Last Post 602 days 22 hours ago
30 September 2011 19:21:28
while on garden.ie someone mentioned seedaholics and been crazy bout seeds went on it and got a few packs of seeds, i should be the seedaholic if recent purchases are anything to go by. a bit of boring information for you all
need to get my wallflowers out of the tunnel and the bellis perennis that i sowed from seed earlier in the year or they will have to walk out themselves.thats tomorrows work, dont want to bring anything in yet but i need to dig up the pelargoniums in the garden and pot them then they can stay on the patio for now. need to scrub the tunnel and disinfect it before the plants come in, thats all for tomorrow
30 September 2011 18:56:18
spent all day going from one place to another propagating. early september ( i think need to check) i took loads of cuttings of fuchsia and other stuff, 6 fuchsias actually rooted in water, the rest died, was thrilled with that, never thought it would actually work yippee sowed more seeds and took more cuttings of fuchsia especially the hardy one as i want some for my garden. the weather was rotten here today so it kept me busy.
i also tidied up my sweetcorn plants that had fallen, so time will tell.
going to sit now and read my garden mags for the evening
29 September 2011 18:33:23
one banana
was so happy to see this banana showing some life, my first banana plant yipee. i sowed more in that tray but no sign of them yet, can they be erractic like that? or are they duds
29 September 2011 18:29:18
ready to go and sow
started some of my seed sowing yesturday, which lifted my spirits slightly, sowed:
tree fern,banana eucalyptus, budleia paulowina tomentosa, orange scented thyme and rosemary. planning to sow some more this eve or tomorrow eve, all going well. i have everything set up so it just a matter of sowing and also get some cuttings done also
29 September 2011 18:23:25
my poor sweetcorn
went out to the tunnel yesturday morning to find my sweetcorn knocked to the ground, i will have to see if i can save them, will tie them up tomorrow and see what happens, they are part of the grass family so heres hoping if there is any damage done to the stem that it might mend itself like the sunflower can, fingers crossed, it was two days of crappy happenings, nothing too serious but soul destroying.( not been dramatic) all the same, this was the icing on the mud cake.
25 September 2011 19:58:04
is it just me or was today very draining energy wise. read some of my book by john seymore finding it a very interesting read and then started watching a dvd that i got a month or so ago on amazon
a year at kew, presented by the man himself alan titchmarsh. hope to get some seeds done tomorrow and maybe some cuttings, all going well
25 September 2011 00:13:48
the last of the seeds
the last of the seeds arrived yesturday. geranium "orhid blue" dianthus "fenbow nutmeg clove"dianthus cardphyllus "trailing carnations mixed",geranium "reflections",geranium walichiaum "buxtons blue", geranium pretence "purple haze".
25 September 2011 00:02:42
first lot of veg beds cleared
it was such a gorgeous day today, got all my cabbage blanched and frozen thank god. was well tired of it by the time i was finished. after a quick bite to eat out i went and brought children and hubby with me and rebeccas friend, we cleared all the raised bed veg beds cleared, all looks better now. i wanted to make most of the day so after coming from the shop, bought everyone an ice cream for helping, i moved pelargoniums from against wall of the house to the patio area so that if it rains they will get a good watering. also emptied the gone over pots of petunia and lobelia and then had a quick look around the front garden, everything has been battered by the wind, my rhus typhinia and white beam are burned as are my three japanese acer,which are in pots on the patio so decided to put these in the tunnel where they hopefully will recover a small bit before the winter.
got the last of the tulips, my queen of the night.thats the last of them now. tomorrow will be a day spent with magazines and books a chill out day.
22 September 2011 19:55:22
tulip 'Blumex' and tulip 'Freeman'
i never saw such varitey of tulip aldi and lidl have this year, even woodies have great variety. i picked up these in lidl today also while shopping
22 September 2011 19:51:12
tulip 'super parrot'
i got these beauties today in lidl with shopping. these white ones will look good with
tulip hollywood. i was thrilled when i saw it
21 September 2011 16:43:15
mag and free seeds
got my weekly
Amateur garden mag which came with free seeds, was delighted with them
echinacea white swan. i will sow them this month so that i will hopefully have a good display next year. i always love free seeds that i will actually use
21 September 2011 16:27:04
75 books
what a difference a couple of hours makes 75 books listed and tidy have to tackle the magazines yet into boxes a job for this evening maybe
21 September 2011 16:22:30
irises
thought these would look good with the eye of the tiger that i got in lidl last week, i need to look up a few different ones to see for sure before planting
21 September 2011 16:20:04
peach and pink
also picked up these in aldi.
queen of the night would set these off nicely i think
21 September 2011 16:15:33
3 different varieties
also popped into aldi as they are in the same complex and got these beauties
21 September 2011 16:10:06
tulip hollywood
dropped into woodies yesturday picked up tulip purple prince and found this gorgeous tulip, i think a white ruffled tulip will look good with this or if anyone has any suggestions i would be delighted
21 September 2011 16:07:11
from this
this is the chair up to now with more and more been piled up on it. thankfully the pile had a wall to lean against or it was heading for me
21 September 2011 16:02:12
a tidier chair
this morining the weather was so wet and horrible so i decided the garden books on the chair beside me and the book press needed organising so thats what i did. now my books are better organised and listed in my book.
20 September 2011 19:13:51
peacock flower
was thrilled to bits to see how my well my peacock flower is doing, the seeds were sown on the 3rd of september, thank god for notes. they are ready to start taking off heat at night, then they will be ready for planting up. need to get started on sowing more seeds, for next year, i already have some picked to start now. will post up what i have sown when i get started
20 September 2011 19:05:17
anenome pink saucer
spotted these in horkans to day, they were reduced to 1.50 each so i got the last 6. now they join my plants in waiting. i also went in to town on a bit of business and landed in woodies after and found my
tulip purple prince, thank you ann(ladygardener)i thought i might see geranium
roxanne on special offer, but no luck so was happy coming home with my anenome instead and my tulips
20 September 2011 18:52:38
john seymour
was fed up with the weather yesturday so i decided to go rambling and ended up in horkans. i spotted the much wanted book
The concise guide to self sufficency. more than likely alot of you have it all ready, bit slow to get it but heard so much about him when i did the course which is 2 years ago now, hard to believe it is that long ago. cant wait to get stuck in to reading it. thats for the next rainy day which isnt too far away. i also picked up this little book, i have the perennial one and was so impressed with it and had picked alot of my seed list from it that i was delighted to pick it up. I still havent got around to reading my books i got earlier in the summer on a family day out in limerick. but there will be plenty of time for that when it is pelting rain outside
18 September 2011 15:31:14
a new bulb for me
found these in lidl on friday, never saw them before must be new.
18 September 2011 15:13:36
along with seeds and books, i love dvds of alan titchmarsh. i recently got the
seasons with alan titchmarsh and a year at kew which i have yet to watch. i think he is brilliant and hope to meet him before he or i keel over. in my opinion he would make rain falling interesting, i like monty don, chris beardshaw, joe swift and of course geoff hamilton, bu ti
LOVE ALAN TITCHMARSH. my hubby has to share me with alan in mind anyway
18 September 2011 15:08:14
magnolia xsoulangeana
always wanted and now i have a magnolia. Magnolia xsoulangeana to be exact. when i was in lidl this week they were all gone, was hoping to pick up a second one. thankfully i picked it up last week, another plant in waiting for new reclaimed beds, thanks bill for your advice on it. i find that alot of books say they need eiracaeaus and alot of people say no. it will be planted at the front of the house once the beds are ready
18 September 2011 15:00:16
strange goings on
when i went out to water the tunnel a while ago i noticed that my primula japonica in flower. must be the heat of the tunnel, strange all the same though. these plants are waiting to be planted out when i get the garden reclaimed, which will be a while yet
18 September 2011 14:55:54
iris
love irises and am trying to get a few different ones for next spring, picked those up with the shopping as well
18 September 2011 14:54:00
tulips
picked up these beauties in lidl while shopping on friday, i want to get nice plain purple ones to go with them
18 September 2011 00:09:53
here is a short list of seeds got for next year. i have some ready to sow now. seeing all the beautiful gardens on this site and all the journal entries, and plants and reading through a perennial book i picked what i liked along with a good look through the thompson and morgan website, it has become my favourite.
ornamental grasses(lagunis ovatus, echinacea lustre hybrids, echinacea magic box,colour grass mixed, hosta decorative mix,primula noverna deep blue,banana ensete glacium, polowina tomentosa, cyclemen persicum,eupatorium maculatum,poppy hensoi violet, carex flagilifera,primula candleabra mixed, eucalyptus citriodra, budleia mix, tree ferns, clianthus puniceus,primula japonica millers crimson.also got a few other annuals plus some more cyclemen.i also got some more perennials i have ordered a few more geraniums (perennials)
15 September 2011 16:55:31
some more onions
once theese are all dry i will put them in the shed, with the unpredictable weather they need to dry in shelter, the tunnel is ideal
15 September 2011 16:52:15
onion harvest
the last thing done were the onions, i set up some racks in the tunnel and then pulled all the onions and set them on the racks to dry. very happy with the harvest and the days work, i did everything i had planned to do in my head so cant complain. tomorrow morning is promised wet so shopping can be done, maybe even a trip to woodies to see the bargains, would like to get geranium roxanne, we will see if the budget streches to that
15 September 2011 16:47:42
potted up 2
i had loads of cyclemen and violas waiting to be planted, the beds are not ready yet so i filled wooden planters with my own homemade compost and planted them up, when i am ready to plant them at least they wont be pot bound
15 September 2011 16:38:21
fuchsias
today was such a beautiful day so i decided not to go shopping until tomorrow and get some work done in the garden instead. potted up fuchsias that had been in the hanging baskets and pots out front. i also potted up the french lavender that was been swamped by the parsely in one of the big tyres
14 September 2011 19:13:51
a nice little harvest
picked all the good fruit off the plants and filled the bin with them, i never compost them thankfully the black bin is going at the weekend, or i would be struggling to find some where for the rubbish
14 September 2011 19:10:43
cleared tunnel
spent this morning clearing sad and forlorn tomatoes and peppers. the sun shines less now and i needed the soil to plant my spring cabbages and brocolli. i picked off the fruits and put them in the fridge as the flies are all over the place.
14 September 2011 19:00:06
soft rot
this is what greeted me when i opened it. i grabbed my expert veg book and looked it up. soft rot. how disappointing. due to wet season, not drained enough. i thought it was well drained but i was wrong. less manure for next year and more drainage. i always practice crop rotation, onions were in that bed last year, as i keep a record of all the beds and what was sown in them. cant do anything about the seasons been so bad but i can ensure that they get plenty of drainage. i havent pulled anymore yet so i dont know how many are affected. hopefully i only have one or two.
14 September 2011 18:51:38
my big turnips
picked a turnip today and thought what a big one, brought it in washed it and struggled to cut it up but did eventually. what i saw disgusted me.
12 September 2011 23:52:07
aster
i went looking around on friday and came across my aster starting to flower. you can divide them in spring as far as i know, correct me if i am wrong. this wind is horrible and it is so cold
12 September 2011 13:36:15
becky the flower girl
becky was so happy to be flower girl
12 September 2011 13:30:11
the happy couple
had my brothers wedding on saturday, what a brilliant day we had, or should i say weekend, jsut came home last night. no drinkin done but am wrecked tired. but a brill wedding overall. becky was flower girl so the excitment was brill. my mum ( the real kitty) and dad are to the right of the groom and jennys mum and dad are on the left of the bride.
12 September 2011 13:23:11
my god but it is windy here. watching the tunnel and rabbit and hen runs in case i need to run to rescue them. heavy stones are keeping the lids on the rabbits hutches down and heavy wheels are keepin the hens run door shut.. plants are getting battered to bits but nothing i can do.
seeds arrived this morning which made me very happy. i got a good lot of seeds, including banana, eucalyptus lemon bush that i will put into containers next year to contain them and stregthen them before they go out in the border, once they are big enough. got gorgous echinaceas of different colours, primulas varieties, budleias, ferns mix. there is seeds. i havent seen at the garden centre. i will put up a better list later when i have dinner cooked.
06 September 2011 13:47:33
now grow
i have almost four shelves full of propagating stuff. now all they need to do is propagate. this area is not too hot and is shaded. this is my seed sowing and houseplant area( forget my houseplants are there most of the time
06 September 2011 13:43:15
propagating at full speed
got some of the exotics sown that i had got at the garden centre for a euro on satuday and soaked the ones that needed to be soaked. then finished sowing on sunday.
yesturday i got alot of cuttings done. so if they all take i will be thrilled with it, and the seeds germinated will fill my reclaimed beds next summer.
went out to see what was battered after last night, so far so good, jsut my monarda is a casulty, very disappointed but the root and another stem left so all is not lost.
waiting for my last batch of seeds to arrive. the excitment of it all. like a child waiting for santa
06 September 2011 13:32:39
rio wondering if we are going to see the rabbits
was looking out at the rain sunday evening and happy that i was inside looking out instead of the other way around
05 September 2011 23:43:36
got up early this morning and once the kids were gone off on the bus, myself and hubby cleaned out the rabbits. then he had some work to do and i started taking cuttings, coleus, fuchsias, cotinus,broom, budleia, sedum. all put in water, so i need to wait and see what happens.
i have been very naughty, i went on to the thompson and morgan site and ordered some great selections. first lot arrived today, ordered thursday, was thrilled. ordered more on saturday and they are coming soon. was over the moon, i would be here all night if i was to put them all up on site, when the other ones come i will take a pic or two. i will have great fun next spring when i am growing them all. i have looking through my perennial book that i got in horkans last year and wrote down what i liked and had a list so i knew exactly what i wanted.
it is so horrible outside wet and very windy here all evening, even put a fire on this evening it made me cold looking out at it, wanted the kids to have somewhere warm after school and if uniforms were wet that they could dry over night. the weather is playing havoc on my internet as i only have a modem so it can be very finicky. i will put up some photos tomorrow if it is calmer
03 September 2011 22:43:11
for some reason, maybe my own but i am not the most sucessful with cuttings, i have great sucess with seeds and divisions but fail miserably with cuttings. i use a gritty compost and heat and everything it suggests on the book. pelargonium are simple because i use a jar of water to propagate them. maybe i will try fuchsia cuttings in water and see what happens, if that fails i dont know what i will try. has anyone successfully propagated them, from water. plus moving things at the wrong time of year never poses a problem for me. was i born with out this part of sucess?
03 September 2011 21:07:49
despite the rain we had a briliant night, we ended up having it at my brothers house(groom), myself and mum had everything cooked before that so all that needed to be cooked was the steaks, which were done just inside the door of the garage. it was a brilliant night overall, the kids had a ball and even gave us the galway girl and ******* your honda civic, which they are banned from singing at the wedding, and my son did a brilliant job of fireworks by katey perry.so looking forward to the wedding now.
started sowing the seeds of the exotics, then soaked the ones that needed to be soaked over night so they can be sown tomorrow, have the trays filled and all so wont take long. just got some narcisis yesturday in lidl, didnt bother getting tulips yet maybe next week or tuesday when i have a few euro to spare.
01 September 2011 21:24:54
do any of you know if you can freeze plums, do you need to blanch first or how can you do it
01 September 2011 19:05:34
just got 2 pks of narcissis today and a couple of cyclemen, i have my eye on the magnolias for next thursday, never had one so that is on my wish list. didnt get anything done to day. thursday is shoppin day and by the time that is done and put away(which i hate) then dinner., but hope to get something done on saturday weather permitted, tomorrow we are having a barbeque at my moms, for all the bride and grooms family,, brother getting married soon althought the weather is not good, we will still be eating and enjoyin the fun.
01 September 2011 01:12:43
when browsing through journal entries notably
a good harvest you may notice an ash tray with a cig in it, hand on heart it isnt mine its hubbies, i am on week 9 and counting tg