It’s now only 30 days until the summer solstice
At 5.30 am it is +12°C. Coming 10 nights will be slightly colder, but only 1 below 10°. Plants kept indoors during winter definitly have to go outside! Begonias & fuchsias are already waiting inside the door…
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It’s 31 days until the summer solstice
I find that gardening with a cat on a leash is next to impossible

I need to unpack & assemble the 4 new benches to allow resting my back in strategic places in that same process …

Sun, +21° - perfect & the cat agrees …
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Half past 9 and very still…

There is a young couple fishing down there. Can you see them?
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That medicine really helps- less itching, fur is growing back, even slowly on the neck & no more sweater. But still on a lease after the vet’s ordination. After her dinner we went outside, she ate grass & we then watched the woodpecker together for awhile …
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#caturday

After sorting all that food I drove back & forth to Gothenburg to pick up the remaining allergy medicine for cat Alice - apparently 2 of the very last small bottles in the pharmacy system that my son had secured Tuesday. Huge achievement & no more gardening …
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It’s time for the ongoing fight against rodents, ants & snails/slugs. Already seen a few small ones of the latter.
I’ve ordered new nematodes, already have some for pots left plus snail granules to spread at night + poison

And there’s that delivery…
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Touring the garden…
Under the Bird cherry tree the scent is fantastic
The small cherry has its first flowers & the Malus tree will be next to flower. It’s full of buds & both need watering
Under the old apple tree I find a deep hole …
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The birds will have a ball coming days - numerous stale apples to be exchanged for new ones to keep the food fresh.
Filled the bird feeders - the right one with bars that the woodpecker, but not the squirrels can reach
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After sorting the veggie/fruit boxes bottom of the fridge I found that the amount of root fruits & potatoes is such that I could eat only that for weeks to come + today is def a day for banana bread & carrot cake
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Still 32 days until the summer solstice, but now only plus a few hours
At 11 am it’s +18° on the patio & I watch crow birds, squirrels & doves fight under the rhododendron while I wait for the groceries to be delivered & drink coffee
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And that’s about it …

That fridge, I’d better tend to it at once! Grocery deliveries will arrive early

Outside it’s more a smell of neighbors grilling than the bird cherry tonight..
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I then mulched all branches gathered so far - enough to cover all bare areas behind the logs by now
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I then listened to my cat & read in bed with her for some time (last chapter of your book now @asaplsnr @Skolinkvisition , really good. Already wondering whom to pass it on to. I already gave away 2 copies)
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So what did I do?
I did start that fridge cleaning process by pealing all sunchoke tubes + planted a few in a pot for future harvest…
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After another really nice day it is now 32 days & 19 hrs until the summer solstice & it feels like summer already. Tomorrow I’ve ordered new fruit & vegetables, so tonight I really have to clean the fridge making room…
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Spent about 1 hour on social media, avoiding the overall catastrophic news on war, politics & above all climate/nature crisis around this fragile globe

And that’s about it, very slow & restful .. I’m privileged, I know, right age, right place, etc.
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A bit later I gathered the branches from Tuesday & put on the sprinkler behind the logs
I’ll let it run for yet awhile

I also put a few tubes of turmeric in wet soil & sand (next experiment, the ginger is doing really well, see below)
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So, what did I do? Some cleaning, watering plants indoors, cuddling my cat

At 6 pm I went out to give some nuts & seeds to squirrels & crow birds
It immediately started a huge fight between jackdaws, magpies & wood doves before the squirrels took over …
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At 9 pm it’s only 33 days 18 hrs until the summer solstice & I’ve had a wonderfully restful day after finally a full night’s sleep…

Sleep helps!
I have not worried about any remaining gardening tasks, not cooked but finished the small pies, read a bit, etc
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And there is improvements indeed… But the wind had been such that the hammock had fallen over
I uncover the cemented stone & really nice result…
As I circle the garden the squirrels follow me around closely, wondering what’s become of today’s nut treat …
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