Month: July 2010

You will know from a previous journal entry that I replaced failed seedlings.

The weather this week has changed dramatically. The seedlings I replaced are in containers that are difficult to move. I cannot use glass or anything flat as it will squash the orginal seedlings which were successful.

I would definately be willing to spend or construct moderately to protect them. Some have germinated already, others haven’t. Some of the varities take longer to germinate and it would be these I am currently concerned about.

Has anyone any suggestions as of how to protect or shade them from the excess rain that we are experiencing at the moment?

What is the the impact of wet compost on seeds that have been planted? Rot would be inevitable.

Thanks so much.

Well, yesterday started off nice here in Sligo.  Got back in around 12.30 and hubby wanted to put in the window at the South Gable.  Do you think it was easy.          If it was not bad enough getting it up the scaffold, you would think that every man and his dog wanted to ring us at the precise moment you are fitting it.  We even had visitors. To top it all it threw it down with rain – lovely for the plants – not so good for me – two coats later and I was soaked.  Hubby fretted constantly over it but now it just looks fantastic.

Overnight the wind and rain made me think it was winter again.  It is easing off now at 7.39 a.m. so maybe I can get out and see which pots got blown over.  Hoping to put up the polytunnel covering today if it stays nice.   No chance of tackling that hedge though.  That would be another soaking.

I take back all of my scepticism, only this week I was saying that if a plant/tree hasn’t come back by now it never will! I was out in the garden last night watering the sunflowers, as despite the drizzle they were drooping, when low and behold I saw two woody shoots at the base of my Bay Tree…..halleluiah!!! My Dad who passed away 3 years ago gave me this tree and I was really upset that it had succumbed to the siberian winter temps. But here it is struggling back from the brink, am so delighted.

Only this year (2010) for the first time I have had access to some land. I really wanted to start growing vegetables so the first thing I did was put together a raised bed from planks of wood left over from a new gate. I then dug out the grass and filled it with topsoil from a mound of it left over near by. This took many trips with the wheel barrow and a number of evenings with an aching back. Since then I have expanded with two other narrow raised beds donated by my sister. I then took off and sowed garlic, regular onions, shallots, red onions, lettuce, radish, strawberries, leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes & carrots. I had some casualties along the way due to storms and frost. But the majority survived.

As the veggies were going so well I then decided to grow some flowers from seed. So along came sunflowers, evening primrose, marigolds & aquilegia. Once the bug had truly being caught I then picked up bits and pieces along the way, such as a rose, some fushcia & dianthus. So now I have a small vegetable plot and two flower beds. I love every minute of it.

Have just added extra bit to profile.  Am desparately trying to get photos uploaded but hubby thinks this all waste of time.  Just strim it all. Job done.  Doesn’t cost anything either.     Not that anything has cost much anyway.  I tend to take cuttings off bushes along the roadside or overhanging someones wall or I beg a root cutting if I see something I really like.

Trying to find my old gardening books think hubby has hidden them.

Ithink it rained all night here. Everything looks lovely fresh and revitalised again. It is now a lovely sunny morning with lots of blue sky showing. This morning I will feed my outside veg with comfrey and nettle mix. It is an ideal time to do it when the ground is wet. Doing it when ground is dry can burn the roots and also most of it runs off.

The White Tajinaste is a wonderful rounded bush.Grows to approx 2 meters high.

There are many varieties but this one is very useful in my garden. When in bloom it attracts many bees & flies whose collective buzzing is audible for several meters.

I deliberately plant this near Fruit trees for pollination, particularly close to a passiflora.  We cut it back after flowering. The green leaves appear again very soon after cut-back.

Can tolerate very dry conditions.

I have  had additional plants  from  the occasional dropped seed which has germinated.  Passed them on to friends. Well worth growing.

https://www.flowercarpet.be/site/main.php?lg=en  This link is to the Carpet of Flowers in Brussels.

Cotoneasters are among the shrubs in my garden which never are affected by the harsh weather. There are at least five varieties. One variety which is vertical and has broad leaves tends to grow very rapidly at this time of year and if you don’t prune it, you can be in trouble with the height. I have brought some down to about a foot high, others not so and it can be a problem reaching them. However over the last few days I have got control. To day while trying to prune away some blackberry briars or is it brambles? I came across some Senecio which was dead but nothing to worry about as I have plenty, some which was not affected by the frost and some which resprouted. Having removed the dead wood and pruning some briars which left my hands fairly scratched, also some Hypericum hidcote cut away, actually the briars are growing up through the Hypericum, I came across a varigated shrub which had been smothered by the others. So more discoveries or perhaps recoveries.  I will be right again as I have plenty Aloe Vera which I use at night and Eureka the hands are clean in the morning. The blackbirds gave me great pleasure earlier in the year with their singing but now they are attacking the fruit, strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries redcurrants but they will probably have no blackberries by the time I am finished with the pruning.

Photos now uploaded.   Every time I look out of the window I am just amazed at how much space I have gained.  Next project now is to pull up the tree stumps.  We had 5 of the most beautiful conifers at back of house but they grew too tall and blocked all the light.  Over the years they began to lean and so 4 years ago we chopped them down.  Will upload photo of the one stump that does not want to budge.  We now have our final permission granted for the extensions so I have scanned in photo of outline of the garden.

I fell in love with this old cottage and three acres of rushy land, six years ago. I moved in almost immediately and began the labour of love, transforming the derelict cottage into a home and beginning the arduous task of tackling three acres single handedly, thereby creating orchards, vegetable garden, ponds, woodland and planting over 400 trees in the permaculture plan I followed. The results are quite magical. Somewhere among the rushes and water-logged ground, I planted my heart! It has not been broken!

I now grow vegetables and fruit  including Nectarine, Fig, Lemon [outdoors!] and Plum, as well as 8 different Apples, 3 Cherry, 2 Pear and lots of Blackcurrant, Redcurrant, Gooseberry, Jostaberry and Strawberry.

I conduct lots of ongoing experiments with growing techniques and am keeping records of success that will be added to the increasing pool of Permaculture knowledge.

 

Have not been able to get out into garden at all today.  Started off nice but has rained on & off.   We got 21 tonne of 1 1/2" all-in for the driveway.  Hubby will be happy tomorrow he can play on his machine again.  Oh! by the way we got the monster root out will do pics in day or so.

Got some seeds today.  Winter/Spring Lettuce (even I can grow that without making a mess) and then some spring cabbage and spring onions.  So been sorting out the seed trays and fetching veggie compost.  My compost heap went completely pear-shaped this year.  Nothing was composting down.  So threw it all under the hedges and have now to start again.  Oh! well some you win, some you lose.

In the process of creating my garden profile.

 

In the containers outside I am growing hardy annuals:

Larkspur – ‘Stock’ flowered mix

Calendula – Orange King

Night Scented Stock – Matthiola Bicornis

Nasturtium – Little Gem Mix

 

In the window boxes that are indoors I am growing half hardy annuals:

Cosmos – Sensation Tall Mix

Nicotiana – Evening Fragrance Mix

Pansy – Giant Fantasy Mix

Petunia Multiflora – F2 Cheerful Mix

Nemesia – Carnival Mix

Some of the above may not be suitable for containers or window boxes but I have done it before and it worked well.

I recieved a lovely little plant called lemon geranium,The smell of its leaves it beautiful,It can be left out all year or inside on a sunny window sill,its leaves can be put in a jar with sugar to flavour the sugar,also can be put in olive oil to flavour the oil,and the one i like can be put in tea to flavour it ,you can freeze it in icecube trays.

We sorted out the arch today, we untied the roses from the arch and then inserted it about a foot into concrete so hopefully it will not fall over again, We also took the " Haggard sign down from it as we think it may be too heavy,  We have been talking for some time about putting a mosaic under the arch and as we were working with the arch today we decided we might as well have a go at the mosaic. When we took the tiles up from the front hall floor we kept them in the yard, we intend using them somewhere around the pond so we broke up some today for under the arch, I am v happy with the results, they still need to be grouted.  I am putting some pics of the mosaic  in an album

Hi everyone, havn’t been on here for a while, I have been kept busy with weeding, grass cutting and painting. We have been doing a spring/summer clean up outside for past two weeks, if u stand still long enough my mam might just give you a coat of paint.

My plant sales went very well, all sold out now except for a few hanging baskets.

Vegetable garden doing well and of course my tomatoes, also some lovely bunches of grapes on our vine in the greenhouse.

Hope this lovely weather lasts for rest of summer as it is great being out and about in the garden.

Some tomato plants which were not sold or given away were put into large pots and placed at the back of the house facing South as the greenhouse is small. Peppers were put into bigger pots  and left in the greenhouse. Grapes in vine tree are good and I look forward to harvesting them later on. Blackbirds have got into greenhouse quite often and it can be a problem getting them out. They get in through the vents. Tomatoes are still far from ripe. I normally have the first of the on July 1. It was August last year due to low amount of sunshine.  Roses are doing well. Most of them are free of black spot, a few have it. Plants given to me a week ago in Rachel’s garden are doing well. At the Country Market yesterday (Friday) I was asked if I had Geranium (not Pelergonium) I had to reply that while I have it I would not be prepared to lift it noe but later in the year and have some for next season. Coleus has made great progress and I will probably have it at the country Market  next Friday. 

The front garden has at the moment the most beautiful scent of roses. My favourite is Arthur Bell  which are just finished their big show and what a show. The pheasant berry is just starting to show off its flowers outside the patio door. Forgot to cover the cherries, the birds are really enjoying their breakfast these mornings. Have very few plums and pears this year, think the bad frost earlier in the year did the damage. Apples so-so but strawberries beautiful…very rarely make it to the kitchen.

Wel what a weekend.  Friday evening our Son Matthew came home from Sligo with us at about 5.00 p.m. and didn’t each much dinner – went to bed at 6.00 p.m. Woke me at 1.45 yesterday morning – going to be sick.  and was for 4 hours straight.  At 5.30 yesterday morning took him to A&E.  He was kept waiting for about 1 hour until receptionist realized he was really poorly.  Being sick in reception I think did it.   Once into cubicles and it was ok.  Given injection for pain and sickness and put on drip to replace fluids.  All Ok was home by 2.00 p.m.       Dr. said right to bring him in and if he is ill again to take him straight back.

Now me, silly me did not take my Thyroid tablet with me so it was at least 3.00 p.m. before I got it sorted.  This morning was like I had been hit by a truck.  I did not start to feel right till about 1/2 hour ago.

Anyway, enough of this pity me business – on with the garden

My camera has gone on this blink so no photos for a day or so.

Hubby – Danny his name – started to fill in the driveway with that 1 1/2 all in stone and then begged me to have a go with the wacker plate, that did wonders for the "being hit by a truck feeling".  Told the neighbour I had just come of "the vibrator" glad he qualified that statement but gave them all a good laugh.  Just for those who do not get the joke, a wacker plate is a machine for vibrating down the stone on the driveway.  Wish we had a roller instead. 

Now that I am getting tired again the sun comes out and the wind has dropped. Might have 1/2 hour to sweep up the patio – leaves everywhere.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, I am hoping the day is still so I can get this cover over the polytunnel and get Danny to make some raised beds.  I have some cabbage and Spring Onion seeds which need planting up next month.   Planted up some lettuce yesterday in pots and have them in the office with me – it’s one of the warmest places to be.

Haven’t been on lately as i’ve been back working at my summer job again. The hours are long but i wont complain. Only thing is that the garden hasn’t as much time when it needs it most. Haven’t been able to comment on journal entries either. Will do so as i get the time.

Have not had a lot of time for gardening lately, just about managing to keep weeds under control. Eating salads , potatoes, cucumbers , carrots and parsnips from the garden and boy does it taste good. Xarli, is amazed and astonished that the food comes out of the ground. He has me tormented to"dig dig dig Nana" says dinner is yummy yummy in his tummy!!!

The lillies are supberb this year , absolutely huge.  may I just say here and now that my photography leaves a lot to be desired  as I have been told on numerous occasions!!!! so they do not do justice to the plants.

 But never mind , if anyone visits Wexford this Summer, they are more than welcome to come and see for themselves

 

Wow. not a job for this time of year. When I get home today quite a bit of time will be spent cleaning up leaves from the gales yesterday. The gravel in the back garden, looks more like an October scene, than a day in July.

Don’t you just love the way Nature keeps us busy……………….

Hi everyone,

I stumbled across your website whilst surfing the net, and while I am not Irish I have always had an affinity with Ireland Having grown up in Kilburn, London, NW6. I now live in The Mumbles, Swansea, Wales.  I am 73 years old and have had an on/off relationship with gardens over many years. For five years up until 2 years ago it was definitely an off. And in July 2008 I was diagnosed with the Big C. While not being too upset as I had had what is termed as a good innings, I was offered and accepted an intense course of Chemo and Radiotherapy. The treatment lasted until Christmas 2008, during which time I was in and out of intensive care.