Month: January 2011

Her garden in January was in her own words "dull and brown like a sepia photograph".

Good presenter though, even if she is a bit gushing.

Had to tune BBC2 into Sky though first.

I have just viewed the new carol klein program and thoroughly enjoyed it however we have been deceived, Gardeners World Magazine said it was going to be 6 one hour programs with each covering two months the program was only on for 30 mins, could have watched carol for longer. I have bought the book today and it has lots of lovely photographs and lots of information about each month and the plants carol grows, well worth buying.

snow and frost here again .not as bad as b4 hope it wont last long

The new Bird 5-Star Restaurant is proving very popular! One could spend a lot of time looking out the Living-room window at all the visitors. A pair of goldfinches, greattits, bluetits, robin, sparrows, chaffinches, bullfinch and underneath, picking up the fragments, two hen pheasants! All that is missing is the ‘partridge in the pear tree’! 🙂                     Sorry dont have a lovely picture like Hosta!

Carol Klein for anyone who didnt see it last night………me!

Did you see it? I mean Carl Klein’s gardening program. What a treat to see a real garden and a real gardener! It filled me with new enthusiasm to get out there as soon as the weather permits.

Great tips given in a practical way and Carol’s love of her garden is so infectious! Already, I’ve decided to plant garlic somewhere among my flowers, maybe near roses in the hope that the smell will keep greenfly away. I’ll be looking for advice from those of you have experience in growing it. Must see if the local garden centre has some bulbs, I believe one shouldn’t waste time planting the ones one buys in the greengrocers.          Oh, I cant wait!!!!!!!!!!

My garden is a very slow work in progress.  I would love to spend more time in it but that’s hard to do at the moment.  I love bright colours in the garden and I love growing vegetables.  Last year, I managed to grow a bumper crop of tomatoes, lettuce, rocket, scallions, red onions, courgettes and potatoes, all in pots.  I also grew strawberries and managed to keep the birds away from them 🙂 

A few years ago, I was so bad at gardening that I even manged to kill the sunflowers I was trying to grow but last year, I had some beautiful sunflowers which manage to reach 7ft tall which is a really miracle for me.

I  think it was Helen Reddy who had the song and Jack frost certainly had it in for R.Lady Alice Fitzwilliam this time around. She escaped relatively unscathed before,but  shes badly shook now.Time will tell. R.Macabeanum was badly hit again but at least recovered before. Id like to move it ,but it wouldnt be so easy as its down nearly 6 years and is about 6 ft tall. I suppose if i was honest with myself,id admit that the garden isnt sheltered enough for a big leaved rhodo like that. I possibly could move my yellow witch hazel  ‘Pallida’ and try it there as it would have a bit more shelter.Decisions,decisions. All the other rhodos are okay even though the newly planted R.Mallotum is losing a few leaves. This has the reputation of being sometimes difficult,but im hopeful this isnt the case.

Great to look out to day and see no frost. While we had rain, at least we can look forward to growth. snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils should be making progress now. Isn’t it good- November, December and one third of January have come and plants in the gardens, with a few exceptions look good. To day, I opened a biscuit tin, not for biscuits, but to have a look at the seeds which remain in it. Many of these seeds are ones I harvested from flowers last year. It would seem that at least another two weeks would be needed before I try to sow any of them. Health improved to day so I am looking forward to getting out and doing some work in the garden. The weather forecast says that the temperature should continue to rise. I will also get at the  the Dahlias, Begonias and Gladioli which I stored in the greenhouse. I notice that the Dahlias could be divided and in the case of the Gladioli the old corms could be removed. Bubble Wrap has not been installed yet but very soon. 

Did you all hear that CARLOW is the cleanest town in Ireland. Dublin, Cork LITTERED.

weather looks to b getting much better. hope it stays that way

Lovely to see the first flowers of the year and the honour goes to Hamamelis ‘Pallida’, the lovely yellow witch hazel soon to be followed by ‘Jelena’ in the next week or so. A lot of the camellias suffered quite a bit of bud damage in the last bad spell,such a pity but it just isnt practical to try and cover them and anyway i reckon most of them will put on a good enough show. What i could have and should have covered was my Chimonanthus as by the looks of it, there is only one flower bud left. Hopefully im being overly pessimstic. Its still worth having for one flower either way. My Edgeworthia still looks as if it is fine and by God i hope it is as im so looking forward to seeing it flower for the first time and thats not even mentioning the scent.I gave the roses a bit of a prune and cut back all the old growth on the various Hellebores which are all coming on well. My lovely Crinodendron is badly hit again which is an awful pity but is par for the course with them. The Embothrium has lost nearly all its leaves due to the cold snap but again that was to be expected. All the Magnolias are fine and towards the end of 2010 i added a M.Wilsonii to my collection. Im looking forward to seeing that settle down and develop over the next few years. My Daphne Bhloua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is getting close to flowering and it is such a beautiful shrub and not seen nearly enough.

To day with temperature 12C at midday, I got at the roses and pruned all in one bed 32 in all. I found the job much easier this time than last year as I had a better secateurs a Felco, the idea coming from Rachel, compared with one which I used last year costing €4. It was worth it, a better and faster job. I hope to get at the other two beds  to day if I get the time, feeling much better to to day.
Work on roses was from about 11.45 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. Retired for lunch and at about 1.45 p.m. planned to continue at the roses ach mo léan, the rain was coming down so I moved to the greenhouse and spent some time dividing the Dahlias as they had grown out of proportion last year. After about 40 minutes. the number I had the number brought from about five to twenty. There were also quite a number of single tubers left after I had put ten of the divided tubers into a cardboard box with moss peat. Another two boxes and the job is complete for the present although I have run out of moss peat and multi purpose compost will do instead. Gladioli were next on the agenda, old corms and new corms were separated so in about two months time they can be planted. I also noticed that some rhubarb is overground.
Tackled second rose bed before lunch. later removed all prunings from first bed and most off second bed. Part of third bed done. The whole  should pruned and cleared of cuttings to morrow, almost 100 in all. temperature good again great to be able to work in the garden.

Called to Woodies after work on roses. Bought flower seeds: Schizanthus angel wings, Sweet Pea Early fragrance, Coleus, Lupin russell mix, Campanula tiny bells, Sedum little urchins. I got three packets of Wildlife Garden free with these. These free seeds attract wildlife. I also bought bird seed and feeder. Total €20.58.

The current issue of The Irish Garden really is among the best ever.  There is a particularly excellent  article on page 51, by Guess-Who?

In it she talks about trees, and gives very sound ideas.  In the long run it is better to plant small trees, as they establish better, have less problems with compacted root-balls and are less expensive.  In fact trees grow rapidly.  Trees that  were seedlings some years ago are now very large.

I like weeping trees, but sometimes they are not practical.  Some years ago a son and myself cut down a Betula pendula ‘Tristis’ and it nearly fell on our electricity cables, which would have been serious.

Tackled the third rose bed to day. All roses 99 in all are pruned and prunings removed. Some required the loppers to be removed. Rose beds are generally clean but need a little touch of the dutch hoe and edging needs to be done. 

I began this garden from scratch in May ’10. These pictures were taken at the end of July. Not bad going, eh?

It’s now Jan ’11 and so far my garden has experienced a min of -7C. Judging by the high number of plants that have already perished, I imagine my garden will look very different this year. I hope we go back to having the mild winters we had gotten so used to.

What did you think of tonight’s programme?

Didn’t get a good view of the cloud pruning tho’.

would anyone know is there any way to get holly to grow faster

It started with a ….,well, not quite. My love affair with Rhododendrons began one June in the mid 1980’s on a drive to a music festival in Kenmare where the wild Rhododendron was in bloom on that beautiful drive after you go through Killarney. Of course i had no idea then, that R.Ponticum is considered a weed and i’m glad that i didn’t as ignorance was bliss. Anyway, isn’t there a black sheep in a lot of families. Where i grew up in Fedamore, Co, Limerick, i don’t recall ever seeing a Rhodo . Certainly,my Mam has always had a lovely garden and she never had one, not that i had any knowledge of names back then. Flowers were things that you jumped over while re-enacting the show jumping from the R.D.S that you had been watching on telly or flowers were things that you tried to put back on after you knocked the heads off after a game of hurling or football. But deep down the gardening bug was in there and when we got married and moved to our own house in Murroe , i was surprised to find i loved the garden. Down the years my Mam has given me a load of plants, but one of the first plants i bought myself was a R.Moerheim and since then i have bought them here, there and everywhere and of course as you learn all the time, i found myself becoming more discriminating as regards the Rhodos i would buy. Many garden centres only carry the same hybrids all the time with little change year after year. I don’t blame them for that, but it makes finding the more unusual hybrids and of course the fabulous Species very difficult. There is nothing that i like better than looking at great websites like https://www.hirsutum.info/ or https://www.asperupgaard.dk/ or Glendoicks website for ideas and information. Everytime i hear Mary Black singing that lovely Jimmy McCarthy song ‘As i leave behind Neidin’ i’m transported back to where it all began. Sweet memories.

…..is that its still a cold wet january and you’re wishing it was already a warmer,greener april !!:( …..anyhow won’t be long . really hoping to get out tomorrow to see whats going on, brief look today revealed 1 snow drop and the hamamelis is starting to pop…delighted as feared it had died , it seemed to drop its leaves really early last year and i feared the worst. I had to sacrifice my rosemary 🙁 to get at pipes of broken down heating..aargh..so i might just chuck some bulbs that missed the boat in autumn in that space…wrong time i know but other wise they’ll just end up sitting in the packets for ever so i figure nothing to lose. Is it going to get really cold again ? in two minds as to whether or not to start clearing last years old growth on stuff or leave it a little longer just in case ? Weather PLEASE be nice tomorrow.

Quite a mild day but not one for the garden, perhaps one for the ducks. Geraldine probably would agree with this. At the same time as it is mild there should be growth. I had quite a lot of plans for to day but will have to wait for another day.

We have a Griselinia hedge about 15 years old which is now completely black from the recent frost.   Anyone know if it will recover?  Should we cut it back?  Any suggestions greatly appreciated.