Hello from Sweden

[Andy Hamilton]

Its so nice to finally find some kindred spirits on the net. Looking forward to getting to know you all.

as we are

[simhop]

Hi,

I have been 'lurking' for a while and finally now decided to sign up as I saw this particular post. I am also an Englishman in Sweden - whereabouts are you digger? I am in a town outside Karlstad. It is really tough here but with a bit of perserverance and alot of sitting looking out the window waiting for the snow to melt you can have a good harvest. As you said the 20-22 hours of daylight in June/July help catch up after the late start.

I had quite a good last year and are still eating runner beans, sweetcorn and courgette soup all frozen from last year. Haven't really mastered how to store carrots properly but we had a good harvest of them too. The frustrating thing is not being able to grow winter greens - and things like swedes and sprouts etc.

Good luck
Simhop

P.S Great site!

[Andy Hamilton]

Hi there simhop so ex english swedish people are like buses then none for ages and then suddenly two come along at once. Welcome to the site mate.

I find it hard to comprehend a day with 22 hours sunlight, how much light you getting at the moment? - makes me feel like I should not complain about it getting dark at 6pm here.

[simhop]

Where I am February is when it starts getting lighter, we have about two hours difference form England - it's lighter an hour later in the morning and darker an hour sooner in the evenings. It's not too bad because we usually have snow Dec, Jan and Feb so it feels alot lighter anyway.

I must admit I find it quite hard in the winters - am always itching to get out and started with the new season - When I speak to my Dad he always says things like ' planting out the onions today son' - I just look out the window at a half meter of snow and dream of my onions instead!

Mind you May, June, July and Ausgust are fantastic! Theres nothing like sitting out on the patio on a warm summers evening with a beer after a hard days work.

[ina]

Hi simhop

Good to see another northener... Must say, it's a lot more extreme for you than for us here in Scotland, although we notice a marked difference to England, too! Where it's two hours difference in light for you compared to England, it's only about one hour for us. But as you say, it's getting lighter now - February is the time we start believing in summer again.
Unfortunately we don't have as much snow as you do, so the "lighting" effect of the whiteness is missing.

However, I'll probably get my onions in tomorrow...

[Shirley]

Hi Simhop

Nice to meet you - was going to say something about buses but Andy beat me to it lol.....

[Muddypause]

Hello Simhop,

I must say that the words 'Sweden' and 'harvest' don't often seem to occur in sentences together.

Presumably it is after the spring equinox that you start to get more hours of sunlight than us southerners, and after the autum equinox that you start to get less. Or is my basic astronomy wrong?

[Libby]

Hiya Simhop

[Wombat]

G'Day Simhop,

Nice to see you here!

Nev

[digger]

Hi Simhop

We live about 50km NW of Jönköping in a little small hamlet. Nearest town is Aneby, if you know it. Our biggest problem is out altitude (350m) puts us in growing zone 5. How do you mange to get a big crop of runners? Ours we're going great last year, but we had a late frost on June 6 which killed most of the little darlings. I replanted but the harvest was small (but delicious). Also, have you come across any good Swedisg books on growing veggies?

Great to dind another crazy brit in the frozen north 8)

[simhop]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

We are in Zone 3/4 so our climate is not as harsh as yours digger so we didn't get those late frosts you are refering to. I have only been here two growing seasons and so far so good - I would be devasatated if we had a frost in June.

As for books - I haven't any swedish ones but I will look in the garden centre where I work and see if theres any that look OK.

[diver]

hiya simtop, welcome to the site.....my only experience of Sweden is diving.....under ice .....in January. It was cold!

[hedgewizard]

Yeah, definitely look into getting a lil polytunnel or insulated green house. They come as small as 10'x14' and you can line them with industrial bubblewrap and have a little heater in there. With your daylight you could grow ANYTHING! Welcome(ish)...