Month: February 2010

I was talking to my sister on Skype over the weekend and got her to have a look at HER garden in my photos on Garden.ie..  She was very impressed.  Why wouldn’t she.  She was very chuffed with all your kind comments and thanks you all.  The best bit is she said she will join in the very near future.  She is very busy and a bit tied for time just at present.  She didn’t think she could join from outside Ireland.  But we are Irish I said, why not.    Both Good Dubliner’s of course that have blown into other pastures,  like any good seeds.

Incidently,  she keeps her veg plot records on an Excel sheet / file.  It looks very impressive to me with colour coding for rotation, rows and colums for position and data etc..  It looks very flexable.  I’m going to strip the data off her copy she e-mailed me and use her format grid for myself.   The Excel programme is so versitile.  Then of course you have last years file, this years and candraft plan fo next year. 

I started last year, my first year, with a sheet of blank paper and good intention of filling in details on it.  It’s still blank…… I was so pleased that stuff even started to grow.  Just have to call back on the photos for record purposes.

Goog Night….

I spent the entire day yesterday (Sunday) weeding, cleaning, pulling, draging and was poked in the eye by a branch – luckily I was wearing my tinted safety specs.  If you don’t own a pair, please get them now, the make I use are called ‘bollé’ and are available from any of the safety clothing outlets.  I don’t know what the exact statistics are for eye injuries which happen outside of the workplace but I do know it is very high.  The figures for workplace eye injury 2008 (in landscapers/gardeners in GB) were 1 in every 4, that’s crazy high and can be prevented by the wearing of suitable eye protection. 

I can’t believe how unfit I’ve become after just a few weeks of no heavy physical work, but a good soak and plenty of shiraz had me back to normal this morning……

Jacinta and Fran got the seeds for the Mammoth red rock in the post last week, will send them on soon! maybe a bit premature! but here’s something to try with it when it grows! 

 

Serve this cabbage and apple dish with roast duck or pork loin.

 

Ingredients

 

1 large red cabbage, shredded

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tart cooking apples, cored, diced

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ cup red wine

¾ cup water

Directions

In a 3-quart saucepan, bring salted water to a boil. Add cabbage to boiling water and cook over medium heat until tender-crisp (about 10 minutes). Drain well. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion. Cook and stir until glazed, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cooked cabbage, apples, vinegar, sugar, pepper, nutmeg, wine and water. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes or until tender. Serve. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

This afternoon I decided to give the border in front of the Conservatory a good going-over. It was covered with Lamia Minor a small leaved ground covering plant with pink flowers in the Summer. I also have the Lamia Major, which has larger leaves and Yellow flowers. Anyway I dug up the Lamia Minor and then decided to dig the entire border and rearrange the plants. I got about two metres dug and replanted in two and a half hours and after that I was ‘jacked’. I hope to be able to continue tomorrow if the weather stay fine. It is not a very long or wide border but it is wide enough to require digging from both sides. I use a plank on the lawn side to save the grass. There is a narrow path between the conservatory and the border. I discovered a lot of bulbs in that two meters, which I had forgotten about and also came across some Iris Germanica corms(?) which had become buried. Don’t ask me how that happened!

yes, unfortunately i had to make a few changes at ‘the hoose’

the starlings WERE taking over!  my patch is tiny and it wasnt going to be snow that covered it, if i left it any longer.

i removed all the fat balls, had to.  i put them far far down by the end of the common area, now no starlings and very little else too.

had the dunnock, and the robin, woodpigeon and collared dove, but i think word has got around that i have done the dirty on em.

 

i shifted more paving stones and moved the waterfall feature more centre stage now that i have the shed/recluse hoose.

i also worked hard today in arranging what will be the water barrel feature.  all is looking good.

 my themed vegetation will be pinks and white flowers and anything thing to bring in nature and all the textured greens.

i will also have some hot reds amongst them.

i really would love two unual hanging baskets on the shed, this is all new to me folks any suggestions for these?

i have as i said put up the nesting box.

i am a bit ‘down’ about my knowledge of flora for gardens/nature gardens and that is flooring me and confusing me.

i am far more used to interiors as that is all i have known.

i loved my day in the patch today and my new computer comes on wednesday and i hope to have all the features up and running by saturday so i think the withdrawals will be far less and i will be less grumpy and far happier again!  i cannot wait.

i hope everyone is sorting their own patch!

anyone seen bargains on the structural elements needed in a garden, eg trellis and that sort of thing.  still looking for the oddment of pond liner and any cuttings etc that can be offered will be grabbed with gusto.

all the very best.

patiopally. ann

Well the greenhouse is on its way and I’m beginning to panic- what do we do when it actually arrives! I know you’re thinking- assemble it but I’m fearing that that will be the easy part- BUT where am I gonna start???? Baby steps….

Its febuary.. it’s spring and when the weather picks up (hopefully in a week or 2) it will be full steam ahead tidying cleaning and sorting out the garden.

I planted the spring bulbs in October so the daffodils, tulips and crocisis are making good headways now, they are above the soil and growing nicely. 

This was originaly a comment back to Fran B. on janetp’s journal entry on Safety. But it got too big  (Max. 1000 Chts) 

Which said:  Can I join you for that !!!     i.e. some of his wine, just to get the corks

 

All joking aside SAFETY in our gardens, at work, at home and everywhere is  paramount.  I know we all do silly things from time to time.  I could have lost my left arm in the worst accident I’ve had in the garden.  When manovering to a new spot on the hedge my very large power hedge trimmer caught a branch and then sprung at me, instinctivly I put up my bare left arm to catch it, but it’s own weight was enough to gash into the arm. Nearly down to the bone in two of the six gashes.  It looked like a shark bite from Jaws.  Lucky it was at tick-over at the time.   So now I never cut the hedges without ALL parts covered no matter how hot it is.   Ooh silly me.

My other pet hate is mowing grass.  NEVER have any body else on the lawn or in close proximity except the operator,  whether  child or adult.    I know of a case not long ago, about ten years,  an aquaintance of mine’s seventeen year old son was killed  instantly by a stone which shot out from under the lawnmower and hit him on the head.  The operator was his Dad.         How  could  you  live  with  that. 

I have stopped my car and got out to speak to people cutting their grass with children playing on it.    I have related this unfortunatly true story many times.

It was so so sad.

 

now that i am up and running with photos….let’s see …my hubby, two boys and myself built our own home more than 10 years ago…i had no interest in gardening before that, but i thought well…ok so maybe i will try a veggie patch…i sought out a small patch of earth and promptly dumped every lettuce seed in the packet onto my patch…so do you want the good news or the bad news…well, they grew…the bad news….we had lettuce for breakfast dinner and supper for weeks…they say you learn by mistakes…i guess some people learn more than others!!! well i read every book that i could get my paws on and created the pictures you see…i still have the veggie patch in the back of the house and this year i would like to keep a precise garden journal and also make my garden season longer and more productive….i work in a garden centre so there’s really no excuse! i like to grow something unusual in the veggie patch every year…not sure what that will be this year yet though…any ideas???

It,s that time again.

looking around the garden today it,s a total mess, of course i make a mess every year, looking at the plants they survived the bad weather, some seem to have little buds coming on them, but then i could be seeing things ha,ha.

must have a look to see what i’m going to do this year, hope it works out better than last year, or i’ll be the mess,ha,ha,ha.

Hi everyone

sorry have not been on line lately, so up to my eyes with course work and house work. hope you are all good and full of the joys of spring. everything going well at school i have been so busy lately, trying to organise my veg garden i am going to do raised beds with sleepers and the tunnel looks like a bomb hit it. need extra hands to grow on me over nite, i wonder can you get seeds for that. it would be great if i could i would sow 6 extra hands and a couple of heads as well. well thats it from me for now

happy gardening all

In this weeks Amateur Gardening it states that Alan T is to host a four-part series called Alan’s Garden Secrets, he visits some of Britain’s finest gardens from large to small and usually hidden from the public, each week a different garden is shown and Alan also shows viewers how to achieve a small piece of that landscape in their own gardens. Monty Don to host Monty Don’s Italian Gardens. Carol Klein to host Life and Death in a Cottage Garden six-part series of the seasons in her own garden in Devon. Alys Fowler, The Edible Garden set in her own garden in Birmingham looks at growing veg alongside flowers. Sarah Raven River of Flowers, aimed at planting wildflowers and creating  nectar-rich corridors for bees, butterflies and birds. There are no dates given as yet but all in 2010. They all sound like good viewing to me and something for us all to look forward to.

It has snowed here in Yorkshire, not a vast amount fortunately so no gardening to be done today. Happy Gardening.

Phew! Finished puting the last of the second linkbox of seaweed around shrubs this afternoon. Makes the place look cared-for! And the birds are having a great time scratching through it! A bit messy really but Im sure it will do them a power of good, between insects and the grit and sand that clings to the seaweed.

Just finished as the Dublin visitors arrived! Always glad to see them for many different reasons! Not least that there always seem to be plants in the boot of their car, as in mine when heading in the opposite direction!!

Today it was a lovely Libertia with striped leaves from Fran. Really very pleased with that, as I only have a pot of plain green. Thank you so very much, Fran.

Then there was a pot of pelergonium cuttings from Clara. I believe they are a climbing variety? I do hope I am able to care for them properly until they grow strong. Again, thank you so much, Clara. The traffic in plants up and down this island has increased greatly since the creation of this Club!!!!

 

TYHOLLAND COMMUNITY    VEGETABLE GARDEN AND POLYTUNNEL JOURNAL

E-MAIL tyhollandveggarden@gmail.com

 

DATE late 2009

Paul Hughes, Seamus lapin and paddy Mcquaid went to Elaine’s home place at greenans cross and took apart part of a mushroom house. 7 hoops in total. The hoops and other parts of the frame were transported back to the field in Paddy’s van.

The following week Paul hughes, Seamus lapin and Elaine went to meet Seamus from J.F McKenna’s in Armagh to see if he could make us up pins and the cover for the hoops of the polytunnel. He said that he could and showed us around the place and he showed us other goods that the sell (etc seed trays and pots) all three of us left JF McKenna’s agreeing that it was a very worth while trip and that Seamus (from JF’S) was a very helpful person.

A few days later Paul Duffy, Seamus lapin and Bernard Flanagan dug the holes for the pins that go into the ground which the frames of the tunnel go over.

                                    Monday 18th Jan 2010

The two Pauls, Seamus, paddy and Bernard got the 14 pins into the ground for the frame of the polytunnel.

                                    Wednesday 20th Jan 2010

Paul Hughes and Bernard put up 6 of the 7 hoops. They also fixed into place 2 of the bars that run down the frame of the tunnel.

Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd 2010

Seamus, paddy, Paul Duffy, and Bernard spent these two days tighten joints and placing self-toppers into the frame of the tunnel. The also inserted the timber around the base of the tunnel.

Monday 25th Jan 2010

The front and back wooden frame were fitted and all other joints checked and tighten.

Wednesday 27th Jan 2010

All joints and spare edges were all taped down with plastic and tape.

Thursday 28th 2010

Hot spot tape and other sponge stuff were put around the hoops of the tunnel to keep the polytunnel cover from touching the frame because on hot days this would cause the cover to melt. And what we were all waiting for, the tunnel was covered today and the back door fitted.

Friday 29th 2010

Paul Duffy and Bernard fitted the front doors of the polytunnel today

i will get photos upload soon

regards

paul( milkchurns)

Intend buying some seed potatoes at Dunsland garden centre in Glanmire this week and check out whatever bargains are on offer there. I haven’t yet decided what to grow in my little productive patch, but have been busy digging and being nice to it. Hopefully I will have more time for the garden this year. I did have some hens last year but the neighbours’ dog likes fresh meat. I may get two later on as they were great and almost no trouble even in my small city garden.

 

lets see…my ornamental garden at the side of the house is strangely shaped and was a bit of a challenge…the thinking of the plan took nearly as much time as the doing of the plan!! you could say it was a long pointed triangle…so i sort of cut off the pointy bit, planked a shed next to it , softened the lawn to a sort of kidney shape and kept the paws crossed that this took the sharpness away. i only have a small patch at the back for veggies and also a poly tunnel…i think i will end up concentrating more on this are this year and maybe stick in a few annuals to fill gaps in the ornamental side for now…i’m determined to have a longer growing season this year and a journal with dates of sowing and transplants, cuttings taken that sort of stuff…am delighted with this website…if all you guys lived nearby, i wouldnt need the internet!!!

lets see…my ornamental garden at the side of the house is strangely shaped and was a bit of a challenge…the thinking of the plan took nearly as much time as the doing of the plan!! you could say it was a long pointed triangle…so i sort of cut off the pointy bit, planked a shed next to it , softened the lawn to a sort of kidney shape and kept the paws crossed that this took the sharpness away. i only have a small patch at the back for veggies and also a poly tunnel…i think i will end up concentrating more on this area this year and maybe stick in a few annuals to fill gaps in the ornamental side for now…i’m determined to have a longer growing season this year and a journal with dates of sowing and transplants, cuttings taken that sort of stuff…am delighted with this website…if all you guys lived nearby, i wouldnt need the internet!!!

This morning as i was clearing weeds and looseing soil around the planted bulb for spring ,i happened to go over to cheek on my honeysuckle and was very pleased to see dat it has started into growth… wat a feeling dats why i love gardening.      

 

Anyone know where you can buy cheap plastic plant pots. Most of the garden centers charge 3.99 for six 3". I’m going to need a lot if all my seeds come up.

What a month – and its only the 3rd, have taken the plunge, sown peppers and chillies – some tomatoes (only 5) and dug a couple of beds.  Got in a load of seaweed, which have burries in the greenhouse beds in preparation for the tomatoes later. Have had kids with chicken pox, flu, sore throats and coughs for the last three weeks – whatever next. 

My ginger plant appears to have died in the frost, but did harvest one root!!!!! put the other one back in some new compost so will wait and see – 18mts for one root is alot of waiting – might just buy it in future;-)

More digging and tidying up to be done – daffs coming up, Spring is in the air although we did have snow last Sunday…….

I’ve uploaded a few photo’s at last, these were taken around end November.  They show the left side of my front garden and were taken from my office which overlooks this part of the garden.  I’m not good at photography but hope to improve at it.

 

My lawn is in terrible state, has any one got tips on how I can bring it back to it’s former glory.

Hi all…seems so long ago since i’ve gotten the chance to sit down and visit garden.ie! It’s all go in the garden centre…change overs for the growing season, lots of ‘grow your own’ stock and more and more plants with every delivery…sparks off many creative ideas and dreams…..here’s hoping we get the long awaited summer!!!!! Hope everyone is is keeping well! đŸ™‚

 

Just back after been away for eight weeks. Came home on Sunday and have spent the last few days catching up on everyone’s journals and photos. My god I’ve missed some bad weather (or did I) All the work that you have all done so far is amazing I feel I am weeks behind but looking forward to starting, if I knew where to start. Everything in the greenhouse looks lost but will investigate everything tomorrow, as I have to clean it out and wash everything down. The get together in Carlow I see was a great success by all the reports I’ve read. Photos look great and some great comments as well. I hated missing it, but sunshine called. All I have done in the garden so far was cleaned out the pond and I’m pleased to say all the fish survived. I was expecting to lose some of the smaller ones and I don’t think I did. The spring bulbs are starting to show themselves which is very welcomed. I’ve been making notes of which journals to re-visit and carry out the jobs that has already been done. It’s such a big help and reference to keep on top of things, so thank you all for that.

And a very  belated Happy New Year to you all. Its good to be back.

Spider offer me some tomato seeds that he was not using, they arrived in the post yesterday. Thanks Sean.  Sean tried the postal system that An Post are using just for garden.ie members. Sadly it seems there are a few blips along the way. My seeds arrived some 14/15 days after been posted.

An Post say they don’t know what happened. Their new postal service for seeds for garden.ie members guarantees that all seeds that are posted, will be full plants when they arrive, and as the weather improves some may even be bearing fruit. Now is that a service or what……