Hej! From Sweden

[Bread Maker]

Hi everyone.

I have been a member since July and just realised I haven't introduced myself so here goes.

My name is Anthony and I am a 40 something Brit living in Southern Sweden. I have been gardening for some time now and love it. I try to be as organic as possible and don't use pesticides (I do use organic ones like tobacco spray) and companion planting with herbs where possible. I love to grow my own veg but this year have only grown beets, raddish, lettuce and onions.
I am trying to introduce perennials into the garden but I do love annuals like sweetpeas. I have some wonderful Swedish and German ones which are a dwarf variety. They all have produced wonderful fragrant flowers this year (sadly not as many flowers as last year) and have filled the garden with stunning fragrances, I understand why they are a favourite to grow.

Well thats it for now, have a great day,

Anthony

[ale1981]

Welcome Anthony, where are you originally from in Britain?
And can I ask you which differences you can find from gardening in Britain and in Sweden?

[Bread Maker]

Hi ale1981 and thanks for the welcome.

I am originally from the North West of England. I go back now and again as I have kids and grankids. Social media ain't the same as seeing them live is it!

The differences between the UK and Sweden, thats a difficult one to be honest and I have never thought about it but i'll try and answer.

1: The soil is full of stone and I mean FULL!! The farmers all use some kind of fork on their tractors rounnd here and take out as many as they can before they plant seeds. Stll I have a few borders made from the stone I found in the ground!

2: The winters can be severe, just like the last one. It snowed on the 15th Dec and the snow stayed on the ground until the end of March. God was I sick of that stuff! The summers don't seem to be as long either. Last year I remember the end of Sept we had the first frost.

3: Someone said the weather here is roughly the same as in Scotland, so plant and grow things 1 month later than usual. All I know is it's very similar to the NW of England, rain, rain and rain, then rain No, we have had a rather good summer again this year with alot of sun.

4: Most things don't seem to grow as tall or as big as the same in the UK. Potatoes for instance. Sweden is a potato country but they are tiny in comparrison to the UK. I have grown them myself and they are small. I keep saying I will get 10 kilos from the UK, bring them over and plant them!

Most other things seem to be the same. We have the same flowers, herbs and shrubs etc and the same pests with slugs, sawfly, greenfly and others plus some really wonderful wildlife (checkout my blog)

[Husker]

Hi Anthony, and welcome to a great gardening site.

[Bodhisurfer]

hej! just had a quick read of one of you blogs. Looks like you get a long winter over there.

[Bread Maker]

Thanks for the welcome everyone

@Bodhisurfer. Last winter was the worst I have ever lived through and I don't want to do it again!! The 2 winters before were all pretty much like in the UK, cold and dark with a little snow. The only difference was it got down to minus 25 Last winter was the same temp wise but much more snow Hope you liked the read!

[stupo74]

Hi Breadmaker,
welcome, cheers stupo.