About us - Matt Magnusson

I’m Mattias, and I am the creator of this blog.

I am not your typical green living advocate.

It has taken me almost 5 years to arrive where I am today.

And I am proof that living greener can save money without sacrificing convenience. Smart and eco-friendly things save money and benefit the environment.

For me, it all started with growing herbs and vegetables at home when Covid-19 shut down my travel businesses.

The guiding force was self-interest with a sprinkling of common sense.

It All Started With Finding More Time For Gardening

When COVID-19 hit, I suddenly had time on my hands. I have always been interested in growing stuff, so being a nerd, I scaled up – BIG time.

I started growing herbs and vegetables.

And I wanted to do it well.

I read a lot and took courses in everything from botany, building raised garden beds, growing tomatoes from seed to hydroponics, indoor gardening, and rainwater irrigation systems.

And this is when it happened. My version of urban sustainability was starting to take form.

Urban Sustainability – Saving Money With Bragging Rights

Making eco-friendly choices was actually saving me money. My food bill dropped, and I ate better food (I have lost 10 kg / 22 pounds).

This spurred me on.

I started looking into energy-efficient appliances, smarter technology for heating, LED lighting, solar-powered outdoor lighting, and so on. As a result:

My heating bill was cut in half using smart technology to heat our house
I paid less for water using efficient shower heads, drip irrigation systems, and rainwater harvesting.
I introduced a 5-minute maximum on showers
I started bringing bags and a shopping list to the grocery store
and the list goes on

I am here to tell you that living greener can make a difference for the environment and your wallet.

It is all about the journey and understanding how small changes to your daily routines can have a big impact.

Sure, there is always more to do. But doing something beats doing nothing every time.

Two Types Of Changes: Now vs. Next Time

There are things you can do today that will save you money. These things are mainly about changing habits and introducing smarter tools that do not cost a lot but can save money over time. Examples would be water-saving shower heads and replacing regular bulbs with low-energy LED lights as they break.

And then we have the “Next Time” category. It does not make sense to

Replace a 3-year-old freezer because a more energy-efficient model is on the market.
Replace your almost-new heater with the latest super-duper smart technology air pump from Nibe
Do everything at once, break the bank, and lower your quality of life

Some changes would make sense already today, but will have to wait until the next time we make a purchase or investment in our home.

I can give you two examples from our home:

We replaced our heater last year and now enjoy tremendous savings using our NIBE S2125-8/12 air/water heat pump.
Our refrigerator broke, and after a failed attempt to repair it, we replaced it with a more energy-efficient model

These are both next-time types of changes driven by necessity where it makes sense to look for cheaper to run solutions.

A Little Bit About My Outdoor Gardening

I am gardening in a four-season climate (zone 7), and while most techniques and tips are universal, they may be best suited for zones 4-8.

I draw on years of gardening experience and knowledge from gardening courses and training programs by, for example, Hemmaodlat at SLU, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and the National Gardening Association. If pressed, I would confidently label myself an expert home gardener.

Sage variety Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens' — Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’ is one of many sage varieties grown from seed.

Editorial guidelines

We do not cover every conceivable plant, herb, vegetable, or smart money-saving appliance or piece of equipment.

If we are not growing it or have experience using it, we cannot give a first-hand account, and then it does not belong here.

Chat-GPT and similar AI writing tools have become very popular. We do not publish content generated by robots.

We write about our experiences and use our own photos.

But we use tools like Grammarly to help with spelling and overall readability.

My problem is that I write too much. A bit like I speak. Tools like Grammarly help me stay on topic and not write about everything I know in every article. My 20 word sentences become more easy to read while staying true to my message.

What about your reviews and recommendations?

Our reviews are recommendations where we list the tools, equipment, and gadgets we use in our garden, home, and to grow indoors. We only list tools we like and feel good about recommending. After all, if they work for us, they should also work for you.

We prefer to review the actual product, but there are also instances where we review a product with specific characteristics.

Why?

Well, some products are standardized. For example, a heavy-duty seed starter tray comes in many shapes and designs; we choose a couple and guide you to the areas where you should focus for the best results and value.

We never receive payment for our recommendations. But sometimes, we may receive a commission if you make a purchase using our link at no extra cost to you.

Everything we recommend has been used as it was meant to be used - to help us live greener and grow herbs and vegetables in our home and gardens. In short, we use the product and try to help you decide if the purchase will help you and whether it is worth your money.

Sometimes we suggest co-owning tools with friends or neighbors as they are useful but only used once or twice a year, like, for example, a heavy-duty branch cutter.

If you would like us to test your product, please contact us. Our review will be fair, but you will have no say in what we write and whether we recommend your product.

We garden both indoors and outdoors – year-round

We start herbs and vegetables from seeds and cuttings, focusing on using grow bags, pots, containers, and raised garden beds.

We are also firm believers in DIY and using what you have. Successful larger DIY projects include making DIY grow bags to save money, building your own raised garden beds from scratch, and making DIY hydroponic grow systems.

Beautifully ripening Stuffed Striper beefsteak tomatoes (photo taken 7 July) — Stuffed Striper beefsteak tomatoes started from seed

But we also share smaller versions of DIY projects, like how to build a fungus gnat trap using an empty plastic bottle and apple cider vinegar.

Important to give back and attract pollinators to garden — Flowers help attract pollinators to herb and vegetable garden

As gardening plays a big part in my life, I may also include tips about lawn care, flowers, shrubs, trees, and bushes. You want a diverse growing space that attracts pollinators and other beneficial insects.

You Can Also Find Us On YouTube

Our YouTube channel offers easy-to-follow video tutorials that will help get you started. Thank you for bearing with us as we learn to shoot and edit the perfect YouTube video. As you have noticed, I am a gardener, not a movie director.

Find our YouTube channel by clicking this link: “Youtube.com/NordicLavender. “

If you find our videos helpful, please remember to support us by clicking “Like” and “Subscribe” to our YouTube channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

I can’t find an article about a specific variety of herbs or a vegetable I want to try to grow; why not?

If you are searching for an article about a specific herb or garden vegetable but find none, it is because the articles we write are based on actual projects we do in our gardens. And as we do not write articles from memory, we only have articles covering what we have grown recently.

We like to show photos and videos to document the process.

An example is strawberries, where I see myself as an expert. Still, we have not grown strawberries since we reorganized our vegetable garden. And therefore, we have not published a strawberry article yet.

Nordic Lavender offers current and relevant information and a vast amount of new information to share. We work as quickly as possible to publish new articles. So check back with us often for updates and news.

Please write to us if you have questions about any particular herb or vegetable. Where possible, questions will be answered by publishing a new article to help as many readers as possible.

Do you grow for fun?

Yes, but not just for fun. I do grow herbs and vegetables because I find them extremely rewarding in many ways. Gardening has always been there to de-stress me after a busy day at the office.

Self-sustainability also plays a part. We are firm believers that it is better to do something than nothing.

And whereas we are not in a position to be 100% self-sustainable all the time for everything – we aim to be self-sufficient to a degree.

And self-sustainability should not have to be about “all or nothing.” We like to refer to it as our version of urban self-sustainability.

What do you mean by urban self-sustainability?

For us, urban self-sustainability is about doing what you can and being allowed to feel good about it. After all, every little bit helps. And we should all try to do what we can.

Sitting around and feeling guilty about not doing enough is not productive. And it surely does not solve anything.

Instead, do what you can do and celebrate the small victories where you can make a difference. Feeling great about yourself may spur you on to do more.

Can anyone apply the idea of urban self-sustainability?

Sure. Grow what you can, use, and the things that make sense. Look at where you spend your money and the space you have available for growing herbs and vegetables. Other examples include recycling soil and pots and reusing materials. And why not start composting?

I will give you a couple of examples from our garden.

– We like hot and spicy food. Growing garlic and peppers allows us to be 100% self-sustainable on all varieties of peppers, chilies, and garlic hot sauces and rubs.

– The same goes for most herbs and spices, except for hard-to-substitute spices like salt, pepper, cinnamon, and saffron.

– We grow beefsteak and cherry tomatoes and are self-sufficient from June through October. We start a fresh batch of tomatoes from seed in May for a late fall harvest. Green tomatoes can also be a great addition to your kitchen when handled correctly.

– All leafy greens, including kale, arugula (rocket), corn salad, and different varieties of lettuces, are other examples of where we are self-sufficient for large portions of the year.

– We have grown sweet potatoes as a fun project in the past. But potatoes do not make sense for us to grow as they take up too much space. Also, when they are ready to be harvested, they are readily available and inexpensive to purchase.

– On the other hand, we grow horseradish in containers, yielding a great harvest from a small space. Also, as a product, a little horseradish goes a long way.

– And as we love Italian food, we grow many different types of basil – including our favorites, common basil and Thai basil – for homemade pesto year-round.

– We also spend a lot of time with DIY projects and like to make our DIY grow bags, raised garden beds, hydroponic grow systems, watering cans, soil scoops, labeling markers, fungus gnat traps, planting tables, and so on – all from at least partly recycled materials.

Again, we enjoy the lifestyle; it saves us money and makes for good eating!

More about us

We are avid gardeners and have generations of knowledge and expertise to share.

Gardening is our main passion, particularly growing herbs and vegetables from seeds. And that is where it all started.

Thai basil grown from seed — Fragrant Thai Basil grows prolifically in the summer months.

Most global plant hardiness zone maps place us in hardiness zone 7 (worldwide USDA hardiness zone 7a/7b). But we are firm believers in “growth zone hacking.” Using combinations of indoor and outdoor spaces, we, for example, grow ginger and turmeric. This is just one of many advantages of container gardening, where we can use pots, grow bags, and containers to our advantage.

But if we listen to Roger D. Magarey (Ph. D) from North Carolina State University all hardiness zones could soon change.

We never stop learning about a particular herb or vegetable. There is always more to learn. Our how-to tutorials are continually updated with our findings, and we always try to include details such as the type of pot and soil used.

Daisy the ragdoll helping with gardening — Ragdolls make the best company in the garden.

You will also find buying guides on what and where to buy the best gardening gear to help you create your perfect garden.

Almost all photos on our website come from one of our gardens. You must contact us for permission before using any of our images.

All the best,

Mattias, aka “Matt – The Gardener”