Cold cold summer

Our summer so far has really not been a warm one. Rain, and temperatures between +10 and +15C in the day time making our summer only a few degrees warmer than last winter was! Night temperatures have been below +10C constantly for 2-3 weeks already, killing nearly everything in our garden. The only thing prospering despite the cold are the strawberries, native to our stark country.

 

 

Sunlight throught the branches

The moths have attacked a whole lot of trees again, making them look ghosty, even in the sunlight.

 

Sunset and lilacs

When I was a kid, I used to love lilacs. I thought they were very beautiful, and furthermore, I liked to suck the pistil from the flowers. For some reason I later on have started to believe that they are, while still maybe quite nice looking, nothing special because of how common they are here. So I haven't even taken any photos of them this year. Until yesterday. They have been blooming for several weeks already, and the flowers have started falling off now.

 

 

We have reached the weeks of nearly nightless nights, with the sun dipping below the horizon only for a few hours. The evening skies are quite beautiful when the sun hangs low just above the horizon, coloring the clouds and trees with a very special June light spectrum.

 

 

Summer at last

It's finally summer, with the night temperatures staying above +10C too. Things in our garden grow nicely: beans, both planted and wild flowers, strawberries and the midsummer night's rose bloom and we already made our first rocket salad out of our own rucola. 

Today we put our zucchinis, cucumbers and tomatoes to the ground (not pots this time), and basil into big garden boxes. We also planted some thyme and oregano and some more salad too.

Besides the rucola and onions growing for the second year unexpectedly, we also have found a couple real surprises in our garden. A little maple is growing in one of last year's pots, and I found a little yellow violet growing in last year's onion bed. I salvaged it to a pot before turning and cleaning the dirt for the zucchinis and cucumbers.

Back in Helsinki

Nothing much really happened in the nature while I was gone. The time was cloudy, rainy and very cold. I did notice some new flowers on my dog walks today though, the biggest thing being that the rowan flowers that were only buds last weekend, have opened during the week.

 

Caterpillars have been invading some trees again there in the forest.

 

Flowers of Gran Canaria

I spent four days on the island of Gran Canaria, staying in Las Palmas, but visiting the sunnier southern places on two occasions. There are flowers blooming all year round on the island, so in May too. I walked through the dunes in Maspalomas, where there grow some plants with tiny yellow flowers.