Month: April 2011

Im sure Im not supposed to call them that-Id say its only past students are so allowed. Was attending a seminar in Dublin and went up early. On the way I had great idea. Spend the afternoon in the Botanical gardens!

Went in and had lovely lunch then toured ! Saw all sorts of narcissi so asked about Winston Churchill but they were not familiar with it. Not surprising as there are so many different species! The magnolia were out and there were two that I was smitten by, one prest white solangea and another glorious deep pimk one down nearthe rose garden. One of the gardeners advised me to go down to see it. He said he gets two weeks of enjoyment out of it every year.

Then back for hot chocolate and big cookie. The hot chocolate was not good and dear enough but the biscuit was delicious. Out again.

There was a breathtaking exhibition of Bonsai in one of the glasshouses. About forty of them or more and many breathtakingly beautiful. The man who owns them was there Andrew J Murray and was quite willing to talk about them. Brilliant!

There was also a nice art exhibition that had opened the night before in the gallery. Lots of red dots.

 The gardeners are all so friendly and so willing to answer questions. It was a brilliant day and Im not going to leave it as long again! Im sure theres a bus from O connel St to  the area. My Seminar was in marino so I walked over and back. There was a fine bedding display also in Griffith Park as well.

The howling wind cost me two victorian bell cloches, a mini plastic greenhouse and its precious cargo – seedlings of beetroot, nasturcham(?), sweetpea and morning glory 🙁   All blown away….Very sad….. Had to leave the mess as it was and go to work!! 

Anyone like a packet of Chilli seeds that I got free with a magazine? Can’t believe it’s 3 weeks since I did a journal. I seem to be busy all the time.

We have a small garden which we started planting 30 years ago. The first big mistake we made was to plant about 30 Leylandii trees all around the edge of the site on which our new home was built. We cut down about half of them 10 years ago but the remainder are now up to 40 feet heigh. I built a garden from bits of rubble and top soil that was left after the builders. The first adventure was building a small rockery which looked lovely for years with alpines but then to cut down on work I planted some small shrubs on it. I also planted a lot of shrubs around the garden, all of which grew much bigger than I planned for. Over the last 5 or 6 years I have cut a lot of them back. I have raised beds at the back with alpines and primroses. I planted clematis around the garden where trees and shrubs were cut back. Some of them are now mature and provide a great show. I don’t like formal gardens, I prefer wild areas and like letting nature take it’s course. I have shrubs that attract wild life like Butterfly bush.I much enjoyed watching dozens of different butterflys swarm around them last summer. I have lots of wild flowers all around the garden and I let as many as possible do their own thing so to speak. My garden also has a hedgehog, lots of ladybirds and many bees visit it every summer. I had a hive of of wild bees in the shed last summer. On the downside unfortunately I also have lots of slugs.

Hi everyone, just a quick entry to say hello and tell ye all how much I miss being online…my internet connection is not working at the moment but hopefully will be sorted soon. I’m sitting here in Bunclody Library using their net and only have a few mins before they close for lunch..so in a rush as usual. I really miss keeping up with everyone and their gardens. Rachel, those seeds you sent me are thriving and I cant wait to start putting things outside as my poor little tunnel is bursting at the seams.

When I get fixet up with the net again I willdedicate a whole evening to catching up . Hope all of you are enjoying this great weather

went out yesterday and discovered that my roses were covered with greenfly i sprayed them with diluted washing up liquid and its seams to have done the trick on most of them. does anyone know any other good cures?

Its been over a month since my husband and i have started the  back garden. Thanks to Niall the beds are dug and the raised beds are in. LAst week i planted my onions, garlic, some carrots, radish and cabbage in my raised beds, and again to my handy husband Niall, he has made two pollytunnels to cover my raised beds.

As this is my  first year im blowen away by how excited and in good form im in  by seening all my seeds i planted a few weeks ago come to life. in my 2 little  green houses i planted some lettuce, tomatoes, cumumber, some herbs, sweet peppers, chilli. And to my suprise all are well on there way.

Last weekend i potted up all my flowers, and plant more flowers in my bed in the front garden. Some of them  have little flower on them already.

I also put  in a apple tree, and a cherry tree, some red berries, blackcurrants, blackberries, raspberries. the strawberries go in next week i think. 

I’ve noticed spring more this year when im out walking the dogs, plants and trees coming to life after the winter. It brings a smile to my face and puts me in great form.

I stopped smoking last May after i got married and ive been down in the dumps since but my new hobbies Gardening is just what the doctor ordered. And it will also help with the weight i’ve put on.

Talk soon everyone.  

greetings all. hope you have a relaxing day. been busy in veg garden and seed sowing on fri and sat. also been doing my bit as courier of fresh flowers from my garden to family and friends. have 1000’s of daffs but they are ontheir last legs after the wind and rain. have a great day and catch up soon.

I can’t remember who it was (I think there were 3 different people) who gave information re watching G.World on the internet!  Can you put info up again or give the Journal names so that I can download whatever I have to.  Thanks!

I see the fuchsias in my garden are starting to shoot mainly from the bottom, though some have buds 3 and 4 inches up the stem.  Even my variagated one is shooting, one of the first ones to do so!!   So, all of you waiting for fuschsias to shoot, don’t give up yet, it’s only beg of April,  My escallonia hedges are budding big time so pleased about that.

Planted Magnolia Susan today after much consideration. The label on it said 175 cm which I thought was surprising. Just googled it and it says it will grow to 4m!!!!What a difference. Will have to re-think its position.

The winter has done severe damage, I have lost my lovely Crinodendron as well of several other shrubs and hedging. What herbatious perennials have survived remains to be seen. In my 80th year , there seems to be little point in replanting crinodendron ss I amunlikely to see them reach any  significant size before I take up daisy growing!  Enough of that pessimism ,on the plus side my Magnolia stellata has put on a lovely display and larger magnolia look promicing. I have seen several bumble bees sniffing around and I hear a robin , a wren and blackbird singing.. Hopefully, the cold has done for the slug population and I hope the vine weevils have had a bad time.                                                                                                                                           

Grass cutting has started of course. With the current price of petrol a longer time between cuttings will have to be the order of the day. A very dry summer would help

Had very little free time this weekend, got some time yesterday morning tio do a tidy up in the front garden and put in a few plants that were in waiting. There is a good mix of plants there now so really looking foreward to how it devalopes as the year progresses

One great thing spotted was new growth on my Cuphea, it has pulled through it’s worst winter ever, not bad for a tender Mexican plant. I had taken cuttings but think I left it a little late as I lost them all.

Made my day seeing that new growth, yes, easily pleased ;-)))

I know I was looking for rain a few days ago, for the newly planted hedge and because I had put out the weed & mosskiller, but really it can go away now. Have had enough, want the sun back.

It is so grey and overcast here that when the alarm went off this morning, the room was so dark, I thought it was a mistake and the clock was wrong. Hope it will brighten up for this evening when I can get to the garden. Need to finish digging out my foundation for the greenhouse. Have a timeframe of the easter holidays to get it finished, that way I have 2 weeks off to get it organised and filled.

My garden isn’t very big, typical semi-detached, but that doesn’t discourage me… Can be challenging to find space at times but encourages creativity! Hoping to gain some tips and tricks from all the experienced gardeners on this site :o)

I’m just starting to try and grow my own vegetables and got some lollo rosso and cauliflower plants from the garden centre. I planted them in so we’ll see how they go…

I spaced them about a foot apart and watered them well..

Also planted onion and peas last week…

And some tomato seeds inside in trays. Not too confident with seeds but i’ll keep an eye and thin as they appear and hope for the best..

Out Back:

Deck scrubbed and ready to be treated (soon, I promise!). Flower beds weeded, lots of shrubs and trees dead after the of hard winter. So sad to see but enjoying planning what to replace these with… Feels like my back garden is home to 90% of Ireland’s population of slugs so it’s war this year! Applied my army of nematodes at the weekend, fingers crossed!!!

Potatoes chitted and planted (duke of york, maris peer and charlotte – so hard to find Anya in Ireland). Tomato seedlings in greenhouse. Peas, rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries planted out. Various herb and flower seeds germinating – hotpress and windowsills have been invaded ;o)

Out Front:

My hedging died year before last, I left it last year in case it might grow back but no signs of life at all… It was a griselinia species, apparently more suited to coastal areas and warmer conditions. Began the fun of digging it up but it’s proving a little tough, over 100 feet long in total and I’ve only gotten through maybe 20 feet so far (didn’t help that previous owners pured concrete over the roots…). Had planned to replace it with more hedging e.g. copper beech but it’s difficult to justify in case these harsh winters continue and length of time to grow back considering the extent of the area. I’m researching walls and/or railings instead before I decide…

I hope you haven’t forgotten

all the cabbage seeds have failed me they just havent taken off at all which is dissapointing so might have to resort in buying  a few that are well on other thing leek seeds grown about an inch in the tray but look like there drying up on the top i am keeping them watered  am i doing something wrong

HAVE A PLOT OF LAND , FENCED OFF WITH CHICKENWIRE .  DIVIED INTO EIGHT SEPARATE SQUARES . FOUR SQUARES ARE 12 FOOT BY 10 FOOT , AND FOUR SQUARES ARE 12 FOOT BY 5 FOOT . AROUNG THE SQUARES ARE CONCRETE WALLS ,9 INCHS HIGH , FILLED IN WITH MANURE AND TOPSOIL !!!… HAVE JUST GOT 20 TONS OF TOPSOIL IN THIS WEEK, THE SOIL IS VERY BAD IN BALLYGARRETT FOR VEGETABLES. HAVE PUT LOTS OF VEG IN GROUND THIS MONTH, SWEDE,PEAS,CABBAGES,TURNIPS,LETTUCE.    ALL UNDER BOTTLE TOPS CUT IN HALF, HAVE PUT UP NETTING NOW . RHUBARB IS COMING UP GREAT, AND TOMATOS ARE 2 INCH HIGH,   MY BIGGEST PROBLEM AGAIN THIS YEAR WILL BE THE PESTS,

Todays project was to clear the raised beds we put together last year, they were full of weeds and the remnants of two of last years rose bushes. The winter wasn’t kind at all. I had planted Astilbe, and they’re peeping out again, the rose bushes look the worst for wear too, but they’re not dead so thats a plus… I did explain that i am an absolute beginner so forgive me. My dream is to have a lovely, mature well established garden, but that seems a long way off. I want to plants bits that are hardy and will do well with a little care, and a lot of alone time! I bought a couple of rose bushes, an azalea, two fuscias and some small heathers….i hope they fit the bill… I’ll upload some pictures…

Flaming Silver starts bright redwhen young, aging to mid -green each leaf having a creamy-white margin and retained year round. in spring hanging waxy bell shaped flowrs are produced in long clusters, lily of the valley scented . hope it grows for me grows 5ftx5ft in 10 years . These will fill in gaps where cordalines died during the winter we had to make a new bed in one area of theback garden

Hi noelle and una hope ye are all enjoying the good weather see that ye are busy also but the weekend is supposed to be lovely im off thank god was working last weekend  but looking forward to a bit more gardening this weekend