Berry bushes

Berry bushes are doing good in our yard. Gooseberries and red currants alike. Black currants not so much. And the bumble bees are buzzing around. Funny I haven't really seen them too much until recently, but most apparently they have done their job with the bushes and the apple trees.

Around the longest day of the year

The longest day of the year was a couple days ago. Not that the days are too short plus/minus a month or two from it either. Summer is a bit of a fickle thing in June. Sometimes the weather is great, sometimes the rain is great and sometimes the thunderstorms are great. 

Last weekend I was in mid-Finland at my ex-inlaws' summer place with a bunch of teens. The evening there was absolutely beautiful. Sun had already vanished behind the trees when we got there around nine but it was light outside for three more hours. The darkest point of the night here now is between one and three am. 

It's Midsummer's Eve here today. Our apple trees are growing a lot of apples, we have started a little box garden after my husband built a couple of boxes - we have tomatoes in one and basil, chives, parsley and dill in the other one - and I made some "vihdat" a while ago for the sauna in the evening. Summer is summer even when it's rainy.

First week of summer

Come summer (according to the calendar) and the weather turns cold again. Our first week of summer saw strong winds, even a storm in central and northern parts of Finland and day temperatures of 8 and 10 degrees C. Still, due to the warm May a whole lot of plants are ahead of their schedule. Like the strawberries in our yard. I picked the first ones already last weekend. 

For a while I was a bit worried about our apple crop this year, since I myself didn't really notice too many bees buzzing around, but to me it looks like most of the flowers are turning into apples after all. Today I planted a new black currant bush to our yard but otherwise our garden stuff is hopelessly late. My husband is planning on building some garden boxes that stand high enough that the rabbits don't get to our plants. 

Anyway, our yard looks nice with the roses and yellow lilies and daisies etc. beautifully blooming. And we have a regular guest in our yard: a pheasant that thinks it's a rooster.