May 2017 has been a temperamental month. The first half of May was a mixture of sunshine and snowstorms, completely the opposite of last year when we had a blissful warm, dry and sunny spring. Indeed, on the 14th of May it looked like this:

More December than May I have to say! But then suddenly it turned warm and gorgeous and I could begin gardening in earnest. One of my projects were to compleat the planting by the parking lot at Humlegård, a task which my daughter helped to complete in a weekend.

At first we covered the ground with old pieces of fabric, some old sheets and a bedspread, so as to prevent grass and weeds to fill the flowerbed immediately.

Nature is so strong, and my back is so weak, that I have come to the point where I build flowerbeds upwards instead of digging downwards. In a few years the fabric will have decayed, but by then the grass underneath has given up the ghost and the perennials will have spread and covered most of the soil. ​

I make sure the bed is deep with soil so as to give room for the roots of the flowers, which is of course important as there is matting underneath.

The perennials we planted are self seeded Columbines (Aquilegia Vulgaris) and Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina) that always turn up uninvited in my kitchen garden amongst the weeds.

Last year I left them to grow amongst my vegetables, and transplanted them into neat rows in the autumn after I had cleared the beds of vegetables. This spring they had grown into healthy little plants, perfect for this new spot in my gardens.

As I had an abundance of pot marigold seeds from my neighbours garden, I filled up the rest of the bed with three rows of these planted from seed. Later on I shall post a picture of how it all turned out.

After watering the plants properly for about a week, we mulched the plants with woodchopping's, but of the finished result I don't yet have a picture.

Meanwhile back at the old farmhouse I was also busy planting the kitchen garden. As spring was so late this year, the past weeks have been a mad rush to get everything done!