"Äntligen är det Vår!" An end to the Swedish winter

"Äntligen är det Vår!" (translation:-) "At last, it's Spring", shouted my son yesterday as he raced around the garden barefoot, brandishing a half-filled watering can, spilling it's contents onto his t-shirt. Yes, as predicted our short Swedish winter ended abruptly this week as the temperature steadily rose to reach around 13.5 degrees celsius at lunchtime today, and the stone tiles on our sunroom floor were comfortably warm underfoot once again. Such a contrast to just two weeks ago, when snow still covered the lawns and threatened to topple over the smaller evergreen bushes.

A few minutes away from our house, walking along our golden beach on Sunday morning with the sun shining, a slight early morning chill, and the ocean showing no signs of even a ripple, it's easy is believe that Spring really is the best time of the year.

My first Spring seeds were sown in small containters today, placed upon shelves in the sunroom and covered with plastic. Determined to nurture my own plants this year, I have spent hours in the garden centre choosing packets of seeds, some varieties I recognise and others are rather a shot in the dark, along with the children who wish to grow their tallest sunflowers ever this year. Inspired by my success last year with Asters - I had hundreds of beautiful flowers crammed into just a few flowerbeds that lasted into early Autumn - this year I envisage flowers of every variety decorating my garden and plant pots. You can be sure that if successful, I will be back here boasting and proudly posting photos for proof. Right now, I am just waiting for the seeds to actually show signs of life...