The Grand Finale has come at last, to the Heart for the World. Tulips in different forms and colors are overflowing the heart bed. I managed to prolong the poles that hold the chicken net, to give the flowers more room to grow. But now, in full bloom, the tulips struggle to get through the net. And I struggle to decide whether to “let them free” and be afraid every morning to see the tulips all eaten up by the deer. But perhaps I do anyway. People say the deer are more interested in buds, not the full blooming flowers. A heartful greeting from me and my garden 🙂
Last Christmas my grocery store sold stone pine cones as a decorative odd thing to have on your table. Put it in a warm place, they said, and the cone will open up and there you will be able to harvest the pine kernels. Well, the cone was beautiful as it was, about 9
centimeters big (3.5 inches). We tried to “warm it up”, but nothing worked. So I decided to keep it in the southern window of our house. And yesterday I discovered it had opened up, the spring sun basking down on it. So beautiful, so magic. With the black pine kernels tucked inside each “leaf”. I cracked one open and tasted it – absolutely wonderful!
Some of you have been wondering what the Heart for the World looks like today, in the beginning of spring. For you who have not read about it, go back and read about the construction of this special heart, a flower bed filled with tulip bulbs. The post is called A Heart for the World. As a reminder, here is a photo of how it looked at the end of the autumn 2015.
This is the heart bed, newly digged in the slope in front of our house, autumn 2015.
Today, april 2016, the heart looks like this. I have protected the tulips against deers with a chicken net across the bed, placed on poles to hold the net up in the air so the tulips have room to grow. Really, I have no idea what to do when these 30 centimeters (12 inches) of room for growing is used up and the tulips need more space.
On top of every pole I put a plastic bottle or a metal can to make the net move smoothly over the area and not get stuck on the poles. Some extra poles hold the net to the ground all around the bed.
For extra protection I put wads of unwashed sheepwool here and there, and soaked it with the badsmelling liquid I get as a side effect from my Bokashi compost. I dilute it a bit and spray on the wool. I have noticed the deers avoid places where I have sprayed this stuff.
I will keep you posted on what happens with the Heart for the World. I can tell you all the neighbours are as excited as I am about it.
Exactly. Listen to your ants. Have you ever realized it’s impossible to hear the sound of one single ant marching through the forest? But if you bend down over thousands of ants building and repairing their anthill in the warming sunshine of spring – then you can actually HEAR the ants. Try for yourself.
Slowly, slowly spring is approaching and everything is coming to life. Good for me, to be able to enjoy the awakening during a longer period of time. Some samples:
Well, now, look what came by today in my garden! A really royal visit, the “queen of the forest”. This time a mother and her two one year old calves. They banged through my too tiny fence, broke a post on the way, hurried down the slope, missed the roses and the tulips – and were chased away by me so they couldn´t have their usual apple buds meal. But before that I had the chance of taking a picture!
Combine new buds with tulips nearly faded – makes an abundance of joy!
If the Dutch are famous for growing and knowing everything about tulips – the Swedes are known to be the people buying most tulips in the world. A fact confirmed by statistics. Right now I am part of all those crazy Swedes, with my mind only tuned in on tulips, tulips, tulips.
Combine tulips with delicate branches from plants in the garden, here flowering quince and willow.
I see tulips – and only tulips – everywhere. And buy them. And arrange them in different groups depending on color, form, size, state of ripeness.
Sometimes I let the tulips stay in the vase, when the decay is setting in. There is a beauty in the changing of color, in the petals falling off and leaving only the pistils on the stem.
And of course do crazy things like hanging them upside down outside, with the bulbs still there! It was an experiment. It was winter and freezing cold outside, and I let the tulip with its bulb hang from the bird feeder. That was one month ago, and it has met wind, snow, ice – and is still alive. Seems like the bud is waiting for spring, because it has not yet started to blossom. So yesterday I bought some company for this courageous flower – six different kinds of tulips, all attached to their bulbs .
And of course I am waiting with eagerness to see the tulips in my “A heart for the world”, showing themselves. But that will take some weeks still, before they are peeking up through the soil in the garden. If you are interested, go to the post called “A heart for the world” and read more about how I made a huge heart flowering bed in the garden.
Blinding white snow. Fifteen degrees Celsius below zero. Winter sunshine dressing all nature in a coat of freezing beauty. I cannot have enough of it, it is so so beautiful. From the smallest branch to the bigger sceneries – it is one of these times when I feel very humble and thankful for being who I am and where I am, and being able to take in the magic of nature. I took a tour around the garden with my camera …
The birds in my garden give so much joy, and also are huge helpers in fending off harmful insects during the growing season. So I care for them a little extra during the cold part of the year. I have three feeding areas in the garden, but I have noticed that a lot of the seeds I feed them seem to be eaten up by deers or mooses. Okay, I suppose everyone would LOVE to have a moose in their garden. Hmpf! But try to imagine how much they eat, and how much they destroy in the process.
Chicken wire and apple branches.
So, at least I would like to help the small birds keep some of the food I give to them.
I got the idea to use a piece of chicken wire, a rectangular one left over from some other project. With four tiny apple branches from last years trimming, I fram
Cable wire to secure the frames of the board.
ed the wire and got a board, nearly like a picture, to be filled with different goodies.
Coconut butter mix
And so to the joy of filling the “picture” with bird treats. Natural coconut butter mixed with seeds, nuts and raisins. Tallow balls. Pieces of apple tied to the board by strings. Fir cones.
Tallow ball
I guess I will come up with more things to offer them as time goes by. But this will do for a start.
Then my plan is to tie ropes to the left and right upper corners, throw the ends of the ropes over a high branch in the cherry tree and hoist the “picture” of food up into the tree. We will see if that makes it stay clear from the deers and any occational moose …
Pieces of apple
The photos of the actual placing in the tree you see on top of this page 🙂
Fir cone
The complete board, a picture of bird food filled with goodies.
ned up, the spring sun basking down on it. So beautiful, so magic. With the black pine kernels tucked inside each “leaf”. I cracked one open and tasted it – absolutely wonderful!
Crazy Swedish Gardener 