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Seed Catalogues 2011
I’m trying to keep my seed sowing within a reasonable range this year. I’ve made an inventory of old seeds that should still be viable, and I’m only ordering a sensible (in my mind) amount this year. I’m also trying to weed out (pun intended) the frugal and in the long run not so smart purchases, i.e. I’m going to buy plants or bulbs of certain plants that would be difficult and slow to raise from seed anyway. To keep things within limits this year, I’m only getting seeds from commercial sources as seed exchanges and seed lists from garden societies have the ability to make anyone go over the…
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The Danger of Free Time
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The First Thing to Sow
Even though some of the snow piles are more than 2 meter high, an optimistic gardener can still imagine what’s going to flower and grow during the coming summer. For most of us, me included this year, the first thing on the agenda are the globe artichokes. They aren’t hard to get to germinate; the only thing with them is then to repot them into fairly large, or at least deep, pots for further cultivation shortly after they’ve germinated. Globe artichokes have a pole root and need a deep pot with good compost in order to grow fast enough and large enough to produce crop the first year. This is…
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Waiting for the Growing Season
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What Would the Hardcore Enthusiast Do? Part 1
A seedling I raised, no points for autumn colour. Kasvattamani taimi, syysväri on hiukan laimea. En egen fröplanta, inte mycket till höstfärg. The gardening year starts early if you want to raise plants from seed. In case I had been planning to raise some woody plants I might have sown them in November and placed them somewhere cold for a cold period. A lot of woody plants need this in order to germinate. If I hadn’t done that in November, then just about now (and perhaps a few weeks onward) would be the right time to do it. I collected a lot of seeds from Magnolias and maples and some other…
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My Fitness Pergola
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On the Subject of Winter Gardening
Not surprisingly, considering my 200+ library on gardening books, I have a few on the subject of winter gardening. An old favorite is “Rimfrost och trädgårdsdrömmar” by the wonderful Hannu Sarenström (1997, 2003), which is more about dreaming away during winter time, than winter gardening per se, but it’s brilliant and there are plenty of stunning pictures, some of which have been taken indoors. I also have one British book, which is kind of the “mama’s boy” of the bunch, I mean there aren’t serious winters in the UK so it is kind of tame in comparison to the others. But, it features nice winter gardening for a warmer climate,…
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The Best Book Party Ever
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Roses in Winter
Roses are a joy in summer when they bloom their hearts out and their leaves can be pretty in their autumn glory, but they offer some interest in winter as well. Mostly it’s the hips that catch your eye, but occasionally they keep their leaves for a long time and they can look nice against an otherwise wintery background. Ruusut ovat suureksi iloksi kesäisin kun ne kukkivat sydämensä kyllyydestä ja lehdet ovat usein iloisia väriläikkiä syysväreissään. Ilo ei kuitenkaan lopu siihen, talvisin kiulukat taas kiinnostavat. Joskus myös lehdet säilyvät kauan pensaissa ja ne muodostavat kiinnostavan kontrastin muuten talviseen maisemaan. Rosor är till en stor glädje när de på sommaren blommar…
