2024-05 Adding a Fence

In northern Sweden, May is the big change from below zero overnight temperatures to full/blown summer. Here is what we got up to this month.

New Fence

Our main investment this month was a small traditional Swedish fence (gärdsgårder). The idea was to give a bit of a windbreak because the plants in this corner get a strong wind that blows down the side of the garage. We also wanted to keep a traditional look to the property.

The people that did it were fast, and they did a great job. I went out to warn them where the underground internet cable comes into the property only to discover they’d already completed that section, so it went fine maybe by luck. The uprights posts stick up above deep snow during winter. The bottom of the posts are lightly burnt to make the posts last longer. The horizontal/diagonal posts are held in by woven bark.

The fence can’t be solid without planning permission, as property border fences must be 50% or better visibility or require permission. But I don’t think a solid fence would look pretty or be in keeping with the area.

Cycling

There are lots of gravel roads to explore, but I’ve only been doing some minor rides until July. I’ve got a work exam coming up that I have to study for so between that the spring house and garden tasks I’ve not just gone for any epic all/day rides but have done some 2 hour rides.

Some of the country roads can be quite fast and the cars are less used to cyclists and judging their overtakes. I purchased a bright orange long sleeved base layer to help with daytime visibility to drivers on the roads. I think having your arms bright-orange gives a clearer visible width than a high-viz waistcoat. That might make me visible to a driver sooner and discourage close passes by cars. I’d love to cycle in stealthy low-visual-impact woodland colours, but not on the roads.

Another purchase was to get a basic cheap bike computer to track how many kilometres the bike does.

Garden Clear Out

We cleared the greenhouse out of any construction materials and equipment. The empty greenhouse is good for storage overwinter. We then prepared all the plant beds inside and planted them up. With the disappearance of the snow all the half-finished projects were visible again. It was time to have a tidy up. The car took lots of trips to the new recycling centre near us to drop off offcuts, rubble and similar.

I built a new raised bed and handed it over to my partner. I tell people that I build, and my partner plants/grows which seems to be a common setup with others too. The new bed now has onions in. Onions and garlic seem to do really well. May is mostly a garden panic to get things in the soil. Planting them sooner means they can establish deeper roots before the scorching June sun and winds.

Planting

We’re going to try sweetcorn again this year but in smaller numbers and just for the challenge. Someone said it is impossible, and that is just like a declaration of a challenge to two stubborn gardeners. From last years experience we know that Sweetcorn needs effort. It required the full growing season, good watering and great soil or fertilizer. Last year they hit the roof of the greenhouse indoors. Outdoors planting got a little stunted by the soil and dry June weather. By first frost last year we had tiny sweetcorn cobs so we think it’s possible to get normal sweetcorn with a bit more effort.

In the rest of the garden there are lots of tulips coming up. Most trees came in to bloom at the very end of May. Some of the newer bushes and trees have been really slow to respond to spring. They have small green shoots barely showing, whereas other trees already have their leaves out. This winter reached -30C with winds so we’re waiting to see if the newer plants recover. It might be that some branches are dead.

Making Shade

It’s 24C and the sun is scorching with June going to be worse, so we wanted to prepare. We tried shading the greenhouse, which is a challenge in getting material. The material needs to give the right shading, be deliverable, stay on, and not look ugly. Camouflage netting was the first thing we could get delivered. It was a great shaded environment for working inside the greenhouse, but it was a bit too dense. It also looked a little odd from outside, although maybe it reduced the visual impact of the greenhouse.

Normal sunscreen netting arrive a week or two later, and we decided to use that instead. The camera was having a bad day here, but it’s normal netting tucked under the wires at each end.

Beaver!

I was litter-picking one Sunday when I came face to face with the beaver. Locally these are all related to a batch that were released about 40km away and have repopulated the area. I was able to get a few pictures, here is one below: