This is how my garden grows

About two weeks back I planted the first seed, and so much has happened since! I'm so increadibly proud of my gardening efforts, so here's a photo update on how my little green friends are doing:

Wednesday 19th of May:

Still in the growing box. As mentioned here, only the basil are showing signs of succes at this moment though I know for sure that the snow peas have sprouted but not pushed through the soil yet.

Monday 24th of May:

Five days later, man, how they have grown! The basil is turning into something edible for sure, and the snow peas have shot through the roof (so to speak). At this point they're almost taller than the clear platic lid, and their roots are shooting through the draining holes in the bottom. No action from the nasturtium yet, though. But amazingly the baby-strawberries are sprouting! Can you see the tine green sprouts on the bottom row? The only reason I know it's them, is that there aren't any weeds like that in the other compartments - I never knew strawberries started out that small...

Friday 28th of May:

Planted the seedlings into proper pots two days ago (Wednesday). Only the snow peas and two of the compartments of basil - no room for the last one unfortunately - and it was about high time! I wish I'd taken a photo of the snow peas roots - tightly packed in the shape of the container and a few rogue ones (really, really long ones) growing out of the draining holes. Also bought a tomato plant on Wednesday which I'm hoping will give us lots and lots of cherry-tomatoes all summer long!

As you can see the basil is coming along nicely. The leaves seem to be a bit bigger (at least I hope it's noticeable ), so I'm taking this as a sign that it's thriving. Really happy about that 'cause it was H.E.L.L. to re-pot the basil. The roots hadn't developed enough, just long, thin roots going straight down, and as I tried to lift the eart & plants out of the container with a spoon, they started to fall apart! Crisis! Stressed quite a lot trying to get them into the pot, often having to plant one and one at a time, but it will definitively be worth the effort as soon as we get to use home-grown for cooking!

The baby-strawberries are still alive. Looking a bit bigger aren't they? Highly unlikely we'll have home-grown strawberries for dessert this summer, I think...

I've been waiting a long time for this and I'm proud to show of the evidence that shows the garden nasturtium sprouting. Look how big this one is! Ready to be potted soon! In the background you can see two more coming up, so I think I'll wait until these are big enough and then repot the whole bunch:

And I've got good news! The chili seeds I had in water for, like, for ever are ALIVE!!! Two of the seeds have a tiny tail, so I planted them the other day. I'm crossing my fingers that the last three will follow soon, but 2 out of 5 isn't bad! I also put a few bell pepper seeds (paprika) in water the other day in hope that this technique will work with them too. But the seeds are from a pepper bought in the shop so I might be hoping for too much.

Finally a note on pots. I've been searching all over Oslo for terracotta pots, but they are amazingly difficult to find. I've only come across plastic ones, and only the larger sizes too. After searching high & low, I finally found some at a hobby shop the other day (can you believe this is the only place they seem to have them?!?). It's a bit too big, but I bought it anyway and I need an extra one for the tomato. But sweet, dear friend E came across the pots I wanted in Sweden and she brought some back for me! Thank you, E! I'm really lucky to have such great & caring friends!

Friday Fling!

Happy Friday!

More or less mid-morning now and I haven't done anything usefull so far. You know what that means - I've got the day off. In fact, I've got the whole weekend off! Hurray! Now, what do I do with all this spare time? For one thing I'm planning on doing a bit of housework, cleaning & tidying-up . But that's on the general part of my to-do-list, that sort of thing I always have good intentions about but sort of never get round to doing. Though there are a few things happing this weekend. Here we go:

Some R&R today + tomorrow, 2 parties to attend tomorrow evening - both Eurosong-related. Sunday is likely to become av very busy day- First Mr. F & I are hitting the second-hand markets & shops. We've found at least three close by that we're planning on checking out. After that I think we are obliged (and happy to do so!) have dinner with his parents as they're soon off to Southern Europe for a long vacation, and later that evening Mommy Dearest is coming for a sleep-over (yeah!). She's going to the AC/DC-concert at Valle Hovin - rock on, mama! Ahh... a lot to look forward to in other words!

But now I'm off to the shop to get some grub and stock up on boxes. Sort of haven't gotten round to announcing this before, but here we go... Next weekend I'm moving in with Mr. F! About high time T would say, I'm sure about that! The girls have been teasing me for weeks saying that I'm "nesting" - the plants, furniture, lighting, kitchenware etc. Can I help it if I like to be surrounded by nice things? In any case, I'm really excited about this - it's going to be great living with my beau - not to mention, having all my stuff in one place (I know he's looking forward to that part too)!!!!

--> Norsk <--

Gressenke slår rot

My love is on a two week vacation in the states - Salt Lake City to San Francisco. In the mean time I'm working & waiting, and my dearest friends are keeping me happy and entertained. Though suddenly finding spare-time that would normally have been spent with the beau, I've started on a few projects. One of them is trying my hand at gardening. Not necessarily a natural thing when living in a city appartment with no balcony, so I'm sticking to herbs, flowers and small fruit & vegetables (the beau gave orders to stay below 50 cm in height, else it would take up the entire window sill). And, here's a photo to show you how it's coming along.

The snow peas (sukkererter) have started sprouting, but they haven't come through the soil yet. Nothing happening with the baby-strawberries (markjordbær) yet, and the same goes for the garden nasturtium/indian cress (blomkarse). My pride & joy is of course the basil (basilikum) - it's growing!!! Mmm, looking forward to home-grown basil with mozerella & tomatoes!!!

--> Norsk <--

Min elskede er på en to ukers ferie i statene - Salt Lake City til San Francisco. I mellomtiden får jeg tiden til å gå med å jobbe, vente og så har jeg snille venner som passer godt på meg. Helt plutselig har jeg fritid som jeg ellers under normale omstendigheter ville brukt sammen med mannen. Det betyr at jeg har satt igang et par prosjekter i det siste, og et av dem er å prøve meg på hagearbeid. Nå skal det sies at hagearbeid er langt ifra naturlig når man bor i en leilighet uten veranda i byen, så jeg holder mine "grønne fingrer" til urter, blomster og små frukt & grønnsaker (mannen gav order om å holde plantene under 50 cm for ellers kom de til å ta hele vinduskarmen). På bildet over ser du hvordan det går. Sukkerertene har begynt å spire, men har ikke greid å dytte seg frem fra jorden ennå. Skjer nada med markjordbærene, og det samme gjelder for blomkarsen. Basilikumen er min store stolthet - den spirer!!! Gleder meg til å spise hjemmedyrket basilikum med mozarella og tomat. Yummy!!!

Hipp, hipp, hurra!

Gratulere med dagen!

[Congratulation - Norway's national day!]

Alt mange timer ut i dagens feiring, og her på jobb er det travelt!!! En tidlig start på dagen for meg, opp kl 7:30 for å gjøre seg klar til jobb, trang-trang-trang & varm busstur som tok mildt sagt en evighet fra Sannergata til brygga, og siden har det gått i ett. Ser frem til å bli ferdig her kl 16 - da er det endelig min tur til å nyte pølse, brus og is - så mye is jeg bare vil!! Men må spare plass til litt mat for idag spiser vi godt. En tur med gode vennter på Brasserie 45 venter meg, og jeg gleder meg skikkelig!

Ha en fantastisk 17.mai-feiring!

Friday Fling!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

The day is almost through so just time to squeeze in a quick report. Been a busy week at the restaurant as a lot of things need to be sorted out for the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day. Really busy today on the phones & e-mail and I was alone in the office, but it's mostly sorted now so I'm hopefully looking forward to a calmer day tomorrow.

Other than work this weekend, I haven't got any plans. I've got almost the entire week off next week, so plenty of time for some R&R. The boyfriend is gone on a two week vacation (lucky bugger!) and I'm sort of lonely and lost at the moment. Luckily I have the bestest friends in the world - they're keeping me happy & entertained! Any ideas what I can do with all this sudden free time? I feel like travelling, though I doubt I have the money to be honest. Only plan so far is to continue watching Heroes. I'm on the first season and I'm officially hooked!

Have a fabulous weekend!

-->Norsk<--

God fredag! Er ikke mange timer igjen av dagen nå, så jeg for holde det kort. Er travelt på restauranten om dagen. Vi nærmer oss 17.mai - den store festdagen - og det er ganske mye som skal ordnes før mandag. Var alene på kontoret idag, og det var travelt med mange telefoner og mail, men det ser forhåpentlig ut som det blir litt roligere i morgen siden det meste er på plass nå.

Annet enn jobb denne helgen er jeg planløs. Har nesten hele den kommende uken fri, så da er det nok av muligheter til å slappe av og ta livet med ro. Kjæresten er bortreist i 2 uker (heldiggrisen!) og jeg føler meg litt ensom om dagen. Heldigvis har jeg verdens aller beste venninner - de holder meg glad og underholdt! Noen tips til hva jeg kan bruke fridagene minte til? Har kjempe lyst til å reise bort, men tviler sterkt på at jeg har råd. Eneste planen så langt er å fortsette på Heroes-maratonen min. Jeg holder på med første sesong og jeg er offisielt hekta!

Ønsker deg en en fantastisk helg!