Month: February 2009

hi everyone. bought a lot of shrubs in aldi in the last couple of weeks. i have all of theese potted and all my new roses, also bought in aldi. got most of this work done over the last couple of days. started filling seed trays today. hope to get alot of my sowing done by the weekend. hope to have new photos in my journal over the weekend.

I was browsing through my photos from a recent holiday to Egypt and I took this picture of a beautiful pink flower on one of the exotic islands that we went to by boat. I don’t know what it is, maybe someone knows.

The gardens were laid out towards the end of the 19th century, and contain many fine specimens including Rhododendron arboreum, Magnolia soulangeana ‘Alba’ and Camellia japonica. Behind the 18th century house is a formal white garden. Last year, the White Garden was the subject of an eight page feature in the Spring issue of ‘Country Gardens’ published in the  U.S.A. Recently a wild flower meadow has been added which is at its best towards the end of June, beginning of July.

Open to groups of 2 or mo9re by prior appointment only during te months of JUNE & JULY. Open Bank Holidays during June and July without appointment. Open 14.30 – 17.30 p.m.

Have’nt done a thing in the garden, well I lie, I did a wee bit of hoe-ing before the snow came, thats about it so far for the New Year. I did start a layer of compost in the raised veg beds. We need to get some manure and also topsoil, have to investigate where to get these around here. Does anyone have advise on starting off raised beds, do you put the manure on the bottom and the topsoil on top as thats what I’ve had in mind? Any suggestions or advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

today I took some picture of my garden, although its not very interesting I’m hoping to give a view of where we are at the moment.  More importantly, it will aim to show how far we get.  I love the before and after pictures!  I can’t wait to start sowing and am the most impatient gardener (I haven’t really earned the title of gardener yet!). I want the flowers now…  I started to sow some seed in my new propogater today (Xmas pressie from husband!); Red hot pokers and Cornflowers.  I’m itching to get going….

hi folks got alot of work done to day. much to my husbands frustration i have taken up the front hall with shelves full of seed trays and pots. you can barely move in there now. the tunnel is to cold for the seed trays.would love to hear if someone else is as mad as me when it comes to seed sowing.its warm during the day in the tunnel but at night it is very cold. i have literly run out of  space. need a bit of mild weather to get the garden ready for planting out some of the pots ofr i will be swamped with stuff and nowhere to put it. i am a bit like bertie ahern when he said loads done and alot more to do. well i need to go to bed another day with loads of work to do tomorrow. happy sowing everyone

the pergola pictured in the snow with my kids i built over two days having poured foundations earlier with concrete left over from another job. i built the bricks in one day and left for a week before fixing the timber for the pergola, it is a prominent feature in the garden and i have planted wisteria and summer flowering clematis to give a long season of interest.

Well, the greenhouse is now fixed, thanks to John and several packs of glass.  We now wait and see what survives the snow storms it took when there was nothing in place to protect anything – but to be honest – a lot of it looks well enough – fingers crossed.

John planted his tomato seeds and they have all germinated and are now patiently waiting for the spring – LOL like us all.  Our Rhubarb has grown a few inches – so we have covered it and we can wait and see what happens next. It was exciting to see something grow throughout the weather so far.

We finally planed all our spring bulbs and they will give us a nice show – just maybe late, the best laid plans of mice and men…

I have finally ordered our seed from Chilterns – so roll on the next few weeks and we plant everything with the same anticipation as a child waiting for father christmas to come…. the hope, the excitement, the promise of bigger and better crops and harder work …

I hope all is well with everyone else and they too have the same anticipation as we do….

……… until we can prove otherwise….

Happy germinating

I am lucky or unlucky to have a very large site on which i built my house a number of years ago. Why i say unlucky, is when the growing season begins i cant keep up with the grass cutting !!

Most of the site of 1.9 acres is set out in grass , with various trees planted along the perimiter, mainly Alder, Birch, with two Irish oaks, 1 Indian horse chestnut, Whitebeams, Copper Beech, and a few Maples.

The reason i joined this site is to get some idea ‘s from other people who "bought the T shirt" when it comes to large gardens.

I know I am mad to have so much grass, but that is what we inherited.

I would like to be able to decrease the amount of work on such a large site, a tall order, that i know will need knowledge, advice and a barrow load on money i’m sure …

 So now, where do i start !!

The weather picked a little today.By the look of things,maybe we might have not to bad a weekend, for being out in the garden. Seeds coming on well.We have a great stretch in the evenings now.Hopefully if things go all right tomorrow maybe i will get to sow some broad beans, parsnips, cabbage, etc and get the greenhouse ready. 

this morning Ican smell the spring in the air.spring when a young mans fancy turns to thoughts of Love …snd women too!! …Oh time for roses and dafodills ..and snowdrops ..and my lovely birds — a robin…hopping around looking for food..Mmm Love roses and Spring …and thoughts of You Beloved ….hope springs eternal and the garden blooms again

hi everyone. still busy planting stuff, i got some summer bulbs yesturday must sow them over weekend. i was glancing at aldi specials for next week, they have greenhouses and cold frames, i am interested in the shelves will put the plastic covers of the greenhouses in the attic along with the other ones i bought, the shelves are for the tunnel, need to make walking space in the tunnel, they are so handy, the best staging and really cheap at 20 euro.

came home from spain last week having missed the snow .!so far i dont see much damage even though my tender plants were all exposed to the elements.

my acacia delbata has never been so late to flower , loads of buds but not a flower in sight. its at least 50 feet tall and when it flowers it scents the whole garden. its a sight to behold and i think to myself spring has sprung""

crocus and aconites in bloom as well as first tulip.lonicera fragissima wonderful this year  ,a great scent to keep me going until the acacia blooms.

loads of birds feeding but i notice a huge decline in the number of sparrows

have started pruning and cutting back trees and shrubs . lots ofwork to be done.cant wait to get stuck in .

does anyone know when its safe to put seedlings outside ?

I have great hopes of some day accomplishing my goal of planting enough trees and also creating enough shelter on my property to eventually create a very large and extensive garden.  The location is suberb, great view of Balycarbery Castle ruins, also a view of an old stone fort, mountain views and close to the ocean.  BUT!!!  The wind, the wind, my friend!!   The gardner’s biggest enemy.

Over time, I hope to bring possibly a couple of acres into my "Great Garden" plan.  But for now I must exercise great patience and slowly create that much needed shelter.  What I will lose in external scenery, I hope to make up for within the garden itself.

For the third day running, it was a beautiful spring day.

Although I couldn’t get out to the garden, I did sow a tray of Cosmos (Purity) and a second one of Helichrysum. No space on the heated mats so they’ll have to go on the window sill.

hi everyone, i am sure you are all busy sowing seeds and summer bulbs. i am totally runnuing out of space, need a sat nav to get in around the tunnel at the moment,there is pots and trays and window boxes all over the place, i am going to try and sow some tulips and irisis thatt i didnt get to sow last autumn. happy gardening everyone.

sat 14th feb-sowed onion sets

mon 16th feb-sowed 1st early potatoes beside the acer drumondi and ame maincrop behind the liquidamber at the top of the garden

(put some on the window sill to chit)

weeded the front garden in front of door. pruned some trees

snowdrops are in full bloom and have been for about a week or so

No Change

Thanks

Harold Clarke

hi everyone. going to aldi tomorrow to get my shelves, which are badly needed in the tunnel right now. does anyone know if it is safe to put out forest flame, camelias and rhodenernen, if i could it would free up some space as these are in big barrels and would i need to harden them of as i have had them in for winter. hopefully i will be busy tomorrow afternoon puting shelves together. bye for now and happy gardening everyone.

It has been hectic since Christmas, planning, measuring, building, digging, filling, weeding and (my favourite) planting. In the tunnel we pulled up the carpet which had been covering the ground area since last year to find it had done a great job of smothering weeds. We then dug over all the soil to pull out the long and persistent dandelion roots. Hopefully we got most of them. Having dug and raked I set out 2ft around the perimeter as a bed. My husband made two 8ft x 3ft raised beds for the centre leaving 3 paths between the beds of about 1.5 ft which I covered with weed suppressant fabric (mipex). So far the perimeter beds have red and yellow onions, garlic, mangetout, spinach, carrots, leeks, strawberries and borlotti beans in them with early potatoes going in tomorrow. The raised beds are being filled with FYM, compost and vermiculite for later planting with tomatoes, peppers etc.

Outside hubby has made raised beds totalling around 340 ft square (woah! just added it up). Two of the long beds will rehome currant and raspberry bushes being choked by weeds. The rest is for veg. I have just added FYM to the beds and have compost and vermiculite to add next. Then I will mark of 1 ft squares each to be planted with a different veg.

Outside the tunnel a trench was dug last month and veg peelings added. It has now been topped up with soil and FYM. Once the framework is put in place runner or climbing beans will be planted. I’m curious to see how they get on.

Finally, according to Gerry Daly, my ailing cherry tree may be suffering from lack of pollination so a Stella cherry tree is going in tomorrow and lets hope for a bumber crop of cherries this summer.

continued weeding

bought some half price daffodil and crocus bulbs and planted them straight away

pruned the eucalyptus and the hawthorn out front

sowed some onions, cabbage, scallions,carrots and anthirrinums

mowed lawn for 1st time in 09

We started gardening in Foynes over 30 years ago. The garden is one acre in size, on an elevated site, overlooking the River Shannon. We have mild winters and get very little frost, however we are exposed to salt ladden winds that come up the Shannon estuary. Designed for year round colour, the garden is divided into a number of informal rooms which provide a micro-climate for the many tender plants, from the Southern Hemisphere, that grow here.

The garden contains a small vegetable garden where a wide range of vegetables are grown.

The garden has won the Limerick County Council Enviromental Award for the last two years for its composting and water conservation. 

Phyl and Dick Boyce have published a book called Irish Gardening for All Seasons.  The book is published by Mercier Press and is available from bookshops or from Boyce’s Garden, Mountrenchard, Foynes, Co. Limerick.

Garden Visits The garden is open to visitors from May to October, telephone 06965302 to book a visit.

Web site  www.boycesgardens.com

hello i am only new at gardening, but love it my favorite flowers are roses. I have a good size front garden and as much garden at the back as i want. I hope to grow some veg in it. we always had a veg garden when i was growing up.