'Wild' Strawberries Schnapps in the Making

We have a lot of 'wild' strawberries in the garden, using them as ground cover in some of the perennial beds, and the main rose bed, and the small sweet berries are ready NOW - so I wanted to repeat the success with my first strawberry schnapps form 2014/2015.

I started picking berries yesterday, but I was interrupted by rain (a very rare occurrence this summer), so I picked a bit more today.

The vodka has already taken a lot of colour from the berries, and I expect the sweetness to bleed out into the liquor, too!

Progress in the Veggie Garden

This morning, Lea and I planted the 'late' Sava potatoes - and we removed the protective plastic from the Hamlet rows, as, hopefully, we shall not get any more frost, now.

The blueberry bushes seem to thrive right now - all ready to pop some leaves.

I am very satisfied with the weed cloth and layer of mulch we have applied around the bushes, and I think we may have to do the same with the North and East edges of the veggie garden, to prevent grass and goutweed/ground elder to spread into it.






















As always when in the garden, Bella was keeping me company (and craving being petted).

It is a nice thing to have an animal so devoted to be around you - I can always count on her being around when I have work to do outside - especially in the backyard, under the big trees.

Got Myself a Nice Sideboard

Today, we went to the permanent flea market in Kirkeby, and I found this sideboard, perfect for the purpose I needed it for.

For a long time, I have been wanting a place in the basement to put my schnapps away, and as it should be kept in the dark both while extracting and maturing, it needed to be something with doors.

I got the thing for DKK 250,- (about £30), and I am very happy with it!

As seen below, I only use two of the three sections - the last one is now used for storing homemade marmelades/jams and pickles like pickled beets, cornichons, and pickled gherkins-

This has freed up a lot of shelf space in the bar cabinet, the kitchen, and the basement, and I think my wife is rather chuffed by the arrangement, too!

Add to that, that I now have a much better overview over my WIP schnapps, as well as the bottles with the finished product, and this is an all over win-win!

Putting the Last Days of Summer to Use

I woke up to another day of warm, sunny weather, and I thought I should better seize the opportunity to finish clearing the shrubbery away from the last part of the corner bed.

Quite a load of garden waste resulted from the process. I think my wife is moving the stuff away from the lawn as I write this (at least I hope so).

Tuesday evening, we planted the first raspberry bushes - these three were bought, and we have some more behind the house, but they should not be moved until mid October, when they all have to be cut down. We may end up with two separate rows, but I need to see how much space the bushes are actually going to occupy before deciding on that.

Still Toiling in the Garden...

After a rather wet weekend, We have nice warm and dry weather this week, and the big garden project continues (causing further neglect of my wargaming hobby)

Yesterday, with some help from a senior neighbor who has always got the right tools for the job, in this case a hand winch, I managed to get the large evergreen bush near the newly cleared and edged corner out of the ground.

Earlier yesterday, I almost completed the rose bed edge - but I ran out of cobbles just short of the back corner, and that simply will no do - so I have ordered another ton of cobblestones, and am now planning to do the entire edge along the hedge (which is also why the bush had to go now).

Today, I put a lot of soil into the ditch vacated by the bush. Tomorrow I am going to put an extension on the string I use for marking straight edges, and start removing turf from the hedge edge.

I also dug up some rhubarb that needs to be moved to the vegetable garden. This little spot was our strawberry 'field', and I am going to add some top soil to make it level with the lawn, before we plant a lot of new strawberry cuttings there.

In order to get to the rhubarb, I had to cut back some branches on the blackberry bush to the left, and of course I first picked them clean of ripe fruit, which went into a jar with a bottle of vodka, as I really like blackberry 'schnaps'.

Enjoying the Garden

It is not all toil and trouble - our garden also gives us sights for sore eyes at times.

This is either a tulip tree or a magnolia - I cannot tell the difference - and every spring it bristles with flowers like this.

Another blossoming tree is ths japanese cherry tree (I think it is).

It is the local church on the hilltop in the background.

I need to crop some of those dead branches, I think (another task to add to the list).

Below you can see both trees a seen from Åparken.

My wife has been cleaning up the strawberry patch, which looks a bit scruffy. It is probably time that I water it - I started watering the potatoes late yesterday evening, and they are being watered again, as I write these lines.

The rhubarb is destined to be moved to a spot just below the veggie garden, just to the side of the Jerusalem artichokes (I have been told by Google they are called).

New Blueberry Bushes

The edge of the veggie garden is now lined with blueberry bushes.

Yes, the line is not completely straight.

One of the bushes, no. 6 from here, will be moved a bit, and maybe also no. 5.

Apart from that, I am very pleased, anticipating homegrown blueberries from next summer.

Blueberries with whipcream, mmmmm....

Strawberry Liqueur

The title says it all.

I had a jar with strawberries in vodka sitting in the cabinet since late summer, and I deemed it ripe for filtering and sweetening today.

It is good, though not exquisite - I think that if the berries had been sweeter, the overall result would have been better.

I shall put the bottle in the cabinet for a while to let the liqueur mature a bit.