In Finland we like to celebrate Vappu on the 30th of April. It is one of the biggest holidays in the annual calendar, and continues until the next day, the first of May. There are a lot of student traditions associated with it, but as the first of May is a bank holiday, it is also cherished as an extra free day spent gardening.

However, this year the weather was extraordinarily bad and although it coincided with a long weekend there was not much gardening joy to be had. Instead, we spent the evenings enjoying the light and cozy atmosphere around our table.

I had planned so many projects for this long weekend, but due to the weather I only got to finish one!

The week before I had ordered a large heap of good quality weed-free compost. As I only generate a certain amount of compost throughout the year, I decided to order enough compost to last most of the summer, which is a lot considering all the projects I have planned...

At Humlegård there is a mound hiding the sewage system, which I wanted to enhance with a low Spirea hedge. So first of all, I transplanted the moss and blueberry to an other part of the mound. As most of the plants are still "asleep" they do not so much mind the harsh treatment of being moved.

Then I filled the border space with new compost, evening it out and being careful to make sure none of the moss-plantings roots were left with air pockets.

Thereafter I planted a long row of Spirea Japonica "Little Princess" all around the mound.

I was quite pleased with the result when the weather suddenly turned worse. I had planned to mulch it with a thick layer of bark chipping, but the weather turned bad and not even Boomer my trusted companion wanted to stay outside, so we left the rest for an other day.

One hour later it looked like this:

Happy Valborg from Finland!