Garden party

On a perfect sunny July day we had a garden party at T's place with a ot of wonderful stuff to eat. On the photos foccaccia and strawberries with raw chocolate, just to mention some of our treats. In a good company playing a neo-traditional Finnish outdoor game was more fun than expected.

The first home-grown tomatos in my life!

This is a moment of triumph and jubilee! In spite of aphids munching the leaves, the first tomatos are ripe! There's going to be these red ones, yellow bush-tomatos (yeah, that's the botanically correct term. Not.) and then one plant that's named after my friend's and fellow gardeners baby boy. Looking forward to all of them.

On-street gardens in Berlin

Now that my eyes are open to gardens, Berlin looked like a paradise. You could see small on-street gardens everywhere. But lo and behold! Yesterday I bumped into first similar garden here in Prague on my way to dumpster diving. Yey!

Harvesting #1

Garden season is about over, I've been done some minor harvesting already. Coriander seeds, mint, rosemary, chili. Next weekend more. I'll  dig up the perennial herbs and guerilla plant them around. Watch out, Prague 7.

Also did some semi-illicit foraging with long-armed friend, can't tell you more details or coordinates I'm sorry. The catch, 25 almonds is drying in lukewarm oven at this very moment. Almonds! It feels so southern and exotic! I'll be self-supported when it comes to almonds for some time.

Jamming session

Got a basket of totally ripe peaches, so they had to be preserved quickly. For a total novice of jam making and even more totally novice handling peaches, I'm pretty satisfied with the results. 4 jars or organic and ecological jam with my own mint, lime and ginger. 2 jars of chutney with sweet'n'sour spices.

Front page garden news

My chili has turned red! My first chili ever! Hooray! And this is not all: there are promising flowers on the plant, so maybe, just maybe there's going to be more chilis than this precious one! Celebration!

Sorry once more for the bad pic, my hands were shaking so much I couldn't focus better. Going to get a camera from SIN, promise.

A daytrip to the countryside

Took a totally packed train on Sunday morning to Benesov, home of Konopiste castle. Walked from the train station to the castle following the most beautiful mythic old forest paths you can imagine. Saw a snake and 3 frogs on the way, perhaps a glimpse of an deer. Or maybe it was some fellow tourist. Ate one wild strawberry. Got zero ticks in my hair, I truly hope so.

The castle area was beautiful, lily pond, rose garden, castle (duh), bars... We spent the whole day there just promenading around and pretending to be noble people. Saw a phasant, peacock in a tree and a vegetarian bear named
Jiri.

Oh what a nice day it was! Back to Prague in the evening feeling drowsy but happy. Just like all the other weekend trippers.

Sorry czech language police for the missing accents, just am too tired to search them.

Different kind of gardens

The most recent pub and bar craze at my hoods: trampoline in the garden! I can just imagine the construction workers, winos and hip art students holding on to their dvanactku when jumping.

Other nice garden related hobby I've discovered in Prague is beer gardening. Holesovice communal garden bar is buzzed every evening, people wondering pleasantly in the midst of the plots, having beer and maybe but not necessarily watering and weeding. This Saturday there was a ping pong tournament.

The status of my chili is now green (phew), being black was only an initial phase. There's a bonus mint growing in my plot, too. The seed has flown from neighbors or has been in the soil already. I also have 2 such nice succulent-looking weeds on the plot that I don't have the heart to dispose them. Let them grow.

Early summer flourishings

Oh I'm so proud of my garden. I got chili, kale, spinach, lettuce, chives, lemon leaf, coriander, parsley, lovage, oregano, basil, mint, melissa (or heart's delight as it is sweetly named in swedish), portulak, lavender, rucola, cress, nasturtium, rosemary. Phew, what a plantage!

Would like to plant more and more but I'm running out of space in my balcony. I need to squeeze my chair there also for sitting in the morning sun, sipping coffee and writing or reading. Or just listening to buzzing bees eyes closed.

Siitäs saitte, vastoinkäymiset | On your face, hardships

Hah! Parvekekasvit selvisivät kaksi viikkoa t-paitasuikale-kastelujärjestelmällä, minttu oli venähtänyt pituutta kuin teini-ikäinen mutta kaikki taimet elossa. Puutarhani on elossa, reilun viikon rankkasade ei ollut tehnyt suuria tuhoja. Pinaatin on syönyt ötökkä, mutta istutan lisää salaattia ja ehkä mansikan tilalle.
Ja kaiken muun lisäksi... chilissä on hedelmä!!! Ei nyt tarkemmin mietitä miksi se on musta. Ehkä sen kuuluu olla musta.

Bite this, setbacks: every plant I have is alive and blooming! Balcony plants survived 2 weeks with a home-made watering system and heavy rains didn't ruin my garden. Spinach has been eaten by a bug, but I'll plant some strawberries instead.
And on top of everything else... I got a chili!!! It is tiny and black, I admit but maybe it's supposed to be black.

Pimeä puutarha -uni | Dark garden dream

Minulla oli valtava puutarha ovien takana pimeässä huoneessa. Kaktuksia, mehikasveja, soijapapuja, ruusuja, ituja... Paljon erilaisia kasveja. Ne kasvoivat siellä pimeässä, kerran päivässä avasin oven ja aurinko pääsi valaisemaan puutarhaani.

Ihmettelin suuresti kuinka kasvit voivat elää ja tulla toimeen niin vähällä valolla, mutta niin vain puutarhani kukoisti ja rehevöityi.

I had a huge garden in a dark room behind doors. Cacti, succulents, soy beans, roses, sprouts... Big variety. They grew in the darkness, once a day I opened the door and the plants were illuminated by the sun.

I was so amazed, how is possible that plants can live without sunlight. But they just grew, flourished and prospered.

Aloitteleva tarhuri käy ottamassa oppia | Beginner gardener goes to see Masters

 Häh, en ollutkaan käynyt Trojan kasvitieteellisessä puutarhassa tai sitten muisto oli ehtinyt hautautua syvälle mielen uumeniin. Tuntui ensimmäiseltä käyntikerralta kuitenkin.

Japanilaisessa puutarhassa avautui viikonloppuna bonsai-näyttely, sunnuntaina oli siihen liittyvä teemapäivä tai chi'n, origamin ja teeseremonioiden siivittämänä. Bonsain kasvatus olisikin tällaiselle tumpelolle, aloittelevalle ja äärimmäisen kärsimättömälle puutarhurille omiaan :) Katselin sujuvasti. Puutarha oli kiva, seuraavan kerran otan eväät ja lukemista, siellä oli paljon mukavia penkkejä ja soppia joissa viettää kesäpäivää haistellen yrttejä ja kuunnellen lintuja. Ja  bonuksena alamäessä bussipysäkille päin Pyhän Klaaran viinitupa.

Now I'm confused. I thought I had visited Troja botanical gardens, but it felt like brand new experience. There was a bonsai tree exhibition at Japanese garden along with tai chi, origami and tea ceremonies. Growing and cultivating bonsai tree would be the ultimate challenge for dummy, beginner and impatient gardener as myself... No way!

The garden was very nice, full of cozy benches and nooks. Next time I know to bring some snack and something to read so I can spend more time there, feeling the fragrance of herbs in the air and listening to birds chirping. And a bonus: Sv. Klara wineyard bar was on the downhill, on the way to bus stop.

Tästä se lähtee! | The beginning

Käyn aina aamuisin nuuhkimassa ihanaa mullan ja lämmön tuoksua minikasvihuoneessani, jossa kehäkukan, krassin ja ihmekukan siemenet pötköttelevät tai toivottavasti ovat jo puskemassa kohti pintaa. Parvekekuva on vasta havainnekuva, totta kai laitan yrtit parempaan multaan. Mutta tältä se näyttää nyt toukokuun alussa. Parvekkeen lisäksi mulla on vuokrapuutarhapalsta tai paremminkin -säkki kolmen ratikkapysäkin päässä :D

Each morning I go and smell the fragrance of soil and warmth in my tiny hothouse, where the seeds of calendula, nasturtium and 4 o'clock flowers are hopefully making their way to the surface. Balcony image is only conceptual, of course I'll put the herbs into decent soil. But this it what it's going to look!

Vahinkokasvusto | From the journal of accidential gardener

Kuka vielä väittää että mulla olisi puutarhapeukalo keskellä kämmentä? Vai kertooko kuva enemmän ruoanlaiton esiintymistiheydestä?

I just recently discovered this vital growth in my kitchen cupboard. Now who can deny my gardening skills, accidential as they may be? Or does the photo depict more the freqency of cooking?