Hello fellow garden enthusiasts!
Welcome to what is essentially a collection of garden memories throughout my last 5 years planting and growing my own version of an edible jungle in Gothenburg, Sweden, as you can see in the picture with my bountiful harvest.
I moved here from Portugal 5 years ago when I started my PhD in molecular biology (mitochondrial DNA, if you're into that), and it didn't take long to wake up the plantaholic in me. The need for seeing things grow and greenery sprout at the end of very long and dark winters is a common theme here in the Nordic countries. As soon as March or April come along, everyone is more than glad to say goodbye to the cold and welcome sunnier months.
As a scientist, I live for experimentation, so the first years of gardening I liked to test different growing conditions for a specific plant to thrive in the environment it's under. The main thing I've learned, however, is that the key to gardening successfully, and not spending too much on different kinds of soil or pots. There are so many varieties out there of the same plant, there will be one for sure that will thrive under your conditions. I hope to be able to show that with my shared stories and limited experience.
Besides science and gardening, I also love baking and cooking. Since growing my own tomatoes and cucumbers, for example, I feel the urgency in putting the extra effort to turn the excess into staples, sauces or ferments, that can be enjoyed for longer periods of time. For this, I reconnected with my Moldovan roots and all those summers growing up spent picking and processing vegetables from my grandparents' garden with the women in my family. I will never forget the taste of the first tomato jam I made with tomatoes from my balcony, it was a truly indescribable thing. See, growing up in Portugal, tomato jam is my absolute favorite, but in Sweden or Moldova is not a thing, so I had to make it myself.
Someone very special tried convincing me to start this blog years ago. They believed that the unique combination of factors that make us who we are, also defines how we learn and do things and ultimately, how we teach them to the world. For a long time I believed the world didn't need yet another gardening blog and that I couldn't possibly have anything to teach anyone that they couldn't already find the information for online.
I'd like to that special person, who always supported my gardening shenanigans, including carrying several 50L bags of soil up to our balcony. So much so, that he has actually built this website, and patiently shown me how to work from a terminal, just so I can share my stories with the world! Thank you so so much, Filipe, and I'm sorry about the enormous bumblebee traffic that our balcony gets and that disturb you chilling out in the sun...
It also took some close friends' encouragement for me to start writing, so thank you Giorgia, Alicia, and Urška for always listening to me ranting about tomatoes, and for pushing me to try and teach others. You are the best!
Finally, as I'm writing these posts and building 🌱 Gardening Rush, I think of the tomato jam, realizing that what my dear friends have said might be true, and that all things that bring us joy should be shared more. At the end of the day, if anyone reading this blog gets inspired to start growing something, anything, on their windowsill or their balcony this next summer, I will be over the moon!
5 Years Growing
From total beginner to confident home gardener
🇸🇪 Gothenburg
Gardening in the nordic region
Community
Sharing knowledge with those yearning to grow