Month: January 2010
Things are going to get better!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was sitting having a cuppa, watching the birds at the feeders when i noticed the ground feeders getting nearer and nearer the door all the time. I got the message, "oi what about us" so a square of wood, seeds, nuts, bread, apple and banana and de-iced water later and it’s party time. Beats the tv for sure.
Just checked temp outside, reading -6
PS The doves, blackbirds, and wood pidgon were not happy with the piece of wood the food was on. So I took wood away and they were straight in at the food. Learning all the time.
Happy new gardening year to everyone. I am still taking notes but here is a quick run down of the blooms I have found in the garden so far today. As expected it is not as good as a normal year, at 10am it was -10C in the front garden.
The viburnum bodnantense, viburnum tinus, mahonia and lycesteria formosa are still flowering. The red flowers on the parrotia persica have just appeared and the silver tassels of the garrya elliptica are glistening in the frost.
A few of the old roses are braving the cold but the blooms on the Graham Thomas are starting to look sad. This cold snap is taking its toal as the Graham Thomas usually flowers throughout the year.
At a lower level there are cyclamen, primulas, violas, heathers and heliobores in bloom and the perennial wallflowers are still holding on.
The alstroemerias I lifted and moved to a sheltered position 2 weeks ago are still in full bloom. I’ll split them and pot them up. They are a beautiful plant but it is usually the heavy wet soil that proves to be their undoing in my garden, and the drier spot seems to have done the trick.
There is still plenty of colour too from the berries and hips on shrubs and trees so there is some food there yet for the birds.
"Bare branches of each tree
on this chilly January morn
look so cold so forlorn.
Gray skies dip ever so low
left from yesterday’s dusting of snow.
Yet in the heart of each tree
waiting for each who wait to see
new life as warm sun and breeze will blow,
like magic, unlock springs sap to flow,
buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow."
Happy New Year!!
Forecast for down to -10 for tonight, and I don’t think it was much less than that last night. The UK weather service says:
"The UK is between high pressure to the northwest and a large area of low pressure over Europe. The resulting northeasterly wind is bringing very cold air across the UK, along with snow showers. In places the snow showers are in troughs, or organised bands of showers."
Now I must ask everyone to be especially careful about snow showers in troughs. We don’t want any of those here as they are very difficult to see (because they are in a trough) and you can fall in and find yourself surrounded by a snow shower.
These organised bands are also a menace and have been reported roaming the countryside, but they are at least marginally better than the unorganised bands – you never know what they are going to do!
As the sun is setting on the first day of the new decade may Stargazer and I wish you all a prosperous year ahead and great gardening weather.
[Is this the start of the tenties? As in Noughties, Tenties, Twenties etc]
By the fire most of the day, looking through my gardening books, one eye on the laptop now and again. As I was the one at the fire, Colin could not be coaxed into getting more coal in. So while I was out the back had a quick look at the temperature, it is showing – 7, don’t think I have ever seen that temp here in 25 years.
Wishing all my garden friends a happy and peaceful new year
This laptop is a great thing, especially with internet access! Today, the house could have done with a good clean but I noticed on the RTE player, all 6 episodes of Super Garden. Done in 2008, it was based on amateur garden designers, the winner would get to design a garden in Bloom 2009.
While there is a lot of "repeating" i.e. explaining about the programme at the start of each one, after ever commercial break and at the summary stage, at least there is something gardening in there. I would have prefered to have got more plant information rather than the cameras just spinning around and watching the judges getting out of the car, sitting on the grass, etc…..
They were re-broadcast from 14 Dec 09 up to 21 Dec 09. If you want to look at them go to www.rte.ie/player ; select A-Z on the top right hand corner, select S from the box that appears, and then select Super Garden – the second programme on the second row.
The house cleaning will have to wait until tomorrow!
bearing in mind that the hubble bubble’s patch is as small as a rectangular bubble i wake this morning at 7.20am and look straight into the garden.
I kept the outside light on, so that such a sight could be greeted first thing.
tis pitch dark above and below!
the earth and sun all sleep, i presume.
what did i see pecking at the bird table, the robin.
But what else therre too – another robin. and i feel almost sure it was male.
i guess these very teritorial birds dont mind in winter as both know or instnct says they have to survive and no female contest here or there or anywhere.
but i actually thought the robins turf was wide and protected with venom.
Now for the dreams.
I have bought a very flimsy plastic shed from Argos, it has a slight pent roof which opens upwards and stays on a hinge to peek inside. two door open out as well but to do that you have to open the box.
I was thinking of making a light frame, from old trellis found here and a light strong porous base and actually use this as a roof garden in summer.
it wouldnt be that heavy to lift up would it? and once the seedlings are established nothing would shift off if i litfted the lid? er, would it?
then for the other shed which is bigger and my little recluse room or womb whatever you want to call it, i thought of growing wisteria up or do you grow that down?
have window boxes along the roof edge, as that too has a pent roof sloping away from the yard. there is a tin roof there.
no i dont think the two logs i have at present got from the council will be bird posts, i think they will lie on the ground near the water barrel along with smaller wooden tubs etc. i hope to plant behind the trunks and some creepery thing to go over them from behind, slightly around the ugly swingseat, yeh the dreams were good.
my water feature will have a pencil fountain. Yep, it will keep the water from getting stagnant anyway but nice too.
I am SO looking forward to Spring and possibilities!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Hi everyone happy new year to you all, and the best gardens for 2010.
sorry i didnt get to send this wish yesturday, the computer decided to freeze just like out side. back to nrmal again, another project done, and starting a new one to day, now that the computer is working again. well thats me for now, it is so cold outside, havent done anything in the tunnel in ages will get to it once my projects are done. getting ready for SPRING YIPEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thats it for now happy gardening.
It’s not weather to do much outside. The pots in the tunnel are very dry at the moment but I’m afraid that if I water them I will put them at greater risk of frost damage. These are benchfuls of young plants facing their first winter in an unheated tunnel. Watch this space…
This time last year I was given 3 begonia tubers by Apple. I saw them growing in tubs on her patio the previous summer and they were a profusion of bright orangey red. I received the tubers around Christmas in a brown paper bag and didn’t disturb them but left them on the dresser in the kitchen. In January buds started to appear and I cut them up carefully leaving a bud on each piece. I got 17 of my 3 tubers, they made good growth and I didn’t lose one. I used them in large patio pots 4 to a pot I also put 3 round the base of dark leafed red flowered canna and they were a perfect match. Such good value plants they are worth looking after through the winter. They must be kept frost free; the hotpress is a good place. this year I have 17 plus I don’t know haow many more from previously. They are all packed in paper bags warm and well in the cupboard beside the kitchen stove.
I got a new paper shredder for Christmas so as it was to slippery to go for a walk I decided to do some shredding! Did a big carrierbag full and have added it to my wormery bin. Now I’m wondering if I did the right thing????
The paper was mainly old ESB and Eircom bills etc. so had quite a bit of coloured print but not gloss. Wondering what it might do to my worms digestive systems!!
Advice welcome, please!
I was wrong about the snow not lasting beyond Dec. 31st 2009 when I photographed the first snow shower of winter. It is still with us with a vengeance and the traffic conditions on the roads over the past few days have been chaotic. One of my sons who works in Intel in Leixlip drove to work yesterday morning and said that the experience was as terrifying as the time he was with the army in the Lebanon. And he doesn’t scare easily. I saw myself the difficulty many drivers had controlling their cars even here in Raheny where the roads were like skating rinks. No wonder Dublin Bus didn’t operate a service.
Now, being a beginner…..
My wish list will be:
water lily.
wisteria
herbs, (medicinal rather than culinary)
the weed (medicinal!)
very round pebbles, quite big. colour to be determined.
the pink plant i want for the roof of the argos plastic shed!!!! YES, it WILL WORK, i shall make it work!
bulrush or one other equatic plant
Chicken – or two, real! No cockeral or they will put me on the side of the road and cant have that.
MY saying ‘an egg a day keeps the doctor away.’
few alpines.
crab apple.
that for starters.
Back in bed, woeful day today with the crohns being active again…
I have spent a good bit of time over the holiday, going through the book " success with containers" by Stephanie Donaldson and Peter McHoy.
There are some great ideas for all kinds of plants, shrubs, fruit, veg and herbs, there are also house plant ideas. Over the next few weeks I will pick some out and pass them on to you, one problem is that the pictures are on the small side, so this may be a problem in showing you the final product.
Watch this space.
Thought it was time to show my face on the site so here I am in my gardening gear. I think it was colder here than yesterday , certainly the ground was too hard to do anything. I got the broken tree sawed as best I could and bought the Arbrex so hopefully that will save it. Otherwise I just cut up some bits that I had put in the compost bin the other day–the nasturtiums had frozen hard and were actually easier to cut than when they were floppy and slimy.
I’m in deep depression. Here in the mild south we have had sub zero temps for 10 days and my datura is dead, my cestrum is sick, my oleander is looking miserable and my coboea is lifeless. As well the pond is frozen and in spite of my best efforts to keep an air -hole open it keeps freezing over. The worst part was on Wed. night when my acacia bulleyana purpurea about 12 feet tall blew over. When is this cold snap going to finish?????????????
my little toe has started twitching!! yep its definitely coming back , always get garden gloom nov/dec — bad weather , garden sodden cant be walked on , nothing flowering 🙁 🙁 🙁 but new year starts start to see the light again 🙂 🙂 have to take inspiration from the bulbs if they can push up through the icy frosty snowy cold so can i!! ROLL ON SPRING
I was all set this morning to put Arbrex on the tree that lost a branch. Hat and scarf on , open the door and it was raining! yeuch! and of course you couldn’t know if there was ice under the rain. Anyway it cleared up after lunch and I went for a walk. 90% was perfect but there were a few skiddy bits that you just wouldn’t see.
A good thaw has set in here, big difference over night, not even any frost on the car this morning, first time in about 3 weeks.
Went to Woodies this morning and spent a voucher on some large pots, for the plans I have for using pots and containers for a mixture of fruit, veg and herbs.
When I got back, I spent a few hours in the shed, fixing in two fluorescent light fittings, next week will try and get a couple of sockets fitted. Will then have to talk nicely to a brother in law to fit a small fuse board for me. There is a limit to how far I will go while working with electricity.
All the spring bulbs that had pushed their shoots up some weeks ago, have all stopped growing, who can blame them. They will move again shortly, we were all saying a few weeks ago how early they were, popping up. This cold snap has put that to in check.
The decorative apples on my Red Sentinel have suffered badly with the frosts. A lot of them are badly split and bust open, due to freezing. They were on the tree till the end of February last year.
Temp reached a nice + 3 today, was nearly getting the shorts out, but only nearly.
I spend a lot of my time driving and since this cold snap started it has being a pure nightmare. Most of my journeys take place on back roads and hours have being added to my journey time. I have not seen one road being gritted since the frost started. I have met some muppets on the road. Today I had to go a short distance to the shop and on the journey I made contact with a telegraph pole. A good bit of damage done and off the road for a few days. It is true what they say, most accidents happen close to home and destination end. Drive carefully and be safe
over the last few weeks down in the poultry area the rats seems to be on the increase. this started a few week ago when i noticed i small hole under the fence from 1 pen to another. so i put some poison down. a week later the and it was still there. next thing i know there is another hole going under 1 of the houses. time for traps seeing that they rats wont eat the poison. 2 traps set on xmas eve. on boxing day 1 trap is missing. a rat must of got caught in and pulled itself under the pallets and to be honest i am afraid to lift the pallets to look for it. this morning the bait on the 2nd trap was eat but the trap didnt go of.i think the hard frost froze the trap. anyway of to the shop today and bought 2 more traps.all trap baited and set. just went out there to lift whatever eggs was laided from this morning and to check the traps. NOW I AM CROSS. what was caught on one of the traps only a Robin. i am ripping. since the frost and snow came i am putting hen meal on the roofs of the hen houses for the birds where the cat cant get at them and then i go and kill 1 in a trap.
According to GreeK mythology hyacinth got its name when a young boy named Hyacinth was killed when a discus hit him in the head during a game. A hyacinth sprang from the cut in his head as he lay in the arms of the god Apollo, who was wailing in grief.
I wonder how much permanent damage all these unprecedented hard frosts are going to cause.Walking around and checking on plants the last couple of days some of the camellias have a lot of leaf damage and a small bit of bud drop whereas other camellias havent been affected at all.The rhododendrons that arent so hardy like r.alice fitzwilliam and r.valentianum seem fine but the leaves on a r.falconeri i planted last year have been affected quite a bit but that was probably to be expected as its one of the big leaved species.Im most concerned for my edgeworthia as it is only supposed to be hardy to -5 or so but it has a good sheltered spot on a south facing wall so im hopeful.We will know more in a few months.Despite all the cold its marvellous to see the snowdrops starting to make their appearance and some crocuses as well.Also there are a few well developed flower buds on my chimonanthes which im delighted with as they can be notoriously shy to flower.Isn’t life great.The anticipation of awaiting to see the delights that the new year will bring us is wonderful.
Well i was playing in the yard today. placing various elements for ideas etc, all in prep for the spring.
Images of which i have posted, some on their side and yet i do not know how to rotate them. they all look in the right position on iphoto. any assistance here much appreciated.
I know it looks all very ‘raw’ here at present, but trust me, i feel it will be beautiful.
this yard is only in existence in the past two months! so we have a long way to go really.
It also has to do a lot of things for such a small place, provide storage, attempt to bring in wildlife, a small seating area by patio doors in case of a visitor or two, a shed for shelter as i like being out but not supposed to be in the sun between 10am and 6pm in summer and a swingseat with a proper thatch is envisaged for summer, as i do feel weary and ill alot of the time.
so for a small place it has to be be a lot for a lot.
I hope i will get a balance and harmony here, especially when the vegetation gets in and spring will give it a kick start.
everyone has to start from nought really, bit dismayed at the images, doesnt really do the place any justice, one would really have to see it to appreciate that in fact, its doing just as it says on the tin!
xxfor now.
didnt really look at the birds today, too busy staying warm, again the sjoggie doesnt like cold either.
hope all is well in your gardens.
any news on the waxwings in Shankill?
Hey, is it true that if i have a water lily plant in the barrel that if i get a flower it will only last at most five days? sure is it worth it for that, or do more appear from a small plant, or is it a matter of more space more buds and flowers?
