Moved into new house with my partner last winter but due to exams and work stuff, I'm only getting slowly started on the garden. It was in a real state when I started as you can see from the photographs. The first step was to take out the crab apple tree at the back. It had a bad case of oozing sap and wasn't doing well because it had been neglected for years. After strimming the jungle and removing an old overgrown palm, I had to repair and refelt the roof of the shed to make it useable again.Once reroofed I gave it a coat of wood preservative so hopefully we'll get even a couple of years out of it yet! Plans for May and June include inserting raised beds, (which will allow me to plant out all the veg currently in the cold frame), repairing concrete area and covering in gravel, inserting a gravel path the length of the garden and making a small work area beside the shed with some overhead cover for my work bench.
13 May 2010 10:19:34
After 4 years of incessant complaining my exams are over! Thanks for listening and sorry for being such a bore!! had a BBQ to celebrate on tuesday which went well despite the weather!
Anyway, this morning I have to pot up some night scented stock, prick out some basil, sow some carrots and beetroot and do a general tidy up. I'm working at three so better get started! Yesterday worked 9-5 but when I got home I had to do some emergency repairs on a blocked shower drain and a curtain rail that was hanging precariously!! It's so nice to be able to potter around without feeling guilty! I might even squeeze in some fishing at the weekend!!!
30 April 2010 22:30:53
Half way there. There was great warmth earlier in the week and it was very hard not to extend the study breaks exponentially!! Strawberries are coming on nicely and spuds are well up now. Praying for rain next week so I can get some study done, and then once they're over we'll be due a couple of weeks of fine weather so I can get my jobs list done!!!
23 April 2010 11:15:57
During study breaks over the last week or so I planted onion and shallots sets, 2 more drills of spuds, potted a few more sunflowers, fed the blackcurrants and blackberries, did a bit of a tidy up, bought cabbage and calabrese plants. Study sucks but at least the garden is ticking over. It's really hard to come in after my break though!!! Hopefully the weather won't turn crap the day I finish.....
14 April 2010 15:15:21
14 April 2010
Exams will be finished on the 11th so after that i'll be in the garden every spare hour I have. After 4 years i won't know what hit me!!!
Anyway, garden update...
The garden path is complete, as is a small area for my workbench. A new seed bed is in place in front of the blackcurrant bushes but is only half full as I haven't had time to sieve enought soil yet. In the meantime it's a tidy home for my sunflower seedlings.
Ten drills of spuds sown during study breaks. Arran pilot, pentland javelin and a few others, I levelled the area where the rest of the spuds will be sown and moved the excess soil to the end of the garden.
I built a new BBQ from bricks I got on dublinwaste.ie, no mortar required as the design is stable in itself, as long as the bricks are cleaned of old mortar.I got a replacement BBQ grill from homebase and for the charcoal tray, I used an aluminum grille again from homebase (I had been using it to protect my seedbed from cats and birds)
I sowed carrots, parsnips, beetroot and radishes of which as yet only the radishes have appeared. The lilies that I bought last year have also started coming up so hopefully they'll give a similiar display to last year's one.
That's it for the minute. I'll just be pottering around, tidying up and maybe sowing a few more spuds during my breaks for the next few weeks.
11 March 2010 23:32:16
Since my last post (last July!) I've been pretty busy. My partner (now my fiancee!) and I got engaged and we're planning the wedding at the moment, I've managed to lay a path to the shed, the ground is dug and ready to receive my spuds (king edward, pentland javelin and arran pilot, once they are chitted), the cats have been neutered/spayed and are happily settled into their new home (the shed), the rotating clothes line has been erected, the raised beds are prepped for the coming year, the blackcurrants and blackberries have been mulched and the birdhouse is up. However the TO DO list grows ever longer... once the spuds have been harvested the lawn will go in, hopefully it'll be all the better for the addition of manure and the loosening effect of the spud roots, the hanging baskets need work... etc, etc, etc.
By the way...Is it just me, or is everything really slow to get going this year...daffodils, tulips, trees etc.!!