The Garden

Little Bears Family Pages

Welcome to the

Garden
(or Bear's Back-yard)

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"
Matthew 6:28-29

We're not really gardeners ourselves, which the overgrown meadow that is our front garden bears witness to - actually the length the grass has grown to since our lawnmower blew up is pretty impressive, although I say so myself!

My Grandma, on the other hand, was a really fantastically successful gardener with really "green fingers". I wish she'd handed down some of her wisdom, but I think the "green finger gene" has skipped this generation! I'll search out some gardening links, and paste them in soon.

In the meantime, for pure theory rather than practical tips (for us "armchair" gardener types), I'd recommend some of these books:-

My top recommendation is the brilliant "Gardeners' Diary: A step-by-step guide to gardening through the seasons", which shows you what you need to do in the garden for every week of the year! Marshall Cavendish Books ISBN 0-947793-95X
Dr. D.G. Hessayon's Expert series - we have "The Garden Expert" and "The House Plant Expert" which seem to be brilliant, but there's at least 9 or 10 others including Flowers, Fruit and Vegetable gardening. I have to confess I haven't actually followed any of the "expert advice" but the books are great to look at!
For the children, we managed to get a brilliant book at a charity shop: "My Fun to Garden" by Percy Thrower of Blue Peter fame, published by Hamlyn in 1976 (also published as "Gardening is Fun"), it's most likely out of print so you may have to search hard to get hold of it.
There's also "Linnea i Monets Trädgården" which I know is translated into English as Linnea in Monet's Garden. I saw it when we were in Sweden & regretfully didn't buy it, so it'll be on our list for our next visit.
Some other children's gardening books in Swedish are: "Trädgårdstrolleri" by Jo Readman & Polly Pinder, published by Öns Bokförlag (mind you, the names sound more English than Swedish, so it may well be translated from English - I'll try & find out).
Another interesting garden theme book in Swedish is "Fjärilshandboken" by Per Isaksson, Per Bengtsson & Maria Lewander, published by Svenska Naturskyddsförening, which gives tips on how to make your garden, balcony or window box inviting to butterflies.

The Swedes are quite "outdoorsy" people. Here's some useful links:

Sweden's 4H - Sveriges fyra-hå http://www.rs4h.se
Skog och Ungdom - [Forest & Youth?!] http://home.swipnet.se/#w-77711/
For all sorts of "outdoorsy" things: http://www.outdoor.se

And, on an "outdoorsy" theme, take a look at our sports interest page! (We don't do much else in the garden, apart from mow the lawn and hang out the washing!)

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