Finally Planting some Horse Reddish

A friend of a friend declared on Facebook that she would like her allotment garden horse reddish bed cleared - and as I have been wanting to grow my own for a while, I offered to remove the offending plants for her.

It may not be easy to see in the pics, but I planted about 30 individual roots (I removed the green tops before planting) between the tall spruces standing between the veggie garden and the creek.

For a while, I shall have to water them every day that it is not raining, and I hope that at least 1/3 are going to survive and start spreading offspring, as I love horse reddish salat, horse reddish sauce for old fashioned roasted beef, and plain grated horse reddish topping for traditional Danish rye bread open sandwiches with a variety of meat spread.

Normally, horse reddish is very hard to kill, so I do have my hopes up for this little project!

Early Summer in Denmark

We visited my wife's mother in Sverdrup yesterday, and I had the opportunity to pick some tools of her late husband's, and, among other things, I was lucky to be able to bring home an electric chainsaw, very useful for a job I had to do in the garden today.

I had to cut down a large rose bush, which had toppled over across the driveway to the back yard when we had some high winds this spring - and the chainsaw was a welcome help in this!

I still need to trim it a bit with branch cutter, but the job is well done

I used the offcuts to cast a Wall of Brambles, and I expect the Mana drawn form our more than 4000 sq.m. garden to be sufficient upkeep.

Later today, I cleared the north and east edge of the veggie garden and rolled out some weed control fabric.

It has proven too difficult to keep all kinds of weeds (especially goutweed and grass) from spreading into the garden, so I have decided to border it with this fabric on three sides (we already covered the ground under the blueberry bushes last year).

Lea procured the stones for keeping the weed control fabric in place - luckily we have a lot of stones on the slope behind the buildings.

I am planning to tidy up the outdoor fireplace behind the house this week, as the summer seems to have arrived for good, and it is time to get the Oseberg pan working again.

I also have to remove some of the stuff in the actual fireplace, as it will be hazardous to set fire to that pile of crap. Some of it can be added to the barrier I am building among the trees in the back yard, to prevent dog walkers and playing kids straying onto the lawn.

The picture taken out there today better shows the blue Me-nots than the one I took a week ago or so. I shall be very careful, not to mow the area before they have shed their seeds, as I want them to thrive and multiply, and spread even more.

Springtime in the Garden

The sun has been shining and temperatures rising over this past weekend, so I have not been indoors stooped over miniatures all the time.

Our early potatoes are sprouting nicely, and it is soon time to earth them up, as a lot of weeds are also benefiting from the weather.

Around our fireplace, a lot of me-toos have been spreading over the last couple of years, and I refrain from mowing the area where they grow, allowing them to develop seeds and spread even further.

I took the photos at a bad time, as the sunlight was reflected by the petals, so the delicate blue colour does not show, but i can assure you, it is a lovely sight!

I shall make some other photos of them one of the next days.

Our tulip tree is also in full bloom - as is the sorry remnants of our japanese cherry, which I have not taken a picture of, yet - I need to find an angle that lets it look nice, and the light came form the wrong direction this evening.

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.

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'.

Potato Downer

My potatoes yield next to nothing this year, which is a real downer, as I did everything as prescribed by experts - but the heavy rain that ruined the plants did so just in time to prevent them growing spuds.

When we arrived home from Catalonia/France, the vegetable garden was totally overgrown with weeds, and I have started weeding the potato patch in order to be able to put a motorized garden cultivator to use (I shall probably have to buy a cultivator this autumn, but we shall have to see about that, as the car got a problem with the transmission during the vacation, and the repair may prove rather pricey.

Potato Time...Sort of...

I have been a bit concerned about my potato harvest, as when the last time we had heavy rains, the potato plants were beaten down before they had had time to blossom.

When I dug up a few plants about 3 weeks ago, the yield was appallingly small, and I now feared that the tubers have not been able to get sufficient energy to grow.

As you can see to the right, the potato bed looks like a war zone (all the upright plants are mugworts, that have taken advantage of the potato plants not shadowing the area any more.

I dug up eight (8) plants, and the meager result can be seen below. The container is an old plastic paint bucket, slightly wider than your average household bucket, but still... I might be able to squeeze two meals out of these, but most likely they will be enough for only one meal, plus some lunch sandwiches (Danish style, black bread with cold cuts).

I need to get some 'King Edward' and/or 'Desirée' potatos for planting next year, as the 'Princess' sort does not seem suited for the rich soil in our garden.

Watching it Grow

The closest two rows are from some of last year's harvest,
and were planted at least a week before the rest.

My potato plants are fairly tall by now, and I hope to be able to harvest the first new potatoes next Sunday (our Constitution Day, Anna's 13 years birthday, AND Father's Day).

I have not gotten around to weeding and earthing up all the rows the second time, yet (I expect to do some more tomorrow, as the forecast says up to Celsius 26 here on Funen), but I think I have it reasonably under control, as opposed to last year, when the weeds covered the potato patch completely.

Lush Veggie Garden

The warm weather and my watering of the Vegetable Garden all last week has paid off!

Sprouts everywhere, and not just potatoes - a lot of weeds have sprung out of the soil, too, and I think another earthing up of the potato rows.

I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow afternoon, as I think I have sustained a tennis elbow in my left arm, and I may have to get some medication to kill the inflammation, but if the weather forecast holds water, I should be able to go over the 'tatoes before noon.

'Tatoes Planted

Yesterday, Lea and I 'laid' the last half of the potatoes I purcased for planting.

I read somewhere that it makes sense to earth up the rows just after planting, so that is what I did after completting each row. It will facilitate weeding until the plants emerge, as I can use a tool between the rows without risking to damage the sprouts.

We have dry, sunny weather with about 20 degrees Celsius at the moment, and I am going to spend a lot of time in the garden the next 4-5 days at least.

Unfortunately, this will delay my painting even further, but you cannot have it all...

More Gardening Done!

Actually, in Denmark we do not plant potatoes, we lay them in the soil, but 22 kilos have been laid, and the foundation for a good harvest has been made. You may be able to

We are making another attempt at growing some parsley and chives, and as some wild doves ate the sprouts last year, the bed has been covered with chicken wire.

The thin sprouts in front of the chicken wire is garlic planted in the autumn; I am very excited to find out if our soil is suitable for this crop!

Couple of months still, until the first ones can be harvested, and I cannot wait to season dishes with garlic from our own garden!

The Gardening Season Has Begun!

Yesterday, I started preparing the vegetable garden for planting potatoes; I needed to remove some weeds, and then harvest and spread the compost from our composter.

There was not quite enough for the entire area where I am going to plant potatoes (hopefully today), but I removed everything that was sufficiently decomposed over the 4 years we have been living here, so now there is plenty of space for new organic waste to be processed.

After spreading the compost, I left it to dry a bit while I was cleaning op the composter bottom (in order to be able to place the 'body' and the worm tube back in place on it), and then I used my trusty spade to mix the compost into the soil.

Now I just need to rake the area (which I shall do right after finishing this post), and dig out the string for planting in straight rows, and I am set to start planting (which I expect Lea to assist me in, when she returns from buying sandals with the wife).