Month: July 2010

Am still in work, meeting friends later. Where is everyone, logged on quickly to see what was posted, HELLO…………is there any body out there.

Martin don’t give out because there is no photo, there is but you just can’t see it.

Pat, hope you had a great get together, despit the weather.

Is there any one out there…………………………?

Knock  if you are there……………………..

MORK calling ORK…….. MORK calling ORK………………

Was it something I said…………..

I am very grateful to all who have helped me name my plants, but I still have a number of unknowns.

I used to have a list of my plants on my computer, but I lost this. Also I used to label my plants and I still have a number of labels, but many of them are for plants that have died years ago.

My memory is very bad now and getting worse, but with your help I have been able to name a fair proportion of my plants.

What I hope to do is start at the beginning of the year and draw up two lists, one with unknown trees and shrubs and the other with unknown perennials etc..

Let us see how I get on.

Pulled up the patio yesterday and today must have gotten at least 2 tonne of concrete up too.  Never mind all will go into the foundations.

The patio slabs we are re-using for the outside of the polytunnel and for the paths around the raised beds.  Hopefully we will start on cutting through the concrete paths by Tuesday and then get the foundations dug end next week.

Trying to put up some photos. 

Hey, did you hear the news tonight.  There’s a huge dirty black rain cloud covering the whole of Ireland till tomorrow night.  Monday sees it patchy and then, just maybe we will get the heatwave that our cousins in the UK are about to enjoy, or are enjoying I think!

Could do with the dry spell.  To think last week I was basking in the sun…….

 well i was lucky yo have mowed on wednesday as we are waterlogged now. no watering to be done for a few days and thankfully i was working today so no worries. no gardening tomorrow as i will be cheering louth on in croke park. i may reside in the royal county but loyalty will always be to the wee county. i have a few shrubs to get planted that i bought in dundalk yesterday namely a butterfly bush/ a pottentiella/and a cistus white rockrose. got the 3 for 10euro a real bargain and supported a good cause as well so everybody is happy.

The remaining raspberry plants survived – three of the yellow Falls Gold and five of the red Malling Jewel – and I was thrilled to see yesterday that both kinds are producing fruit – but less pleased to discover that the birds have eaten almost all of them already!! Time to buy a net. As my dad said, "Well, you wanted to encourage birds into your garden….!!"

If my plants in my containers outside could shout, they would definately be shouting "We dont want any more water!!" I have to say I felt sorry for them this evening when I went out, during a brief dry period. I found some of them slouched over from the rain. They didn’t look very happy. Of course, I came to their rescue and supported them up! I will put some extra compost in when this rain gives us a break!!

Its absolutely a shock to the system that the weather has turned so wet after such a long spell of very fine weather! And from what I have heard in recent weather forecasts, it is not all that promising – A wet weather pattern has emerged. I had heard many farmers saying that growth is poor (which I noticed in our lawn and plants) because of the long dry spell. Some I believe were praying for rain. Well their wish certainly has been granted. But will they now experience a complete washout! General water shortages should be no more, for now anyway!

We really have got weather extremes this year!! Extremely cold conditions, extremely fine and dry condtions and now a wet period which hopefully will not outstay its welcome!!

I have being fairly busy the last three weeks with work, but I am not comlaining. However the garden has suffered a bit of neglect. It is very hard to motiavate yourself to garden late in the evening when arriving home. I find all I want to do is eat and relax. I have tried to keep on top of the weeding and i suppose that is the major part of the job. I spent yesterday evening tying up tomatoe plants and I have to say after a slow start with them, it looks like we will have a good return from them. The rest of the veg is coming on nicely and I can see us dining very shortly on cabbage, caulifower and peas, though we had peas from the garden last week for dinner. The flowers have taken a bit of a battering with the wind and the rain and some look the worst for wear at the moment. However hooefully they will recover and once again look their best. Hopefully this week I will get more done and I have a good few gardening  plans for the week ahead. hopefully the weather will oblige

My garden has suffered a bit of neglect, it is very hard to motiavate yourself
to garden as on arriving home after been to visit my bro my 3yr grandson notice it first I was sitting chatting with my daughter he says

oh oh!! someone in big trouble.
He was pointing to myWillow tree. Gran your tree looks like a mushroom.
Cause anti-social behavour. I’ve had flowers stamped on pulled up hedge pulled apart, I’m so sick of it.

All plans put on hold for now. I have tried to keep on top of the weeding and watering I suppose that is the major part of the job.

Some good news my bro is improving by the day its great to see him enjoying life better than any garden. Thank you all

Don’t know if anybody is having the same problem, but where we are we are suffering an infestation of greenfly since yesterday! there are thousands of them in the air! so much so it is impossible to go out into the garden! have never seen anything like this before! anyone else suffering the same infestation!!!

I bought a Blackcurrant bush from Enniskillen about 4 years ago.  For the first 2 years I netted it and the yield was fantastic.

Last year I did not net and the birds took all.  Last Autumn I moved the bush plus a cutting I had taken and put them up the Northside.  Could not be bothered to net again this year, nor did I feed or anything.  However, this year’s crop is overflowing.  Huge yield – and no birds.  

Could not understand this so watched the smaller wren and robin going under the bush for the dropped fruit yet as soon as they got to within 6 inches of what I had growing in front of the bushes they left quite quickly.

What do I have growing.  I have chives and mint….  Has anyone else have these two herbs growing next to their fruit?  Which is likely to be keeping the birds at bay? or is this something more experienced gardeners know and I have found out by default.   Let me know please.

Another week is gone and really I don’t have a lot to show for it.  I have started to take cutting of fuchsias and pelargoniums as I took them too late last year and lost them with the hard winter.

I had all my cutting equipment with me in Kilkenny yesterday as I want to take rose cuttings.  However, with that awful weather, I abandoned the idea.  I’ll be down next Saturday and I’ll get them then.  

I moved my tomatoes out of the greenhouse.  They are outdoor types anyway but I wanted to get an early crop.  However, they are growing too high and as I can’t remove the shelves unless hubby dismantles the greenhouse, I really didn’t have much choice.  However, I now have the space back for the cutting taken.    

I took photos using my mobile phone.  Anyone know how to get them off the phone into the computer?  I thought all I had to do was connect the two of them using the cable and open ‘Nokia PC suite’ but that doesn’t work.  Any suggestions?

Yesterday (Sunday) I went off with my friend to the Galway Garden Festival.   It’s the first time for this Show.  The entry fee of 5 euro was in aid of the Christian Blind Mission.  We were definitely impressed with the nurseries and garden suppliers exhibiting there, as we both were looking for unusual plants.   The day stayed fine which all added to the lovely atmosphere – everyone seemed as if they were glad to be there!!!   Definitely well worth a visit and nice to have such a venue here in the West!!   Needless to say lots of plants bought…………….will post up some photos during this week.

Well, I haven’t been on here for ages and ages – summer is keeping me away from my computer! We have been quite busy in our little garden in Dublin and it just looks so wonderful and green and verdant at this time of year with various flowers blooming all the time and taking turns – as one type finished it s season, the next starts.

It’s a very small garden in the North Inner city but this year we have a little veg patch with mange tout and beans which are producing enough to excite the children into picking and eating, a few tomato plants, some strawberries which have produced a few delicious strawberries but not enough for a bowl!

Passiflora and nasturtium growing like mad up the walls and we are amazed at how tall our cherry tree is getting. I planted it three years ago and this year it even produced a scatter of cherries but no good for eating – perhaps next year will be better. Other plants doing well are the climbing roses, a big bay tree, a shade-loving creeper whose name a forget, a row of ericacious plants, sunflowers in pots, lavender and herbs and an assortment of summer flowers.

In the orchard in Cavan, we were amazed at how tall the grass (and weeds) had grown by the end of May and spend a good few hours with shears cutting down the grasses around all the young fruit trees and fruiting hedge plants. It is a much bigger job than we expected so to keep the grasses at bay, we hired an industrial strimmer a couple of weeks ago and spent a (sweaty!) afternoon strimming and raking. Unfortunately a few of the hedging plants have died which we had expected due to my husband having to plant then in a hurry in the rain and not teasing out the roots. But we are thrilled to have got them in at all! I have photos which I will put up soon.

That bit of rain was welcome! Now all my rainwater butts and tanks are full again. But I hope it won’t keep raining for the rest of the summer. Managed to pick the first lot of raspberries before it started, but went out yesterday to pick more and was disappointed to see how many had rotted on the canes after the rain.

This year I’ve had lots of blackcurrants (for making cordial) and redcurrants (for tarts and jelly). For once the bushes have not been decimated by sawfly. But NOT A SINGLE JOSTABERRY. Usually that bush is weighed down with fruit. Did I do some wrong pruning? 

The strawberries have been quite good and I made lots of jam and ice cream and mousses for the freezer. But the strawberry beds are over 3 years old now so I shall plant fresh beds for next year. 

I had a big problem with greenfly in my tunnel, worst on Red Cherry tomatoes and Gardener’s Delight. Even after washing off with soapy water, rhubarb-leaf spray, introducing ladybirds and ladybird larvae and parasitic wasps, … nothing worked. Eventually had to spray once with pyrethrum, and then made a rabbit-proof gate to tunnel so I could leave the door open all day. Now the birds are picking them off and although there are still some, it feels manageable. So next year the door stays open as soon as it’s warm enough. (No strawberries in there this year so it’s O.K. for the birds to go in!)

 Ready now from the tunnel; tomatoes, 6 varieties; sweet corn; cucumbers; carrots; basil; beetroot; courgettes. Finished from tunnel: calabrese, sugar peas, spinach. Coming on: peppers, (sweet and cayenne); aubergines; melons.

Ready now in the raised beds: lettuce (3 kinds); broad beans; peas; spinach beet; potatoes; garlic; onions from sets sown in November. Red onions and shallots sown in the spring are looking very sorry for themselves. Leeks are looking O.K. but still, of course, very small. The 2 courgettes planted on my compost heap are producing nicely. Spaghetti marrow and butternut squash steaming away after the rain.

Outside calabrese mostly eaten by rabbits. Purple broccoli and brussels sprouts are under enviromesh, but something is eating the leaves – not sure if it’s caterpillars or slugs (must go in there and investigate). Runner Beans are coming, but slowly. Has there been a shortage of bees for pollination?

And now I must do something about the weeds that have sprung up everywhere since the rain. 

Yes, my first journal entry, not sure what to say…. have been a member for a while, just never added anything. Today I uploaded a pile of pics… some are from here, in Regina, some are of over in Cork. For the past 3 years or so, I’ve been going back and forth between here and there… someday soon I hope to make Cork my permanent homestead in the meantime, I just dream what it will be like and play in my gardens here in Saskatchewan:)

In my pics you can see we are causing havoc in the neighbourhood with construction work. We used to have huge trees and hedges and such but it’s all gone…even my shed! I’m excited though, as I will be getting a brand new garden from scratch, even a new shed!… all the plans I have…. unfortunately I won’t be able to do much until I get back there, maybe late this year so I have to leave it all up to the pros that are there 🙂

P.S. please feel free to add me… all friend requests welcome 🙂

Well the weatherman was right we have had a nice day today with the odd shower, but only light.  Really warm though.  House needed a clean real bad so missed the best of the sun.   Just spent a couple of hours putting in the wood we got from the ‘monster root’ and cleaning up the garage.

Hi, does anybody know what fernhill garden in athlone is like. thinking of making a trip up and was wondering if it was worth the journey.

My garden is a small area with Indian Standstone, gravel and decking and shed. I have mostly hanging baskets and container pots and one mixed border along the side of the garden. 

It has been an age since I had time to write in my journal. This is good and bad. It’s good because the weather has been so great and bad because I have been so busy. Garden wise it has been mostly clearing up after the Winter. 

I also visited three of the West Cork Gardens which were open during the trail. The Rectory in Enniskeane was the only one which I had never visited before. it is a lovely situation with a wonderful old house and out buildings. Lovely mature trees. The other two are old friends in the garden sense, David Putnam’s on the Baltimore – Skibbereen road and Beven Martens on the Baltimore road. Both beautiful although I was interested to see in Putnams garden they have gone for the natural look.

I also had a visit from the Clonakilty Garden club a couple of weeks ago which was lovely and they left a very generous contribution to the Baltimore RNLI for which we are all very grateful. Thank you all

Now I have grandnieces to stay so we are going to paint some ladybugs for the garden… 

Hey, thanks for all the support for the Mint and Chives.  Those of you who have netted fruit please do not do away with it just yet.   I would hate someone who makes their own jams or pies and sells them or whatever to end up with no crop next year.

Lets put out some fruit into a patch and put in the chives and mint and wait and see for a few seasons.  This may just be a fluke.  If it works for quite a few of us next year then we can start to put more fruit out of the cages then.

Just so you know I went out this morning and after the sun yesterday I had a huge crop of blackcurrents.  The best year yet so if anyone knows of anywhere I can get good cheapy jam jars from then let me know.  Never made jam before so this should be interesting.

Just to clarify,  Back 30 years ago I was an avid gardener.  Orchard, Veggie, Greenhouse, etc.  however I was not a good one.  Everything was hit and miss.  Never bothered to read anything or even bother with "why did it not work".

Needless to say everything went pear shaped within a couple of years.  Life went on and now 30 years later I am going at it again.  This time I am learning what to do, so really I am an amature.  My big apologies if I make comments which are really silly.  Oops got to go. Add more to this later