Sunday, April 25, 2010



Today is one of those days when I don´t know what to do or if I want to do anything. It´s farly warm outside, but thin clouds hinders the sun to really make it nice and warm. I have plenty of books to read and plenty of DVD:s to see if I want to, but it feels like I´m waisting a good day if I stay inside to do any of that.






I don´t have that much to do outside though. It is a bit early to mowe the lawn yet, but I´ll most probably have to do it in the middle of next week. I have some small plants in pots that could use a bigger pot or to be planted in the garden. But I don´t know where I want them yet. I also have smaller tress that I sowed two years ago. I´ve put them in bigger pots already, but I´m not sure what is what :-)





There is only one sort I directly can say what it is Osage orange ( Maclura pomifera). They already have small leafs so that was easy to identify. But all the rest is unknown to me and will perhaps be later on to :-) I normally put name tags in the pots every autumn, but never got to do it last year for some reason I don´t know. The seeds were most likly bought at Gardens North, a really good seed firm in Canada if You like me is in to sowing Your own plants or they can also be bought from Gothenburg botanical garden.




I seldom buy plants at gardencentres or nurceries nowdays since we´ve gotten the Spanish forest snail (or is it slug when they don´t have shells?) It has no natural enemies here so they tend to become so many that they eat most everything in our gardens. I know of people that pick over a thousand every night. Even if they kill them they pick the same ammount the next night (it´s much the same all over Europe). It hasn´t come to us yet so I rather sow and wait for years until what I´ve sown is big than risking getting those slugs in to my village. I went through every single pot I´ve ordered from other places when I had my gardencentre/nurcery. They didn´t have the slug in that village either and I didn´t want to be the one introdicing it there :-) It usually took two weeks going through the perennials and trees I´d ordered :-) :-) I had all plants in a shed on a big plastic carpet. I then poured a thick line of salt around the carpets edges. If there were slugs they would then stay on that carpet. Guess if I was tired of plants after that :-) :-) :-)




Well before doing anything else at all I´ll make a pot of tea and then my dogs and I will take a walk in the forest.

Have a great day now!

20 comments:

Karin SKARA said...

Man behöver inte alltid göra något, vissa dagar bara måste man få låta gå som de vill. Sköna promenader med katt och hundar är inte fel
Karin //

Anonymous said...

I never thought about ordering seeds from Canada. We have so many farms and nurseries here in the States. Lovely images today Christer. Enjoy your walk.

SpinMeAYarn said...

Hej Christer!
Nu har jag läst lite tillbaks i din blogg, och beundrar bilderna på blommorna du bjuder på!
Håller med dig att det är skönt att vädra ut vintern, och att det behovs nu när våren kommer.
I agree too that it is very strange that the little red house has been left half torn down. It would be better to have left it there rather than to pull it half down then stop. It looks so sad and forlorn.
Jag trodde att folk brukade använda och ta hand om sina gamla stugor, eller sälja dem vidare som sommarstuga?
nåja, en kopp te o solen låter bra ändå!
liz, som oxå har växter som ska omplanteras...

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Karin, kul att se dig här!

Nä det är ju sant. Tids nog får man mer att göra än man känner för ändå, så det är lika bra att njuta av det när man kan :-)
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
She has seeds from plants that can survive up here in the cold north and most of them are impossible to buy here. At least if You want to be able to afford to pay Your other bills too :-) :-) I don´t think she has much to offer to You living in Florida, but for me it´s perfect and she has high quality on the seeds to.

It was a real nice walk :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hejsan Liz!
Roligt att du gillar mina bilder :-)

Det är knepigt att de slutade innan allt var klart? Tyvärr resonerar många att om de inte kan få ut den summan de vill för en fastighet ha är det bättre om det förfaller?! Jag kan omöjligt förstå den tanken, men det resulterar i att det finns rätt många ödehus här på landsbygden tyvärr.

Ja te är aldrig fel :-)
Ha det gott!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...i plant things and think i will remember what they are and don't mark them and after a while i have no idea what they are. i remembered yesterday after i put up my post that the new shrubs i planted in my side garden are pieris japonica. we still have not gotten the rain they promised. i sure hope it comes today! it is hard to believe that after all the snow we had this winter that we are now having such a dry spring!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I used to do like that all the time, but having a garden centre made me so much better on putting notes in the pots. But It seemes I´ve fallen back in bad habits :-) :-)

It´s not so important for myself, but we have plant swaping days and then it´s good to now what I´m swapping :-) :-) Well it is good to know if it´s going to be big too, so I don´t plant it in the wrong spot ofcourse :-) :-)

I do hope You´ll get that rain now! It´s never a good thing if spring is to dry.
Have a great day now!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...my son and i both have canon rebels and we love them. if you want to see some really good photos, though they are of baseball, check out his blog at:

www.brendanbaseballblog.blogspot.com

make sure not to put an "S" at the end of brendan.

i took photography years ago and he is presently getting a degree in it. he takes some of the best sports shots i have ever seen!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joycr!
That is a really nice camera! I´m thinking of a Canon too, but I have to wait until autumn to see if I can afford it. I must buy a new washing machine and a new refrigerator too :-) :-)

I have to go back to his blog, there were lots of great photo´s there! I wish we could have taken degrees in photographing when I was young.
Thanks for the info!
Christer.

splendid said...

I love your photos today
thank you so much for sharing!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Splendid!
I´m glad You like them :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

NinaVästerplana said...

Hej... Här har vart fullt sjå ända sen jag segade mig ut vid 10nåt idag.... kom in igen 20.30 ;-)
Ingen sol men med lager på lager o va i rörelse hela tiden så var det skönt ändå....
Har fått gjort en hel del, nu är det bara lövkrattning o stensläpning kvar av det som jag vill få gjort innan Vårrundan ;-)
Ha´t himla gôrgôtt
Nina

Sharlene T. said...

Well, you will be proud of me, today! I bought the plants for my shade garden and actually DREW out the pattern with the vendor (a local farmer/nurseryman and wrote in the names of the plants as we found their spots. Then, I took a picture with my camera so I wouldn't forget! I've never had a shade garden before but I have plenty of space on the north side of my house. He was a wonderful vendor, don't you think? Lots of ferns, bleeding hearts, and something else I can't remember...soooo, one more lasagna garden to do...

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Nina!
Vi hade nog fem minuter sol här till och från under dagen, mest från :-) :-) Men skogen läade så bra för vinden så det var faktiskt ganska så skönt i trädgården.

Tack och lov att inget sådant passerar här :-) :-)
Ha det gott!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
I´m so proud of You :-) :-) Using the camera to make sure of the names is great! I think that´s just the way a nursery owner should behave, but that seldom happens in the hughe gardencentres that are so common nowdays.

Your firsty shade garden! They are my favourites! I´m looking forward to se photo´s from it in the future then! (and now Yoy can looka at the photo´s to see what names You forgot!)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Alen Trädgård said...

Konstigt, man tror ALLTID att man ska komma ihåg vad som finns i krukorna om man inte sätter etiketter direkt. Det kommer jag ihåg tänker man:)) Fina vårbilder från dig också nu, så härligt att det nu är vår mer eller mindre i hela landet. Kunde dock vara lite varmare. Ska ändå ut en stund för att göra lite nytta:) Vissa dagar är skönt att bara slappa så ha inte dåligt samvete för det:) Ha det gott/Monne

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Monne!
Ändå var jag väldigt medveten om att denna gången skulle jag inte ha en susning om vad det fanns i de flesta krukorna, jag har aldrig vare sig sett eller hört talas om de flesta av dessa växterna innan :-) :-) Men jag börjar så smått luska ut vilka arter jag hade beställt i alla fall :-) :-) :-)


Riktigt varmt här idag, redan sexton grader! Fast det känns ändå inte sådär skönt som jag hoppats. Kanske för att solen inte orkar lysa så mycket genom molnen?
Ha det gott!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

I have bought flowers at nursury's too and brought home pests on them that have infected my flowers. And yes, snails. Right now we have none at all in our yard.
Thank heavens!!
You have the most interesting flowers in Sweden!! Just amazing!!

Can you tell I am trying to catch up on your posts...reading like a crazy woman here! LOL
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
It´s awful to get those different pests when You buy something! It´s enough with those we already have in our gardens I think :-) :-) We have our lokal snails and slugs here but those are harmless in comparense to what we can get from imported plants. Most of those important ones has no natural enemies here so they just multiply on and on and ....

It´s a bit funny really, because that is what I think of all the american plants I see on the internet :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.