Month: April 2009
More of those dreaded showers today especially in the evening time.The ground a mess in places.Some clay for the big tubs like a shovel full of wet mud.Weather wise still a little nippy with the showers,to do much in the tunnell this evening.At least one good thing done was the setting up of some tubs alongside the tunnell to suit some of the fast growing veg and with a companion or two among them.A final quick look was given in the garden area [tunnell and greenhouse etc]and then in to check the trays in the house.
The mulch has a stream flowing down it.
Almost ‘back’ in action. Been banned from gardening by the chiropractor for a bit, but on the way home from session today bought a Clematis Montana and a mint plant and something else that I’ve so wanted in my garden for a long time now and that is a ‘cowslip’ plant, brings me right back to childhood and picking huge armfuls of them in Maytime….lovely….so planted the clematis and the mint…not together mind!! supported two lots of sweetpea and took a walk around the garden pulling some weeds up along the way, still lots more left but they’ll have to wait a while. Photos to follow!!
Well, got my window boxes, compost and flowers and went to work. I know annuals are expensive, but I like the splash of colour, and I console myself thinking about the excercise I got, bending up and down. Stopped at a garden centre in Sligo yesterday, and bought more plants I have no room for. Will have to stop, it is a bit of a compulsion at this stage. I have dozens of packets of seeds for all sorts that I know will never see the ground. Cant wait for the long weekend to get back in the garden and see if I can find another sunny corner to plant. Happy gardening!
Well, the weather has turned cold again – just when I thought summer was on its way – typical.
I cleaned out the cold frame over the weekend and the slugs had found their way in – they ate half a tray of tagetes – but i plant so many that i always allow for this! I have a lot of the summer bedding hardening off but am watching the frost because of the change in the weather.
My peppers and chilies seems to have slowed down in the greenhouse? Its not a heated one – but it does have a lamp to ward off frost – has anyone else got this problem – because it is just the peppers and chilies – they seem to have stopped growing. John has his peas in the greenhouse and they seem to want to take over completely – and the tomatoes are doing really well too.
Now to tackle the garden and the weeds – the one thing that seems to grown no matter what we do – mind you I have been lax about them and aim to be weed free soon, because i want to plant out my summer seeds as soon as possible – hopefully over the weekend if the weather is half decent.
John put 2 potatoes in a bucket in the greenhouse and it wont be long now before we can eat it – imagine already thinking of eating new potaotes.
I am even preparing myself for the onslaught of fruit and am considering buying an electric jam maker to be prepared. We had a lot of blackcurrants last year and it was my first year to make jam, it could have been better but for a first effort it was fine, mind you – people were generous with their comments, LOL.
We have a fantastic Lily just peeping out now and i have photos and will post them later. Last year I got a dozen bulblets off it and planted them and now they are all growing well. We have the lillies in a damp wet corner of the garden and they keep coming back – strange but we wont complain.
The spirea is absolutely flaming and looks fantastic this time of year. The honesty is coming up everywhere i planted it because we had loads of small plants left (I know – I plant lots of seed in the hope that some of them germinate – they all did). And another chore this weekend is to plant some comfrey into the garden, up to now we have kept it in a bucket but I kind of want it to run away with itself and make lots of feed. Mind you – the mint i planted 2 years ago still has not taken over yet!
The herb garden is coming into its own now and the chives are even beginning to flower. I love to see them in flower and a lot of people say not to let them – but i do have a new crop that i will plant out soon, but i do love the flowers. This year i plan on collecting a lot of seed on veg as well to start saving a little money already for next year.
Just got our Irish Garden Mag for May and every time i open it – I yearn for a bigger greenhouse and Rachel, your story just makes me want to go out and buy one despite the fact that we no longer have any room for a big one, (nor should i mention there is a recession and how could i justify the spend of the budget of a small country on a greenhouse!) No… my big obsession which I had to hide is – I really would love a polytunnel. Despite living on the top of a hill – and despite the fact that it would not last a summer weekend not to mention the winds in winter. I will get one – eventually!
Seems like everyone is enjoying their gardens – the photos you are all posting are fantastic and Rachel – let us know when you are having an open garden – we all want to see your garden now. I would love to visit some of your gardens over the summer so if anyone is showing – let us know,
Lorraine
Well after many phonecalls, I eventually got the Clearlite perspex for the roof, was let down by my local hardware guy, but no matter sourced elsewhere on Friday last. Sheeted it out that same evening with hubby, so now I can be working on it inside when its wet….
Hadn’t the heart to paint the back wall completely black, to act as a heat-sink, so I got creative and painted it terracota brick style, kinda blends in with brickwork around the place. Last night I started to mask-tape the panes of glass so that I can undercoat & paint it white.
Topped up the beds with multi-purpose compost, my little helper thinks it greats to walk on (will have to end that soon too!!)hmmmm.
Hoping to have it plastered maybe this weekend, BH, see what the weather brings, better talk nicely to "my plasterer".
(look @ the album)
J
Roof is On!!
Passion flower?
By the way, I did see a beautiful early clematis during the weekend on show outside a small garden shop in Kilmore Quay. I didn’t buy it as I thought my greenhouse was bursting with Clematis at the time, how wrong I was! Anyway, the label clearly stated that it is Illegal to propagate this plant – wow, that gave me food for thought, I would never have imagined. Thought this was interesting to know – maybe everyone knows that already.
Today I visited spring garden exhibition in the centre of the city. The weather is wonderful, sunny, warm, +25 C. I found plenty of roses and lilies, astilbes, irises, but no foxgloves at all. There were shrubs and fruit trees, and garden verieties of wild berries, like bog whortleberry. Unfortunately, I didn’t find orchid section.
Plants that attracted my attention – Hemerocallis ‘Arctic Snow’, Iris primula ‘Cherry garden’ and Phlox paniculata ‘Olen’ka’ (lovely colour and also the name served its purpose).
I also liked Helleborus orientalis, many colours, but I wasn’t sure I can find any plot for this lovely plant. So, passed by. Next time.
Phlox paniculata ‘Olen’ka’
I hope to get a lot done tomorrow. I am off all day. And hopefully the weather will be on my side. Sorry, ALL of our sides! And you know what Alan Titchmarsh used to say, ‘whatever the weather, enjoy your garden’.
scilla peruviana
Warming up for the Summer.Shine,shine,shine.
I beg the lovely Rita’s D forgiveness for not posting anything lately. Tomorrow I will post my update on my garden and what I have done.
However every evening I sign into the garden website and I enjoy this very much ,except for one thing which just annoys me. First when I log in I check to see Has anyone being kind enough to correspond with me. I do not reply immeadly as I like to think and mull over my reply. Then I check in on my friends sites to see what they have being doing for the day and can I learn something new from their sites. I follow this up by heading to the "talk" section to see what is the problem of the day for some-one else and maybe to be of some help.
Not I come to the problem. I love to look at peoples sites and what they are doing with their garden. However there is so many sites started and abandoned. They lie untouched since the day they have posted them. I only hope their gardens are not similarily neglected. I think if a site is abandoned for a year it should be taken down and stop us wasting our time visiting them. There is a couple of counties full of neglected sites, there no active sites in cavan and from what I can see Nadine is ploughing a lonely and lonesome furrow in Longford. Do anyone else agree with me or I am I starting on the road to being a grumpy old man. Sorry about the rant. Normal services resume tomorrow.
Lemon drop chili
So it is back to work after a Winter away. Things are not too bad as Jezz took care of the grass cutting. However the weeds have now started in ernest.
I cleaned off paths and strimmed as much as possible and am now feeling very tired with an aching back.
Yesterday I removed a huge Gunnera from the wet bed as it had self seeded there and I wanted the space for more gentle plants. I divided the stuff already there and am well pleased with the effect.
Incredibly I had time to take a few pictures which I put up on the photo section.
No owls as far as we can see but the tit box has been prepared by a very busy daddy tit to be so we await the arrival of madame.
Apr-09
Dawn Redwood after a shower
Tulip blending in.
Alchemilla mollis
Lovely Pink
I have one kind of saintpaulia which colour I don’t remember. it was in bloom so long ago, that I’m not sure is it white or blue. I guess it’s blue…
This one was candidate to be given away as present. BUT! Maybe I will change my mind, in view of good behaviour. đŸ™‚
Unknown colour
With everything really taking off in the veg beds my daughter and I (mostly I!) are making a rainbow flower bed. We are very excited about it. I am digging out a quadrant/pie slice shaped bed and creating five arcs. one for each colour red, orange/yellow, pink, white/green and blue/purple. For a quick start and so I can see which is which I have put some bedding plnts in each arc according to their colour and am planting seeds around them for later colour. Flowers going in are primulas, poppies, calendula, lupins, delphiniums, cornflowers, lobelia, phlox, wallflowers, pansies, daisies, nasturtium, marigolds, gazania, pink silene, agrostemma and night stock (so far). In the autumn the plan is to add tulips, crocus and daffodils for that early rainbow of spring colour to be followed by the summer plants later. We will see how it goes and post photos when it is in bloom.
Sunday I went to Castlebar car boot sale – go for the plants mainly though I do break down and buy odds and sods which I shouldn’t. Got an Acer Palmatum (wrong spelling) for 3 euros – about 18ins high so thought it was a bargain. Spent today finding a place to put it in!! Actually I got up early this morning and made an apple pie, had breakfast and then went out into gdn 9.30. Found a place covered in re-seeded Aubretia to put Acer in. Removed Aubretia and replanted that down side path – got about 8 plants from it!! Then put Acer into really big hole and replaced soil with lovely compost from my compost bins which we emptied last week. There is a really good plantsman from near Pontoon who sells at the car boot sale, so I bought some things from him. He is very reasonable – he told me that on Fridays he’s in Castlebar at the country market.
checked all trees and shrubs that were staked to make sure they were ok. some were bit tight. great to have that done now.
I got about 2 hours done in the garden yesterday evening. – some more weeding and some seed sowing.
The purple and orange avenue beds are looking the best ever now. some sections are looking really well but others need some work. I am experimenting in these beds with planting combinations.
I noticed that there are a good few changes that need to be made. The magnolia stellata was outshone by the daffs and tulips I planted underneath. I will move these around the white border. I think the lily of the valley will be nice underneath. I will ask my mother-in-law for some more – if she can spare it!
I will also move any euphorbia from the pathways. I have been badly blistered on the legs and arms by the sap (it took a year to heal) – I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
I was snap happy and added lots of pictures to the April 2009 photo album.
Michelle
Cherry tree in the avenue bed
just before it got too dark i ventured out across the wet lawn to check on the emerging veg seedlings. i was both happy and frustrated..the onions, potatoes and beans were up a fair bit but i couldn’t see any sign of the carrots, cabbage, pumpkins,celery…i’m hoping it was because of the light that i couldn’t see them but i don’t think so..
I filled in the space with three wheelbarrow loads of homemade compost and reseeded the bald patch! Now I can ponder on what to plant?
Space for something new!
