Last Post 1423 days 20 hours ago
29 June 2009 23:26:38
Spent the day looking in salvage yards for wall caping and gates. Saw a great pair of reclaimed gates just what we want but don't know if our budget will stretch that far, no suitable stone for the walls but now think we will use cobbles which can be sourced locally.
Went to B&Q at Sprucefield on our way home to get some sundry items but as normal came home with some more plants. One of the pots on the steps from the house had alliums in it but these are now past their best so plan to plant it up with an oriental lily and geraniums. Bought 3 chocolate cosmos as well which will find a place in the SE bed.
To add to the veg beds bought some cauliflower,brocolli and also some more gem lettuce planted them up so hopefully they will settle in quickly, looking forward to being able to just pick things as I need them.
29 June 2009 11:46:32
No gardening time on Sunday as I was away to near Dundalk with Border Counties Riding Club at the dressage qualifier - good day one team qualified finishing 2nd and all others did well, too exhausted when I got home to do anything other than look out at the views. Am sitting in the kitchen looking out across the terrace and pond , need to make sure I don,t let the pan burn again. I put in on went out to put on washing and forgot about it as I noticed a dock that was protruding out among the foxgloves - disaster totally forgot.
Taken some more photos and really must take out some clumps of the lysichiton it really does brighten up the bed but now it is taking over the new plants as well. Will plant it by the pond and it can run riot around the wild part of the garden, if it doesn't survive I will just move more in the autumn.
Cooking finished so Johnny and I are off to see if we can find some old capping for the walls and some gates.
On my tour round the garden took a look into the kitchen garden and it's plants are flying and I noticed that the beds were watered so Johnny was doing something while I was away with the horses. We also had some rain last night first in a long time so the weeds will definitely on the rampage.
28 June 2009 00:13:16
Busy day with the riding school, running to collect and drop off boys in various places. Last Sunday I had a caller asking about a B&B as they had been told there was one out towards Emyvale the next village- I don't know of any but as he left I did say often I think I am running one as I never know who my kids will have over to stay- I often feel that I have a really big family especially as Conor who is in a band has the 3 other lads over- they are playing tonight in the village and when outside I can hear them clearly at least I know were he is.
It's been another dry day and although it threatened to rain once again it missed us. I spent the late afternoon watering dead heading roses and lupins past their best, I must make note of what needs to move home now that plants have expanded in the beds I planted up 2 years ago, the other task was to weed these beds. The white roses in the bed at the front of the house have so many flowers that I will need to support them.
Off to- morrow to a riding club competition shortly after 8am so hope the day is good again and with any luck will be home early enough to spend some time in the garden.
26 June 2009 22:51:46
Johnny and Conor spent the morning collecting up stones and bits of timber that were left behind when the landscaping of the bed to the SE of the house was finished. The bag with the remaining bark was moved and perhaps now we will be able to put down gravel to finish this area. The seeds that I sowed in the bed edging the terrace are now shooting up a mixture of perenials and love in a mist. The new roses are settling in well and all have blooms on and I'm hoping that the bed will give looks of colour later in the summer until I can plant this up permanently. I'm luck that we are close to Black's garden centre in Armagh and also B&Q and homebase can be good for my plant addiction as gardening is expensive if you want to try and get it up and running quickly. Have planted up lavender seeds, lupins, aquilegia and sweet william in trays which will help to bulk up my planting next year now that the bones of the planting are in. Hopefully the perenial seeds will also provide me with more material.
The planting in the kitchen garden is also now taking off and hopefully I will get another sowing made early next week.
26 June 2009 01:05:40
Roses are red
Oh to be more computer literate- getting photos to upload has been trying to say the least. Weather too hot for gardening or teaching riding but these things must go on. Johnny seems to have taken on the job of watering the plants each night and the new bed on the SE in beginning to have some colour.
Monday saw us go to Enniskillen to try and find salvage capping for the wall and on top of the basement terrace- no luck for either capping or gates the other item on the shopping list.
Tuesday morning saw rabbits sunning themselves in the Kitchen Garden- rapid finishing of the chicken wire fencing to keep them out- also rabbit damage to some plants in the SE bed so a liberal watering of wild animal repellant on Tuesday night seems to have solved the problem for the present. Will have to try and eradicate them if possible as it's impossible to fence the garden to stop them getting in.
James my 3rd son spent a few hours mowing the grass- another item on the shopping list is a ride on mower. Johnny tried out his new strimmer his father's days present from the children, strimmed along the edge of the pond. Don't think I'll get too much more time in the garden this week as too many equestrian activities this weekend.
21 June 2009 21:24:48
Although today would have been a good day to be in the garden I spent the morning in the kitchen with the door open to the terrace. When designing the house it was important to us that the house and the garden belonged to each other and the views out over the garden and surrounding coutryside certainly achieve this, watching the birds and listening to the bees on the jasmine by the door. The aternoon I dead headed roses, lupins and removed the peony flowers that were now past their best and hopefully the numerous buds will give a similar display over the next few days. I hope it flowers as profusely next year as I can visualise these stunning blooms in flower arrangements in the house. Caroline my 2nd daughter has her wedding next year on the 19th June and I hope that there will be plentiful flowers to use in the house as well as being well enough established for photos. The reclaimed gate to the kitchen garden got a coat of paint and the as no one else was here for tea I decided to sample the new potatoes which were so delicious straight from the raised bed put in near the house in 2006.
Put some new photos up that show the house site with the foundation built in September 2005 and also the dogs investigating the wetland that that we transformed into the pond.
18 June 2009 23:00:19
Peony rose survives the storm
Today started at 4:30am with it promising to be a good day, my youngest son and his band had to travel up to Dublin to record on the 6am bus, after seeing them off and spending time on learning how to up load photos etc. I planned to get some more work done in the garden before having to teach in the afternoon. Geraniums and varigated ivy eventially got planted into planters and as I worked round to planting out what I had bought in B&Q on Saturday the day started to change sunshine puntuated by heavy downpours. Planting completed I started to teach at 3:30pm and thanked my lucky stars that I had a roof over our heads. It started to rain and the wind became gail force in a flash and then the hailstones that followed for the next 5 minutes left the place white. Luckily it came from the north west so the peony and roses on the south east side of the house missed the brunt of the storm. Rain has continued on and off here all evening- one good side is the lake has risen almost 10cm in the last couple of days, however I hope it soon picks up otherwise plants will surely suffer.
While the morning was good took more photos which I will post once developed.
18 June 2009 08:25:26
Kitchen Garden
More progress on the Kitchen Garden with the hedge of roses and hornbeam trees planted, the recent rain has certainly meant that no watering has been needed. The next project is to make the main driveway into the house which now seems to possibly include an extension to the pond-lake with a bridge going over. Once the construction work is done we will be able to finish the tree planting and then the gates and fencing. Another project will be the construction of a bridge to the island and over the point of the lake to the wodland area were we have planted about 150 trees in the spring of 2007. I,m hoping that as much as possible is done this year as our second daughter is getting married next year in June. To try and establish the planting I'm currently sowing up pereninals that can be planted out in the autumn to bulk up what's already planted.