Month: January 2011

Happy new year to all.

I hope we have a great gardening year.

 

wishing all happ new year

 one more  time Happy New Year ..

Well after all the snow I have finally got out and planted the rest of my bulbs. This will be the first year that I have actually planted at the correct time of year. Cant wait to see them all coming up. Thank to everyone for their on-going help to this novice!

I have planted daffs, tulips, crocus and anemone. I did a few of each back in November so a bit of time between crop. My original daffs form last year have survived the frost and now have about 30 tips 5cm above ground. I had a box over them with the snow being so bad.

 

 

 

A few decisions were made to start the new year:

1 The orchids were moved nearer to the window so that they would get more light. i am expecting flowers in an Oncidium I got from Rachel. She says it should  bloom in the winter and we have had a fair amount of that same season so far.

2 The vine was pruned. It had been pruned early on perhaps in early November. I saw the article about it in the Irish Garden. 

3 The tree fern had enjoyed the mild weather outside for a few days and had been watered. This evening, at about 5 it was taken in as sub zero temperature is expected to night. 

4 The first of the sowings begins to day- tomatoes and antirrhinums. They go into the hot press for a few days until they germinate, then on inside the window in a bed room facing south.

I will leave to insulation of the greenhouse for a later date. The bubble wrap is ready to go in when I am ready. 


Some of you may have received a friend request from “faithluv”recently  with the following additional message:
faithoneil1@yahoo.com
My name is Faith i am a female I was impressed when i saw your profile and i will like to establish a long lasting relationship with you. In addition, i will like you to reply me through my e mail box (faithoneil1@yahoo.com) This is because i don’t know the possibilities of remaining in forum for a long time. please If you are interested in knowing more about me, and for me to send you some pictures of mine,
please reply me back through my email and with your email so that i can contact you
Thanks waiting to hear from you .
If you look for “faithluv” or “faithoneil1” on the Internet you will find an almost empty profile in many social network services and the e-mail, as described above.
I assume that the author of this mail is only interested in your e-mail address!   Does someone know more about faithluv?

Hey guys, 

Happy new year to you all. I just thought I’d remind you all of a piece our friends in PC Live! did for us last year, if you’ve just joined Garden.ie it’s a great article about how to stay safe online. 

www.garden.ie/news.aspx?id=1255

As always if you have any questions feel free to contact me at craig@garden.ie 

 

it has been AGES since i was on …. i dont know what happened but my enthusiasm just seemed to really dip this year :(( why i dont know ?? so unfortunately garden has been some what neglected, but……….i think its coming back !!:) after all the snow and ice i took a brief walk around the garden the other day and saw two hellebores starting to bud , i love hellebores so these two little buds were like two super-bright stars on a dark night:)… now i really want to get back out there !! SO HERES TO THE START OF A NEW GARDENING YEAR !!!

After seeing Frans baby tree ferns yesterday, I have spent so much time this afternoon searching in vain for mine. I know I brought them indoors before the weather turned nasty. But what with all the crap lying around from Christmas I seem to have mislaid them. I have searched high and low. Not a trace.

I am actually wondering if someone here accidentally knocked them over and decided to bin them before I saw the damage. Very upset. AND to make matters worse, I can’t even find the photo on my computer. Crackin’ up! And I am NOT joking! So much so, that I offered whoever found them a reward of €10.

I gave over two days last week digging the veg patch. Wellie has given me a clue as to why there were so many docks in the dog run. Very tedious trying to get rid of them.  So when I had a few minutes this weekend I divided my Gunnera as a break from the docks. 

Now I know Gunnera has got a terrible reputation for being invasive, but I must explain I garden very poor soil in a permanent hurricane.  It’s hard to get anything to grow so when I come across a plant that will grow for me and pleases my eye I allow it.  Another thug I must admit to having is rhododendron ponticum.  I planted several 10 years ago and they are still only low bushes and have shown no sign of spreading around the garden.

 Tomorrow I’ll try and do more research on the nut problem.

Which is what I intend to do this year with regard to seed compost. I usually succumb to the offer of buy two get one free from Shamrock which is fine for potting on but I’m sure there is a better alternative for seed sowing. So come on all you boffins what compost has yielded the best results for you for seed germination?

The weather has much improved over the last week. So much so that I’ve spent the last three days out there working T.G. I’ve dug out the footings for a Gazebo I bought second hand over a year ago and I’ve moved two 18 ft Oak Trees (I measured them) that were clogging up my percolation system with their roots. I’ve relocated them to the front lawn near the road. I hope they survive.

What is the difference between the law of gravity and the law of gardening?

Answer: Law of gravity- what goes  up must come down. Law of gardening- what goes down should come up.

first of spring is here with snow drops ect starting to come up. if the weather would only take up

Two wooden walkthroughs gone up.

 

Debating whether to put up three more.

 

Woodhenge, here we come!     🙂     🙂     🙂

 

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/scattery/IMG_5655.jpg

 

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/scattery/IMG_5656.jpg

 

 

Hi everyone and a happy new year to you all.  Haven’t done any gardening for a while hence no news.  However, I had a pre-spring garden clean at the weekend and it was wonderful to be out getting mucky again!  I am counting the days until I can start sewing some seeds.  Watch this space!

Despite  the fact that some shrubs have been burnt e g Hypericum hidcote, there are signs that the spring is on the way. 1 one can see the increase in the length of the days. I used to hear my parents refer to 6 th which is to morrow as the Cock step. 2 I have noticed some though not all daffodils appearing over ground and there is a bit of white appearing in the snowdrops. Some trees and shrubs which were hit by the low temperature this time last year seem to be doing fairly well e g Libertia, last winter it seemed to be gone. New foliage came on it later on and looking at it to day it is green and unless we get some more low temperatures like December or last January, it should be ok. the same I would say about the Cordylines, the shoots that emerged last year as the weather improved look good. 3 In the greenhouse the temperature rose to 12 degrees, something I would say I did not notice since November. Now the question of the plant that seemed dead and came to life again is Passiflora. The one which emerged after quite some time has been hit by the frost but it may still be ok, we will just wait. However I put one of the passion flowers that I had recovered into the greenhouse and it is tip top although unlike Fran’s , there is no flower bud. Anyhow I would not expect such at this time of year. They say we might get some more snow and they also say we may escape it. Let us hope for the best.

I can hardly believe I haven’t written anything since July. Where have those 6 months gone. I had a walk round the garden today and noticed some daffodil shoots coming up. Hopefully the predicted snow for tomorrow won’t be as bad as last time.  I actually lost plants in the porch at the front of the house. It was just so cold despite heat being on. The plants in the conservatory at the back have so far all survived. Extra heat on there.

My husband hired a mini digger in the summer and we cleared out 4 beds which had got totally weed invested and out of control. Now we need to hire a skip to get rid of all the rubbish. First task for this year and replant the beds which I am looking forward to doing.

 I have been feeding the birds all winter and it is lovely to watch them. Unfortunately one of cats takes a too healthy interest in ornithology. We have pheasants which are bred at the top of the road and come down for extra supplies.

I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon marking up free seed lists ready for this years season. I ususally end up ordering more that I need.

Happy New Year to everyone and lets hope for a super gardening season in 2011. Our local horticultural society show is already being planned for the first weekend in April.

Best wishes,

Hilary

Having taken the plunge and signed-up as a member, I thought it only polite

 to say hello to all existing members of the forum.  This posting also helps in the 

orienting and navigating exercises of a newcomer. 

The site and forum seem expertly designed and monitored, with a wealth of information for the beginner and journeyman, and I dare say I shall be tapping into the collective knowledge base before too long.

Someone recently gave me this pic of MartinB and Deborah after their marriage.

What do you think of it?

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/scattery/12812174184ewzR4e.jpg 

On January 31st I finally put my first seeds in the propagator to try it out, couldn’t believe it yesterday when I checked and little seedlings have appeared in all 3 trays.The Lavender (Munstead Dwarf) was supposed to take about 21 to 90 days and both of the grasses (Blue Fescue Grass & Pennisetum villosum"Cream Falls") were supposed to take about 2 weeks so I was thrilled to see little shoots.

I must get straight on to seedaholic .com to get loads of 3" pots in anticipation, only problem is when the seedlings are in pots I will have to turn my bedroom into a greenhouse until the weather warms up enough to put them in the tunnell. 

The kids think I’m loopy to get so excited about some seeds germinating but I know all you gardeners will understand:-)))))

once again we have hard frost and looks like snow again

Had a walk around the garden today and it is so sad looking. I know there are lots of shoots peeking up, but there is so much brown, I really need to get out and do a clean up, but it is very hard to get motivated. Not sure if I should clear it all away or if it is giving some protection against the frost that we are having again.

Veg patch is very messy right now and really needs clearing away. Might dig it over and leave it for a while, get rid of some of the weeds. At least they seem to be thriving after trhe frost.

After reading Wellie’s journal I just couldnt resist buying some seeds! I went in to Mr Middleton’s shop today and bought Verbena Hastata, Gaura Lindheimeri, and Geranium x Hortorum ‘Horizon Pink Meteor’ F1.  Will hold myself back from sowing them just yet as I have no greenhouse 🙁

Neighbours cleared their field that is beside our sand-ring, now it is very open and a bit breezy when kids are riding, so we were planning on putting up a hedge. Any ideas would be welcome, We want something that is fast growing, up to around 8-10ft. Nurseries here have recommended thuja brabrant. Any ideas welcome