I take all the water for my garden, it's very clean, again!

On the other side and along the stream does the Wild Iris Siberica grow and now it's their time to perform

I always liked them, seeing them at my aunt May's summerplace and our own cottage by the Baltic.

And now I have them in my own Paradise, a lot :D

Other Yellow Flowers spreading quickly now as well, the Dandelions/Maskrosor

And with this do I wish You a great day/night!

Per!

Rhubarbs and Rain, Excellent!

Today, at last, two good things happened!

I did harvest my first Rhubarb & it's raining!

We definately needed the rain after a very dry spring, and personally I definately needed to feel the taste of Rhubarbs after greedily looking at them growing.

First out is the Rhubarbs (of unknown kind) I found together with Black Currants in the old abandoned kitchen garden on the other side of the stream.

Hard labour digging and weeding payed off!

My first harvest :D

I did melt the sliced Rhubarbs on low heat with chopped fresh Ginger and a little bit of Ecological Cane Sugar and water

YUM, perfect to use on real full fat yoghurt like Turkish or Greek, but today I had it on my Oatmeal, soooooo gooood :9

Rain at last, my stream where I get all my water for my flower beds and veggie paths start to fill up again and all new plants get the water they need from above.

I got the "Lady's Mantle"/Jättedaggkåpa just for my photography, always been fascinated how the water stays on the leaves, and she did not disapoint today

At the Manor house the Apple Orchard shows promising beauty to come, can hardly wait

Have a fantastic day, Per!

Old trees and little new ones

Living in such a old village as Lövstabruk with parks and gardens there are some really intresting trees around and it's going to be fun to discover them and learn more.

My favorite, so far, is the Chestnut/Kastanj by the bus stop, I love to follow the dramatic development of leaves and flowers on it

Elegant season opening of the Common Lime/Parkolvon

This is a very rare one for Sweden: Caucasus Buckthorn/Kaukasisk Getapel

There are some I don't know what they are, so help me if You can:

Today it has been a brilliant sunny day and I planted some small trees myself, some rooted by me and some I bought small (to save money)

A Larch tree/Lärkträd to expand the meadow & a Weaping Willow/Hängpil in a wet area

My favortie Birch, the Swedish Ornäs Dalecarlia, small but still with the beautiful leaves & my Magnolia "George Henry Kern" is still in a pot, have not made up my mind yet, dig it down or keep it in a pot (a larger one). It has one flower (upper left) and more coming :D

Other things happens in my garden, like that my favorite Tulips start to bloom: Tarda Tulip/Flocktulpan!

I love the low flowers and that usually have 5-7 flowers on each bulb, the Roe deers don't eat them and the colouring is like a beautiful aquarell

And the Grape Hyacinths/Pärlhyacint I got from my parents last fall start to bloom as well

And OHHH the excitement, soon it's Rhubarb/Rabarber time, yum yum!

The Heavy wet snowfall the other night disappeared quickly, but brooke branches on young trees and flattened hedges, in my case only my beautiful fragant Narcissus (bought cheap in a pot at IKEA) where all flattened :(

But I cut them off and put them in my Finnish seven armed vase to enjoy

Have a great weekend all!

Warm regards, Per!

Giving in on the Potatoes

Still hot weather here, but we need rain now, we only had it one day the last month.

The water in my stream getting lower and I take all water to my flower and veggies from there (nothing from the communal water).

The Kingcup/Kabbeleka coloring the edges of my stream and the Lilly leaves start to come up like small swords.

Everybody tell me I need to have Potatoes in my veggie patch. It wasn't in my plan, then I visited my friends Evy & Roine here in the village and they had just put down potatoes in the soil and talked about how good new potatoes taste.

Well home I looked at the bag with local grown potatoes "Maritema" from Hållnäs, and they had sprouts! The Swede in me where convinced, a potatoe bed had to to be digged.

The Potatoes are to the left, together with red Onions. The round bed is for a Red Currant. To the right did I put the two beds together to get some symetri and there I have a Black Currant, and a red Rhubarb "Elmlitz" in the new part in the middle and Evy's Rhubarbs to the right.

The formal veggie garden start to take shape and I can start to see how my vision working out, fun.

Inside my house do I have a little special plant I got from Lövstabruks Trädgårdsmästeri: A Physalis/Kapkrusbär

When they renovated the old Greenhouse from 1735 did they found a small plant of Physalis growing in the soil on the floor after they took away 10cm soil at the renovation 2009, and now they have multiply it and I have one :D

Today my first flower came

With that do I wish You a splendid day

Per!

Cow Manure & Ramson Cod Soup, both very good but not together!

After a few days of drizzly very much needed rain is it great garden weather again!

The other day my village gardenfriend Evy and I went to get Cow Manure! 10 50kg's should be enough for my garden just now.

 I put it in all the Pallet collars, both for Veggies and Flowers plus some where I want to kickstart new growth of the Snowberry hedges at the entrance.

This is October last year when I moved in!

The area around the wet areas where totally neglected and the Nettles where superhigh.

 This is how it looks now, a fantastic untouched Deciduous forest/Lövskog with a rich birdlife.

To the far right I want to create a seating area, as well under the big tree to the left where I now feed the birds.

 The ground just now: Nettles (as well as Thistles & Ground Elder/Kirskål), food for some, but far too much of it for me.

I decided to keep big parts of it covered with Tarpaulin/Presenning the next couple of years to kill it off naturally.

I kept a open alley in the middle where I will have a path later to access the wet areas.

 This is how it looks from the new seating area.

People that know me know that one or two Fika breaks is a part of my gardening pleasure, so today when the sun was shining

My favorite Mug made by Susanne Thurfjell here in the village :D

This photo is taken from the other side of the stream and road. Here did the people have veggies and fruit fields in the old days, and I discovered a lot of Rhubarb plants and two large Black Currant bushes.

I have already re-covered the Rhubarbs, and today I took care of the rest.

 I did not only re-cover Black Currants today, I also digged up one neglected one on the border to my neighbor. Here I instead will plant a mixed hedge (Lilacs, Hansa Roses,..) to protect the Veggies paths from the cold Northeast winds.

 Happy discovery, the Rhubarbs I got from Evy and planted in the fall start to show it's beauty :D

 Another happy discovery, it  grows a lot of White Forrest Anemone/Vitsippa by the hedge at my entrance. As well as we like it at our cottage, I love it here as well :D

Inside my house up in the flower room does the Amaryllis come up for the season. I have been buying ready bulbs for Christmas and also bulbs in Amsterdam. When bloomed out I have put them in a pile in a wide pot and kept them outside in the summers, now they have a normal flowering season, not Christmas :D

 I took seeds from one of them last year, put them in soil a month ago and now I have a small Amaryllis leaf coming up :D

 Soon time to put this Danish braided Willow/Pil in the soil.

 My little Maple tree is still alive, as well as the Maple seeds I put in the pot

Since we have A LOT of Ramson/Ramslök did I include it in tonights dinner, a soup/stew with:

Ramson, Cod, Potatoes, Broccoli, Chili, Ginger, Selleri, Saffron & Crème Fraiche

Bon Apetite, Per!