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.

Those lovely flowers of Midsummer Eve

It's Midsummer's Eve. This year our Midsummer is actually quite close to the insentive of the fest, the longest day of the year. Today, the day is roughly 19 hours, giving us 5 hours of "night", most of it only semi-dark dusk. On June 21st the day si a few minutes longer and then it will start ot get shorter again. Of course, in Lapland they already are and will be for a couple months still, in the nightless nights time of the year.

Here in Finland we tend to joke that our summer is short but not very snowy, that while in bible they called 40 days and 40 nights of rain a disaster we call it summer, that the old snow doesn't even melt before the days start getting shorter again (actually, this is accurate in some parts of Lapland). In Helsinki, we don't have snow, but it has been raining again for days and the temperature is barely 13-15 degrees Celsius. Pretty darned cold. But then, even though we call June Kesäkuu (summer month) in Finnish, it rarely is warm in June.

Nature, however, is beautiful. Lush, green, with flowers blooming everywhere. Berries are said to be late this year, I guess they are, but everything in our yard indicates a good berry and apple year. The other apple tree is full of tiny apple starts and the cloudberry and red currant bushes are heavy with raw berries. Our oninions are growing nicely, as are radishes and broccoli too. Didn't see potato sprouts yet, but then they haven't been in the ground for that long. Dill, parsley and oregano should be planted already. Even basil seems to be finally sprouting.

Flowers are growing like weeds. There's yellow lilies in a flower bed next to a pink rose. The Midsummer's rose on our neighbor's yard is putting out it's white flowers. Their rhododendron is in full bloom too. Daisies, knapweed, lilacs and chives  are making our yard look very Finnish indeed, with the blue and white color theme. Lilies of the valley are a bit over their best days already, but still blooming. Marigolds are growing in their bunny pots.

Rototilling

The previous owner of our house used to have a garden, used to grow poatoes. The plot has been uncultivated for the past five years. We wanted to have a proper garden there again, so last weekend we started a rented rototiller and began to turn the ground. It was hard work with the almost 10cm of hard grass roots and the soil heavily clay. My husband worked real hard and I helped as much as I could, and after eight hours of work, the job was done. 32m2 of  lawn turned into a garden patch. A couple of little birds were keeping us company, enjoying the little creatures that surfaced as we turned the ground over.

We immediately ploughed it too, and planted the first plants there too: radishes, broccoli and onions. Some potatoes will go into the ground soon too, and hopefully our zucchinis, cucumbers etc. will start soon - or we might just go and get some plants from the store.

Next to our garden patch, the rhubarbs have grown flowers, knapweeds have opened most of theirs, whereas the bergenias have dropped theirs. Lilacs are plenty in our yard and full of sweet smelling flowers now.

There's daisies growing next to our house where tulips used to grow, and chives in the box have flowers. And lilies of the valley have opened their flowers in the forest.

Doing some planting

Inspired and encouraged by the early spring, we started planting our herb garden last week. We planted som dill, basil, courgette and cucumber seeds. Also, we got some thyme, mint, rosemary and chives in pots and transferred them into bigger pots and placed them all in out mud room, our cold foyer.

Then we got hit by winter again. The pots with seeds are still in the mud room, but the potted plants we needed to take inside. So now our shower room is hosting our herbs until spring comes back. I guess this is just how it always goes in Finland. The dance of prince winter and the spring fairies. We've even got songs about it.

Garden coming along

Despite the colder weathers, chives and spring onions are growing nicely outside, and even the salads and beans are to be sprouting. Inside, the zucchinis are growing, as is basil, but the aubergines are taking their time. Also, on the yard, the hosta undulatas are poking through the ground.

 

Garden work

Finally we got around to do some garden work. We planted basil, zucchini, aubergines, dill, parsley, beans, rucola, salad and spinach seeds in boxes. A whole lot of herbs, tomato and chili plants etc. are on the shopping list, probably getting some plants instead of seeds again later on. And we were thinking of getting some flower seeds this year too.

 

 

Chives are already growing nicely by the sunny wall, but I cleaned the pot and added some new seeds there today. I also cleaned and turned the dirt in the bean pots, and planted those beans where they were growing last summer too. Otherwise the sunny wall is still all old pots waiting to be cleaned out and re-planted. And the bunnies are waiting for some of those flower seeds ;)

 

Spring onions will be ready for harvest here soon!

 

Flowers and butterflies

The warm spring days <3 We went to this dog park at Pitkäkoski today, and the day before too. There's a whole lot of hepaticas blooming in the forests there, and coltsfoot too. Trees are opening their leaves, though I'm still waiting on the birches... Catkins and pussy willows are seriously flowering. Today, I saw the first butterfly of the spring too - a bright yellow one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our little garden, the chives are growing. And the first bumble bee here on our own yard, too.

 

The Vantaa river is flowing free, has been for quite some time and througout the winter at the rapids. But there is still some icy banks left in the shady areas.

 

Autumn yard

Different plants react to the cooling of the weather so differently. Our tomatoes died long ago, and the pepper plants have wilted recetly. The chilis are still going strong, though, and the bell peppers have started to change color, despite being soft and wrinkled, probably due to the frost.

 

Basil has wilted (ok, we have neglected the watering too, and it has been a rather dry autumn), but oregano is doing good. Probably finally this weekend we'll get around to drying it. Parsley has gone into a new growth spurt, alongside with the chives. Thyme and rosemary are doing good too; actually, the rosemary never looked all summer long as good as it does now! Red salad has grown into 40-50 cm tall flowering salad towers.

 

The neighbors' cherry tree has become quite beautiful, with green, yellow and red leaves, all at the same time.