25 June 2009 23:25:53
This good spell better end soon or I will not get into my sitting room with the pile of ironing. Went out for a quick half hour this evening at 7 and only in now!! What glorious weather everything looks so much better when the sun is shining. I staked up my tomatoes lots of blossoms so let's hope I get some fruit. We then took a few plants out of the gravel bed beside the patio as they had got too large - I put in a ballerina geranium that i had elsewhere, put in a saxifraga not sure of name love these plants the way they spread their carpet of green and send up pretty flowers which last for weeks and a couple of Diascia which are also great plants for Summer colour. My climbing rose (do not know name) that I grew from a cutting is really doing well and has a beautiful smell I will get a picture but my camera is out of action at the moment. We planted a tree peony a few years back but it has only ever flowered once and that was only one flower!! Does anybody know what the problem might be - it comes back every year with lovely foliage - I think it might be too crowded as I think it might like lots of space - do they move well? I get caught like this so much where I underestimate how big shrubs will grow and plant things too close together. Going on a hen party for the weekend in Galway so no gardening i will have withdrawel symptoms by Monday. Happy gardening!!
24 June 2009 23:31:00
My hour in the garden this evening was spent watering! should not complain as the weather brillant. Children got holidays to-day so hopefully will get some reluctant volunteers to do some gardening chores while I am at work. A few tugs or bark mulch here and there through the garden and a bit of deadheading nothing too strenuous!!. Vegetables coming on really well have managed to save the cabbages from slugs put copper piping around bed and it has worked a treat. A lot of white butterflies around these days so need to get the derris dust out - has anybody got any other remedies for caterpillars? I sowed mixed rocket from seed it has been lovely this last few weeks but now going to seed. cauliflowers, Broccli, beetroot, onions and peas all going well after slow start. I mentioned before about a fig that i got in Mullingar last year it was an impulse buy and I thought it was dead however it has come on great in the last week - unlikely to have fig's but lovely foliage. We also set dwarf beans but no joy I hate giving up but there is not a sign of them so I will dig over and put something else in. I have never grown strawberries any tips
23 June 2009 13:02:57
Update photos
22nd June a beautiful day and a lovely long evening when work was complete to get out and enjoy the garden and that is just what I did this evening - took time to take photographs, study foliage and flowers and make more plans with the head gardener ( better known as my nagged to death husband Gerry! ). Everytime we do this we come up with loads more things we woudl like to do, the latest is to add some colour to our new bed that we planted out last Autumn. This was mainly a Spring bed with loads of daffodils and tulips in the Spring and then nothing for the remainder of the year. Having got some inspiration from Bloom (2008) and incorporating plants we had already we planted Plum Pludding towards the center of the bed (this bed like all others in our garden is sloped!) we put astibles behind a couple of nice big Hydrangas and at the back a selection of reliable shrubs that are tried and tested Pittsporum, Buddleia( for the butterfly's) Vibernium, and a couple of acers. So to add colour we are going to mix in some Geum (mrs Bradshaw ) through the heucera and put some geraniums small purple compact form along the front which is our drive way. We have some Lady's mantle already here. Anybody got any other ideas it is hard to picture I did take a picture but it was almost 10.30 so it is a bit dark . Any ideas greatly appreciated
21 June 2009 22:50:47
Fathers day so was on Cooking duty usually do it together but gave Ger a day off to-day so no gardning either - did manage to slip off to the garden centre just for a look around!! bought Basil to go with my home grown tomatoes ambitious I know but a girl can have her dreams , I also bought Stipa Gigantia and Salvia as well as Echinacea. Decided to-day that we have to get rid of Eucalyptus as it has got to big for our garden - we cut it really well back last year but it now looks too woody - Now on the look out for a small tree that has good year round interest that can take wind approx 10ft high any ideas?
21 June 2009 00:18:55
Took a walk around the garden today saw lots to do but after watching Gardeners world last night I decided to stop and study some of the flowers in detail the Astrantia Major in particular and the cornflour (picked up a new variery in bloom white with purple centre lovely ) and of course stopped to smell the roses. We are trying to enjoy what we have achieved to date rather than always seeing what has still to be done. That did not last for long and got some long overdue staking done, the Knautia , salvia and Campunala. I moved a small thyme from the border in the back garden back to a pot where I can enjoy the smell and the colour. We had our first salad from the garden , lettuce, rocket and scallions, hard boiled eggs from out own hens we are working towards been self sufficient Tom and Barbara are our idols!! Tomorrow we will have roast chicken that hubby has reared - we have been rearing our own chickens now for about 4-5 years and we have never bought a chicken since we ate the first one. Reclaimed another bit of ground in the new vegetable garden and planted in peas, dwarf beans, broccli, winter cabbage and more large onions as we use these right through the winter in casseroles etc.
I have a bare patch in the front border where we previously had roses and a lavender hedge and it never really worked out we took them out and have not replaced with anything substantial - we had tulips in the Spring but I am now looking for ideas and would like to get somthing planted in the next few weeks although it will be too late for this season. Any ideas welcome slope exposed to wind
We are also going to embark on another big project this year - we have an Island at the front of our house that is currently planted wth very large conifers which I have wanted to remove since we moved here 12years ago!! It is too big for us to take on ourselves although we hope to do a lot of the hard landscaping once we get a plan for what we are going to do the area is approx 22yds X 15yds (I never did get to grips with metric!) we hope to put in some kind of small water fall feature with a stream and lots of lucious planting well we can all dream. we have contacted a local landscaper who we hope will come next week so we will see how this progresses over the Summer months.
The small orchard we planted Autumn 2007 is really coming on this year - at that time we planted a plum tree, a cherry tree , a pear tree, and three apples two eating one baker, We have since added in some fruit bushes raspberry, Goseberry , blue berry , Rhubarb and a Fig which is looking very sick -hoping for lots of fruit picking later in the year!
18 June 2009 13:30:23
Have revisited site after a long absence and really surprised at the number of active members and all the good stuff available. I only get to spend a half hour each evening in the garden but try and get out on Saturdays and Sundays really having a good go at fruit and Veg this year and so far have had a few very tasty raspberries (hard to catch them before what i can only presume are the birds that get to them! should i cover them with netting? , cherries are coming on really well and were really lovely last year which was our first year with the tree. I have rocket and lettuce from seed and scallions although these are very slow but coming. Cabbage and potatoes doing well but peas really slow this yeaer but I am sure will come I have also tomato plants for the first time and we are minding them like babies how in a home made green house! Now that we have blossoms finally shoud I remove all the branches from below the branches with the blossoms I thought I read that somewhere.
In the plants department I have fount myself getting more and more interested in perennials although I think you need a good mixture of shrubs and trees as well to get the year round balance right. Looking good in the garden at the moment is geum, knautica, Hardy Geraniums and on the shrub side of things the spireara bride, not good at proper names! I am also very fond of Vibernums as very reliable and my wedding cake one jsut gone out of bloom.
I am on my lunch break so better get a bit to eat to keep up my strength for the garden!