Month: April 2010
Happy Easter everyone! I’m off to Kenmare for a week–hope the weather improves! Enjoy whatever you are all doing.
Okay so my half day Tuesday and day off yesterday meant nothing to me for the garden cause it was like just too bad to go out in. But I did pot plant my buys from the previous day so fingers cross these will be a success. And Good Friday tomorrow, hopefully means it will be a good Friday and we can all get out into the gardens.
Went for a walk around the garden. Forsythia is showing blooms , a bit late I suppose. Grass is coming on especially where I sprayed it for moss. Some plants dont look good; Cordyline, Hebe, Senecio, Pittosporium, Eucalyptus. Some of them i think will come back. still no improvement in Passiflora. Plants in greenhouse are doing well.
New pictures of my little ‘Natasha’ are already in album. My beauty!
For years I tried to find the name of a certain scented hedge I associated with my holidays in France. Besides being a lovely scent, it reminds me of so many happy times. Finally, with the help of Drumanagh, I identified it as Elaeagnus ebbingei.
Now this hedge does not come bare root so it is a bit more expensive but when you really want something… When I picked it up at the nursery, I was further justified by tales of how this evergreen hedge scents the nursery and came through last winter really well (hardy to -15).
But I had to wait to plant my 53 plant hedge as I had put down heavy duty weed killer on the area where it would go at the front of the house.
This afternoon I started planting. A ditch was already dug so I filled in the botten with loose earth and hubby put the plants in at 20" apart. A good handful of pellets and several spadefuls of compost went between each plant. Then hubby watered the pellets in situ to try and release their goodness. By the way, surprisingly, the soil was beautiful – when does that ever happen!!!
I then set to shoving the remaining mounded earth in around the plants, using a rake. Of course this was hard and, only when I finished pushing in all available earth did I realise that each plant stuck up, above ground level, by about 1". It then started to pelt rain (of course).
So, down I went on hands and knees and had to remove each of the 53 plants, dig the hole about 1" deeper and re bury each plant. Great fun in the rain and the dark!!! But now I am indoors, all showered and warm and dreaming of my French scented hedge : ) It will be worth it in the end.
To day, I bought the Irish Examiner and there was a booklet in it on gardening. It mentioned all the things I required in the garden.
At long last i’ve begun the biggest task in the garden to date. Went in and ordered the mini digger this morning and was lucky i did so. Got the last one they had available and it arrived just after 1pm. Have it till tuesday now so i should get all my clearing done. They’re not as easy to drive as they look but i soon got the hang of it. Plenty of room to practice so that was a bonus. What a lovely evening it was to be outside, compared to the past few days. Fingers crossed it will continue. Bed early tonight and an early start in the morning should hopefully result in another good day tomorrow. Will take some pics tomorrow of the progress being made and try to post them tomorrow night.
Looking very grey out there today, sadly am in work today, so will get a little garden fix tomorrow for myself.
Just scrolling down through all the different journal titles there, it is great all the different topics that crop up, you never know what you are going to read. Have a great weekend, if traveling, travel safe and enjoy. Happy Easter.
I’m still waiting for spring to prove to me that it has actually arrived. Until then I’m in a holding pattern of taking tomatoes, chillies and aubergines in and out. I’m near breaking point because the seedlings are really no longer seedlings and need to be potted on and I’ll be damned if I’m carting 89 2-litre pots in and out of the house every morning and evening. Think I’ll just start leaving them in the tunnel and covering with fleece, crossing my fingers and hoping I’ll be able to sleep. It was minus 3 in the tunnel last night.
In the meantime I’m getting lots of big, ugly chores done that I should’ve done over autumn and winter. Putting manure down, digging, de-hummocking my orchard which now finally looks like an orchard, and spreading the old 804 out.
I’ve been sowing too, though I haven’t hit the really softy, softy tendery plants like courgettes, cukes, squashes yet. Tomatoes can take a bit of cold if they must but squashes and the like will not be impressed.
My 2 lovely Rhodochiton seedlings are doing well from Liga’s seeds as is the Cerinthe that Alison sent. I saw Rachel’s post about the Cerinthe and for sure some of the seed are doubles — a bit like a beetroot seed cluster. Easy to separate. I have loads of ‘mystery’ seeds sown — you know, those seeds you find in your pocket when you get home from visiting a garden. And I have found that the best method by far for getting Astrantias to germinate is to sow fresh in autumn, leave on an outside windowsill then stick in a 15 degree propagator. I’ll never put Astrantia in the fridge again.
I have loads of extra perennial seedlings so I hope there will be another meeting in the next couple of months — I didn’t hear of the get together at Belvedere House last week since my internet connection has been dodgy and I have been out of touch for a bit. I’m sorry I didn’t know about it. But there’ll be other days.
I see there is another shower so I don’t feel too guilty whiling away a Good Friday online.
I’ve been thinking of having a garden party (not the pimms kind, the grubby kind) later in the summer — if you are interested in coming let me know. Though I’m in Galway I’m literally 3 minutes off the motorway so easy to get to. June might be nice so people have a nice long day to travel and don’t feel like they have to rush home. An open house kind of a thing, swap plants, look at my developing plot, cups of tea, all the usual stuff. Do let me know and I’ll start coming up with a date and details.
Happy Easter everyone.
Happy Easter one and all, and may the weather improve in all parts of the country. If you can’t get out into the Garden just put your feet up and dream about it. (you always get twice as much done that way!!)
One hour of gardeners world toight BBC2 at 8.30 .
Still weeding and clearing, there seems to be no end to it !!
tomatoes , sweet pea , cosmos , night scented stock, sweet pea chillies, and peppers all up and looking good.
No sign of the melons yet. Dahlias all growing well with loads of strong shoots.
In the garden daffs, minature tulips forsythia , ribes anenomes looking good.
The bad weather did wonders for the hellibores, never saw them so good. Osmanthus just in bud but not a sign of life on the Paulownia . There are some green shoots on the acacia, that Tony suggested I should let my brother cut down for his stove!!! No chance I am going to leave it until it begs to be cut down.
will hopefully get some photos tomorrow.Who ever said retirement is easy!! I am run off my feet and hardly have time to bless myself. Seriously it is wonderful… I just wonder how I managed to get so much done when I was working. But hey its great not to have to go to work at 8. 30 until 8 am. dont miss it a bit, would highly reccomend early retirement.. bliss
Happy gardening
A day for other things other than gardening ,like painting out the bedroom sorting out draws and having spring clean.The garden will have to look after its self today . When the sun did come out it was so hot the fish came to the surface for a feed for the first time this year.
I am a member of a local gardening club – Atlantic Horticulture Association (AHA). We meet once a month and discuss many aspects of gardening but primarily growing our own fruit and vegetables. I enjoy this as I learn something new every night from some very experienced gardeners. I am in the process of laying out a small vegetable patch with raised beds beside my tunnel and I hope to grow some vegetables here in the coming season. I grew tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, salad leaves, spinach, beetroot & strawberries in the tunnel last season. I am also planning on getting a few hens as soon as hubby makes the hen house!
Hello, Here’s just a note to wish you all a happy easter and I hope you all get an easter egg or chocolates. For all you veg growers, there is a new program on next wednesday on BBC 2, with Alys Fowler called The Edible Garden it goes out at 8pm. The first program is about Peas and Beans. The weather here has been mainly rain today so I do hope it is good for you over the next few days to get some gardening done.
I am a member of a local gardening club – Atlantic Horticulture Association (AHA). We meet once a month and discuss many aspects of gardening but primarily growing our own fruit and vegetables. I enjoy this as I learn something new every night from some very experienced gardeners.
I am in the process of laying out a small vegetable patch with raised beds beside my tunnel and I hope to grow some vegetables here in the coming season. I grew tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, salad leaves, spinach, beetroot & strawberries in the tunnel last season. I am also planning on getting a few hens as soon as hubby makes the hen house!
We opened a self catering holiday home last easter so if any of you fancy a break in West Clare check out www.sandhillshouse.com !!
I have been keeping all my seedlings in the loft in the workshop under the clear lights in the roof where it’s always nice and warm. Yesterday the cat crept in, unknowns to me, and I accidentally locked him in for the night. This morning when I had a check to see how things were doing the cat shot out as soon as I opened the door and I thought ‘aw the poor thing’s been locked in all night’ but my sympathy soon turned to shock/horror when I discovered that he had knocked over all my seedlings and had used it as a cat litter. This is the closest I’ve come shedding a tear since I attended the Christian Brothers in my youth. My frustration descended into rage soon after while I was in the house telling Caroline what happened I looked out the window to see the cat grabbing a goldfish out of the pond and running away with it in its mouth. The cat’s now definitely off my Christmas list. I’m looking for a good home for this cat. He’s black, just under a year old, answers to the name Joey and would test the patience of a saint. Please help.
Yes, i would love to plant one of these and a pink un!
I have the half barrel and am wondering when to start the whole project and dunk the lily, so to speak!
Can one take ‘cuttings’ off of already established ones, if so, any offers are gratefully received, yeh, i am a cheeky critter!
ann
Happy Easter to all gardeners .
spent all afternoon in the garden in between hail showers. Today is our 34 wedding anniversary and Tony , obviously sick of me moaning about all my losses in the garden, went mad and went off to the garden center and came back with , two camellias, a white, silver anniversary (nearest he could get for ours), a pink, peony pink , and Diosma, a californian lilac fremontodendron , fascularia scarlet pineapple, spiranthes fragrant orchid, tradescantia, rudbekia and ophiopogon nigrescens, which I edged the bed with . Agreat day , his brownie points have rocketed!!!
Hope you all have a lovely Easter , there is a large brandy waiting for me, cheers
I wonder if I’m the only person who still hasn’t managed to cut their grass… it’s so wet and patchy, long in places, bare in others. I hope I’m not going to spend another summer moaning about the grass!
I did get my new lavender hedge planted and some fabulous new hostas (I love hostas). Can’t wait to plant out the 2euro shop plants that I’ve been nursing, willing and cajoling for weeks now. Please frost go away!!
This month’s issue of the Irish Gardener is, as usual, excellent. It contains a list of jobs to do and I tried to do some of these yesterday, but rain forced me indoors a number of times. I noted that the shrubs that shoild cause interest at this time of the year are not yet in flower in my garden.
Initially I had intended to put up in my Photos those plants that had come into flower, but I have now changed my mind and am trying to include most plants in my garden. Thus in 3 April 2010 I have included evergreens, including some conifers. Again you might like to look at them.
Happy Easter and gardening
NF
The lettuce little gem seeds have germinated as have the brussel sprouts bitesize. In the flower section the Anchusa blue angels, Ageratum, Gaillardia and Alyssum.
In the cold frame the Clover has germinated which is brilliant considering the weather over the last few days.
Going to to Lidl tomorrow as they have greenhouses for sale (the green material ones) which will be ideal to use for when hardening off all my plants. It is quite a large one and good value at 99.99 euro.
Well sun is shining at the moment so off out into the garden.
You right Jacinta, opportunity missed there i have to say…but not great at present with the luppie.
Great morning in the ‘yardenette’ planted up the buddlia and prepared the soil well i think, dug hard, loosened up the horse shit put down in autumn and added more compust and perlite, its so very heavy heavy soil in the raised bed. I think in fact that the soil isnt that terribly deep and even though the top layer i stripped off, replaced with third of horse manure/compost and good soil, the level has gone down and another layer needs to be added again.
That said some plants are doing well, one of my ‘red robins’ near this butty plant has the ‘lurgy’ black spot, any ideas how to deal with that?
I did the same with ecinacea and also a lovely plant with a soft tufty pink tops, long pink tops and also ditto a grass with similar but white.
I wonder now about my ‘golden oats’ whether i should cut that down to encourage growth, bought that early early january i should think.
Again wondering if its too late to cut back the fushsia, had a fab one in the front when i was housed here almost a year ago but have i left it too late?
its in a very shaded place and dark place.
wonder will i cut back anyway or will i kill it off? my next door neighbour loves it, and wanted me to keep it and i agree and want to as well.
all help needed in this very virgin land of a complete beginner, who saw only concrete – an possibilities when she arrived here.
oh, bought fake grass in lidl!
no, there is a method to my madness.
the paving is on the diagonal of the small yard leaving not enough for a path and its slap on top of the concrete, so instead of pebbles which would crease my twin who is not good with balance, and i neither, i am experimenting.
it will just lead up to the real grass under swingseat and by the quarter barrel.
very little space and no more paving slabs, its a compromise and i will see how it works, if it doesnt no harm done.
all the best, happy easter to each and everyone, i wonder how many are having buried treasure in their gardens for the next generation, eg easter eggs! or have the mums and dads gone ahunting first?
xann
Jane Powers, Irish Times garden expert says that dormant crowns should be planted in Autumn and potted plants in Spring or Autumn. The fleshy crowns can rot in heavy soil if planted too deeply. Don’t remove any stalks during the first year and in following years always leave half of the stems to regenerate the crowns. The plant gets less productive in the centre as it ages so it should be divided every few years. The mistake I made with my former plant was not dividing it at all. Also I used take as many stalks from it as I could, sometimes all of them.
got MASSES done today (with the unexpected help of huzzband) – cleared the entire railwaysleeper-bed on the lane side of our perimeter fence of docks with scary and disgustingly long roots AND got rid of countless monster dandelions AND all the other rubbish that had taken over this small space. put in some bulbs (snowdrops, daffs, purple/yellow/white narcissus) that i got cheap locally. most still in ok condition, although of the 3 arum bulbs i bought, one is going back for a swap, it’s rotten. also put in some nasturtiums to spill out over the front of the bed, some sunflowers against the back, along the fenceline. discovered that of the 3 houseplant strelitzias i bought last year, which i never brought in – foolishly thinking that if this plant, which grows in abundance in the Cape, where i come from, can survive a Cape winter, they can survive outside here (hahaha, note to self: do what it says on the label next time and bring the poor things in!!)… anyway, most of them had rotted, but i found some that looked like they had a bit of life force left, so i put them in down there as well. had a go with some old seed shakers i had left, summer flowering mix and a mix to attract wild birds, as well as some orange poppy seeds that are well past their ‘plant before’ date, so we’ll see what happens there this summer – could be a profusion of wild colour or a complete disaster. i’m hoping, needless to say, for the former!! am thoroughly pleased that we got all the work done in the nick of time before the wind started storming and the rain started coming down. it is absolutely bloody freezing, even though there’s a toasty fire going in the lounge. my shoulders are aching and no doubt other body parts will yet start complaining, but it’s so worth it. had a restorative dose of nature today, getting my fingers grubby and am famished and ready for a hot bath, oh yeah….
