celebrating achievements

Unfortunately, I do not have much time to spend in my garden abroad. My progress sometimes seems sooooo slow... Therefore,  I thought it would give me some encouragement to note all the achievements so far. And then it suddenly does look impressive!

I am really happy and proud to have achieved the following:

A day's harvest of berries in July

1. My main focus has been on the berries, with early and late varieties of gooseberries, currants, jostaberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, blackberries, grapes, blueberries, mulberry, elderberry, sea buckthorn, and of course strawberries. I created a berry area, but some of them are also spread over the garden situated in colder or warmer spots order to spread the harvest time. Each of the berry bushes has a good mulch circle around its base.

2. The more cultivated area - including the mandala bed - has got a nice structure with elevated beds and deep paths. The paths have a thin layer of very rough woody mulch, while the beds have several layers of chopped leaves, grass clippings, and chop-and-drop layers. One of the paths runs on contour with a small swale mound below it. Little walls made of branches protect the beds from wind. Some high poles make a tipi and even a little gate and tunnel which is waiting to be covered in green.

3. I started with establishing some perennial and self-spreading herbs, flowers, and veggies! Between the wild oregano, sage, thyme, lemon balm, mint, sweet cicely, bear's garlic, and hyssop, some common mullein (verbascum thapsus, koningskaars, filtbladet kongelys), columbine (aquilegia, akelei, akeleje), borage (borago officinalis, komkommerkruid, almindelig hjulkrone), yarrow (achillea millefolium, duizendblad, almindelig røllikke), purple toadflax (linaria purpurea, walstroleeuwenbek , torskemund) red clover (trifolium pratense, rode klaver, rødkløver), pot marigold (calendula, goudsbloem, morgenfrue), and garden nasturtium (tropaeolum majus, Oost-indische kers, tallerkensmækker), now pop up different places each year. The biggest success in perennial veggies has been the lamb's lettuce (Valerianella locusta, veldsla, vårsalat) which has spread all over the garden as an edible ground cover! The first beds with asparagus were prepared.

My first harvest of organic garlic

4. It was a special moment for me to collect my first harvest of lamb's lettuce, potatoes, curly kale, Viking spinach, purslane, peas, chervil, rhubarb, rocket salad, and garlic. All these were interplanted at the base of trees or mixed with the perennial herbs as part of companion planting. The beds created are not  similar at all to traditional beds and sometimes I was the only one able to spot the harvest.

5. The growth of the herbs on the herb spiral looks stunning. I admit, I am impressed on how well this works. I will certainly dedicate a separate post on this topic.

6. The start of the guilds around the fruit trees can also be mentioned here. The main ground cover under the fruit trees are the wild strawberries, some red clover, and some bulbs, like narcissus, chives, garlic, and bear's garlic. In between the trees the fruit bushes are thriving. I wished it had progressed a bit more, but at least it is a start. Next season, I will add some lemon balm, oregano and mint.

7. I started with the propagation of berry shrubs and wild fruit trees. The first batch of new young  gooseberry bushes is growing well! The next batch contains blueberries and cherry plum tree cuttings. 

8. I had hoped to progress more with the planting of extra trees, but on the other hand, I am glad I waited a bit. Learning to know the garden and gardening in general, I changed my mind a couple of times on where and what to plant. So far, some hazelnut, a  hamamelis, as well as a more tricky mulberry tree and a delicate nectarine tree were added to the apple, cherry, plum, sloen, and cherry plum trees. 

A grasshopper hiding in the clover

9. In general, I am truly impressed about the increase in biodiversity in the garden after I converted the lawn into more exciting habitats: an area with high grass; a wild spring flower lawn; deeply mulched beds; stone, earth, and wood structures; and some pockets left to grow wild. In addition, I created some shelters for earwigs, solitary bees, bumble bees, toads, ground beetles, and hedgehogs. The increase in the amount of lady bugs, dragon flies, damsels, beetles, caterpillars, worms, centepedes, hoverflies, spiders, bees, bumble bees, and butterflies is stunning! I will study a bit on how to identify them all and hope to post on fauna and flora species in the near future.

Pot marigold popping up in the garden

10. I made my three first hugel beds! One tiny one with different species of heather and blueberry saplings. A horseshoe shaped one with blueberries, thyme, strawberries and oregano. An S-shaped one with sweet cicely, bear's garlic, gooseberries, nasturtium, and hopefully some pumpkins next season. These beds are perfect for the dry spring seasons here and are a great way to convert garden material into good soil!

11. Except for the newly planted saplings and plants, I did not have to water the plants in my garden at all! Denmark has a humid climate, but we are in an area with less average annual rainfall (650mm compared to 750mm at a national level) and the dry springs - and some summers - have been very challenging lately. Eespecially, the herb spiral, the hugel beds, the mulching, and the swale have been very effective. 

12. I added about 100 new species of plants to the garden over a period of 2 years. This amount includes both seeds and saplings and covers herbs, veggies, flowers (wild and some cultivated), fruit shrubs, vines and trees. The previous owner had successfully planted about 40 plant species, including fruit trees and shrubs. And I haven't made an inventory of all the wild species in the garden yet.

Summing up the achievements does feel good and I hope to elaborate more on these and other topics soon.