Showing posts with label Egebergløkka parsellhage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egebergløkka parsellhage. Show all posts

Saturday, April 8, 2023

What a difference a week makes

What a difference a week makes! This is how the garden looked on March 29th--still a lot of snow on the ground and ice patches here and there. Pretty, but I was getting impatient because I wanted to get started in the garden. As luck would have it, we've had nothing but sunny and warm days this past week. So the snow and ice are gone. Next week it's supposed to rain every day, so I'm glad I used this week to rake leaves and dead plants and fill the compost bin with them. I'll have a lot of good compost to add to the soil in the autumn. 

The snowdrops are blooming and the crocuses, daffodils, grape hyacinths and tulips are starting to poke their heads up from the soil. Spring is here, and soon it will be time for planting this year's vegetables and flowers. 





























And this is how it looked yesterday, April 7th--










Monday, September 19, 2022

Late summer garden--photos

As promised, some recent photos of my garden (August and September). Autumn is approaching here in Oslo, and gardening season is winding down. I went to my garden today after having been traveling for almost two weeks. The summer asters are in full bloom, the climbing rose bushes have bloomed for the second time this summer, the coneflowers look beautiful (see photos), likewise (some of) the gladiolas (see photos). The giant sunflowers grew very tall while I was away; their height is impressive, at least eight feet (see photos). The other photos were taken during mid- to late-August, when gooseberries, red currants, black currants and raspberries were harvested. The Folva potatoes were harvested at the beginning of September. 

yellow coneflowers

coneflowers and gladioli

giant sunflowers


the (mostly) perennial garden


garden project for this year--assembling and painting a garden bench

a lot of zucchinis (as usual)--they're easy to grow

a good year for gooseberries

pumpkins 

a lot of potatoes (one type--Folva)




Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Garden update--photos

Here are some recent photos of the garden, which is always a work in progress that incorporates new ideas and new additions to the garden family.......


Wisteria growing on the fence


Wisteria flower in bloom--a heavenly fragrance


The new addition to the garden family--a cherry tree


The forsythia bush blooming happily


The magnolia tree also blooming 

How the garden looks behind the greenhouse and the adjoining fence


Another forsythia bush planted between the birdbath and the cherry tree


the part of my garden facing my neighbor's garden--separated from mine by a large trellis


facing the greenhouse



















pumpkin and zucchini beds covered by fiber cloth 




Garden update--May 2022

We've had some strange weather since spring began. A couple of weeks in March were actually quite mild and I got an early start in the garden. That was a good thing because I had to dig up a rose bush that had died. I cut it down last autumn with the intention of digging up the entire plant in March, right after the ground had thawed. That turned out to be a good idea, because the earth was actually quite muddy and it was easy to dig down with a shovel to find the roots. However, it was no easy task getting the roots up; the bush has been there for many years, apparently, and the roots had spread out widely. My husband got a hold of a crowbar and he got up most of the roots for me. But we couldn't get them all up. Luckily, the bush is dead so it won't be growing underground and sprouting up new stems here and there as it had been doing the past several years. None of those new stems survived for very long. The bush itself had become infested with aphids over the past several years, and even though I kept the infestation in check, I think it weakened and sensitized the plant for other types of attack, such as from parasitic mushrooms that appeared during the autumn, at which point I knew it was 'game over'. 

April was another month with two weeks of warm temperatures followed by cold temperatures, but not freezing. I started most of the plants I wanted to plant outdoors as seeds in the greenhouse, and I planted the seed potatoes outdoors since it takes at least a month for them to begin to germinate. I also planted the gladiola corms outdoors at the same time, since it takes a month for them to begin to germinate. Pumpkins, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, and string beans (from seeds) were on the planting list this year. All of them grew well from seeds in the greenhouse and are now planted outdoors except for the tomatoes which need a bit more time in the greenhouse so that they can grow taller. The giant-type sunflowers, pot marigolds, rose mallows, and cornflowers that I also started from seeds are now planted outdoors as well. 

May has been mild for the most part, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees during the day and 50 degrees at night. But it has been a very dry month with very little rain, so that Oslo is experiencing a drought (not entirely due to lack of rainfall, but still). But luckily there is rain in the forecast for the next two weeks, so the garden should benefit from the predicted rainfall. 

I bought two new lavender plants to replace two that had died, and got some new perennials from my garden neighbor Urzsula. She has given me a plant called 'brennende kjærlighet' (translated to burning love in English). It is also called the Maltese-cross, scarlet lychnis or Jerusalem cross in English. It produces big red balls of flowers, so it should be a nice addition to my garden. I also received a yellow iris from her and some large yellow loosestrife which is beautiful when it flowers. Other new additions to the garden are 'jordskokk' bulbs planted near the fence; they are called Jerusalem artichokes in English, but taste nothing like artichokes. I got about three pounds of them from another garden neighbor, Embla, and I planted some and made soup with the rest. The soup was excellent so I will definitely make it again. Jordskokk look like this (image from Jordskokk | Bama):

You peel them as you would potatoes and then boil them until they become soft enough to mash. If you are making soup you can use an immersion blender to puree them in the pot. Here is a good recipe for jordskokk soup if you are interested. 





Jerusalem artichoke soup with bacon  (Kremet jordskokksuppe med sprø bacon | Oppskrift | Meny.no)

Needed (for 3 people)

  • 525 g Jerusalem artichokes
  • 3 dl chicken broth
  • 3 dl whipping cream (or heavy cream)
  • 75 g dry salted bacon
  • 0.75 tablespoons butter
  • 0.75 tart apple
  • 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
  • pepper
  • salt

  1. Peel the vegetables and cut them into cubes. Put them in a saucepan and cover with broth and cream. Cook until they are tender.
  2. Cut the bacon and apple into cubes. Fry the bacon cubes in butter until golden. Put the apple cubes in the pan and remove the pan from the heat. Add parsley.
  3. Blend the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Serve the soup in deep bowls and top with bacon and apple mixture.

The jordskokk flowers above ground are yellow, grow profusely and quite high; they also have a tendency to spread out, so keeping them in check is part of gardening work. Here is how they look when the flowers are blooming (image from Sunchokes - Bi-O








My wisteria plant is doing very well. I planted it two years ago along the fence and it has taken off and actually has quite a lot of gorgeous, spicy-scented flowers this year. I love wisteria, but from what I've read online about it, it is another plant that must be 'held in check', otherwise it will spread out and just keep expanding. The magnolia tree has also bloomed again, and this year I bought a cherry tree and planted it in the spot where the rose bush was. It too has settled in to its new home and has in fact bloomed, although I don't think we'll get cherries (the tart kind) this year. We'll see. I was happy to see that the two forsythia bushes that I planted along the fence also bloomed; forsythia is another favorite plant of mine--lovely cheery yellow flowers in the spring. I also planted a new lilac bush near the cherry tree. I'm guessing that in a few years I'll have to transplant it as it grows and expands, but for now it's happy where it is. 

It's nice to be part of a community allotment garden. I enjoy talking to my garden neighbors, but more importantly, we share plants and seeds with each other and water each other's gardens when one of us is on vacation. The neighborliness and generosity are worth gold. 

In my next post I'll include some recent photos that I've taken of the garden. 



Saturday, December 18, 2021

The beauty of frost in my garden

Winter has its own charm and beauty. I need only go to my garden to experience it. Some people would say they only see a dead garden, which is partially true. On the surface, most (not all) of the plants appear to be withered and dead. But there is a lot going on underground in a garden and other places where there is plant life, during the wintertime ( In the dead of winter, plants are already starting to prepare for spring — underground | The World from PRX). 

So a winter garden may be resting, but also preparing for spring. Be that as it may, I am fascinated by what a winter garden can offer in the way of beauty. Yesterday the temperatures were in the low forties, but when I went to my garden to add some dead roses to the compost, there was frost on the ground, which I might not have expected given the temperature. Wikipedia states that "As a rule, except in conditions where supercooled droplets are present in the air, frost will form only if the deposition surface is colder than the surrounding air". So this means that the ground surface in the garden is colder than the surrounding air--very interesting.  

I captured the beauty of winter's frost in photos. Enjoy. 







The rhododendron bush is not covered in frost


The bamboo bush is also not covered in frost



Thursday, October 14, 2021

Autumn in the garden

Each year I try to post some photos from the garden once autumn is upon us. I watch the changes in the garden with fascination: the growth of several kinds of mushrooms at the base of the dead cherry tree covered in wild ivy, grass that begins to turn yellow, the summer aster that has started to wilt, the blackberry bush still loaded with blackberries that have begun to mold, likewise the wilting tomato plants that still have a lot of tomatoes on the vines. The krossved tree is shedding its leaves, as are the rosebushes and black currant bushes. I've already harvested the potatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and zucchinis, as well as the gooseberries, black currants, and raspberries. The yellow raspberry plants are still producing fat yellow berries, but now the daily temperature is around 40 degrees so plant growth is slowing. My neighbor had a bumper crop of grapes that she shared with me, so I was able to make grape jelly. The bees are still happily buzzing around the autumn aster and the sunflowers. I've learned that daisies prefer cooler weather; they are blooming beautifully at present. I cut back the hollyhocks and covered the plants with a thick layer of leaves to protect them from frost and cold; my attempt to get them to grow again next year. I've tried to utilize most wilting plants for compost; that seems to be working out well. I'm using the fallen leaves as mulch for plants that need protection for the winter, and I have not cut the lawn short as recommended by garden experts. My wisteria tree grew by leaps and bounds this year, using the steel fence behind it as support for its branches. I hope it blooms next year; it will be beautiful. Wild ivy (turning from green to a lovely golden-red color) and hops have also grown up along the fence; for the first time I harvested some hops for drying. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet. 

Unfortunately, honey fungus mushrooms (the fungus Armillaria) that attack and kill the roots of many woody and perennial plants began to grow at the base of one of my blackberry bushes and at the base of one of my rose bushes. Both of these bushes have had problems in the past few years; the blackberry bush developed cane rot two years ago and I had to cut it down to the base, and the rose bush was infested with aphids during the past two seasons and this seem to have weakened the plant permanently. In other words, both plants were weakened and vulnerable to attack by this destructive fungus. We had a lot of rain this year as well, and the area where these two plants are was continually wet--ideal conditions for moss and fungus growth. Honey fungus is not a mushroom you want growing on living plants. There is no chemical that can kill it, so the only way to get rid of it is to remove the infected plants. I dug up and removed the blackberry bush, and cut the rose bush down to a stump. It was too large a stump for me to remove alone, so I'll have to tackle this job next spring when I can get help. 

I've never seen so many cobwebs as I've seen this year, in the garden and elsewhere. The spiders must have had a great year in terms of the numbers of insects that got trapped in their webs. There were a fair amount of mosquitoes at the beginning of the summer; they were replaced by small gnats toward the end of the summer. Otherwise, there were plenty of honeybees and bumblebees, and some butterflies and yellow jackets. The sparrows are still hanging around, but most of the other birds (especially thrushes) are gone. That is perhaps the most noticeable change once autumn comes--the absence of birds. They prefer warmer locations; I wonder how many of them migrate. 

I look forward to the change of seasons, even though it means that I won't be able to garden for some months. I understand that the garden needs to rest, gardeners also. It produced so well this year; it was a wonderful summer with enough sun and rain. It worked hard, as did the gardener who tends it. But that is all part and parcel of gardening. There are no results without hard work; the rewards are worth the investment of time and energy. But the rewards are not just the fruits and vegetables that are harvested. Gardeners find peace and serenity in their gardens, as has been written about often. That peace and serenity help our souls deal with the dark cold winter months. As Thanksgiving approaches, there is much to be thankful for, among them my garden and its bounty. 

Lovely pumpkins




A lot of grapes from my neighbor's garden

Autumn colors 

Wisteria growing up along the fence, wild ivy to the right of it


Mushrooms growing at base of dead cherry tree

Wild ivy covering dead cherry tree

Autumn aster (pink-purple flowers) growing along fence--the bees love it

Mold growing on a dead red currant tree branch

The garden as of this week



These destructive mushrooms are called honey fungus

Pachysandra to the right, under the krossved tree, still going strong

Coneflowers (rudbeckia) still going strong


I made grape jelly for the first time and it came out well






The surreal world we live in

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