Friday, July 16, 2010

Even though the sun had been shining for over half an hour the morning dew still could be seen on the plants and flowers.


I woke up already at five am and since the morning was cool and sunny we went out on our morning promenade. A thin layer of mist were still hoovering above the grounds and a flock of trumpet swans were flying towards the lake. More and more signs of autumn is showing now, especially the birds comming from the north and almost no birds singning any longer.






Lots of dew on these thistle flowers. I think they are really beautiful, but it´s a shame they are so nasty otherwise :-)

I know it´s still summer and August is usually one of the best summer months here, but still the signs are showing. I washed some clothes yesterday and hung them to dry in the sun on the north side of my cottage last night. What I forgot is that we usually have quite heavy morning dew here, so now they are as wet as they were yesterday evening :-) :-) Now they hang in the sun on the south side of my cottage and I hope they´ll dry enough before driving to the vet.






Yarrow. Pick leafs and flowers to dry and if You later on has tummy ache it´s perfect to put some in a cup of tea. It helps much!

Even though there were no bigger water shortage for the plants in my neigbourhood they do look so much healthier after these last days of rain. Especially the nettles has started to growg again in rocket speed. Nettles are really great plants even if they sting a lot when touching them. As I already told you they are nutricious food, used to make cloth and they are also great as fertilizer and pest control.






Meadowsweet, we call it Moose grass here. Dry some of these flowers and put some in Your tea if You have a head ache. Works perfect.

It´s easy to make fertilizer of it (and the pest control fluid). Get a (well two is better) ten litres (around 2,5 US gallons) bucket with a lids. You really want that lid later on because it smells a bit bad before it´s deluted. Fill the bucket with as much nettles as You can and then pour water until the bucket is full. Put the lid on and wait a week. When You open the lid again You´ll understand why You need it :-) Get all nettles out and strain the liquid from all rests of the nettles. You could naturally have all nettles in a bag made of burlap from the beginning, that makes things so much easier but who wants life to be easy :-) :-) :-)








Delude the liquid like one part of that and nine parts of water. Now You´ll have one of the best fertilizers there is. For pest control make it a bit stronger and spray it on what ever pest You have on Your plants. You can use this liquid once a week and this will cost You nothing except for buying two buckets with lids. You can do the same with other plants too like Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), but that´s one of the worst weeds You can get, and plants in the Equisetum family. You can even use the leftovers when making coffee or tea.






I don´t know what kind of Burdock this is, but it grows just outside my kitchen door. Now I´ll cut it down since these things gets stuck on everything :-) :-) My dogs and I have done our share of soreading it in the neighbou´rhood now :-) My cats love the scent from it too unfortunally so they will soon get covered in these seeds :-)


Well it´s time for another cup of tea and then checking if my clothes are dry enough :-)
Have a great day now, I will!


It´s to tough climate for lavender here so I have Hyssop instead. Great spice as well.


16 comments:

Susie på Stjärnarve... said...

NEEJ, nu får du ge dig! Inte 17 är det känningar av höst redan!!
Vi är ju precis i mitten på sommaren, så än dröjer det länge. Kom igen någon gång i mitten på september, då kan jag hålla med dig.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Susie!
Fast jag skriver ju att änär sommaren här, men tecken på en kommande höst finns här redan. Dessutom kommer väl hösten senare till er ute på Gotland?

Ha det gott!
Christer.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer...what gorgeous pics! so you are seeingn signs of fall too? i am seeing them here but they are earlier than usual. our whole country in under a record breaking heat wave with no let up in sight. did i describe the tunnebrotrolle correctly or is there something i am missing? i might make those for my kids. i am off to do grocery shopping. one of my most hated tasks. i hope things go well at the vet! joyce

splendid said...

oh christer, today i learned so much from you!!! i am most grateful for your time and trouble :)

Terria said...

I love the uses for the plants you mentioned. Yarrow is one of my favorites too. It is also good for cuts and to stop bleeding, and seems to be nearly everywhere in The USA. We have it all over Oregon, and it grows in Alaska too.
I have peppermint plants here and use the leaves for tea for tummyaches too. Do you have cattails in Sweden? The Native Americans used all the native plants around them for food and medicine but we have now forgotten so many of the old ways. I am part Native American but was never taught any of the old ways. Wish I had been.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
More and more small signs of autumn here, even if I´d rather look the other way :-) :-) Our heat wave is over fr now and more normal summer temperatures are comming.

I think You got it all. I personally like some pickled cucumbers with that too :-)a kind we call Boston cucumbers. It´s cuvumbers cut in very small pieces mixed with different spices like paprika and mustard seeds. But I don´t think it exists outside Sweden.


Sometimes they just place all things on the flat bread, but more often they sort of rolls the flat bread into a cone and puts everything inside it. I love it even if I haven´t been out partying :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Splendid!
No troubles at all. If I can share anything I know I do and like it a lot :-) Friends says I should have become a teacher :-) :-)I´ve just started to write down all of what I know of these things in a notebook. One never knows when the memory starts to fail :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Terria!
Yarrow is more or less a weed here. I have big troubles keeping up with it in my garden :-) :-)

So You call them Cattails :-) They do have a real name here but most of us calls them cigarres :-) :-)They have just started to flower here and soon it will be the perfect time to eat that "flower stock". I´ve never eaten them but they are said to be very tasty. Even the roots are edible but not that tasty they say.

We had lots of that knowlege in the old days too, back when sweeds mostly were very poor. Nowdyas only a few of us knows at least some of it.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

I don't really understand using the nettles in the bucket with water but I am assuming it ferments somehow. Wonderful walk through your countryside today Christer. Love the doggie photos too. Thanks!

Cindi Myers said...

love the photos and all the great information! I'll have to tell my sister about the nettles! She does gardening as a small side business. I think Thistle is so pretty even if it's a weed? I once had a feral cat, wild and hated everyone. I named her Thistle. You could only pet her if you could sneak up behind her and hold her down for a few minutes first. She would always hide in my basement, which I felt was cruel to her. Like it was a prison. Some friends told me to let her try to be an inside/outside cat and that she would come back for food....but they were wrong.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Z&M!
The nettles decay in the water and all nutricions stay and I guess it ferments too since one has to delute it.

It bwas a real nice morning yesterday :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Cindi!
It´s one of the best fertilizers I know of!

Thistles are really beautiful, but they spread to fast and to much. atleast most of them. But I´ve had plenty of those that doesn´t spread at all here in my garden.


I don´t think that cat hated anyone, she was just very, very afraid. Since she actually pet her after a while. But always go with Your instinct, even if others says otherwise.

If You ever get a cat like that again, just let it stay in Your basement, it will come up to see You the day it feels safe enough to do so. But it is difficult with cats that are so very afraid.

Have a great day now!
Christer.

Katarina said...

Hej Christer! Nässelvatten använder jag till tomaterna, men har inte prövat mot ohyra ännu. Har fått något skräp på min P Ardens - kanske jag skulle testa...
Rölleka och Älggräs låter spännande som torkade 'mediciner' - använder du bara blommorna eller stjälkar och blad också?

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hejsan Katarina!

Har väldigt lite ohyra i år faktiskt. Hade lite på mina druvflädrar men det tog nyckelpigorna hand om. Men pröva! Bäst mot ohyra skall visst "rävsvansvatten" vara.

Tittade just på min döda P. ardens häromdagen.Tror inte ens nässelvatten funkar på den längre :-) :-) :-)

Av röllekan använder jag mest blad och blommor, men är jag lat åker allt stjälkarna med också :-) Av älggräset är det bara blommorna som jag använder.

Ha det riktigt gott!
Christer.

decareis said...

Hej Christer.
Dina bilder är fortfarande vacker.
Jag älskar dina bilder och följa deras idéer.
Trots den splittrade behandlingen (på grund av översättare), jag försöker!
Vi ses snart!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Andréa!
Nu blev jag förvånad :-) Är det google som överstt detta? Då fungerar det riktigt bra!

Jag är glad att du gillar mina bilder!
Ha en trevlig dag!
Christer.