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On the path to self-sufficiency in Sweden
Fire Lily
Posts: 296
Welcome to my home and my garden!
I live in a cottage that is at least 306 years old, but it probably is about 100 years older. When I moved in, the house had stod empty for nearly 50 years, so the garden was in terrible condition. Isn't this just a lawn "lawn nazis" would envy? 
But it did look nice from some angles.
Right outside the house, there was a slope, so I dug out one kubikmeter of soil by hand, so I had a flat area for barbeques.
And then I planted some Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver' to keep the soil in the new slope in place. Ignore the weeds, I tend to.
To be continued.
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Fire Lily
Your garden looks exceptionally nice and natural , aesthetically pleasing and I deem a pleasure to be in !
Well done !
I can imagine masses of bluebells growing in there during springtime ?
No bluebells, they are not hardy enough.
My garden is a tad bit on the big size, with it's 89 acres, but thankfully, most of it is woodland.
Does anyone think my pond needs some work?
What is fun about an old overgrown garden, is that suddenly plants pop up that have been dormant.
I live alone, but i'm not without help. My veggies can feel quite safe from mice attacks.
Hahaha, well I am of noble blood, so perhaps I will do that.
But I couldn't exactly call my cottage without a bathroom or running water a castle.
This property is actually medium, 900 acres are more normal for a "forrest farm". And due to the medieval law all mans right, nobody needs to own a forrest to walk in them, we have free access to all land.
I don't go through a lot of cats, they tend to die of old age, I put one to sleep a few years ago when he was 24 years old.
Fire Lily, I am afraid our castles tend to have no facilities apart from a Toilet that drops everything down to the base of the wall, you do not need a shower as most do not have a roof although we all have blue blood in winter, blue with cold. I love your garden it would be ideal for making a series of hidden jewels spots to sit and contemplate or picnic, do you get wild life wandering through the odd deer or wild boar even a reindeer, the odd wolf. I think your pond may need a JCB and would make a lovely addition full of fish Good luck with it all plenty there to plan and make after your own style, years of work a gardeners delight.
frank.
I have a somewhat tame roe deer, she even placed her fawn in my garden one year so I couldn't cut the grass. She is not afraid of me at all, she can stand and eat my veggies just a few meters from me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8XmPq8Dqg
For reindeer, you need to head further north. We do have wild boar in the area, but they haven't found their way here yet. Wolfs come and go, where I used to live they walked through my garden, but I haven't seen any here. And the other day I had several elks behind the house, they scared the crap out of my dog.
Not far enough North for Wolverine I'm guessing
any Lynx in your area? My father is Norwegian and most of the wolves left to the forests over the Swedish border quite a few years ago.
Last edited: 18 February 2018 17:40:53
Not west enough for wolverines. But lynx you can find in all of Sweden, if you are lucky enough to spot one.
Tell us about your self-sufficiency plans....
The wolfes walked in from Russia on their own.
My self-sufficiency plans? To set up a permaculture, but that takes a while, especially as I am sick and therefore poor. I had to cut back on my animals, so now I only have my hens and one rooster. I used to have rabbits and quails to. Quails are really nice for the meat part, they are not big, but naturally reach slaughter weight in just 5 weeks. Not like meat breeds of chicken that grow to fast and can't walk.