Spring Tasks in Northern Sweden

These are the tasks we run around and do each year as we transition from below zero weather to the start of the summer sun.

Property

Collect all the high-visibility snow-marker poles in, that are used to mark out areas and obstacles during the winter.
Litter pick the property, and nearby paths. There’s usually lots of litter from the main road revealed by the melting snow.
Walk the property to check for any winter damage from snow or wind.
Think about any projects involving hand digging of hardpack soil: any areas that are normally too hard to dig in summertime should currently be soft with the meltwater
As the snow melts, pump any floodwater out from the greenhouse. This tends to be years when the snow melts suddenly, as normally the water can seep away through the soil.

Swap the studded winter ice tyres off the cars, replacing them with normal-weather tyres. This has to be done by the end of the second week of April. After this there are police fines as the studded tyres cause increased road surface damage.
Remove winter-specific equipment carried inside the cars, like snowshovels and ice scrapers
Pack away dedicated snow clearing equipment like the snowslunger (snowblower), snow shovels and snösläde/snöbjörn.
Pack away any winter sports equipment like skis, snowshoes, snowboards
Pack away winter clothes, and get hot weather clothes out

Start seedlings and plants growing indoors, ideally with a fan blowing on them so that they don’t grow too weak to survive outdoors
Bags of manure, compost, and bark chippings are on sale at the supermarkets
Garden centres start to open in stages, so we might go and buy plants for new projects

Get excited by the rapidly increasing sunlight and warm sunbeams
If you have a house battery and solar, make configuration changes to set it to act like a normal solar battery
If you have a solar panel installation, make changes to scheduleable significant consuming devices so that they consume energy in the middle of the day when solar is highest, instead of at night.
Food and coffee shop options start to increase as the tourist season approaches
Visit friends who have returned after having travelled away to sunny countries to stay for the winter.
Get ready to watch the great moose migration (“Den stora älgvandringen”) on SVT (about April 24th).
Think about where to watch the cow release day (“kosläpp”) when the cows are released by the farms for the first time after winter. Usually in late April or early May.