Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Like this!

Here are some pics of my growing garden.




In the foreground is garlic we planted in the fall. Take a clove of garlic and plant it 3 inches deep and 6 inches wide. After the summer you can pull them out and will have a head of garlic ready to be eaten. In the background are Chives. It grows back for a few years, then you have to plant new ones.


Just planted new Dahlia bulbs. It's starting to sprout!!! Hopefully it'll bloom this summer.


Allium - Purple Sensation. Easy to plant and grow.


Pansies. Collect the seeds and grow them for next spring! Pansies last longer if you deadhead.


Parsley the kids and I planted earlier this spring. They grow back for a few years if you plant them properly in the garden. The peppermint didn't want to grow. =(

Alliums: Purple sensations

I love these flowers even if they smell like onions! (I haven't noticed it)

The past year I have been lusting over those beautiful flowers. I didn't know what they were called or where to get the bulbs. Finally, after searching 3 different greenhouses, I found a few Alliums already in bloom. Now I know I have to plant the bulbs in the fall, and I can buy them online or at the greenhouse as early as August.

They remind me of Horton sees a Who, and they are tall and just gorgeous!!!

Easy to plant, and grow. No need to shelter them in the winter either! EVEN BETTER!

I am definitely going to buy some more in the fall, and I am going to try to collect the seeds from the ones I already have. It takes a few years for the seed to germinate into bulbing flowers, so we'll see if I have the patience to do it. I guess it all falls down to how expensive the bulbs are.

Peonies

I love my Peonies, but they apparently don't like me.

I planted my potted peony in the garden last fall and it has grown but there are no flower heads. I know it can take several years for the peony to adjust to it's new living environment, but of course, I have no patience when it comes to that kind of stuff.

The ants had no problem finding my peony, and are anxiously crawling around the leaves hoping the buds will come soon.

I hate bugs in general, so I should have never grown an interest in gardening. I did pick up a few good tips on getting rid of the ants.

Take a bucket of cool water and add a tablespoon of dishwasher soap. Give it a swirl and give the peony a nice shower. The ants will be grossed out and stay away for a while. They'll come back in a few days, but it'll give a nice temporary result. It's kinda nice to do that when guests come, so you don't have ants crawling near your deck or what not.

If you are planning to cut your peony for an indoor arrangement, fill a bucket with warm water and gently dunk the cut peony in it to get the little ants off. Then let it slightly dry off before you take it in, so the head won't be heavy and droop.

I'll let you know if my peonies grow buds or even bloom. I'll probably throw some good manure in the mix to help it grow a little better. I heard it helps in the spring time when it is growing so fast.

If your peony ain't budding in 2 or 3 years, you probably planted it too deep. Keep the bulb 1 inch under the soil. If your old peony is started to wither or not grow, you need to divide your bulb in the fall, and get rid of the old part of the plant. You may also have root rot, so move the plant in a place with better soil drainage.

Open House at Kindergarden.

Morgan is going to start Kindergarten this upcoming fall. In Sweden it starts at the age of 6, one year later than the States.

I don't know what happened, but we went to the open house on Tuesday and Morgan freaked out and threw a huge temper tantrum that lasted over an hour in front of the school. Thank God I came an hour early since I thought the meeting started earlier. Morgan just screamed and whined that he didn't want to go to that school. I wasn't sure if he was just throwing a tantrum like all 6 yr old kids, or if he was scared or nervous to attend the new school. Either way, he missed about half of the introduction and finally joined the open house meeting. He then realized that it was a really fun school. Finally he had a good time there running around with the other kids.

I guess going to school can be daunting. I have another friend who's child is anxious about school. It is probably hard to tell a child that he will become a big boy or girl and go to a big school to learn new things.

Skansen

Thursday we went to Skansen, which is the name of the Zoo in Stockholm.

We packed 4 huge baguettes and made sandwiches. My friend made homemade Swedish cinnamon buns which made our coffee break freaking AWESOME. When we arrived at the zoo, we started to eat our lunch and of course it rained! Luckily it was a passing rain cloud, and after the little shower, we had a full day of sunshine.

The kids had a great time, since they are old enough to understand which animal is which. Plus there is a little play area with rides, which they thought was fantastic. I think it overshadowed the zoo part. I guess the next outing with be the amusement park. They just added new attractions, and have rides that are more fun for the adults.

Oh brother!

My brother is in town for vacation!
Yay! He arrived on Monday, and the kids love the fact that he is here! They have been following him around like a sad puppy, screaming for attention. Too bad the first week he was jet-lagged and slept most of the daytime, but now he has allergies from the pollen. Apparently, the pollen is much stronger here than in NY, and I have been miserable for the past few months with, headaches, congestion, swollen throat glands, itchy/watery eyes, and even more side effects from the Claritin I was popping down like candy.


Poor thing is going through the same thing. What a vacation!
I went to the pharmacy yesterday and drugged him up real good, so hopefully he will feel better in the next few days.

Spa Weekend

Last weekend was so nice! As part of my 30 yr old birthday party, I received a spa weekend as a present from my girlfriends.

We went to the Clarion Sign Hotel in Stockholm, and had a child free weekend.

We started out by going to Medborgerplatsen and had a nice drink, and then we walked over to the Hotel and proceeded to drink champagne in the hotel rooms. Once we were feeling nice and bubbly, we went to the roof of the hotel where they have a pool and sauna.

Luckily, the sun shined, and we drank more and more Rose wine. By the second glass I was stupid and drunk, and after the sauna, I was even more stupid and drunk. =) Everyone loves a drunk Diana, extremely silly and stupid.

We were planning to have a nice dinner, but by the time we were ready to eat we were starving! Searching for a "nicer" restaurant failed and we took the most decent place in less than 10 mins. haha.

By 10pm, all the mommies were tired. We watched the last part of the Eurovision Song contest, and passed out by midnight. Clubbing never happened, since we are too old to wait on a line and pay an entrance fee.

But it was soooo nice to sleep a whole night. Well at least a few hours in a row. I woke up at my usual 5, 6, 7am feeding times. Old habits are hard to break. =)

Action week.

The past 7 days have been a blur. Last weekend I was away with my mommy girlfriends celebrating a child-free weekend. I will go into detail in my next post.

My brother is visiting me for the next month, so I've been busy entertaining and doing my daily chores. Plus, this weekend, being my working weekend, doesn't help either.

Monday is my well-loved laundry day, so hopefully I will squeeze some blogg time in between loads. So get ready to read a million different posts that occured during the past week.