Harvesting gems

The past week has been very hot and dry.  The sky has been clear blue, with hardly any dot of cloud.  And rain is not expected to fall any time soon.  Naturally, the grass has turned brown and dry and we have had to make sure our plants in the garden are well watered.  

The balcony gets extremely hot during the day as well, since it gets the full blast of the afternoon sun that can shine and heat up the room for up to 7 hours.  I've had to water my plants there twice or even three times a day.  It's amazing how dry they can get in the heat.  The poor plants will droop and wilt if it gets too hot so I have to open up the windows so let the cool wind in and the heat out.  

However, with all the sun were having, the vegetables are doing well.  Lots of French beans and snap peas are ready to be harvested with even more tiny ones waiting to grow bigger.  The carrots are also growing well.  Their green tops are so bushy and we can see the carrots just beneath the ground getting bigger.  The potatoes are also starting to wilt and turn brown.

All that just means that our favourite part has come: harvesting!  Yesterday, we harvested the first row of potatoes. From about 8 small plants, we got a hefty 3 kilos of spuds.  It's really fun to harvest them.  Just dig carefully around the plants and pull them out.  Some potatoes would be attached to the plant but the fun bit is to carefully search the soil and uncover the gems.  And to me, they are gems.  I just love potatoes.  The potatoes we got were very well formed.  Some are as big as my palm and some are as tiny as a grape.  

I made French fries out of some of them yesterday and mashed some to make the shepherd's pie we had just now.  They have a very nice texture - not too soft nor too firm.  I forgot which types of potatoes these were.  We planted several types but we didn't label them.  Doesn't matter though because I love all types of potatoes.  We still have some in the kitchen.  Maybe I will make potato bread tomorrow.  And after harvesting more, I will experiment with other potato recipes.  We still have four rows of potatoes to be harvested.  We will harvest them only when we need them so that they'll be nice and fresh.  

We have already started harvesting the beans and peas last week.  They are really good.  I love how they are so juicy and fresh.  For two years, they have been high yielding plants and they are quite easy to grow too.  Looks like we will continue to grow them again next year.  We only need to make sure we rabbit-proof them at the beginning since the rabbits love to eat the baby pea shoots.  Once they are bigger, the rabbits would leave them alone.

We also harvested a few carrots.  They are still thin so they can be left in the ground to fatten up.  This year, we planted a mix of white, purple and the usual orange carrots.  We can't really tell the colour until we pull them out of the ground.  This time, we got the white and orange ones.  They are really lovely.  I love fresh carrots just out of the ground.  They are sweet, crunchy and very carroty!  Again, we would only pick them when we need them.  I think I'll try making carrot soup when the weather gets colder.  Carrot soup with potato bread on a cold, windy day.  That would be lovely.

Before the harvest

Although this summer has been mild, with lots of cloudy days, it didn't affect our vegetables in the garden.  They got enough sun and more than enough water to grow well.  The rabbits and some thieves have robbed us of some butternut squash and lots of pea shoots, but most of the stuff we planted are thriving.  

We have not started harvesting anything yet.  I expect the peas and beans to be ready in a week or two.  The potatoes are doing well and have started flowering.  We only need to wait until the leaves turn yellow before we can dig up the potatoes.  I think that would be in a couple of weeks.  The first batch of carrots are doing well.  Tiny carrots have started to form.  In a few weeks, they would be big enough to be pulled up.

The cabbage and broccoli would take longer.  I think they would be ready only in autumn.  Same for the pumpkins.  As of now, we have spotted three small pumpkins and some flowers.  They would continue to grow until autumn or even early winter.  That would be great since nothing beats a bowl of hot pumpkin soup and homemade bread when it starts getting cold outside.  I have planted two types of pumpkin - winter pumpkins and giant pumpkins.  The winter pumpkins are growing faster than the giant ones.  The cucumber and butternut squash are flowering but not fruiting yet.  

So, before the harvesting starts, here's a peek at our garden:

The rows and rows of potatoes.

A close-up of potato flowers.

Three out of the four rows of carrots. You can see the first two rows are bigger since they have been planted two weeks earlier.

The rows of peas which are towering and hiding the shorter bean plants behind them.  Next year I would plant them separately. 

The pumpkin and cucumber patch.  See the ugly, empty space where the two butternut squash plants should have been.  I still get upset when I look there.

A pumpkin flower.

The bigger of the three growing pumpkins.

One of my flowering lavender bushes.I might harvest the flowers to freshen up our home.

Here is summer

We have been having real warm, beautiful, sunny days for almost a week now.  The sun has been shining throughout the day and it gets so warm in the apartment that we have had to use the fan and open the windows to let the cool wind in.  Days like these, it's much better to be outdoors instead.  It's very windy here and this is the only time I appreciate the strong winds.  As Pete and I go on our walks, the winds cool us down, even as the sun bore down on us.  As a result of being outdoors, I am finding my tan again.  Pete is also getting some colour on his skin, though most of it is on the back of his neck.  

Yesterday didn't start out too well, though.  It had been raining in the night and the rainy continued to drizzle in the early morning.  The day was cloudy, wet and grey and the winds were chilly.  Pete and I had plans with our friends.  We planned to join them on a dive that day.  They live in a town just outside of Malmö but they would drive here to dive sometimes.  We were to go with them and sit by the beach as we waited for them while they go into the water.  I guess you can say that we were to be a sort of safety team just in case something happens.

Luckily the weather cleared up and we continued as planned.  They picked us up and away we went to one of the city's dive spots.  The view was breathtaking - navy blue sea, rocky beach, and the Öresundsbron, the bridge that connects Sweden to Copenhagen, just in the distance to our left and the Turning Torso, another of Malmö's attractions, on our right.  It was very windy there but the sky was clear and the sun was shining.

Our friends suited up in their gear and after checking all equipment, they got into the water.  They planned to surface 45 minutes later so Pete and I spent the time walking among the rocks and sitting and chatting, while enjoying the view.  Back home, I have always enjoyed views of the sea whenever I go to the beach.  Living in a small island means that the sea and the beach is never far away, so sitting there and looking out in the water comforts me.  It made me feel like back home, except the view was different - I was looking at the shores of Denmark and not Malaysia.  The best thing is also that I was enjoying the view sweat-free, unlike back home, in the tropical heat.

Soon, our friends made it back safely.  They got out of their wet gear and packed up.  Understandably, they were ravenous so we had lunch and then back to our place for dessert and coffee. It's very nice to be outdoors and hang out with friends on such days.  We didn't have to worry about the rain or snow and we could stay outdoors for as long as we wished.  Summer is here and I do hope for more of such days.   

The hills are alive with the sound of...panting

The last couple of days have been absolutely lovely in terms of the weather.  The sun is out early and it looks so nice and bright when I wake up at 7. The wind has also been kind - not too strong, not too cold.  Because of the National Day that fell on Thursday, we had a long weekend - so we had a lot of time on our hands.

The garden has taken up most of our mornings.  We went there almost every day to try and keep the weeds under control and to plant some more stuff.  But we don't have to stay there long.  We were usually done after 1 hour or so.  That left us lots of time to do other activities outdoors.

We haven't been going on our walks the last couple of weeks since the weather had been dreadful - so wet and windy.  We have bought a football so we could run around and exercise a bit but we haven't had the opportunity to do so, until this week, that is.

Since the days have been so nice, we have managed to go out and play football.  There's a huge football pitch nearby so we headed there with our football.  There were even small goal posts that were perfect for us.  Since there were only two of us, we played one-on-one and it felt so good to shoot and score goals.

I used to play football with my friends back home, usually with the guys, so I am familiar with having to dribble past guys or getting tackled. But Pete is so strong!  I find myself flying every time, he tried to get past me or to get the ball off me.  And he kicks with such power that I get stung if I try to intercept his ball.  But it's all fun and he does try to not kick too hard.  And it's really fun to run and roll around on the grass.  

Apart from playing football, we also have been enjoying scenic walks around the neighborhood. The area near the garden is being developed into a huge park with a lake.  It's still has a long way to go, but there are currently trails for walking or jogging.  The trail starts just beside our garden and goes up and down some slopes.  It makes for a nice, mildly challenging walk.

If we weren't up for the long walk, we could just run up and down the hills.  That was what we did this morning.  After working at the garden, we did some laps up and down the hill.  It's tiring, of course, but since its not too hot, and the skies so nice and blue and the grass so lovely, soft green, it was really one of the nicest way to exercise.  We were panting, of course, since we haven't been exercising regularly but if the weather keeps up, this could be our daily thing and maybe we just might get fitter.

Fruits (or should it be vegetables) of our labour

The weather has been a bit cloudy and wet these few days.  Yesterday, I woke up to another grey, cloudy morning.  Usually the grey clouds will clear and by afternoon, it will be sunny again until the sun goes down at 8 or 9pm.  But just before noon, it rained - first a light drizzle and then the skies opened and it rained so heavily that I could see anything through the window.  I thought I'd be stuck indoors the whole day.

But the skies cleared within the hour and the sun came out again.  We decided to go to the garden.  I know that I have some peas, beans and zucchini to harvest.  The zucchini were about 10cm long the last time I saw them three days ago.  I didn't want to wait too long because I know they can be super growers.  I don't want them to get too big and tasteless and tough.

When we got there, we decided to check out plot number 2.  His mum wanted to get a plot there as well and was hoping to get the unused plot next to ours, number 45.  The owner said she has sustained a knee injury and couldn't work on her plot.  She has been given another two weeks to start work on it.  In the meantime, his mum has been offered number 2 so we went to see where it was located and if it was any good.

The plot as two rows behind ours and looks bigger than ours.  Lots of weeds have been growing there so it would need a lot of tilling.  However, the fence is still good and she wouldn't have to put up a new one.  As we were walked back to our garden, I noticed that a lot of the vegetables in other plots have not been harvested.  It is such a pity to see broccoli, squash, lettuce, onions and other goodies being wasted.  I guess for some people, the fun is in the planting and seeing them grow.  Maybe they don't really enjoy eating the vegetables.

For me, I much rather plant stuff that I want to eat.  That's why I chose the plants that we have.  I didn't opt for the zucchini but they plants were from my mother-in-law so I planted them anyway.  I am also amazed at how the plants hung on and survived the cold weather at the start of summer.  That made me treasure them and I have been harvesting and cooking them.  I have stuffed, roasted and boiled them in soup.  Next, I want to try making zucchini bread and zucchini muffins.  I will try not to throw them out.

I have also been enjoying the peas, beans, carrots, potatoes, onions and lettuces.  They all taste better than store bought ones.  The carrots, especially, are so flavourful.  I can smell them as I pull them out of the soil.  I can smell them as I peel them and they are so nice and sweet after cooking.

I think next year, I am definitely going to plant more carrots.  I will also plant more potatoes, peas, butterhead lettuce and beans.  I will want to try planting cabbage, romaine lettuce, leeks and butternut squash.  I might even want to try planting broccoli, even though Pete doesn't like them.

As we were walking back to our garden, Yvonne, my sister-in-law, pulled up in her car together with her two youngest kids and my mother-in-law.  They were there to check out the available plot too.  After checking out plot 2 again, we walked back to our garden and I started harvesting the zucchini.  They have grown thrice their size!  I managed to harvest six big zucchini, about 30cm long.  I also harvested a whole lot of yellow and green beans and peas.

Yvonne's son loved the garden and was eager to try the vegetables.  Pete let him pull up a carrot and he ate it all up.  He loved it.  Then, when he saw me harvesting the peas, he came over.  I let him try one and he loved that as well.  He said it was sweet and juicy.  I let him pick as many peas as he wanted.  He ate quite a lot!  But it's really fun to see someone else enjoying the fruits of our labour.

But, apart from the harvesting fun, we did get an unpleasant surprise.  We found some dog turd in the middle of my old bed of peas.  We have seen some just outside our plot some weeks ago, but this is much worse!  One problem with our plot is that it is just beside the bike and walking lane and it is a popular one with dog walkers.  Also, we don't have a proper fence and gate.  We have put up chicken wires along the outside perimeter but we left a gap of about 1.5m for us to get in and out.  I guess that opening 'invited' these dogs, especially if they are unleashed.  But then again, the dog owners should have known that the garden belongs to someone and there is no reason for them to trespass, let alone allow their dogs to relieve themselves there.  That really made me mad!  We definitely have to work on putting up a proper fence and gate soon or else we will get more of such unwanted 'gifts'.

2 more weeks

Today is the 16th day of the fast.  That means that we have been fasting for more than two weeks.  The first week was tough.  Unlike the cloudy and windy days before fasting started, the sun decided to come up in its full glory during the whole of that week.  We had to brave the sun from as early as 7am until the weather cools down in the evening at around 8pm. 

But last week, we had some days of rain in between so the weather got a bit cooler and more manageable.  There was even one day when we had a rare thunderstorm.  So with the kinder weather, we had a more comfortable second week.  Also, we get to break our fast earlier every day.  On the first day, we could only break our fast at 9.36pm.  Today, we can break our fast at 9.09pm.  I also think that we are more and more used to fasting the long hours so we don't get headaches or stomach pains so often.

We are at the half way stage now.  Alhamdulillah it is getting easier every day.  I am very surprised that Pete has taken it in his stride.  I am just as surprised that I could last the long hours.  At the end of each day, I always get a sense of accomplishment.  The feeling is amazing and makes me feel like we are strong enough to face challenges. 

Oh and another wonderful result of fasting - we both have lost weight!  I guess eating just one meal a day will do that to you.  With 14 more days to go, we are looking forward to completing our fast and to lose even more weight.

Fasting in summer

After a week of fasting, I must say that this has been the most challenging Ramadan ever.  First of all the hours are long.  We have to fast for more than 18 hours a day.  The long hours did not only mean that we have to wait a long time before we can break our fast.  Our late supper, usually after 9.30pm, meant that we would go to bed with stuffed tummies.

That made it difficult to go to bed.  Also, that meant that when we wake up at 2.30am for our morning meal, we are still too full to eat.  We some times only drank a glass of water or shared an apple.  That caused another problem - we got too hungry in the day since we didn't have enough to eat to sustain long hours of fasting.  Some times, it seems like we had gone without food or water for 24 hours. 

The lack of food for long hours some times would cause my tummy to be wrecked by sharp pains.  When that happens, I had to grit my teeth and wait for the pain to be over.  And usually it will.  Another challenge is the dry air.  It makes my throat dry.  I didn't notice how dry the air is before I started fasting.  To make matters worse, the past week has been very hot.  Temperatures would rise up to 25C and the day would start getting bright by 8am and the sun would not relent until past 9pm.

So, this week, what we had to do was to adapt and adjust.  We made sure we didn't eat too much at night and to find something light that we could eat in the morning.  I planned to serve oats in the morning but it was too much for us so we ended up eating cereal instead.  And with each day, once we got used to it, it gets easier and easier.

Before I moved here, I had already started to worry about fasting during the long hours in summer.  And after experiencing it for a week, I can say that it is more challenging than I thought it would be.  But it is the challenge that makes me feel so amazed and so thankful that we made it day after day.  I'm even more amazed that for a first timer, Pete, the guy who loves to snack on chips, is able to keep up. 

Now that we've completed one week of fasting, I believe it will get easier.  We have gotten used to the long hours of fasting now and most importantly, the days are starting to get shorter.  It's also likely that the weather will get cooler next week.  Hopefully we will be able to complete the rest of Ramadan healthily.           

July's Harvest

The past week has been very hot with not a grey cloud in sight.  I guess this is how summer days should be.  Despite fasting, we do have to make sure that we visit the garden regularly.  The plants are growing really well there and we have to make sure we water them enough to keep them growing. 

The sun would come out very early in the day and we have to either wait for evening when it's not too hot or go earlier in the morning to avoid the midday sun.  But sometimes it's very hot and the sun is still so bright at 7 or 8pm and sometimes it gets very hot so early in the morning.  On days like that, we had no choice but to stay at home.

Today, we decided to head to the garden early in the day.  Even though it was only 8am, the sun was beginning to shine and when we reached the garden, it was really hot.  So we quickly did our chores there.  Pete dug up four of the potato plants and then started watering the plants with the watering can.  Luckily, our Chinese neighbour has finished using her hose and offered it to us.  It made the watering easier since he didn't need to walk to and fro the tap which is about 15m away.

I did some weeding so that I could reach the bean plants.  The yellow beans, which was among the earlier batch of vegetables which were planted, are already producing beautiful beans.  I picked the ones that are long enough while carefully making sure I didn't disturb the flowers which will grow into beans.  I could see more tiny beans growing so I think next week would bring a bigger harvest.

The peas that were grown earlier are also producing flowers and pods.  These were the survivors after the whole patch was ravaged by rabbits.  In fact, that patch must be the rabbits' favourite since they have been spotted running from there when we visit the garden in the evenings.  I also spotted pods that had nibble marks on them.  Today, I found two pods that are swollen and fat.  I think they are full of juicy peas and should be ready to be picked.

I also checked on the peas and beans that were in the planters.  They are doing very well.  I spotted lots of pea pods and tiny beans growing.  The beans I planted there are the green variety so they are a bit different from the other bean patch.  Funnily enough, the leaves of the green beans are yellowish and while those on the yellow beans are much greener.  I think the peas and beans at the planter should be ready in one or two weeks.

The zucchini plants have already produced a few fruit.  They have started flowering late last month and earlier this month, I have seen some big ones.  However, their ends have rotted and I only managed to harvest one good one.  I had to keep a close eye on them and hope that they would grow big enough without any blemishes.  Today I was lucky to find two that were of good enough size so I harvested them.  I think they will be good in a stir fry. 

The carrots are also growing well.  In fact, I think the carrots are among my favourite vegetable to grow.  They don't take much attention, apart from regular watering.  I also had to keep thinning them but even that is fun to do.  There's something about pulling the baby carrots up that makes me feel good.  The baby carrots are also flavourful and could be used in cooking.  We've already done enough thinning and the rest are left to grow even bigger.  I needed some for a soup I would be making tonight so I pulled up two average sized carrots.

We left the garden with a couple of kilos of potatoes, two zucchini, two carrots and a handful of beans and peas.  Not bad for our first 'proper' harvest. 

From the garden to the kitchen

We don't go to the garden as often as we used to any more.  These days, it has been raining and grey and cloudy so the plants would have more than enough water.  Besides, we don't really want to go out in such dreary weather.  All I am worried about is always the weeds.  My fear is that the weeds would take over the garden and grow all over our veggies, herbs and flowers.

Yesterday, the sky cleared enough for us to brisk walk there to plant some Asters, a type of fower, that I had sown on my balcony.  When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised.  Finally the garden has shown some life.  A large part of it is due to the weeds but we were happy that our vegetables have done just as well. 

The lettuce beds are full of healthy, juicy leaves.  The potatoes have continued to grow.  The row of carrots have such long, healthy leaves growing above the ground.  The two surviving cucumber plants have even started flowering.  The squash plants have done very well, too.  Lots of yellow flowers are blooming and we found some beautiful, long squash growing from them. 

This week, we didn't buy a lot of vegetables and since the babies are doing so well, we decided to take some home.  We picked the biggest squash, pulled up a potato plant and some lettuce.  We also picked some baby carrots.  They could leave them to grow even more but we had to thin them anyway, so that the remaining carrots would have more room to grow.  So the baby carrots went into our bountiful basket.

With the vegetables, I decided to make a light summer salad with a quick, tangy dressing made with mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice.  Soft, boiled eggs rounded off our light lunch.



squash and baby carrots



hand-picked lettuce



chopped squash



a thorough wash and a couple of whirls in the salad spinner and the lettuce is ready



the almost ready salad



the dripping yolk and creamy dressing made the salad even better



Keeping it short

I admit.  It has been too long and yeah, I do seem to have a problem with trimming, but no longer.  I'm keeping it short.

So yesterday, I finally did it.  I cut my hair.

I've had it long for many years already.  I would trim it now and then.  Maybe every six months if I remember.  And when my wedding drew near, I kept it long since that was what every bride seem to do.  And it sort of worked.  With the long hair, I could have it up in elegant styles during my wedding, but then again, the looks could have been as easily achieved with wigs.

So now that both weddings are over (phew), I decided to try a new hairstyle.  Yesterday, I went to the hairsaloon at the square nearby and 30mins later, my almost-waist-long hair was gone and I walked with a nice bounce to my chin-length bob.

It really is a drastic change. It took years off me.  I really look young.  But then again, I have had short hair in the past and yes, I always look younger when I cut my hair short. And my head feels lighter.  Not to mention how much easier it is to wash my hair.  In the hot summer days, I wash my hair every day and with long hair and NO hairdryer, it took ages for me to dry it.  This morning, I only had to towel dry it and in about half an hour, it was dry.  But I still would have to buy a hairdryer to keep that bob looking good.

Pete loves the new look, so it looks like the short 'do is here to stay.

Bright nights

It's 8.30pm and I'm blinded by the sun.  I had to pull the shades down so that I can see what I'm typing.  Summer is upon us and the days are getting longer.  Although the past few days, the mornings and afternoons are cloudy, windy and chilly (today was 11C), the evenings, from 6pm onwards, the sun starts to shine.  The sun won't fully set until maybe 11pm.  We've been going to bed with the sun still lingering along the horizon.  But it's not too bright that we can't fall asleep.  It is a bit weird for me but I am taking it all in my stride.  And even when it does get very bright at night,  it's good for my plants at the balcony and the garden.  And for that, I am not complaining.

how the balcony looks like at 8.30pm

The days are getting longer

Pete and I headed out this evening at around 7.30pm to drop by his mum's.  As I walked out the door, Pete said, "Don't forget your sunglasses."

He was right.  It was evening and yet the sun was still shining brightly.  I was thankful for the shades, for the sun was in my eyes.  We were walking towards the sun.

The days are certainly getting longer.  It's already past 9.30pm and I could still see the sun behind the building in front of our apartment.  And it won't get dark before 10pm.  Sometimes, we were asleep even before it gets dark. 

Just another Sweden thing I have to get used to.

The garden is waking up

The last two weeks were cold, chilly and rainy, so we didn't go to the garden every day.  We figured the garden would have enough water from the rain and it would be too muddy to walk about.  But the last two days have been very warm and sunny and there hasn't been any rain.  I guess from now on, we would have to visit the garden every day to at least water the plants.

So, even though we were busy yesterday (I accompanied Pete to town for his meeting) we still headed to the garden afterwards.  We walked in the warm, bright sunshine but the wind cooled us down.  This is the time I am glad I live here where it's windy.

It's great going to the garden every day, there's always something new to be discovered.  Yesterday, we found the pea shoots growing taller and the leaves are starting to open.  We counted and found seven shoots growing.  I know I've planted more so hopefully the sun would give them a warm wake up call.

The beans have surprised me.  At first there was nothing growing there apart from some weeds.  There's a dandelion growing in the middle of the bed (grrr), but no beans.  The past few days, we could see them sprouting and finally yesterday, they have grown taller.  The best part is that there are now many more sprouts.  At the last visit, we counted maybe nine sprouting beans.  Yesterday, we found 25!  And all look healthy and strong.

The petunias are also recovering.  Maybe we could have lost one or two plants.  There doesn't seem to be any flowers growing there.  But on other plants, the flowers are blooming well.  The cute thing is that the flowers are much bigger than the leaves so, from afar, it looks like a row of flowers on the ground.  You can hardly see the leaves.

The squash are also beginning to grow bigger.  I hope they will survive and thrive in the summer's heat.  The potatoes are also growing well.  We burried them under soil two days ago and they have already grown above the new layer.  They are certainly growing bigger every day.

The garden is waking up.  Sadly, it also means that the weeds are also growing.  Actually, they are thriving.  The poor petunias are surrounded by tall, thin grass and there are other big plants that we could not identify growing all over the area.  That means there'll be more work for me at the garden.  More weeding, watering and tilling.  With the encouraging signs of growth, my plans for more sowing and planting looks promising.

Fit Flop weather

I brought two Fit Flop sandals with me in my luggage, thinking that I would be able to wear them during the warmer summer months.  And I thought May would be warm enough.  But since I got here, it has been very cold and I had to put on my boots.  Even sneakers are not good enough since the wind blows the cold into the shoes. 

Yesterday was a warm day but it was still windy and I didn't dare to wear the sandals since the wind could make it too cold for me.  But today was very warm.  The sun was very very bright and a check on the weather app on the iPhone showed a nice 20C. 

I wore my boots to the garden since it could get muddy there, but as we worked on our plot, the sun beat down on us and I could feel something familiar dripping down my back and my forehead.  For the first time since I got here, I was sweating. 

As we walked home, I could see the grass dotted with not only the hardy dandelions, the only flowers that could withstand the cold, but also many white and blue flowers.  I guess summer is really here. 

Time for my flip flops.

Give peas a chance

That was what Pete said when we were discussing our plants.  Such a joker.  But he is right.  In fact, I have to give all my plants a chance to take their time to grow.  Is this the mistake of beginner gardeners?  To expect too much too soon?  It has hardly been two weeks since I planted most of my seeds and seedlings.  Also, the weather hasn't been too kind.  The last two weeks were quite cold and frosty, not exactly perfect for growing.  Maybe the plants are waiting for better weather to sprout.

I guess I have to be more patient.  Luckily the weather seems to be getting warmer and there's more sun.  And the garden is waking up.  When we visited the garden today, we found more sprouting plants!  From a far, the garden still looks sad and empty.  But, when we got closer, we saw the pea shoots continuing to grow.  We also spotted bigger shoots off the beans.  Another good news is that the carrots finally look like they are sprouting as well.  I don't really know how carrot leaves look like so I didn't dare touch the carrot bed.  I was afraid I'd mistake the carrots for weeds. 

The squash plants looked like they have stopped growing after sprouting two huge leaves.  But they have now shown more signs of growth.  They now have more leaves budding.  The petunias are starting to grow again.  Over night, more flowers have bloomed.  Although the plants are still small, there were up to five flowers per plant!  Amazing!

What was amazing as well was how the pea shoots seem to be growing during the time we were there.  I watered the peas when I first got to the garden.  Then after weeding, tilling, watering and planting a new row of lettuces, I would always inspect the plants again before I left.  I swear the peas have grown taller and started to open up their budding leaves. 

So, yes, I am glad I didn't give up on them.

Hope springs

On Saturday, when we were on our walk, we stopped by the garden.  We didn't bring any tools with us since we figured the rain would have watered the soil.  Also, I was feeling a bit disappointed that the garden was not flourishing.  Heck, it was hardly even alive, except for the weeds.

And sure enough, as we walked towards it, I could only see the potato plants and whatever that's left of the petunias.  I walked to the potato bed to check them out and they are doing well, really strong and hardy.  Soon, it'll be time to bury them to encourage more growth.

Then Pete called me over excitedly.  He was standing by the bed where we planted peas.  He pointed out a tiny green speck.  "Look, honey, it's growing!" he said and sure enough, I could make out what I think are baby leaves.  We counted more tiny green specks.  Nine in all!  Phew.  I guess although we couldn't see anything, underneath, those peas are fighting the chilly days and nights and clayey (is that even a word? but I don't care, it's my blog and I can use any word I want!) soil to finally sprout. 

finally, a sprouting pea

And the onion that has sprouted a few days ago is looking healthy as well.  The squash and petunias are not looking good.  The carrots and beans are still not showing anything yet.  But I'm hopeful.  It has only been a bit more than a week since I planted the seeds.  Also the weather has been a bit too chilly the last week so maybe the seeds are waiting for better weather to sprout.

I think that's what they will get soon.  More sun and gentle rain.  I am hopeful.

this onion looks like it's growing well

another onion sprouting

Sun's out!

After Saturday's cold, gloomy weather, the sun that came out yesterday was such a welcome.  The whole day was bright and sunny.  I really love the sun.  It's really bright here and these days, the sun doesn't set before 9pm.  But when the wind blows, which is quite often, it can get very cold.

We were indoors for most of the morning.  After doing the laundry and having lunch, we decided to go for a walk.  I am trying to get used to the colder temperature here and so I had on my usual short sleeved t-shirt but I had a jacket on just in case.

We took our usual walk towards our garden to check on our plants and then we continued to follow the bike path.  It was a beautiful day and judging by the number of other people who were out walking and running and playing soccer, we were not the only ones who were thinking like that.

We lost one

First sad news.  We lost one.  One of the cucumber seedlings did not make it.  It shrivelled and died.  But the rest of the plants look like they are doing well, growing taller and bigger.  More potato plants have grown so very soon, we'll bury them in soil again and hopefully there will be more potatoes down there.  The squash plants are also doing well.  New leaves are growing and the first two leaves of each plant are bigger now.  But there are no other activities in the other beds.  We got a lot of sun today.  Hopefully more to come soon and that the real summer weather is here to stay.

the biggest potato plant in the patch

new leaves on the squash plants

cucumber plants growing well

the dying plant

This is summer?

Yesterday, Pete, his mum and I, went to his sister, Yvonne's town about an hour's drive from Malmö.  Her eldest son, Simon, was going through what is called there a 'Konfirmationen' or a 'confirmation'.  I don't exactly know what it is in English, but this is what the young kids there go through after they have finished months of Sunday school.  We were invited to attend the ceremony which was to be held in a church and then we'd go to Yvonne's place for lunch.

We set off at 9.45, in the cold, and windy morning.  The drive there was lovely.  Although it was cloudy, the scenery was gorgeous.  There were fields and fields of green wheat or yellow plants which I learnt would be turned into canola oil.  Beautiful!

 Once we reached the town, Pete's mum had little trouble finding the church.  But there were a lot of other people there so we had to park a bit out of the way and walk to the building.  Once I stepped out of the car, I was frozen.  The wind was strong and on top of that, it was raining lightly.  The raindrops were like blasts of ice water.  I shivered as I walked pass the neatly maintained graveyard, not because of the graves, but because of the cold.  And boy was it cold! I was wearing my summer coat which offered me little protection from the freezing, harsh wind and the fine, cold raindrops.

Other people were also making their way into the church.  Simon's group had 12 other kids so the small church was packed.  We joined Yvonne, who was already there with her 2 other children.  Sitting there, I looked curiously around me, taking in the stained glass windows, the lovely shade of green of the pews, the huge painting in front of me and also of the other Swedes there.  I felt like I was in a quaint little village.

inside the church

outside the church

Simon is the one in the middle

The ceremony took about a little over an hour.  The whole ceremony was in Swedish, of course, and Pete took it upon himself to be my translator.  I suspect it's just so he would not fall asleep :P I took it as a Swedish lesson.  As they sang, I tried to learn the pronunciation of the words.  Like some English words, they are not pronounced the way they are spelt.  This is not going to be easy!

Back at Yvonne's place, we were nice and warm and there I met up with his other sisters and nieces and I finally met his oldest sister.  They are chatty and funny.  They do like to joke and tease each other.  Now, if only I can speak Swedish...Yeah, they talk mostly in Swedish and someone, usually Pete, will translate for me.  And they do speak in English to me.  But oh, how I would love to I learn the language.

Yvonne served a Greek salad with feta cheese and olives, Swedish potato salad, grilled chicken drumsticks, cold cuts, a chicken quiche lorraine, and slices of baguettte.  Then later, there was tea and coffee to go with a selection of cookies and the very Swedish princess cake - a thin layer of sponge cake with a generous layer of whipped cream, covered with green marzipan.

We left soon after since we wanted to visit his youngest sister who was warded at the hospital in Malmö.  While waiting to get into the car, the guests who were standing outside the house to smoke, were huddled together, Pete's sister being one of them.  She was hugging herself while saying that it's too cold for summer.  Summer?  Yes, she said, according to the calendar, it's supposed to be summer.

When we reached the hospital, the parking was outdoors so we had to brave the rains and wind again.  We all pulled our jackets tight and brisk walked to the building.  Inside the wards, it was warm and nice.  It smells of coffee inside, so unlike the wards in hospitals back home.  There's even a small cosy room for visitors and we were welcomed to help ourselves to the coffe and tea.  We only have to pay a small sum for it.  The warm drink was such a blessing.

His sister is being warded for some pains in her abdomen and the doctors were going to do some tests to determine the cause.  She had to still be warded until then, I guess.  I hope they will be able to treat her.  She is also preganant, which makes it difficult to do more tests on her.

Soon, it was time to head back to the car.  The gloomy weather didn't let up.  I was so glad to be in the warm apartment.  As we wind down the day and prepared for supper, the rain stopped and the sun came up.  It was close to 7pm and it was bright!  Well, that's Swedish summer, I guess.