Dick how on earth can you have grapes in May???

Would you believe Elizabeth, I had them in April! How did the Hydrangeas work out?

Oh Dick I have been afraid to tell you after all your trouble.  Only  a few survived, there I have said it. Maybe I should have left them in the pots for a longer period. I am so sorry :(

Don't worry. I will be able to supply more. I will be slipping a number in about a month's time. It is easy to get them rooted. I get pleasure out of that work.

Excellent results, Dick.

very impressive Dick, great idea with the bubblewrap. 

Imagine grapes in this weather in Ireland!

Imagine grapes SOOOOO early?????  Well done, you!

Sounds like a good day had by all Dick :)

great way to spend a few hours. 

Happy days Dick ;-))

Is it very early to have grapes for eating? Glad you had a good visit, Dick.

Nice to have visitors ... but grapes so early? I'm amazed.  Well done Dick.

Remember the day in Johnstown where due to Deborah's video, you saw me giving what appeared to be a few sticks to Fran. They were for PCON as he had requested them. They were actually prunings from my vine. He felt that my vine was quite early. My greenhouse has a heater and Martin B had suggested to me to insulate the greenhouse with bubble wrap as it would save electricity. I asked Martin later on should I remove the bubble wrap for the Summer and he said No. Perhaps this is the reason for the early grapes. They were edible in late April.

Wow, Dick, that is really impressive.

I would love to see a few photos of your greenhouse. Do you have the bubble wrap tight to the windows? Do you think it blocks much light?

I'm always impressed with your grapes, Dick. When I visited you let me taste them and they were very sweet.

Moya, the bubble wrap is tight in some areas but not in others. I don't think it blocks the light. I will try to give you a photo of the greenhouse.

You all, except Rachel are surprised to know that I have grapes in an edible state at this stage. When the fruit gets the proper conditions, you can expect results. I have seen bananas in Iceland, would you believe. We normally get them from South or Central America where they grow in the open but yes, I saw them in Iceland not in the open but in a big glass house. The name of the place in Hvergerdi. They have plenty geothermal water there and of course in the Summer, the light is there all day.

great plant, and plenty new growth on it there Dick

Well done Dick, it's looking great!

ah this one beautiful Dick.

Best of luck with this one Dick; they are lovely plants if you can give them their favoured conditions.  I'm lucky, my soil is acid.

Well done, Dick. It might also help if you were to top-dress it with ericaceous compost every spring.

Looking good Dick. 

It has helped too that we have not had any heavy frosts in the last couple of weeks (says she touching wood!)

Looking good now and I see you have forget-me-nots too, they are great to have at this time of year and then seed themselves again for next year.

You never give up, Dick! And it seems to have paid off!

Thanks everybody. Myrtle, you mentioned the Forget me nots. I sowed the seed only once. No trouble after that.

I believe Roundup Gel does the trick very well, Dick. You just paint it onto the leaves. Like you, all I can see is dandelions along grass verges - AND IN MY GARDEN. But the Roundup Gel costs about €12. Not sure if I want to part with that much money for the sake of some digging deep to get at the roots.

The dendelions are unbelievable this year.

Jacinta, I have heard of this weedkiller but suppose you have a thousand weeds in your garden, would it not make more sense to spray the whole area with a selective weedkiller. What she chose was Doff. I will have to get in touch with her and find out how it worked. She goes under the name Butterfly angel (real name is Josie). What I chose was something to tackle all kinds of grasses and weeds around roses and put it on with a paint brush and what I bought is Hytrol, an Irish herbicide made in Galway. Rachel, unbelievable is the word.

Hytrol is a good product, Dick. Let me know how successful it is.

Dick, I hate them in my garden but when we were children we loved them at the seed stage and we used to play "dandelion clocks" with them.

The Irish name is "caisearbhan" which is a corruption of "gas searbh" meaning bitter stem. This refers to the sharp taste of the milky stem juice.

O’ DANDELION

every inch of the garden full of them, the lawn and flower beds. hubby put out lawn weed and feed a while back and as soon as we got rain up came the grass and the dandolines and the daisey which i dont mind but the dandolines and the creeping buttercup have been rampant

Dick

Lovely verse and I agree if you have a large lawn its best to treat the entire area. My expert tells me that " Dicophar " is the best for Dandelions & Daisies. Comes in 1ltr bottles for €15 which will treat over 100SqM. Now I have to find a center that stock it. Its available online but comes to €27 with P & P

Generally I don't mind the little daisies nor the 'odd' dandelion. But as everyone says. RAMPANT!!!  I looked at the Roundup Gel too and found it quite expensive. I've used my little weeder that I bought in Lidl for a fiver and it worked a treat on the dandelions. 

Could it be a combination of the warmer wetter weather??

What I have been using as a selective weedkiller is Mortox 50. My lawn is about 1000 square metres so MohoberDec what you propose would be very costly. It is made by the same company in Galway as Hytrol.

No doubt about it, the dandelions are thriving this year ... they're everywhere!  In my small back lawn, I dig them out as best I can but I've given up on the grass verge in front as they spread from neighbours anyway.

Dick, well spotted! That should have read 1000sqm and not 100sqm.......

Jacinta, this year I didn't use any selective weed killer. For some reason, perhaps that I fed it well, plenty of nitrogen, I didn't have the problem but on grass margains at the side of the road, perhaps no feed, they are in abundance. Any time I used Hytrol it was as a total weed killer. I will let you know how it worked. It is the same composition as Roundup.

i like that verse Dick, and they are prolific every few years i notice. 

yep its lots around.

Oh Goodness I have to confess that a field of dandelions even when its just across the road gladdens my heart and i keep saying if they were not weeds weed treasure them! But i know i'm odd! And i do weed them out from around my rocks and beds. And oh Bill of course i know that opera you mentioned arent i from 'Borris!'

Jacinta, I have seen the effect of the Hytrol yesterday. Where I used it on grass in certain areas and carefully around roses it has worked quite well. I regret that I didn't use it more yesterday as it was generally a dry day. To day is more pleasant and although we have had some rain, I hope to use it and hope that the rain will keep away. I met Butterfly angel this morning and she told me that the Doff has worked on her dandelions. I noticed this morning, that the yellow flowers of the dandelions has gone. They have gone to seed.

whats your secret Dick, they look great.

They look brilliant, Dick!

Great bloom and out of season. You must be giving it plenty of feed to flower so well.

Fantastic, Dick!

Well done.

It was a new bulb. I got it some months ago. I simply fed it as I have fed others but it fared out better.