Month: March 2009

The other day I was digging the last of the carrots which I had left in the soil over the winter. I stumpled across a beauty that brought a smile to everyone who saw it lying around in the kitchen so I couldn’t help myself but take a few pictures of it. Nature’s art.

1 of 3 (photos Mar ’09)

my garden is 100 feet long and needs work done to it its boreing and need help

The variegared Aloe I got at Snaily Garden last summer now has lovely salmon coloured flowers that look very exotic. It was on the kitchen window sill and hasn’t had any special treatment which leads me to the conclusion that it flowers very easily. There is a little offset growing at the side of the pot which I plan to separate and pot on as soon as the flower spike has faded.

Partridge Breast Aloe

Here is a warning of how NOT to prune your Forsythia. See how mine has no flowers from half way up the stems? That’s because I cut them after flowering last spring – silly me.

I have started a new photo album – Early Spring 2009 – in the photos section.

Badly Pruned Forsythia

I live outside Clonakilty Co. Cork and my garden is one acre. Because of the proximity to the sea I find it a challenge to grow pretty and unusual plants. I have a large vegetable plot which is my pride and joy, as I love to share my veg with friends. I keep trying to add interesting areas in the garden and last year I put in a small pond that is very pretty.

Because of my love of gardening and gardens I set up a garden tour company a few years ago. It is the best job imaginable. I get to show amazing gardens in this most idyllic of locations surrounded by the most beautiful scenery imaginable. Why not check out www.essenceofireland.ie I would love any comments you may have.

I did some weeding today but it’s so boring I had to stop and do something much more enjoyable.

I potted on a number of my house plants in the greenhouse and gave them a good feed.

I’ve had my Bougainvillea for a year and a half but it hasn’t flowered for me yet. Maybe this year…

Bougainvillea to Begonia

hi everyone hope you enjoy paddys day tomorrow. got my fruit patch done saturday and sow some strawberry plants that i bought in the morning, along with four tomato plants. i have both sown from seed but just wanted to get a head start. i also planted rhuburb, my darling hubby got a good start on the veg patch, when i told him my cabbage and carrot seedlings have shown their heads, everyday when i look in the tunnel there is always a surprise. i had left my frutileria bulbs in the bottom of a tower of shelves, to my surprise they have come up big time, now when i open the tunnel in the morning i get this really strong smell from their leaves, it puts a pep in your step to see things changing everyday. i sowed more seeds last nite you should have seen my kitchen, like a bomb hit it.but it was fun. i have alot of pricking out to do at mo, i went mad sowing loads of sunflowers more than i can handle so if anyone wants some of them they can have them in welcome. hope to get my fruit trees that i bought in heatons last wk planted and rasberry bushes changed by the wknd. well happy gardening everyone bye for now michelle

Hello, dear garden friends! Welcome to my wee indoor garden. I have a collection of indoor plants – different sorts and appearance. I love bulbous plants and have red amaryllis, clivia, crinum and since risently – yellow crocus.

I have some succulents – haworthia, 2 kinds of sansevieria, 2 kinds of krassula, nolina, cactuses.

Also on my windowsills there are geraniums, orange trees, dracaenas, kalanchoe, codieum, senpolias and chlorophytum.

I always plant something colorful on the balcony, this year it will be lobelias, petunias, dwarf phloxes, pansies. I’m looking forward to have my own garden, and hope to make some outdoor experience this summer.

Good gardening to everyone!

Here are my two youngest, Josh & Sam. They are holding up their self-grown shamrock, which they refused to pick for St Patrick’s Day.

Shamrock

Was out in my garden all day yesterday and to-day. The weather was perfect and NO Rain.

I did a good tidy up of all the edges and pulled up any weeds that I could spot.

Now my garden looks nice and tidy. I’ts a pity I can’t say the same for the shed. I can barely get in the door. It needs a serious tidy up and soon as I can’t get near the mower.

I planted up some spuds in big bags that I bought in Woodies. They have a little flap that you can open and feel around the soil to see if your spuds are ready. They are very sturdy and you get 3 bags in the packet and they should last for several seasons.

I have now removed the remainder of the dead branches from my dear departed california liliac tree and have put up some trellis to take the bare look of the wall and also so the ivy will travel over a bit and green up the space which I get something to grow in it’s place.

All my solar lights went on in the garden this evening. This to me is a sure sign that there is sun on the way and lets hope that we get plenty of it this year, after a dismal Summer last year.

Finally i got to finish setting up the greenhouse shelves with pots etc,to accept some new comers real soon.Some need out to bigger pots or trouble.The stakes for the tomatoes are all ready along with some for the aubergines[egg plants].First attempt at growing the egg plant fruit.The aubergines are in single pots an they reach app 3 inches high now,inside in the house.Hopefully all going to plan tomorrow evening some trays will get their new surroundings.

We are ready for the the attack of new plants.

We started propagating the bedding plants in the heated greenhouse at the end of January. The tomatoes,and early flowering chrysanthemums the second week in February. We have a great many plants growing on nicely. Ann has been potting up the big double Begonia tubers which are all shooting well, the garden beds are starting to look good again with all the daffs /tulips and polyanthus coming out.I topped the lawns for the first time this season last Sunday,what a difference that made, we have started weeding and edging the beds. tidied up they look so different.

It was a beautiful sunny day today but, unfortunaely, I had to spend most of it indoors.

However, I’ve nearly fnished weeding the Long Border.I just still need to do a bit of work at the back.I put some photos of my gappy, but weeded, Long Border in the Early Spring 2009 album.

I have made a decision NOT to put compost on the borders as it would cost too much. Instead I will put down chicken manure pellets everywhere.

Myself and my husband sorted out the poor Acacia tree by putting in a stake, using the "driver". I wish I had bought that "driver" years ago – it is brilliant.

Staked Acacia Tree

The vegetable garden is now in its third year. Before that it was completely overrun with brambles and fallen, rotting trees. Now, my daughter, her husband and I are growing strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and other soft fruits. We also have every sort of vegetable. Since we had little or no experience previously we are pleased with our progress.Any advice is very welcome; in particular about apple trees.

what glorious weather, a pure joy to garden in. It is pure heaven being out in this weather. Long may it last. It has spured me into action and there is nearly not a enough daylight for everything I want to do. In this weather no job is to big and it is a dream to work in the garden.

another day of weeding, we managed to do four beds today, there is a large amount of moss this year. i always thought moss only grew on poor ground. All are beds have organic compost on them spring and autum so we can only put it down to the wet conditions last summer. I started rotavating the vegetable patch, and ridged up several rows for the early potatoes.

Both Josh and Sam, my youngest, have their own little plot in the greenhouse. They are growing Sunflowers and Radishes.

First thing that happened was that Sam opened the Radish seeds and sent them everywhere. We’ll have Radishes popping up in the cracks all summer. But lucky there were lots of seeds so there were plenty left.

The Sunflowers are called Russian Giants. Outdoors they never grow very big for me but I’m hoping that in the greenhouse, without wind or root disturbance, we might actually get some giants.

After the lads had watered in their little plots, my husband sowed the Lollo Rossa lettuce.

Josh Sowing Russian Giants

Added some more flower pots and trays to the greenhouse this evening.Just a few more light floor jobs to complete,then ready for attack.From what i have heard the weather wont be the colour of this weeks.Some cold and wet spells ahead.Lets hope for the best.Just been able to sow another ridge of potatoes [Roosters] before darkness creeped in.Coldframe to have some more trays of veg from the room added to it tomorrow. Fingers crossed, i hope to introduce some of the trays to the greenhouse tomorrow also.[With all going to plan]

Some finishing touches nearly complete.

More sunshine gardening today, it was lovely and sunny. I planted parsnip ‘gladiator ‘which is canker resistant and ‘early nantes’ carrots into the veg patch. I peeked under the black plastic to see if the potato stalks were up but no sign yet. This is a photo of my young Mahonia Charity. I had one for about 5 years and it just died. It may have been planted on top of a big rock, (as you can see behind the daffodils there are plenty of hugh rocks around here under and above the ground) so this replacement is in a different place.

Mahonia ‘Charity’

I potted on my courgettes today. It was just in time, I think. They just shoot up and strangle themselves if you’re not on top of it.

I sowed a tray of Mexican Sunflowers, thanks to Bill. I had been wanting to try these for some time.

I also tried to germinate five of the African Lion’s Tail seeds (Leonotis Leonurus) Bill kindly sent me. They seem a bit tricky and I am no expert on tricky seeds so I googled them to see what I could find out. In the end I planted them on compost soaked with water which had a few drops of tomato feed added and put them on the heated mat. If this doesn’t work I will try again with the remaining five seeds, dropping them into boiling water for three minutes beforehand. Hopefully it won’t come to such drastic measures.

French Courgette Orelia

Yet another day weeding beds this time i went through the broom beds and delphiniums ,all the time the bees were buzzing around me taking advantage of the winter and spring heathers, in the sunshine. also the butterflys are every where in the garden, John has been busy in the garden setting onions ,sowing peas, setting up the runnerbean sticks, he also planted the early potatoes, var,Rocket .Our young Golden Sunrise tomatoes are growing on well in the heated greenhouse.

Butterflys and bees

New member here. New to gardening too. I have a large garden and it really needs some colour and scent. I have always wanted to have a herb garden. I have had success in keeping herbs in pots, so I decided to plant a herb wheel. I dug out the ground a few weeks ago, prepared the soil (at least I hope I did) and planted the herbs. I am growing some from seed that will need to be planted into the ground when they are ready. All going well, I will have a nice selection of herbs for the summer. Both my husband and I like to cook, so I’ve only planted those herbs that we will use.

Today, I planted some bulbs in pots – lillies, freesias, agapanthaus, anemones and begonias. Planted some lettuce and rocket also. I’m going to try planting the rest of the bulbs into the ground, just to see what happens.

Planted a magnolia and camellia last year. They look like they are about to flower soon. Appel trees are showing some buds too.

I am trying to plant flowers that require mimimum looking after as I only have limited time at the weekends to spend looking after the garden. Anyway, enjoying it and keeping my fingers crossed that something will actually grow!

21.3.09

It has been beautiful here for the past few days with the sun pushing through the fog which has been just hanging barely there coming in and going out over the sea. While it has been damp and quite chilly I couldn’t hold back any longer and put some broad beans, spinach, dwarf beans, chard, and onion sets straight out into squares in the raised beds. I also transplanted some seedlings of chard, rocket, chinese cabbage and oasis turnip into the beds outside, shielding some of them with little homemade cloches from 2ltr milk cartons cut in half.

More compost arrives tomorrow to finish filling the rest of the raised beds. With the tomato seedlings doing well in trays in the tunnel, the weeds multiplying overnight in the tunnel beds and chilli peppers starting to emerge on the windowsill inside it really is starting to feel like spring.

Last year Chris from Westport gave me this daffodil bulb and isn’t it gorgeous! I saw it in flower in her garden and she told me she got them in Germany.

Pink ‘Casata’ daffodil

Yesterday we went to Charleville Estate, near Turlough, to see the wonderful display of daffodils in the front lawn, some of which have been there for years. I got a lovely present from my friend. Such an enjoyable Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day gift of double white primrose

Month: March 2009

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