Sofias Country Gardens

This week I have been super busy. I haven't gotten much done, but I've been super busy none the less. Mostly doing nothing but staring.. You see, I have baby chicks in the house, and I can't take my eyes off them! This is the first time I've gotten chicks by incubator, and truth be told something went wrong in the process as we only got two live chicks out of a dozen eggs. Sad as it is, sometimes things don't turn out as we would like it too. Nevertheless, I was really happy

Being an organic gardener, I often get asked how I control slugs and snails in my gardens. It is a fair question considering I am completely pesticide free in my gardening practice, and one which I have a most annoying answer for: I don't. I simply do not have a snail problem! I do have a small population of snails and slugs in my gardens, but they are not really a problem. I believe the reason I am this lucky is that I do however have a very healthy frog and toad population.

This winter I travelled to Mexico and visited the Hacienda stouta de Peon, a historic sisal plantation and museum. Sisal (Agave sisalana) is the plant material most widely used in rope production a few hundred years ago, when seafaring was at its zenit as the need to transport goods across the globe grew due to world wide industrialisation. Sisal is a strong material that has a unique capacity to withstand wet conditions and saltwater degradation, making it the material of ch

During the last decades there has been an alarming decline in bee populations caused by a combination of climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use, draught and nutritional deficiency. I emphasise the word alarming, because without domestic and wild bees we humans will have a very hard time producing our food since 70% of our top food crops are pollinated by bees! Imagine a world without fruit or vegetables, beans or nuts and you see the problem. The solution would be to ban

Ever since I first started gardening while in my twenties, I have always gone down the organic route. As I had the choice, I decided to follow a life sustaining approach and do my best to create a healthier environment rather than deplete it. While gardening in England I was of course much more affected by what happened around my two acre garden, and there was no way I could control pollution or pesticides seeping in from the surrounding area. But on my own farm that lies on

As we are going into the new year I would like to thank you all for following my blog and for the kind comments and support you give me. I hope you have a wonderful festive holiday and to hear from you again in the new year. Here are some pictures form my sleeping paradise. I have no complaints about winter, as I actually like this quiet time of year. I like the quiet peacefulness of being on my own, without any of the summertime obligations knocking on my door. The only thin

In early spring there are not nearly enough flowers flowering at Humlegård to keep the bees well fed as they come out from winter hibernation. This is not because I haven't thought about it, but because the garden at Humlegård is new and therefore lacking in the abundance of an old garden. At Stensund where I have been gardening for years and years, there are millions of spring bulbs that emerge as soon as the snow melts, ranging from winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) to sno

April is the most hopeful month of the year. The light has returned, and boosted by the transition to summer time the evenings become longer and lighter. As the snow is rapidly melting, I dig out my gardening books and spend many delightful hours planning this years planting in the kitchen garden. It will still be some time until I can start growing vegetables in earnest, but it is the perfect time to visit online seed catalogues and order this years seeds. My current favouri