kitty's Journal

forsythia

forsythia

i need to do a bit of root disturbing on this tomorrow and hopefully it will flower in spring

tamarisk

tamarisk

i bought these in aldi a few years ago and they were tiny at the time, i didnt do anything to them until now. it will be a gorgeous tree when it does grow but i think its nearly as slow as japanese maples to mature. the bottom growth was cleared and they were tied in better,. the same was done to the forsythia

an impulse purchase

an impulse purchase

after dropping off the kids for handball practise i had an hour for myself, i decided to drop into the market in claregalway and came home with two ferns, no labels as usual but not too bothered, looked it up and they look like lady ferns, maybe if any of you know which ones they are it would be great. theese will go under the ornamental cherry along with some aqulegias, the hellebores rose burke gave me and some of the heuchera and primula.

a job in progress

the long border

after a wet start , by lunchtime the sun was shining and i was itching to get out. when i woke this morning my head was splitin, felt i had 40 drinks on me, didnt even drink, at that stage gardening was last thing i was thinking off. dished up dinner and out i went, cutting  back 2 tamarisk trees and the forsyhtias, these had way too much under growth so all the bottom branches were taken out, now it looks tidier and more spacious, and more like trees. three rose bushes were also cut right back as they had become wild and need to come out to make space for other plants ( 3 japanese maples and three spirea goldcrest). tomorrow i will get it tidied up and bulbs planted, we are promised a great day so cant wait to get out there and finish it and then spread some mulch( own compost) then it will look nice and tidy and ready for spring.

seedlings waiting

waiting to flower

waiting to flower

my christams catus is getting ready to bloom. hopefully mine will open soon like jacintas

dietes grandaflora

dietes grandaflora

rachle had a journal entry showing how well her wild iris was doing. mine are up be slow to develop, as long as they are good in spring i dont mind. there is i well up and 2 more just breaking the soil.

on yer bike

looks fab

i am just getting around to reading octobers gardeners world now and spotted this bike, its really cute. would love to do it and tie it in with the front garden. just came up with a great idea, it could be parked on the path way as if someone has just got off and are bringing the plants into  the different areas to be planted, this plant scheme would have to be repeated in the bed to tell the story. must go looking for an old bike, shouldnt be too hard to find one. it needs to be an old style bike like a high nelly

still going bananas

still going bananas

this banana is doing brill. i need to pot it up or it will topple over on me. this is the first banana plant i ever had so forgive me for being so dramatic about it. i have tried to straighten it up a bit as its leaning abit. i keep turning it

should i plant or should i wait

the tree is planted

the tree is in the hole

thanks to hubby the tree is planted. he has been brill while my back is bad. hopefully the tree will be ok. must give it another drop of water. we got one massive down pour this morning at 10.00 it was like someone tipped out a massive bath of water, it was unreal. and another downpour around 3 or so. but some sunshine in between the showers

a few more daffs

a few more daffs

made a quick trip to horkans to get a few more daffs and one pack of crocus. my two wanted to be in on the picture. i got ice king and st patricks day. it was a special offer buy one get one free so for 2 packs of daffs and one crocus 11.99. there is a nice lot of daffs in each pack

a job well done

renewing the veg beds

my hubby has been brilliant to me all day today. he done all the planting of the tree all i did was hold it. our next door neighbour has loads of soil that he wanted rid of so he told us to take it, so as i write this hubby is bringing barrow after barrow over and repairing the raised beds and filling them with the soil. he also brought soil over for the tree, the sol i dug up to make the hole, nothing would grow in it, so now with the new soil the tree should florish although hubby said he was offering it up with a bit of soil and a prayer. the roots had got so long since it was planted a couple of years ago, i cut the roots back a small bit, hopefully it wont kill it

leaf mould

leaf composter

while i was sorting out the pelargoniums i needed somewhere to put the leaves when the bucket filled up, rather than going out in the cold, i remembered that i had an old bin outside the tunnel ( back opening), a mouse made a hole in this bin last year to get at the oats, but me not liking to waste anything kept it and i was glad i did, i can use it as a leafmould composter. so now i can put all leaves into it from the tunnel and around the garden. if i had brains i would be dangerous.

cannas covered

cannas covered

this is what i mean about the cannas, i hope this will be ok for them. i will keep a close eye on them

finished at last

a layer of mesh

before i went out to the tunnel, i took 20 cuttings of my hardy fuchsia and put them in water, i have had some success with this.

then spent a good hour and a half finishing off the tidying of pelargoniums and cutting off alot of the foliage and stems. its all done now thank god and everything is in the greenhouses that need to be in it.

i have"nt used fleese yet as we havent had any ground or severe frost yet, mostly air frost. i have just closed up the greenhouses and thats it. i also got my canna  plants cut back and brought into the garage. i was trying to find the darkest part but couldnt so i put plastic flower pots turned upside down over them so hopefully that will be ok. i will keep a good eye on them though.

very happy with my couple of hours work, its amazing what you can get done in such a short space of time,

now i can relax more and give my back plenty of rest.apart from keeping an eye on my plants and covering them at night thats it gardening wise, almost forgot i need to move that tree then thats it for a long while.

the great thing about these greenhouses is that they have a mesh that can be just left on it without closing the whole thing off which means it is allowing air through but keeping the plants just warm

more done today

spent a pleasant day repotting fuchsias and other bits and pieces in to pots and then into the tunnel for winter. there were 2 spireas that had failed miserably in pots, i repotted these and put them into the greenhouses for tlc for winter and then plant them out in sping in the garden.

still have some more to do but its all gentle work and with the rain we are having, doing any major garden projects is not happening. by the end of the week i hope to have all the plants in that i want to protect and divide

a little bit done today

the third one in

got out to the garden late as i had a message to do in the city first, i took some of the pots out of the tunnel to make room for the third greenhouse, i stripped down the dahlias and put them into pots of sawdust. then i made up the other greenhouse so tomorrow i start with repotting plants and putting them in to the greenhouse for winter. monty don spoke of how to store cannas so that will also be done.

i am not doing any hard graft and i am sitting while doing the potting and not doing any carrying of heavy stuff, thats hubbys corner.

after cooking dinner myself and hubby tidied the front hall and took out to presses and put in two racks instead so that i can bring in some of my varigated pelargoniums.

i sit here in total disalusion of the whole debate for the presidency and the bull that they are coming out with. as far as i can see they are just thrown dirt at each other.

at least plants wont fight with each other

a table moved and need help

had great plans to get loads done but my back or energy wouldnt pull their weight. i got the table moved out to the shed, which leaves room for the other greenhouse. i went and bought compost (horkans) to sort out plants and saw dust/shavings from petworld. while at horkans i priced the log rolls and was so shocked at the price 16 euro for a roll, disgracefull and told them this, i went on woodies website and argos and will get 2 rolls for 15 euro from argos and 8.50 for log roll in woodies. if i could get my hands on second hand ones i would be thrilled, not just for the price but for the weathered look to go with what i already have in the other beds, it would tie in with the woodland theme that i want to achieve . if anyone can help me with this i would be thrilled.

monday is another day and this will be spent potting and making other greenhouse. i also got a roll of fleece on stand by for a very cold night, i dont intend losing anything this year. my mood today is matching the weather, i just want to put on my pjs and sit by the fire with a mag and hope tomorrow will be a better day    

on the move

where is the tree?

i dug and cleared this area over a week ago in the hopes of getting a tree in, an orental cherry, it has gorgous burgandy leaves a pink flowers in spring, after diggin it the weather turned, hopefully it will get planted soon, next spring i will have aquilegias and some hostas planted in there, this corner has laid idle for some time so defintely in need of attention

loads of space inside

loads of space inside

when i was making these up i could believe how big they were, i had great fun with them, i was a pro by the second one so i should nearly be able to make these up with my eyes closed. they will also be brilliant when i am hardening off in spring, as there is plenty of space inside them  

all filled out

full to the brim

as promised i have some photos of the work done yesturday. as i already mentioned i will put in the third greenhouse when i have cleared a space in the shed that, where the table will go to make space in the tunnel for the 3 greeenhouse then i will have everything in the tunnel,  with these closed at night plus loads of fleece will be used and then it will be fingers crossed

cannas

put together

i didnt do much today, but i did put two of my small greenhouses together, or should i say huge, i will have photos tomorrow. it was childs play putting them together but they were so big. i got two in for now, might have to put the table into the shed to get the other one in, they take up one bay of the tunnel each so 3 would fit into it comfortably, when hubby came from work he was roped into bringin in all the tender plants with me. the tunnel is chockablock now barely room to walk, but i need to repot the geraniums and fuchsia and all the other bits into smaller pots, then there will be a bit more space. these greenhouses are great because they will get extra protection and in them plus i can put in extra fleese if need be. i will also cut back the pelargoniums and keep them on the dry side same with fuchsias.

last year we had -17, heres hoping a severe frost -5 or -6 will be the worst we will get, last year we had the rabbits in the shed, the straw in their beds was frozen and the water bottles, we used wolley socks on the bottles but they still froze, all we can do is hope for the best

its sooo cold

my god the weather has changed. it has got so cold in the last few days. didnt get any gardening done with my back, had to go to docs today, my back is in spasms so he gave me some valium that i have to take when i am going to bed, so fingers crossed that they will work, its agony. i have loads of stuff to go in the tunnel so i can protect them, panicing here, dont want to loose anything this year if at all possible.

ill put in what i can and get hubby to help with the rest. i got a great bargain last month on the coldframes in lidl, i will set them up in the tunnel and use fleese as well.

violas

violas

i had some violas in pots that i needed for bulbs so rather than dumping them which would be a sin and had no place ready outside so decided touse them to fill in gaps in the tunnel, between cabbages and carrots

three bags full

three bags full

had forgotten what i had bought bulbwise especially the first stuff i boughtbut was so excited going out to plant especially spending time in the tunnel

also this

also this

all my tulips are planted now and can be planted out in new area  when its done

getting ready to plant

to this

got some chores done inside and then it was out to the tunnel to get bulbs planted. i started off with three bags full of tulips, daffs and alll the other bits.so from bag to pot in 3hrs. i used a mix of my own compost, bought compost grit and some sand and then mixed it all together, what a concockchun. i am delighted to get that job done now i can concentrate on sortin out the garden, bit by bit.

all cleared out

afrer

this is the finished result and is now ready to bring in my other tender plants and will house my bulbs for the time being. quick question for ye, would i be doing wrong by keepin my onions in the tunnel over winter?

ready to go

before clearout

once i had dinner done and dusted out i went and started working on the tunnel, with loads of breaks ( sat down for a few minutes alot) and great help from hubby and becky, my darling son was doing homework so he missed out on the tidying up.

i cleared out all the plants and rearranged the shelves and tidied the onions. then the sweetcorn was attacked, thanks to becky she brought in the sweetcorn and blanched and freezed it, she was proud as punch of herself and now she can tell her home economics teacher that she learnt to blanch and freeze sweetcorn. im so proud of her and it was a massive help to me, myself and hubby cleared out all the stalks and made room for a few more cabbages that i had left over from an earlier sowing. i was actually very disappointed with the sweetcorn some were not even ripe and they werent going to ripen either, but got 13 sweetcorn from about 18 plants which isnt too bad i suppose, especially when it was trial to see what they would look like.

finished in time to see fair city at 7.30. very happy with my days work

going poitty

going poitty

once the big pots were done i brought all the empty pots over near the tap and gave them a good rinse out. then out came the disinfectant and a bucket of water and sat quite happily cleaning and taking the weight of my back, the tablets are taking time to kick in porperly and dont expect to feel completely better overnight. i was quite happy with my mornings work which i didnt start until 12 after some housework yuck..........and stopped to cook dinner and then out again for more work

thrown together

thrown together

these are the most thrown together pots that i put together today. just put aload of bits and pieces into a pot in a hurry. i needed to free up the smaller wooden pots for my bulbs.

thank you gerry

garden.ie forever

from time to time i get sentimental and get all blubbery and emotional, hand on heart i have to say that the people on this site are the nicest dearest people, i havent met most of you but feel like i know you all

the encouragement that is shown towards each other is unreal. i tried to get in on facebook but it wasnt to be i love this site more.

so a big thank you for the encouragement you show to me. and the geneoisty that is shown also.

second time round

purple surprise

i bought this hydrangea in spring in flower, after finishing flowering i took off the fadded blooms and now i have a second flush of flowers, they are in eiracaus compost as they were bought purple in lidl. the one on the other side just has one bloom, i am delighted with it

a walk around

the soup was gorgeous last night, heavy mists and very clammy here today, you would nearly be sweating standing up. had to go to docs today because my back has been given me alot of trouble, i cant wake five feet with been in agony, i got anti inflamatorys and pain killers. it has also been the reason behind not getting work done outside which drives me crazy, im not the type that sits still for long. hopefully these will help and i will be back to my self in a day or two. i looked around the garden just now everything looks so wind battered especially the trees. cant wait to get stuck in to it all. after two months of pain i hope to have some relief, the first lot of anti inflamitorys were usless.

i really need to get the bulbs sown, havent been able to do it. thats tomorrows job, fingers crossed. thank god the wind has gone and there is just a gentle breeze

 my apologies for such a boring journal

a day for soup

all my own ingrediants

. when i woke this morning it was really horrible outside, so i went back under the duvet for another while,while i was putting clothes on a clothes horse to dry in front of the fire, and looking out the window at the horrible weather, i decided to make a soup, so out i went and got carrots,parsnip, turnip, leek and potatoes and brought them in and made a gorgeous soup.

i didnt get anything done outside to day not even the tunnel got a look in, hopefully tomorrow will see something done, the gusty winds are playing havoc on the doors of the tunnel as they are not strong enough when it is open and the winds are strong, hubby said he will do a job on them to make them stronger before the weekend.

its an evening for tv, a bowl of veg soup and garden magazines and hope for a better day tomorrow

banana plant growing by the day

oh banana

everyday i look to see how the banana plant is doing and i am surprised at how well it is doing, all these exotics are all new to me, very exciting stuff really.

plants waiting to go in

plants waiting to go in

im delaying for as long as possible putting plants in. the tunnel needs clean out first then i can move them in. but only when i have to, they will be in long enough. i just grouped them together and they still look good so want to hold on to the last bit for as long as possible

patio clean up

an empty patio

spent the morning moving the rest of the plants from the patio into a raised bed. now that the big barrels are empty i can move some cyclemen an viola from the smaller wooden pots and use these for planting up bulbs. slowly but surely its all getting done. monday i can start the tunnel. i gave the patio a bit of wash but will save the big wash for spring as it will be well needed after winter, whatever that brings weather wise

new compost bin

the badly needed compost bin

while i started cleaning the patio and deadheading the pelargoniums hubby got stuck into making a second compost bin, i have been asking for one for ages but it was falling on deaf ears, he came in one evening while i was watching an old gardeners world while cooking dinner and starts watching it, monty don was on about compost bins, later that evening he said i will get some plastic pallets and make a second compost bin, THANK YOU MONTY DON. he was true to his word and started it yesturday and finished it before dark.

seeds arrived

woke to a dreary wet and windy day but the postman didnt disappoint, my order from seedaholics arrived yippeeeeeee. will have some fun,

monarda didyma panorama "red shades", lychnis coronaria,monarda "anorama mix"heuchera micrantha "melting fire", monarda fistulosa "bergamot", heurchera sanguinea "bressingham hybrids, geum "lady stratheden", geum " mrs j bradshaw", euphorbia marginata "summer icicles"coraderia selloana "pink feather and white feather varieties, dipsacus sativus fullonum "fuller"s teasel", amaranthus tricolour "illumination" and "early splendour", acanthus mollis " bears breeches", primula denticulata "ruby"agapanthus "headbourne hybrids". cant wait to see them in the garden next year, especially when the new layout is done. does anyone know if you can take cuttings of amaranthus, it said it is an annual but so is coleus but you can keep it going with cuttings, it looks so beautiful. this is my second time writing this out, the bloody internet is acting up with all the wind and rain. fingers crossed it will go through this time

look who here

wild iris

i went out to check on my seeds and their progress this morning and look who appeared, wild iris dietes grandiflora. really happy with the progress. my banana plant that i transplanted has grown an other inch since it was transplanted in the last couple of days. now the challenge is to get it through the winter. checked on my peacock plant this morning, apart from needing a good drink it is doing ok, they look so delicate

weather forecast

does anyone know what i could do with this

does anyone know what i could do with this

i bought this as a small forsythias in aldi years ago, they only seem to flower in the bottom branches, tried cutting it back to see what happened it made flowers a little bit up the branches. its nice even without flowers but it would be better if it had flowers all over. any advice please. the plant is the all green one between the pink cosmo and ox eye daisey

dull and dreary

looking out the window at the horrible evening outside, need to put the rabbits to bed badly but it is so horrible. its an evening for garden books and garden.ie.

by the time i got out from town and got the dinner it was dreary looking. i got loads of clothes fairly dry so happy with day but tomorrows another day and i am staying at home all day apart from a quick trip to shop i intend to get stuck in to gardening

a simple and brilliant book

a simple and brilliant book

got this book a couple of weeks ago in amazon its the one of the WHICH books, this propagation books gives simple and quick guide to the different plants and what method of propagation works. it is done in grid form and really easy to follow. when you are in a hurry and you want to find out the different methods of propagation for a certain plant,

highly recomended

still going strong

primula japonica ' apple blossom

i posted a journal a few weeks ago or so about one of my primulas were in bloom in the tunnel, this plant is still going strong and now has a longer stem also.

seeds

the postman put a smile on my face this morning when he arrived with a parcel from thompson and morgan. opened the envelope with great excitment this is what was inside.

lupin "tuti fruity"

coreopsis "presto"

achilea summer berries

primula x tommasinii"you and me blue"

echinacea "double decker"

silene lacinata "jack flash"

diantus " artic fire"

kniphofia " traffic lights"

almost gave up

got up this morning pulled the blind and decided that the duvet was the best option, spen an extra ten minutes under the duvet and then had to get up. went out once some housework was done but it was too windy to leave plants out or even leave the tunnel door open. closed the tunnel doors behind me and tidied the plants in the tunnel, taking off dead leaves etc and felt cosy and warm inside with the rain and wind pelting the tunnel outside.

after dinner, the sun was out and the winds had calmed down alot so, i got all the pelargoniums from the garden and potted them up, left them outside between the raised veg beds in case the winds got bad again, but overall was very happy and a bettter turn out of a day

a birch

a gorgeous sky

sunset

took this photo during the week, its not coming out as good as the real thing because the sky was red and gorgeous. its not as good as sallysarahs but here goes

aster

aster

put up a picture of this in a journal a few weeks ago, now the aster is covered, it looks blue on the photo because it was taken when it was getting dark but i love it and tend to divide it in spring.

for keego

front garden

here is the best picture of the front garden that i could take

nothing done today

had great plans to do some work in the tunnel and pot up pelargoniums, but i ended up going to town with my friend, her daughter and becky, glad i did as i really enjoyed it and now i am feelin much better and rearing to go for monday.

came up with a plan to convert my front lawn into winding paths and wider borders which would get rid of the front lawn. i drew it out roughly and left it lying around for hubby to see, dont know what he would think of it, might have to do a bit of convincing i think. if it comes out as good as the design in my head it will be fantastic.

wish me luck on convincing him. it will take alot of work but i am up to the challenge of doing the project, i hate walking as a form of exersise but i love gardening so what better way to get fit, and hopefully have a garden to die for at the end of it