Hail, sleet, sunshine… and these growing in the garden right now

But first one pic from Thursday… we had like ‘forgotten’ all about our Nordic walking poles, but on Thursday we felt the need…

DSC03206

…the need for speed. 😉 In the forests here at home. Hopefully there will be some more pics and stories about my Nordic walking here in my blog later on. I mean, that I will now continue this hobby of mine…

So the weather has been a bit on the weird side lately; it’s been hailing and sleeting, but there’s been a lot of sunshine, too – even at the same instant – for example yesterday, it was hailing heavily and the sun was shining at the same time, I even ate one of the tiny snow balls yesterday, but today, is it summer yet…? No, today it’s been sleeting, again, but the sun’s been shining, too. Clearly, the summer is coming to Finland. 😉

DSC03214

Dandelion greens – food! (Not weed… 🙂 ) I already started the nettle tasting season. Yummies, let us eat more nettles and dandelions – the buds and flowers, too, later on, here in my blog…

DSC03216

A garden bunny is a happy bunny.

DSC03215

Just one pic of the whole narcissus plant we have in the flower pot…

DSC03218

In our garden there’s narcissus growing from the ground, too. Here’s some of them. They have bigger flowers and also some different colours in the flowers. The previous owners of this house have planted them. Thank you!

DSC03219

Rhubarb, coming through! We’re used to having a rhubarb overflow, had to cut some of them down last summer. The previous owners of this house have planted these, too. Thanks! 🙂

DSC03223

The peonies! Here’s some of my growing darlings. Aand, the previous owners of this house have planted these as well. And I am so thankful! 🙂 Peonies are my great favourites.

-Leena

Some things to one’s heart’s content

I visited the city of Turku last week, and visited the garden store Plantagen in the town of Raisio on Friday, too. I met this wonderful plant there… just had to take a couple of pics of it. I like very much going to Plantagen – there are so many flowers, plants, bushes, trees… everywhere around there. It’s actually one of my favourite places in the Turku region. 🙂

DSC03131

A garden croton or variegated croton are the names I could find in English, in Finnish this plant is literally a wonder bushihmepensas. 🙂

DSC03134

Just for the colours…

DSC03139

On Saturday here in the region of Satakunta, my home region.

In the evening we stopped by the lake Pyhäjärvi, the lake that is our great pride and joy here in Satakunta. A lake large in size, a bit sealike. It was windy and the sound of the waves was so powerful and lovely. I like very much visiting the lake in any kind of weather.

DSC03142

DSC03147

On Saturday, a bit later, a campfire in our garden. We, me and my boyfriend, are real campfire people. 🙂 We build campfires here and there, all year round, and in our garden, too. I love the scent, the sound, the atmosphere…

DSC03156

The food… We have a wok pan for the campfire. We like campfire cooking very much, too – on a wok pan, on a grill grate, on a stick… all year round.

DSC03157

The first fully opened flower of the narcissus in our garden yesterday. It was a rainy day again. But this beauty dazzles!

DSC03158

And yesterday in our garden, nettles – food! Nettles have started to grow nicely, let us eat nettles and speak of them later on. 🙂

-Leena

For the sun of today

Today it’s like spring and summer at once. 😉 It’s been warm and sunny this spring already before, but now it’s beginning to be like the real deal…

DSC03108

…I can take my coffee pic with green grass in it.

DSC03106

So warm and nice to sit on the warm bench. And the sky is blue…

DSC03105

But what’s up with growing wine grapes in Finland? 🙂

DSC03113

Dazzled by the sun beside the flower bed waiting for summer flowers…

-Leena

Some sun internally and a few delights in the garden right now

Today it was again time to get some sun… internally. 😉

DSC03089

Egypt meets Finland… Navel Oranges are so juicy and delicious, and cheap at this time of the year, even in Finland. 😀 After some heavy rain today I was sitting on the wet garden bench again, devouring my orange and after that I took a short tour with my camera around our garden.

DSC03091

Leopard’s Bane or doronicum has started to grow. Waiting for the yellow flowers, last spring there were so many…

DSC03093

Yesterday I noticed that one part of our chives has started to grow, too. I tasted a bit of one of them – the taste was so good and fresh!

DSC03095

The first yellow bud of the narcissus that was in my previous blog post.

DSC03099

This I’ve been watching the whole winter and even now; the blackberry bush in our garden has a few very strong leaves – they have endured there on the twigs the whole time. All the other bushes and trees have lost all their leaves many months ago. 🙂

-Leena

Early springtime

It sounds better than it looks, the early springtime – it’s all still very brownish, nature and garden both, but oh, the sound of the so many birds chirping, tweeting, chirruping, a woodpecker knocking… everywhere around you, even when the sun is not shining. It’s like some jungle… or just the springtime here in Finland! 🙂

DSC03072

One part of our vegetable garden. Our growing field will be expanded a bit this spring…

I was sitting on a bench, having my coffee and taking some pics.

DSC03076

I love these evergreen pine trees… I like to think them as palm trees here in the north… 😉

DSC03077

What’s your favourite colour?

DSC03079

Narcissus, Tête-à-Tête. Waiting for the yellow delights to spring up…

-Leena

Coffee owl

I came back (from Turku) to my country home here in southwestern Finland already on Tuesday, but it seems like there’s not happening much here in Owlnature… 🙂 But behind the scenes I’m preparing two blog posts, about our journey to a nature travel centre in the Eastern Finland in January this year.

coffee owl

It was a very special trip for me, because I had never been in such cold temperatures before, and because there’s still snow on the ground here in southwestern Finland, too, I thought it’s still appropriate to reminisce the trip here in my new blog. So, coming soon… 🙂

-Leena