Garden and everyday life in April go hand in hand in this post – with sore muscles, a grill evening, leftovers and life happening right in the middle of it all.
🇸🇪 Read this post in Swedish Trädgård, träningsvärk och en grill som räckte till ett helt kompani
I’ve been working in the garden this week.
My back hurts… but wow – can you actually have muscles there too?
On Monday, I spent four hours out there.
The evening ended with my feet up on the sofa, drifting off for a while.
But the truth is, Monday already felt like a full-on workday before I even stepped outside into the garden.
This is my garden and everyday life in April – with both determination and an aching body.
🌿 A day that started in the kitchen
First, I spent a few hours shopping for the barbecue we were going to have in the afternoon.
I marinated chicken and meat.
Made tzatziki.
Chopped vegetables for salad – and kept them separate, since not everyone likes everything.
Radishes.
Some mushrooms.
And there, while slicing those radishes…
a thought came to me:
👉 Soon, these will grow in my own garden.
It’s a feeling.
And maybe that’s exactly what made me go back outside again.
🌱 Garden life April– back into the soil
I continued digging out my planting boxes at the front of the house.
All the soil went into the slope where we have flowers.
But my back…
it’s not what it once was.
Or maybe what it never really became.
After a few hours, it starts to protest.
And still…
👉 Something is taking shape out there.
I’m starting to get close to finishing what I’ve been working on.
Next step is branches at the bottom, then wood chips.
After that, compost – which I’ve already started digging out.
What a job I’ve done.
And I’m so proud of the hours I’ve put into the garden.
It’s becoming so beautiful.
And yet…
I was worried before.
That it would turn out like it sometimes does for me –
that I would get tired, stop…
and leave it half-finished.
But I’m almost there.
Soon we’ll buy white stones
to place neatly between the garden boxes.
It will look so nice when it’s done.
But there are still a few hours left.
The branches need to go in.
The wood chips need to be spread.
The compost needs to become soil.
And more soil needs to be bought.
👉 But I’m on my way.
This is what my garden and everyday life in April looks like right now – soil, branches and a back that speaks up.
🔧 In the middle of it all – life happens
And in the middle of all that…
my older son’s computer died.
The power went out – and so did the computer.
We had to make a quick trip to NetOnNet to buy a new motherboard and some other things we needed.
And while we were already out…
I took the chance to buy a few more shelves at Jula.
Apparently, I’m not quite done with shelves yet.
I also bought ground cover fabric for the front yard.
Because when you’re already in it – you might as well keep going.
And when we got home…
my husband had a gift for me.
A pair of pruning shears.
Simple… but just right.
The kind of gift that says more than you might think.
🍽️ Garden life April– grilling and leftovers
After the barbecue on Monday…
there was a lot of food left.
So the next day turned into pasta with tomato sauce and leftovers from the grill.
I had clearly gone all in.
So much food.
My husband says I’m “stingy”.
I say I’m moderate – food should be enough, but not too much.
But something about that grill…
It turned into something more like how my husband cooks:
👉 enough to feed a whole company for a week.
And yes… we’ve been living on leftovers all week.
First pasta with sauce.
Then fried leftovers.
And today, soup – the kind that can simmer while I’m out in the garden.
A proper lazy food week.
And honestly…
👉 that’s okay sometimes.
Everything doesn’t have to be perfect.
Everything doesn’t have to be new.
Sometimes the garden needs clearing.
And sometimes the fridge does too.
And then… you eat leftovers.
And you know what…
it’s actually quite nice.
👕 Laundry, weather and the smell of outdoors
There’s always a lot of laundry when we’ve been out with the motorhome.
One day was just for washing clothes.
The weather was cloudy – no point hanging them outside.
But there’s something special about line-dried laundry.
That smell when you bring it in…
Well…
not when the fields around here are being fertilized.
Then it’s definitely not the time.
🚗 The weekend ahead – something new
This weekend will probably include a day in Trollhättan.
The Social Democrats in the Västra Götaland region are having some kind of kickoff before the election – a full day on Saturday.
I signed up.
I’ve never been to anything like it before.
A bit of nervousness in my stomach.
But also a bit exciting.
It will be interesting to see what happens there.
Who knows…
👉 maybe I’ll learn a lot.
✨ AHA – garden life April
This isn’t just about gardening, grilling and laundry.
It’s about:
pushing a little further, even when your back says stop
building something, piece by piece
daring to try something new, even when it feels uncertain
And in the middle of all that…
👉 life just keeps happening
💬 A question for you
Do you also have days like this?
When everything seems to happen at once?
When your body says stop…
but something inside you wants to keep going?
💛 Reflection – garden life April
There’s something about these days.
The ones that aren’t perfect.
A little too long.
A little too heavy.
And yet… alive.
Maybe that’s exactly where life is felt the most.
And maybe this is what garden and everyday life in April really is –
not perfect, but alive.
🌿 Between the lines
I am – or have become – someone who continues.
Not because it’s easy…
but because it matters.
I doubt sometimes – almost always – whether I’ll have the strength to go all the way.
But I do it anyway.
And what I build – in the garden and within myself –
gets finished, simply because I don’t give up.
🌿 Ending – garden life April
My body aches.
My back protests.
And still…
I know.
I’ve done the work out there.
I’ve put in the hours.
I’ve made it through.
And it shows.
It’s only April…
and still it feels like this.
👉 It makes me genuinely happy.
Carina Ikonen Nilsson
Live today, right now.
Yesterday is no longer here,
and tomorrow will come tomorrow.
It is here, in this moment, that life happens.
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Greenhouse shelves and growing – creating space in my greenhouse
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