Month: December 2009

I went to the GIY first meeting in the Naul last night, with my brother-in-law.  Despite it starting at 7pm, there was a good turnout.  It was an interesting meeting, particularily when we were put into "pods".  At the end, one lady spoke about what we should be doing now or at least when the ground drys out a bit.  She spoke of a cropping plan and to set it out on graph paper.  Panic!  A quick google later and even more panic as nothing is coming up that looks like something that is on graph paper. Any suggestions anyone as to where one can be got?   

 

 

 

 

I was down in Lidl today and bought a home grown kit for mushrooms only 3.99. Will let you know how they do.

No other news apart from the terrible weather. Cant get out into the garden at all its so wet.

Its only taken 3 weeks to get the oven/hop up and running – never again anyway am pleased to say that I now have one Christmas cake baked and two porter cakes ready to go into the oven once the dinner comes out.  About 6 more Christmas cakes to go and then I am back on track – kitchen smelling Christmasy…ho ho ho

 Bad weather forecast for tonight – 60 – 100 mph winds and lashing rain – I don’t know why they bother forecasting it anymore – I just consider it normal now – tunnel and greenhouse shut up tight for fear they would blow away, or worse that something would blow into them! memories of a flying trampoline………

 Have brought all the herb pots into the tunnel for overwintering and all thats left to do is tidy the shed, and some bits and bobs around the garden, then its ho ho ho all the way – safe night to you all

Preparation

Continue digging over cleared vegetable beds and adding well rotted compost or manure. Get Educated – book yourself on a course over the winter!  Start a Gardening Diary (gardeners have great plans but bad memories). Start planning what you would like to grow next year including at least one previously untried vegetable. Work out what crop rotation system you are going to use. Study and compare the various seed catalogues carefully before deciding on the best varieties to grow to suit your needs. Start a Compost corner or heap. If you don’t already have one, plan a fruit garden/area to include at the very least some soft fruit like raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries and currants; and some fruit trees like apple, plumb and pear.             

To do List

Good garden hygiene helps greatly in the prevention of disease carry-over from one year to the next so remove yellowing leaves from any crops remaining and rake up fallen leaves. Slugs are a problem year round so slug control remains a necessity (though actual slug patrols probably don’t). It’s particularly important to keep them in check in the polytunnel or greenhouse. Mice can be a problem at this time of the year and crops sown in the ground like broad beans, garlic etc can be vulnerable. Protect them under cloches. It’s a good time of the year to add lime to your beds (particularly the ones that will take brassicas next year), so buy a pH testing kit if you don’t already have one, and test your soil. Keep an eye on your stored veggies and discard anything that’s rotting. Do interesting things with leaves! Store in bags to make leaf mould or use as cover for bare soil (keep weeds down and prevents drying out).

Sowing Seeds and Planting Out

If you haven’t already done so plant garlic – it should be in the soil by the shortest day of the year. Bring herbs like mint, chives, lemon balm, parsley, thyme indoors by lifting and potting them up. Chicory can be forced – dig up the roots, pot them up and place them in a dark warm place. The chicons should appear in about a month.

Harvesting – what’s in season?

In general terms it’s back to winter vegetables (and stores, if you have them) but you can try bucking the seasonal trend by continuing to harvest winter salad leaves (if you were canny enough to plant them!) like corn salad, land cress and mizuna. You should still have at least some produce left in the December garden for example, winter cabbages, Brussels sprouts (of course), leeks, kale, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, celery, turnips, parsnips, winter cauliflowers, swedes and celeriac. Continue to harvest spinach and chard, and from your stores you can enjoy pumpkins and squashes, potatoes, onions, apples, beetroot and garlic. 

Ann  and I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year,

We have been busy potting up the Chrysanthemum stools, from which we will take the cuttings from, in Feb/March.  I have spent the last few days servicing the Garden Machinery, ready for next year, We hope it will have stopped raining by the time we want to get back on the garden, next year!!!!.

I have often been told, for many different reasons, Fran you talk before you think. Well I talked myself into it this time, and no one to blame but me, me, me and me again.

"I am driving to the Arboritum, does any one want a lift,"

One, two, ok, no problem, can deal with that.

Three, eh, right eh, ehmmm, yes, I will cope.

 HELPPPPPPPPP, 4 women in one car, be warned ladies you will get there, not sure about your getting home.

Two rules and two rules only.

1.   No back sit drivers.

2.   One person speaks at a time.

Follow these simple rules, and you just might get home.

 

 

 

 

 

I am delighted to let you know that Myrtle will also be joining us for our Christmas get-together on Sunday 13th December, bringing the number to 17.

All garden.ie members are invited and we would love to see as many people as possible there.

Details : 2:00pm,  13th December, Arboretum, Co Carlow

5 December

And I am also delighted to tell you that Liz M will also me joining us. Come on, any more takers – all welcome.

Its so cold and dark at the moment as we light up the house and the garden for Christmas …and send Congratulations to Gerry and the team on winning the website of the year !! Well done we are all proud of you ..keep up the good work.   The garden looks a bit sad and wet but the colours are amazing in the Winter sunshine …busy days ahead

There are new cablelink TV cables being fitted in the estate at the moment, 5/6 large vans parked about the place, no problem really. They were working in our cul de sac the other day, when for the first time ever, the council arrived with a road sweeper to clean up the leaves, I was trilled to see this when I came home from work, as it was on my list of things to do. A large amount of leaves gather in the corner at our hedge. All leaves are still there, due to the parked vans, things just go against you at times.

Also want to plant some onions I got recently, (thanks Jacinta). I am then going to start and clear the area at the back of the shed, I want to turn this into a work area. (not good for much else). I hope to finally pave it and set up a small all weather potting table, for working on planters etc. trying to save the old back.

There is also a garden seat, that has been in the shed for weeks, drying, I am hoping to get a coat of sealer on it as well. Then and only then, if and only if there is time, and if and only if there are batteries in the camera, I might take some photos of the shed. Then maybe not………. Did he sort it did he not? is more fun. Have a good day, whatever, you do. Enjoy.

I was just flicking through the TV guide and there are 2 programs on this week that might be of interest – David Attenborough’s ‘Life’ is all about plants on Monday at 10.35 on BBC1. And then on tuesday we will be treated to the first episode of ‘Victoria and Shane Grow Their Own’ – "This entertaining ob-doc will follow rock wife Victoria Mary Clarke as she tries to get husband Shane McGowan to live The Good Life. Inspired by Michelle Obama, she intends to start her own allotment and will be helped face this challenge by friends and family. But Victoria is no expert gardener: she once inadvertently grew potatoes from an old potato which had been dumped in the flower bed. And Shane, though supportive of her efforts, hasn’t had anything to do with gardening since he left Tipperary aged 6 – and he doesn’t intend to start now. An entertaining alternative to all the how-to-gardening programmes, it should raise a smile and be a comfort to all those struggling in vain to grow their own." RTE 1, 10.15PM. 

Before I finished breskfast it had started to rain( ok I may not be up as early as some of you but still) .As far as I know it’s still raining. Decided I would go to Mahon Point shopping centre and park in the underground car park so I’d stay dry. Surprise, surprise, 90 million other people had the same idea! Took ages to get out of the car park afterwards too. Still what else can you do on a wet afternoon? If I’d stayed at home I might have had to do HOUSEWORK.

 

finaliy got around to getting up some pics

to be honest I have got no gardening done, just a odd check on the greenhouse. The dog has started digging in the flowerbed again. If he continues I might leave the turkey to gaurd the place and put the dog in the oven.

I am sensing on this site a growing frustration among the gardeners. I can sense in their writing that they are utterly frustrated at not being able to garden. I am that way myself but the arrival of a seed catalogue cheered me up for a while. I have made a list from the catalogue and am not trying to narrow it down a bit. When I calculated the cost of what I would like it made the budget defecit look small.

I see a new competition is building momentum, Who has the largest christmas tree, I thought Fran for a while was laying down a challenge to PlotmanJohn over garden sheds. However I see all Orchid contestants have withdrawn from the field of battle.

Congratulations to Milkchurns on the new arrival in his family, good news that Rita has made steps on the road to recovery, and also congratulations to Gerry and the team for a well deserved award.

 

Well the painting is finished! Phew!! What a relief! No longer need to feel guilty while enjoying myself gardening!  Ah well, we all have our weaknesses!

Anyway I just managed to plant up two containers by the door with cheery cyclamen today. It took about 5 minutes to do, cost €10 and just makes such a difference to a grey day! A very cheery welcome at the door!

I got some onions from Jacinta, that were surplus to requirments, thanks again. I had planned to get some planters to grow them in, I started thinking about the cost, and was thinking about all the space I have. So I decided to dig and area 2 x 4 at the side of the shed, dug, cleared, and dug again. I was expecting the soil to be heavier, but it broke up easy enough.

 So there are now 45 onions planted happily in the ground. Roll on the French Onion Soup. As I was finishing I spotted a cat watching me, I knew what he was thinking, so out came a piece of chicken wire, he will be sick when he comes back.

Also spent some time at the back of the shed. Got a little clearing done. Had to cut some of the old Railway fench post out. Enough for one day, late night last night. Feet up time, me thinks. 🙂

Have not visited any Botanical Gardens yet but today is the day!!! its been hard to stay away from the shops with such great value, well we have filled the empty cases we brought over and bought an even bigger one which we also filled!! we are shopped out at this stage and had planned to go to the Botanical gardens yesterday but weather turned very cold and we had snow! weather today is much better so we are just tucking into a late breakfast and off we go!! will upload some photos and post a journal maybe tomorrow, till then………………….

I have lengths of wood, 6" x 6" that is pressure treated. I know that pressure treated wood is a no no for veg beds. But this wood is 5/6 years old, has been exposed to the weather completely, would this wood be safe to use, or do I  just get untreated wood. Any thoughts?

Got Kenneth Coxs wonderful ‘Rhododendrons and Azaleas,a colour guide’ the other day as an early christmas present and its just manna from heaven for a rhodoholic like me.Managed to get a few things done today,i needed to move two deciduous azaleas,the species a.lutuem and the hybrid a.golden flare and i was happy to get that job done.I’ll definitely have flowers on my Daphne bhloua for the first time  so im eagerly looking forward to seeing those shortly.Magnolia stellata has loads of flower buds as well.There is one solitary flower out on r.christmas cheer which is a  very early flowering hybrid  that i would recommend.The main display will probably be towards the end of january if last year is anything to go by.

took a walk around the garden today its bogging.. only bit of light is my red robin hedging seems to be doing fine . we only planted 8 or so to see how they do cause ive had a bad time with the laurels

im wondering does any 1 have red robin hedging i beleave its hard to thicken up and a lot of work with it but we seen it here in donegal and it is beautiful ive planted about 8 or so just to see how they do.i know they can suffer with wind and frost a bit so just tried a few this year to see how they do looking for a bit of advice

I got out to my garden – at long last.  It has been so long since I was out doing anything of real benefit that I was like a kid in a sweet shop, in my eagerness to get out and doing something.

The front garden doesn’t know what hit it.  All the summer flowering foliage has been removed.  All that remains are the "back-bones" to the garden.  There are a couple of plants to be moved out and a load to be put in.  Yet again, my eyes have deceived me into believing that I have more space than I actually have.  But I am not going to panic yet – when the camellia and acer have gone to their new homes and a few grasses have been dumped (not point giving them to anyone as they aren’t in the best of health), then I will set out my pots and see what will be left over.  

The back garden then got my undivided attention.  I cut down the mallow plant to about 3 inches from the ground and unwound it from around the obelisk.  I cut back the clematis, blackened dahlias and sorry-looking lupins, as well as peony foliage.  The place looks a bit bare at the moment but I’ll get used to it.

No photos, I’m afraid.  Between me out gardening, my first plum pudding on the hob for 10 hours (mad stuff) and a Christmas tree going up inside, the house was a bit manic to put it mildly.  Tomorrow, I promise, weather permitting.  

Long long ago, I was out doing a few things in the garden. Maria came out and offered to help. This was a nice surprise, to say she enjoys the garden, is very very true. As for wanting to take part in doing the garden, ah, thanks but no thanks. So when I got the offer of help, I was trilled.

I had grown Fennel for the first time. It was a beauty.  A few bits needed to be cut back, yellowing etc. " You can trim the back a little " I said. Went to get something out of the shed. " What will I do with this" ?…… Maria was standing there holding 4 ft. of Fennel.

Lesson one started, difference between trimming and chopping.

I chickened out yesterday, and moved the Rhodochiton in to the shed. Despite the fleece, I really wanted to get it through the winter, better chance in the shed. Re-potted, a few canes for support, and will put fleece on later, the roof of the shed is insulated so the keeps temp from betting to low.

If it comes through, it should give a great show next summer. Fingers crossed.

Fran posted a journal 2 wks ago about a group of us possibly heading over to Chelsea Flower Show in May 2010. The cost of the trip is €725 per person sharing. Single supplement  E85.  triple rooms available. Cost includes flights, all private coach transfers, gardens and show entrance fees and full board in hotel. Come on Ladies, I can’t be going with a lone strange man. VERRRRRRYYYYY STRANGE, (especially with the new red and white hat)

I spent a little time last night looking back at peoples journals, so, you might ask. These entries were from over a year ago. Journals were posted, and posted and posted. Often with no comments at all.  Today, when a journal is posted, it is nothing strange to see 12, 15, 20 comments and more been made in return.

To those pioneers who persisted, with the site, in those barren days, thank you.