Month: May 2008

Decided to join up and find out what the heck is crawling around in my basil – it’s giving me the shivers!

21st May 08

My Birthday!

Last year I was 26. Yesterday, I turned 36 – where did it all go? So this year, for my birthday, I potted up some baskets and pots with a gorgeous mix of hot red, passionate orange and whimsical yellow. It looks devine – even if I might say so myself! AND I got a present of a course in the Organic Centre in Rossinver – can’t wait. Maybe it was worth being older after all!

19th May 08

Spring onions

For some reason my spring onions (White Lisbon) won’t germinate. So far, I’ve had one single seedling from this year’s sowing and three that managed to overwinter from last year’s crop. I’m wondering if I should try soaking them first before I sow. I’ll give them another week or so and then think again.

Oregano

All the problems coming out now…Perhaps we over-cropped the oregano leaves, or maybe they’re just not hardy enough for this climate, but I don’t even have enough leaves for one decent pizza! We’re a mile from the east coast, so it shouldn’t be too severe. I’m in the process of cutting out the deadwood, and have planted some more, but I’m going to try the TLC route and see if I can rejuvenate my old faithfuls before I rip them up.

English Lavendar

Another sore point! They were magnificent last year, but alas and alac, there’s more wood than green or flowers this year. I think I’m going to have to be ruthless with them, as I don’t think cutting back into the wood will do them any good at all, from what I’ve read. I’ve found somewhere I can get new small plants for quite good value, so I think the big old woody ones will just have to be demoted to a spot in the back of the flower patch in the front. I’ll leave them till they’re finished flowering anyway, possibly even till autumn…

Montana

I was never over-enamoured of Montana but this year it has been spectacular. I’ve been trying – and will continue to try – to mix it in with another climber beside it. I’ve no idea what the other one is called, but it’s evergreen, and has the most beautiful little white flowers very late in the season and they last through to the depths of winter. I’m thinking that if I can encourage these two to intertwine, I’ll have that greenery on the fence through the winter, and two annual splashes of colour. That’s the idea, anyway. I hope they like each other!

Waterlogged Bay

Need I say more. I’ve discovered that bay doesn’t like wet feet! Here’s hoping that the bamboo and next door’s alder will suck up enough water to allow the bay get back on it’s feet – so to speak.

Discerning Slugs

They’ve eaten my little irises again. And I’ve discovered they’re picky about the beer they get. Expensive brands go down very well while economy beer gets ignored! So much for value-for-money! My husband reckons there are too many chemicals in the economy ones and the slugs don’t like the smell of the chemicals. Whatever the reason, having irises just got dearer.

Raspberries

Can’t wait. Nothing else to say, except I’m drooling at the thoughts!

Gooseberries

God bless those little bushes, they’ve really been through the mill. I think we have the only gooseberry bushes for miles around, and every saw-fly butterfly (or moth, don’t know which!) makes a beeline for my poor specimens. It’s a real testament to their hardiness that despit being stripped almost bare at least twice a season, they still manage to actually grow bigger AND produce fruit – not much, but it’s there! As for me, I can’t think of any worse job than picking off the caterpillars. I do it, but I try not to think too much about it. I did it once on a saturday, and my kids thought I was so cruel. It happens when they’re in school now as I can’t deal very well with the extra guilt-trip. What surprises me the most in all this is that I’m still as dedicated a carnivore as ever!

Thyme

Some of my thyme has gone woody in the centre. I’ve painstakingly cut out all the deadwood there too and kept any little leaves or buds that i’ve noticed in the hope that these will get more sun and thrive, and that the surrounding leaves will be encouraged to grow into the space. I also have a really lovely one, I call it a creeping thyme but I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to be called. It almost died last year, and I considered digging it up, but then didn’t for some reason, and it’s come back beautifully. It’s about twice the size of the year before last, with a creeping habit (which probably won’t do it any good as I have a membrane down) and really soft leaves and stems. It tastes wonderful too. Just on the theme of thyme, I did dig up some other dead ones last year that I thought had become waterlogged. When I dug them up, I wasn’t so convinced, as under the roots of each of them were at least two cocoon-type things about an inch long, pointy at one end and wider at the other, a dark reddish brown colour and quite hard and shiny. Some of them were definately still inhabited as they squirmed when they were disturbed. Others were abandoned. I never found out what they were, but I’m slightly inclined to aportion them the blame for the death of quite a number of my precious thyme bushes. You can probably tell by now that I’m a real foodie!

Allotments

I’ve been trying to source some (one!) in my area, but they’re nowhere to be found. My parents have ‘allotted’ (couldn’t resist that one!) me a portion of their garden as it’s bigger than my little patch. It still wouldn’t feed a family though. I’d love to see allotments becoming available to the wider population, or even community gardening plots. I know they have them in the UK and that some are more successful than others. I might try and start something but I don’t have the time to devote to it this year. Maybe I’ll put out some feelers to see if anyone would be interested in doing a group kind of a thing. I’ll see.

My garden is a little over an acre. It is situated on Sherkin Island, West Cork. 

The main difficulty of gardening on an island is the heavily laden salt winds that blow and blow.

If you are in this part of the world you can visit my garden in June, July and August.

Ferry boat form Baltimore and ask where I am!! 

 hi,we have just moved into our new house before xmass and have just in the last 2  months we have started to work on the garden which was in a bad way  the size of my garden is 30ft*30ft with a side of 30ft*5ft to which i have placed my shed and bins and this has left me with about  15Ft*5ft before we to our new home we had been renting and the in the house was on a slope it was very wet so all we could plat in it was containers which we both enjoyed but when we moved we going to use flower beds but after much thought we plan to keep our containers and add more so i was wondering can anybody give me some advice on how i can grow roses in pots ?

hi i am trying hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear!am starting a new garden ,having moved house.my first garden was a delight,good earth,plenty f.y.m.,gardened blissfullyfor over 30 years….now have decided to have only hardy geraniums in my patch this year,mainly because they are easy-grow..but really because i am hopelessly hooked on them…any out there with a similarpassion????from rosydosy(hi jen,will contact soon)

  The  Banana shallots that  I kept are now sprouting happily and there is one growing in England, in the cotswolds ,another  in a garden right on the coast here and again another with a friend who has a garden centre in mullagh. I  have been busy painting as I have actually taken a space at an Arts and Crafts fair in Enistymon  taking place on seven Sundays throughout the summer,starting on June 8th  it will be fun to do, as I enjoy painting , I find it a pleasure to put paint on canvas though I am trying other materials as well !!! the tomatoes in the greenhouse are still doing well and I hope to see the first ones in the hanging basket start changing colour soon , there is already  one strawberry changing colour, again in a hanging basket. I will try and see if I can get a decent photo to include on another occasion. The other hanging basket in the greenhouse  is full of sweet peas, one of them in flower, they are a variety that is supposed to hang down but they have decided to climb up the chains instead!!. Most of the plants I have raised from seed have now been planted out , in amongst shrubs and trees and even gooseberries and currants peek up next to shrubs , montana  clematis and everything I can fit in,! there are even some new potatoes in part of the border that runs round the garden.I have some cigar plants to try and find space for, they should hang but all my pots are brimming over, an excuse perhaps for buying some more, but that means more watering! if we get a good summer and however long my hose is it never seems long enough, I was pleased to have a winning letter in The Irish garden magazine,  sadly I do not think my son  managed to gather any seed from the plants but I will hunt in August to see if there are any signs of growth!!!!I took some friends up to the edge of the Burren in that lovely patch of good weather, they were amazed at the numberof wild flowers , I wish I could persuade some orchids to head into my wild garden, but I think it is too wet  to make it possible. though we certainly get enough wind to bring them here!!!  

Friday  I have just picked the first courgette from my plastic"Lidl" frame and it is still May, The seed of the variety ,Cavali  was put in on April 4th it is a very pale green ,I hope it will taste good.  I am trying to keep records and label everything , some labels are bound to disappear!  I went to the new farmer’s market in Miltown this evening and found some Dill seedlings, my first lot of plants are just starting to go to seed and the second pot got watered by my watering can and seem to have got washed away, must keep the rose close to hand! The strawberries  in the hanging basket continue to ripen,  surely the slugs cannot get up there! the ones outside are in a gravel path, by mistake, they should have just hung but hung too far,. I put a slug trap there last night and there must have been over 50 slugs  in the beer this morning,! I suppose there will be an unending supply of slugs coming in from the wild garden, come on frogs! do your bit. I expect I will spend some time over the weekend pulling grass from round the young hedge at the side of the wild garden, the poor plants are disapearing from view. It is when I cannot see scruffie, my dog, out there, because of the tall grass, that I have to do something about it but there are so many purple loostrife and meadowsweet everywhere ,plus many other wild flowers, that it is hard to use anything larger than a pair of scissors! Pulling seems the easiest way for most of the ordinary grasses, any with interesting seed heads stay.

I have a small suburban front and a longish approx 20m back garden

Planted Potato’s ( Golden Wonders) in plot 12 foot by 4 foot.
Two rows  approx 20 chitted potato’s

Potatos .shoots /leave’s  began to appear the 10th of May over one month after planting.

 Blight warning 23rd of May.
Applied copper 20mls in water can.

Add topsoil as the Horse manure looks like it dropping.

 20th of June Sprayed potato’s for blight. another warning.

 

Two Cookers  / One Eater

added horse manure 

Flowering Now.

Flowers on all tree X 3

20th of June

Three trees have fruit. 
One tree leaves are falling off  and look yellow.
Insect has infected the tree, leaves have web’s and are curled in. 

About my garden: Like all gardeners, I’m always anxious to learn more about plants and how to care better for those that I have. I’m fortunate in that our garden has neutral soil, so we can grow a wide variety of plants: real acid lovers do well with a boost of sequestered iron and real alkaline lovers with a boost of lime. Generally, though, most things muddle along without too much fuss: I don’t really have the time or patience or inclination to nurture things that would rather be growing somewhere else. Favourites in my garden at the moment are Cercidiphyllum japonicum….it’s about 14 years old and currently, all its new leaves are a pale copper – it is a graceful, elegant tree, early into leaf, lovely in the autumn and really good natured; also Smilacena racemosa whose flower buds are beginning to show. It has such a beautiful growth habit with lovely leaves that the scented flowers are really a super-bonus.

Double Anemone Coronaria St Brigid X 30

Persian Buttercups Ranunculus asiaticus Pink & White X 20

California Bluebells Brodiaea Triteleia Queen Fabiola X 30

A work in progress..  Two full time helpers who are enthusiastic diggers but tend to fall asleep in the sun..   

well yesterday was a good day so i got the two beds outside the back door weeded racked in the compost and feed slow release food so they should be good for a while and today the sun was out all day so the beds out front got weeded compost  and feed then off to the garden center with us got some Nice grasses and a few bedding plants so planted them up as soon as we got home then had a BBQ for dinner great day hope tomorrow is as nice hoping to weed the ferns if it a good day

Its May at last Summertime..time to sit back and smell the flowers …and think of days to come when the weeds will be gone ..the garden will BLOOM..But now is me  in shades on a sunlounger planning the perfect space….so warm here ..so Beautiful ….Ilove May    

Our garden is beginning to look more colourful now after a long winter and dull wet spring.  We had some beautiful pink camellias but they are gone now, as is a large fuschia-pink rhododendron.  It brings joy to the heart to see them in full flower in the spring/early summer. This weekend I hope to stake the sweet peas and roses.  Gardening is one of the joys of my life – I wish I had more time and energy! Beginning to grow vegetables for the first time this year in containers – so hopefully we get something to eat after going to the all the trouble.  It’s so interesting though.  Already, the peas are climbing, the mustard greens are doing well, the lettuce is fairly jumping out of the pots, the strawberry plants look healthy, the tomato plants are coming on very nicely and the herbs are really adding interest to salads and other dishes.

 

1. Ordered lots of new plants from ebay to finish my heb per garden.

2. Transplanting bulbs from back to front.

3. Checking for emering dahilias.

The war of the slugs began 2 weeks ago when they completly ate a new plant and left a gaping hole in the front of the Heb Per border. Since then I have

1. Stood an early morning guard, picking them off by hand and throwing them over the wall.

2. Filled containers full of cheap cider and watch them enjoy a party.

3. Outflanking them by anticipating their next move.

 

Promised my nieces/nephew i would sow some pumpkins for Hallowen,so finally got around to it at weekend.

Also my father-in-law wants marrows to make jam,so to keep everyone happy I have sown the seed now, fingers crossed they will grow as its my first time growing both.

So many weeds , so much grass, there is never enough time !!

Today I decided to have a day off from constant weeding and strimming, and cutting and…..  and decided to just sit and enjoy the garden in the swing hammock and enjoy the gorgeous view across the hills with a glass of chiulled wine.. after all that is what it is all about eh ! enjoying it !… 

Well another great day spent in the garden more weeding done if only my plants would grow as fast but I cant complain lots of things coming to life the ferns are making a great burst lots of lovely new growth and the hostas are also well on there way so beds starting to fill in and hopefully lots more to come

My garden is a place of peace and tranquility as well as a gathering spot for my family and friends. My husband built a gazebo in the middle of my rose garden and no sooner had he hammered in the last nail when I went ahead and planted four climbing bourganvillia’s up alongside the four posts. It didn’t take only three months for them to climb to the top trellis and form a canopy overhead. Their colours range from red, orange,  pale pink and cerise pink and they blossom all year long. They add  colour, shelter, privacy and protection from the direct sun for my roses. It has also become the nesting homes for cardinals, blue jays and mocking birds. We have also observed some other curious wild birds, such as humming birds and beautiful green parrots with red heads. The permiter of my garden has orange dwarf ixora adding a radiant touch to complement the roses. Inside the gazebo I have put a waterproof circular table with six chairs. At the entrance  to my garden I have an arbor which is covered in Jasmine adding a gentle scent amongst the rose essence. It is easy to have a green thumb living in Florida with constant sunshine seasonal rains.

well its a lovely day out der and i am debating whether to go out and move a few perenials dat need moving!!!!!i will once i can drag myself away from dis sight.im lookin for advise HELP!!!in d winter my garden is water logged and flooded but now it looks dreadful all d soil is cracking up and its like a chip a lot of d flowers ar stunted and dont look healthy i lose interest at times so any help would b appreciated tanks