Month: October 2010

Can anyone help with the names of the trees in my back garden, I’ve been trying to up load a photo in with this journal but no success……last night I did manage to upload photos of them in my album, thanks…………Maureen

Have added some more photos of the plants which are now still blooming –

Spend the best part of the day Saturday extending the Flower Bed at the back of the garden – Extended the boarders also- Carnations which were grown from seeds 2010

are all now replanted in the front and back garden-

Today Sunday I am planning to trim back the conifer trees at the back of the house –

However if Grandchildren arrive down – I may have to put this on hold –

  

I met Brian one evening during the week as I had been feeling unwell for some time now.

I received a healing whice I have found brilliant, its wonderful "THANK YOU" Brian. I have to let everyone know how brilliant your healing is!!

We also had a lovely chat about gardening and garden.ie 🙂

Hi All,

He is doing great thank god! he has told me to thank you all for the prays. He gave me some tips for all in garden.ie

Here are 2 tips my brother gave me to keep snails and slugs away from his plants.

1.) He uses a orbital sander so when they are of no use for sanding any longer he recycles them by cutting into the middle and puts them around the plants like a collar, (I imagine that can be done with any sand paper) but after it rains they would have to be replaced, snails and slugs don’t like the sand paper.

2.) He sprays the pots with Wb40 (its an oil base spray hope I’ve got the name right if anyone know the right name please correct me) that stop them climbing up the pot, making sure not to leave an gaps.

 

Hope some one finds those helpful 🙂

Tips:

Ones I’ve come across.

Spray slugs with diluted ammonia. Fill a spray bottle with a solution made from 1 gallon of water and a splash of ammonia. Spray any slugs that you see with this solution to dissolve them within minutes. The ammonia will not hurt plants and will later convert to nitrogen

How to Organically Get Rid of Slugs and Snails
For those of you who can’t imagine wasting beer on snails, try this home brew:
Add 1/2 tsp. baking yeast and 1 tbsp. sugar to the water in each trap/dish.
 

You can create what is called a sugar shack. To do this dissolve a teaspoon of jam, sugar and lemon juice in a glass of water. Pour the mixture into a can with 2 or 3
openings cut in the side. Push the sharp metal edges inside the can. Since slugs
love sweets they will climb inside and be killed by the acid from the lemon juice.
 

Another one for those of you who can’t imagine wasting beer on snails, try this home brew: Add 1/2 tsp. baking yeast and 1 tbsp. sugar to the water in each trap.

Let me know if anyone find these of help.

Maureen

 

 

Hi..

We planted a herbatious border early this year, it’s about 25m long and 3m deep at its deepest point, overall it’s a D shape..

Before planting I had the soil turned over and sprayed any emerging weeds with roundup..

We planted it up and it’s done really well and been in flower from early June and still has a good show, considering it’s only in its first year…

The down side is it’s been plagued with weeds and wild grass… it’s been a struggle to keep up with the weeding and due to a back injury I sometimes feel like I’m loosing..

I’d considering mulching with bark in the spring which should keep down the more basic annual weeds… I’ve been spot treating perennial weeds with roundup.

Will the grass just grow up through the bark mulch?? I have a problem with grass growing right next to the plants and up through them… is this common or how can I avoid..

I’d been hoeing about every week when I could and hand pulling if possible

Maybe some weeding advice from some more experienced gardeners would be helpful…

As the plants thicken I’m hoping it will be easier to manage

 

 

 

This line above is taken from The Seasons by Haydn and of course refers to Summer. However it seems so strange that in mid October when we might be thinking of rain and strong gales but to day except for the brevity of the actual day and the colours of the leaves one might think it was Summer. Who could be inside to day except where one is compelled to do so. Certain things which I had put on the long finger were taken on to day. A bit of ground where I had lilies was now ready for some daffodils I had bought some time ago. A small number left over I potted so Come Gentle Spring also from The Seasons, when they are in bloom. In the meantime let us hope that this beautiful weather will remain for a while at least. Some pruning was done on Cordylines. One might describe them as the ugly which I had as a heading early on. Now I know the wood from the tree. In the meantime the same trees are sprouting and assuming that we don’t get the sub zero temperatures like last winter, I am looking forward to these trees being rejuvenated. A Pieris which I was unable to grow in a flower bed due to the alkalinity of the soil and was transferred to a pot, while doing well was found to be pot bound and was transferred to a larger pot with plenty of peat.

Last night I tasted the first thing I have ever grown myself in the garden.

Some white turnip. I had never had white turnip before so I wasnt sure what it should taste like, but it was ok. A bit stronger tasting that regular turnips, nearly like a cross between turnip and parsnip. Maybe its not supposed to be like that I dont know. But anyway it was a first, hopefully with more to come.

Began the process of converting a pile of mud into a garden in October 2006. We’d had just a small suburban garden in England and were now faced with about 3/4 of an acre.

We’ve made lots of mistakes along the way – the biggest one being trying to establish beds too quickly and putting plants in that we were told would ‘give good cover’. We’ve spent the last two seasons trying to get them under some kind of control and they’re still winning.

We’re lucky enough to have a stream running through the garden and an ongoing project is to try to get it planted up so that it’s more attractive than the grass and rushes that border it naturally. We’ve planted lots of trees and they’re now starting to show a bit of maturity but it’s going to be another five years, at least, before they’re at their best.

Some wild fuchsia which I thought would never die as it came from the Nagle Mountains not far from Mallow, seemed to have departed after last winter’s frost, but young shoots came from below during the summer. I though that perhaps some might come from the woody part but no, so I got out the saw to day and cut away almost all of the wood. some pieces were almost two inches in diameter. Now it looks well and provided we don’t get a similar frost this coming winter. I may do a bit of trimming on it to morrow. 
The compost heap which I built up early in the year got attention to day. The turned compost heap is now much bigger but quite a lot of work has to be done to complete the job. Some of the partly decayed matter at the top was put over the new compost heap containing mainly grass. Now that we are around mid October leaves are falling and very soon they can be put in the new heap when I have enough. A climbing Hydrangea at the back of the house is shedding its leaves rapidly. These will help to build up the new heap. 

OH just look the garden is starting to die….leaves a golden russet ..roses still ..struggling to peep through..and that sharp chill inthe air ….its October ..the time Ilet my beloved Father go ….to God ….and Ialways miss him ..though his spirit lives …and the garden is in sympathy ….but the birds will be here ….and memories of Summer linger xxx

Visited Woodies in the morning, bought some trellis 6 feet high, three trays of Winter pansies and one packet of Glory of Snow. I had planned to buy some freesia but they were not available. The solution then was to lift up the freesias, put them in pots and keep them in the green house. Gerry had said that this was the best way to deal with freesia corms at this stage. So the freesias were potted and the Glory of Snow put in the flower bed in their place. The trellis was erected in a place where a lot of other items had been growing. They included Senecio which had been growing out of proportion and ivy as well as blackthorn. Now there was plenty room to plant some herbaceous plants. A yucca was removed and put in stock with other yuccas. Now it was like going back to basics with much more room than there was for years. a hole was dug for a climber of some kind. I had considered a Weigela which I had got from Wellie but changed my mind as I felt that it should be grown by a wall. I will have to think again about what to put in it. While it was a bit cool to day the work kept me warm. Now the back garden is beginning to look good. The pansies should be planted to morrow after i get back from the Country Market. I hope to have a picture of this area when it is complete.

The last couple of days I’ve been trying to put my front garden plans into action. I hope to put some photos up later if I can manage to keep the internet conncetion without droping 🙁

I bought a lovely Clematis name Sunset its a beautiful redish/dark pink, here is hoping I’ll be successful in growing it. In the spring I want to lay a new lawn as there are quick a lot of weeds grown through this one here at the moment……

Maureen

planted plum and peach trees today all so wood land spring bulbs .  90 in al

 Yesterday evening I dug out clumps of Montbretia plants and Lamium Maculatum which have invaded areas of my garden where they are not wanted. Both of these plants are very invasive if left free to roam. Undoubtedly they will both reappear again. The Montbretia bulbs increase so much so that it is almost impossible to dig them all out. In the case of the Lamium even tiny fragments of root left behind will grow again. Today I started cutting up the stems of the Montbretia plants for my second compost heap and binning the Montbretia bulbs. Then I decided to use the compost from my first compost heap which is two years old. When I uncovered the old compost heap I saw that it was ready for use. I spread some onto my rhubard stools, rose bushes and Bonsai trees and other plants.

xy

I’m up in Celbridge with my sister for a few days, she doesn’t have a garden as its apartment she in. Does anyone know if there are any gardens to visit here or garden centres, thanks

She doesn’t know are she has just moved into the area. Maureen

I love the old fashioned hydrangea flowers.  I have some small hydrangea plants planted in my garden about 3 years ago. But every year I just get leaves with no flowers. Now they are still very small plants. I wonder are they too small for flowers yet or should I be doing something different to encourage flowers next year.

This afternoon I decided to scarify and mow the lawn in the back garden and do the  front garden lawn tomorrow but as things turned out I did both today. The electric "moss-eater" does a great job as it plucks out the dead thatch and loose grass lying around on the lawn. It amazes me each time I use the "moss-eater" just how much dead thatch and moss there is in both lawns. When added to the grass I cut there was a good load for the compost heap. Tomorrow I will have to spread the remainder of the compost left in compost heap No. 1 to make room for a new compost heap. When I say that I was "jacked" after the effort that is an understatement. I was nearly "bandjaxed". But I was pleased to have gotten the job done before the rain comes. Afterwards, I went over the lawns inch by inch looking for the tell-tale signs of baby dandelion plants i.e. a pair of tiny green leaves. These I eased out of the ground with the help of a small screwdriver. I have been doing this over the years and I have never had a large dandelion plant in my lawns. I have come across some of them in the open ground and these were easily lifted with a spade without breaking off the tips of the roots. Worm casts have been thrown up all over my front garden lawn and these are ideal for the floating seeds of the Dandelion.

Normally I would leave pelargoniums which have been potted at the back of the house facing south but having heard and seen the weather forecast, I decided this evening to bring all inside. There are 74 pots with 2 or 3 plants in each and 20 single plants (there were in already). All are in now, about half of the big pots in the lean-to at the back facing south and the rest including the single plants in the greenhouse. Those in the greenhouse will be kept warm at night as I have an electric heater there and it is now turned so that the hot air comes out when required. We had it very cold on Saturday night and Sunday morning but I decided to wait until now. Some begonias are also in the greenhouse, others to follow.

Today I emptied most of the ready compost from Compost Bin 1, spreading it onto my borders in the rear garden. I worked steadily at the job, spading the compost onto the ground near the bin and from there transporting it in an old coal scuttle to its final resting places in the borders.

When I stopped working on it, there was still a good pile of compost left on the ground for spreading another day. There was also about a six inch layer of compost remaining in the bin. I left that there because it was full of worms. Then I spaded the compost from Bin 2, which is partly composted, into Bin 1. to allow me use Bin 2 again for new composting material. The worms in Bin 1 should complete the composting of the material from Bin 2. Anyway , that is the theory. I think it will work out ok. 

The one good thing about the garden is you can (nearly) always know what to expect for the times of the year.  The tree outside the front of the house has the place littered with leaves already and there is not even the half of them down.

I am looking at it as free mulch :O but Benji thinks running through them is much more fun. I got a new camera recently so must take a picture of the mess when I get home and add it to this journal. hope everyone is keeping well.

I have roughly three-quarters of an acre of garden in County Galway near to Roscommon.

The  vast majority of it is under grass mainly due to ill health for the last few years.  Still having health problems but managed to revitalise the flower beds this year after three years of neglect.

Used to have a sizable veg patch but had to give it up.  I now grow some veg in pots.  Mainly potatoes, carrots and green beans.

If anyone has any suggestions for improving the plot, I would be interested to hear them.  I’m not particularly imaginative and struggle to think of ideas.  I would like to expand the flower beds or make new ones but don’t have a clue what to put in them apart from more of the same.  Incidentally, the tree in the centre of the garden is no longer there.  It was a hawthorn but didn’t seem to like its surroundings.  I now have a corkscrew willow in one of the flower beds but it’s not looking too good after last winter.  I think it might have to go too, which is a great shame as I planted it the day of my grandson’s christening and wanted it to grow with him.  I’ll take some photos of it when I get a chance and put them on here to see if you all think it can be saved.

 Willupdate this again when I get a chance.

I have roughly three-quarters of an acre of garden in County Galway near to Roscommon.

The  vast majority of it is under grass mainly due to ill health for the last few years.  Still having health problems but managed to revitalise the flower beds this year after three years of neglect.

Used to have a sizable veg patch but had to give it up.  I now grow some veg in pots.  Mainly potatoes, carrots and green beans.

If anyone has any suggestions for improving the plot, I would be interested to hear them.  I’m not particularly imaginative and struggle to think of ideas.  I would like to expand the flower beds or make new ones but don’t have a clue what to put in them apart from more of the same.  Incidentally, the tree in the centre of the garden is no longer there.  It was a hawthorn but didn’t seem to like its surroundings.  I now have a corkscrew willow in one of the flower beds but it’s not looking too good after last winter.  I think it might have to go too, which is a great shame as I planted it the day of my grandson’s christening and wanted it to grow with him.  I’ll take some photos of it when I get a chance and put them on here to see if you all think it can be saved.

 Will update this again when I get a chance.

I made a fleeting visit to see Clara in Bray this evening. Had a chat and could not leave without a look at the garden, despite the darkness.

What a revelation, hidden lights here there and everywhere. It looked fantastic, the lights are so well placed to show both statues and plants off to their fullest. Well done.

I was also treated to a look inside Greg’s shed, and two of his motor bikes. One of which was built by Greg himself. I take my hat off to you Greg, well done sir.

Sorry no camera with me, but believe me, the garden looked great.