Month: April 2010

Rachel, these are the Tulips you gave me. Just coming into bloom now. Can I have a name on them please, I want to be able to lable them.

Thanks again.

Very wet and grey morning so not too pleasant. Hadn’t time to update my journal last night so just put up a photo album. Got my two grow boxes filled yesterday. I had some beetroot, carrots and parsnips started in peat pots in the glasshouse so put those in the boxes. Covered them with chicken wire to stop any cats digging in them. Started some lettuce and cabbage for the other box, as the established plants are for my brother in-law. The marigold seedlings that i pricked out last week have come on greatly, so i pricked out the rest yesterday. The other flower seeds seemed to have just stopped growing so I pricked out some Pansies which weren’t too bad and Busy Lizzies. Did 12 of each. Put the trays with the Lobelia, begonia and petunia in the glasshous. They’re very small but they cant stay inside any longer. They’ve had plenty of time up to now so the rest is up to them. Baskets and boxes coming on nicely. Runner beans doing well now too.

gonna finish digging over the kitchen edible border/bed.  also want to plant a tree and sprinkle poppy seeds onto the damp wasteground between our house and the cottage next door.  body feels sooooooooo sleepy but i know once i’m outside and busy i’ll be loving every minute!!

These are my last to flower, a second flower stalk on Minerva which is new to me this year and the plain red one which must be 8 or 9 years old by now.

nice one

i’m a bit previous with this photo but it gives a taste of what’s to come

Managed to spend as planned in the vegetabls garden yesterday evening,before heading off to the G.I.Y meeting.On return,time was spent in the tunnel working on the lower tubs while tying up runner beans[where needed].They normally tie themselves to canes,but some need a little help.[Legumes] 

Today has started off damp,with the hallmarks or our enemie the dreaded  effect of Leaf-spot.[Mycosphaerella brassicicola which will prepare to attack over the next few weeks when growth develops.The older leaves are the ones most effected and how you will notice a visit from Leaf spot on them will be by brown spots with pinpoint sized damage,and these will produce spores [fungi].If the weather gets to a stage for the Leaf-spot [Mycosphaerella brassicicola] to attack on cabbages etc,then it is so iomportant to remove all effected leaves where noticed and burn them.Thrown into the compost heaps and they will return from there the following year.Another set-back with them is having them to close together.The importance of circulation is vital around the braccicas [cabbages etc].

If at all possible have the cabbag,cauli,etc in a new area each year.Crop rotation solves that.What crop rotation means is to have  Brassicas [cabb,turnips cauli etc] Legumes [peas and beans] and Roots[Carrots,beetroot, etc]  help each other,and not attract more pests and disease if allowed do so.

its just past its prime but i just didn’t get a chance to photo it before now. this has just rocketted in the last 4 years, from being able to put it into the boot of my car along with a few others to this 8footer

 

bit of a change from the white coloured magnolias which i love too

I tackled the Rosa rugosa at the back of my border today.

The good news is that the roots are not deep. The bad news is that it is hard work digging the trench and sinking the tiles. But the other good news is that hubby has agreed to take over : )

For anyone considering Rosa rugosa in a border, take a look at these roots I dug up from my border today. The cup is to give you an idea of size. The black line imposed on the photo is to show the longest root as it is hard to see it in the photo : (

Happy. its funny how the smalliest things make gardeners happy or upset…the bit of rain, new flower blossom or a bargain in the garden centre makes gardeners so excited and happy, charge their batteries to pop around the tiny flossom and addour the colours… and again we have pages of information how to fight slugs or weeds any possible ways cause they upset us… and loosing the seedling feels like loosing thousands in stock market… everybody are different, even gardeners has likes and dislikes…

raining. never thought will be so happy but -good bye hoses and watering cans for few days… will plant my bedding plants without fair to see them dead by the end of the day… do some sowing and hope for the best… went to Aldi this morning and was absolutly pleased with climbers specials- Passion flowers-2.99e, clematis- Blue with full centre 2.99e, jasmine- 2.99 and 10 pack of lobilia – 2.99e- so feel much better after killing all my lobelia…(3 packs of seeds cost me more). hurray can start planting soon and filling my new flower bed.

 

happy gardening to you all.

Hello everyone!

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Have a great long weekend! 

Now don’t get too excited. I don’t actually have one in flower!

Last year I bought 3 Foxtail lilies from Bakker for €10.99 plus postage. I had been besotted by the beautiful flower since seeing it at Bloom and then in the Bay Garden the previous year. I potted the 3 odd bulbs with grit and compost in the greenhouse and waited. In the end some greenery emerged but the plants never really got going. One rotted away and I eventually planted the remaining two in my raised bed. I thought that the raised bed would be ideal for drainage. Slugs ate the shoots and the plants disappeared.

This year I bought 3 Foxtail lilies in Lidl/Aldi for €3.99 and I planted them in the same raised bed today. Amazingly, one of the lilies from last year is doing really well but no flower head yet. The second one is obviously still alive but that’s all that can really be said for it.

I wonder do these plants take a year to get established. I think I do have them in the right conditions (or as right as I can offer). I do hope at least one will flower this year. My poor raised bed is looking very sorry for itself since all the beautiful French lavender edging it has died so fingers crossed…

Today I noticed that the birch trees on our drive are leafing up nicely. Birch is slow to leaf and I always associate it with summer. Could spring be nearing its end?

I always think that my Betula jacquemontii inject such a feeling of gaiety into the garden when they finally leaf.

Our two big cherries (Prunus kanzan, I think) are also in flower.

To celebrate the last day in April, there are some new photos in the April album.

That’s what my first (and the last) crop of rhubarb gone into. I shouln’ve really picked it as it was only planted last year but couldn’t resist. I’m sure it will be alright. Well what can I say.. except it was delicious:) 

i bought this at bloom last year and its survived happy as larry outside all winter, its from chile and hopefully will develope a trunk 5 feet tall with fronds 6 feet long over the years to come

As we are in the Wicklow mountains this winter was particularly harsh with significant snow falls and lots of frost. During one of the largest snowfalls (3Feet in 4 hours) a large conifer fell with the weight of snow. .
The removal of the fallen tree prompted us to look at other trees over hanging the Green house, pump house and garage. As we planned to remove the Lleyandii hedge at the front at some stage it was more cost effective to get in a tree services company to remove the hedge and 6 conifers at the one time.

The photos in the "Hedge Removal to Stone Wall replacement" section will show you some before and after photos where you can see the impact on the garden. The biggest change is the amount of light that is now pouring in to areas of the house and garden. As I sit here typing I can now see the sun setting over the mountain and not the hedge.

Some people have asked who is building the wall and we can say this is all our own work. We will be working on another section this weekend so we will take some photo graphs of the way we do this.

Please check out the hellebore’s photo’s. They are stunning this year and they are our favourite in spring time.

Today John planted the Chrysanths in there house supported by wires .they should be flowering from late June to September now the late cuttings have been  taken  they will be for Christmas flowering in the heated greenhouse.

Mad in work. Got home and finally planted the last 2 lots of sweet pea.

My record for seed-sowing this year has once again almost ended in embarrassment. Almost! I may have lost so many seedlings. But I never gave up on the last few. Ok my toms are tiny, but still are looking healthy.

I have a little pot of Malope doing well, and Reseda odorata (Mignonette), Marigolds. Brachycome to be potted on, and lupins.

Tomatoes that have FINALLY put on their 2nd set of leaves are

‘Tumbling Tom, red’ (5 seedlings)

‘Roma’ (2)

‘Marmande’ (3)

‘Garden Pearl’ (12)

‘San Martano’ (1)

‘Rozovy Titan’ (1)

Sweet pepper (3)

Cucumber ‘Crystal Apple’ (4)

Gherkins (4)

Melons (4)

These seedlings are really really tiny. But I feel really grateful to them for sticking with me until now. Homefully tomorrow after work, I will pot these on. They are still only in the tiny Aldi pots.

Here is a shot that I took today of Francis Rivis, you might remember that I showed you the wrong one a week ago and you were all too polite to point out my mistake

This appeared in the garden two years ago, doing better and better each year, but I dont have a name. To tired this evening to look through any books.

Deborah, don’t know if you have seen my photos of this mystery plant I have in my garden. So far, nobody has come up with anything that might convince me of its identity. Maybe you can help. It stands at about 24-30 inches. Same in spread. No sign of a flower, leaves almost glaucous. Growing on one stem, which is almost like the trunk of a young cordyline, much softer leaves though.

This is one of my favourite Aquilegias ‘ Winky Blue’.