Country life inside city limits

I am a computer scientist. In live in Oslo, Norway. Downtown, within five minutes walk of everything. Nicely urban.

In August 2007 I got a an allotment garden with a small house (cottage, really). This is my first country house. This is my first garden. This is the first summer spent in my house in my garden.

The garden is about 400 square meters. When we took over, the house and garden had been empty for almost two years. It looked and felt like a secret garden!

2007 was spent fixing the inside and getting some control over the garden. 2008 was the first garden season. I got a grape vine (Frankenthauler) and planted a lot of sweet peas, a childhood favourite of mine. The summer of 2008 was already planned, so we missed most of the summer last year.

Now I am experiencing country life for the first time, staying in the garden throught the summer. A great experience with some unexpected side effects.