Vacation...and some work!

Pics by Johanna

Vegetable beds that will stay for a while...

Pics by me..

I suddenly feel very solid...at least my new structures are...
I wanted something that I can use in different ways, and put big glass structures on for early in the spring. And I wanted something that would accumulate as much heat as possible... Last years cold summer..I´m not saying any more...

Picture nr 2 shows a type of a compost bed that is supposed to be a great way to grow the kind of plants that likes it warm, like tomatoes ,etc. When I walk barefoot out in my garden in the morning,(a great way to wake up,by the way) the ground feels very cool under my feet, and I think I may be is a little bit like the tomato plant that likes is the best when my feet are warm. But then I put my hand into the compost bed to check if it really is any warmer in there , and I´m just as happy and surprised every time when I feel the nice and comforting heat .

Gardening stunts...

For more information, check out this website: http://thepotholegardener.com

I like this a lot... I like the fact that people create gardens where one does not expect it.
Guerilla gardening is something that we will se more and more. People want more green in the cities
and unused space can be used to produce beauty and food. And to go through the normal route to get a permission etc is going to take too much time and most likely not lead to any garden. People take the spade in their own hans and just create a garden over night! What a wonderful surprise to wake and find a garden where before it was nothing.

Peter Richasen does this as a sort of street art and has become quite well known for it too. Check out his blog and maybe you get some ideas for how to beautify your own neighbourhood...

Alice in Wonderland 2.

                                     
                                             http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alys-fowler

I have written about Alice before, as she is one of the garden people out there that really inspires me.
She has written several great books on gardening and one of the last ones is about harvesting the natural resources that are growing around us,both in the city and in our garden and that are not normally beeing used. It`s free food and as Alys says "a kick to eat".
As Alys also is a foodie  she includes a bunch of great recipes that are worth testing out.
If you want to check her out, she also writes a garden-blog for the Guarian .

A whole chapter in this book, is about a englishman, Stephen Barstow, living in the north of Norway and cultivating his garden with  eatable plants from the whole world,now reaching  over 2000 different ones.  And as a curiosity , he holds the world record in making the largest salad ever. It contained 536 ingredients and took him 3 days to make!
I once went to a seminar where he took us through the garden and the world, opening our eyes to the richness of our surroundings, and we went away, looking hungrily at all the green around us .
He has written the book Around the World in 80 Plants. If you like to forage, I would think also this  book could add some items of interest to  your list of eatable plants.

The northern summer light , camuflaging ourselves...rhubarb ,figs and a place to sit down

Herb,food,history,and culture-inspiration

Pics by Johanna.

I found a little treasure this spring in the flee-marked.  A book written in the seventies Norway about a herb-garden out on a little island in the south-eastern  part of the Oslofjord ,Norway.
It`s great reading, very inspirational , and full of great stories from the authors childhood in the north of Norway, with a mix of her families russian heritage and customs, and the many stories from their herb-garden in Hvaler, with a lot of herbal knowledge and how too`s, medicinal, cultural, mythical and not to forget ,all the good ways of using the herbs in food. This is a book that lives in you and inspires on many levels. Most likely only to be found in second hand bookstores here in Norway. Or in Loppemarked...(flee-marked)

Dente de Lion, I just love you !

http://vildhage.blogspot.no/2012/05/blog-post_31.html
http://vildhage.blogspot.no/2010_06_01_archive.html

The dandelion is making the garden look very festive and happy these days. I used to think that the flowers would last all summer. And there will always be some to be found in the summer time, but it´s around these times of the year that one finds so much of it that there is enough flowers to make dandelion wine or dandelion lemonade.( links how to make , under pic.)

Did you know that the dandelion is a very special plant? It is  so in many ways.
Botanically it´s one of the very rare plants that reproduces by it selves. It does´n need the pollen from a male plant. It´s like a virgin bitrth every time it reproduces it self. I tend to think thats why it is so strong.
It has integrated both polarities and nothing can rock it or destroy it. Thats how we become when we eat ,drink, or enjoy it´s company...full powerhouse.

For our health it`s one of our most valuable plants . I have written about this in a earlier post.

Historically it has been very much a respected and wanted plant . When the british people had to moove out to rule their big imperia, they brought with them dandelion seeds to grow around their home to feel more like home.
In wartime , Norway, people had to resort back to what our pre parents had known about our wild plants, and of course was dandelion one of the most valuable plants they used . People went out to collect the whole plant with the root and everything . This was valuable ,plentiful and free food . From the leaves they made soups, salads and stews . From the beautiful flower they made delicious wine . And the root was dried ,chopped and burnt to cafe substitute ,or just dried and used as flour for pancakes, and bread,mixed with the poor wartime flower .

Vive la Dente de Lion !

Lets hope we don`succeed in trying to rid our selves with this fantastic plant! This earth would not be the same without it.