Month: October 2011

I am trying something new.

To inject nitrogen into my plot, I have sown Landsberger Winter Mix (Organic Mix).

Has anyone tried this or a similar mix, and what kind of results have you got.

 

 

had great plans to do some work in the tunnel and pot up pelargoniums, but i ended up going to town with my friend, her daughter and becky, glad i did as i really enjoyed it and now i am feelin much better and rearing to go for monday.

came up with a plan to convert my front lawn into winding paths and wider borders which would get rid of the front lawn. i drew it out roughly and left it lying around for hubby to see, dont know what he would think of it, might have to do a bit of convincing i think. if it comes out as good as the design in my head it will be fantastic.

wish me luck on convincing him. it will take alot of work but i am up to the challenge of doing the project, i hate walking as a form of exersise but i love gardening so what better way to get fit, and hopefully have a garden to die for at the end of it

Has anyone ever tried growing a spear lily from seed?

I bought the seed over the internet, and I’m hoping for the best. Any advice?

I have put up an album of the gardens at Paleis Het Loo, I have to say the pics do not do the gardens justice..it is very hard to capture the scale of the place . I can only imagine the amount of work that must go into maintaining it as everything is pristine. When I saw that one little Dandelion I had to get a pic of it.:) I am sure it was the only one there

while having the dinner today i decided to tell hubby what i would like for christmas, he was waiting for me to say something crazy but he was surprised that all i want is a birch tree, but i told him i dont want him to give me money to buy it, he has to buy it and bring it home, wont fit under the christmas tree but he has to give it to me, this way it will mean more. is this a strange christmas pressie? always loved the birch and the norwegian maple.

On Saturday afternoon I joined a group from The Irish Garden Plant Society for a tour of the grounds of Maynooth College guided by John Joe Costin. Apart from his knowledge of trees and plants he designed the garden among Pugin’s buildings in the quadrangle. It is magnificant and John Joe brought it to life as he described the inspiration behind it. The weather simply did not matter and not one of the large number of members present chose to take shelter. Nobody was prepared to miss a word!

The afternoon finished with refreshments in Riverside House and I met both old and new friends.  A delightful and very worthwhile afternoon.

Some pictures are on my page.

And beareth a parcel. I love when this happens as it is bound to be something I ordered and forgot!! Today it was Tulip tarda and Erythronium  pagoda.  Next to come should be seeds which include

GERANIUM RUBIFOLIUM

GERANIUM SOBOLIFERUM

AGASTACHE CANA

AQUILEGIA ‘GREEN APPLES’

ASARINA PROCUMBENS

ASTRANTIA HADSPEN BLOOD

ASTRANTIA MAJOR ‘RUBY WEDDING SERIES’

BIGNONIA UNGUIS-CATI

BOMAREA CALDASII

DICENTRA SCANDENS

HEIMIA SALICIFOLIA

This is on the list of seeds I ordered , must have pressed the wrong button because  when I read about it the drug squad are likely to call!!

No need to reply to this just doing a bit of sharing.

My shoulder had been very painful for the past week so today I gave in and called to my Doctor. He suggested he inject steroids into my shoulder and I cringed. The last time I had steroid for a frozen shoulder I writhed on the floor in agony for the night and it was hell for several days. So I was vewy  vewy scared. However good man that he is he gave me some magic tablets to take and so far not a sign of the dreadful pain. Bliss.

Hope it cures the shoulder now or maybe I should give my pick axe a rest!!

I know you will be please there is no writhing so don’t wear out your fingers:)

got up this morning pulled the blind and decided that the duvet was the best option, spen an extra ten minutes under the duvet and then had to get up. went out once some housework was done but it was too windy to leave plants out or even leave the tunnel door open. closed the tunnel doors behind me and tidied the plants in the tunnel, taking off dead leaves etc and felt cosy and warm inside with the rain and wind pelting the tunnel outside.

after dinner, the sun was out and the winds had calmed down alot so, i got all the pelargoniums from the garden and potted them up, left them outside between the raised veg beds in case the winds got bad again, but overall was very happy and a bettter turn out of a day

 

the postman put a smile on my face this morning when he arrived with a parcel from thompson and morgan. opened the envelope with great excitment this is what was inside.

lupin "tuti fruity"

coreopsis "presto"

achilea summer berries

primula x tommasinii"you and me blue"

echinacea "double decker"

silene lacinata "jack flash"

diantus " artic fire"

kniphofia " traffic lights"

Great news, the tomatoes are ripenining in the glasshouse.  Ripening in stages so Anne brings in the ones that are nearly completely ripened and we put them on the window board in the kitchen where they catch the sun.  Finishes them off.

The taste so much better than the ones you buy in shops, sweeter and full of flavour.

Thanks for all your comments re same……….

looking out the window at the horrible evening outside, need to put the rabbits to bed badly but it is so horrible. its an evening for garden books and garden.ie.

by the time i got out from town and got the dinner it was dreary looking. i got loads of clothes fairly dry so happy with day but tomorrows another day and i am staying at home all day apart from a quick trip to shop i intend to get stuck in to gardening

just saw the weather forecast, it will be a day for the books and mags. so much for some gardening, it will be a miracle if anything gets done outside tomorrow gale force winds and rain, ecconomic forecast nearly as bad oh well we still have our gardens to look after. just a piece of useless info for ye

Sadly I didnt have any time for gardening today and not looking good for the rest of the week. But I did put up some pictures that were taken yesterday. It might give better idea of what I was working on yesterday in the Woodland area to the west side of the Lower Garden.

On the back of Bill’s last journal about his favourite grasses, I thought I would put up a journal on my top 10 perennials for 2011.

I have chosen plants with a longer season, rather than going for the likes of irises (which I dearly love but aren’t around for too long).Most have good foliage as well as flowers

So, without further ado, here they are…

1) Romneya coulteri
2) Alstroemeria ‘Oriana’
3) Erysium linifolium ‘Apricot Twist’
4) Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria’
5) Achillea ‘The Pearl’
6) Geranium ‘Orkney Cherry’
7) Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra ‘Summer Nights’
8) Verbascum bombyciferum ‘Saffron Towers’
9) Crambe maritima
10)Lychnis coronaria (magenta form)

So busy at other things that gardening was very limited. Meals on wheels in the morning, appointment with optician in the afternoon meant that all i got done as regards gardening was to pot the Pelargoniums from the Hurling Club. I hope to get some work  done in the garden to morrow. The grass in the lawn needs to be mown, Daffodil bulbs and alliums need to be put where the Pelargoniums were lifted, weeds need to be sprayed in the drive. I am inclined that perhaps not all of these things will be done. What a pity that darkness comes so early now. I will also get down to reading the Irish Garden and get some tips from it.

What happened to our Indian summer?

Cork did see a rise in temperatures for a few days but no sign of the sun. Our Cannas in the herbaceous border are all dwarves this year, and our Black Hamburg grapes are not nearly as sweet as usual.

On a positive note, the wine making has been a success and the third batch of pear and blackberry is currently in production (first batch already gone).

Bulb planting season is coming up and we have a large range of bulbs ordered to be planted throughout the estate. This will enhance what is already a pretty impressive spring show.

The dropping night temperatures will soon put an end to our hanging baskets and bedding displays and it will be time to replace them with something for the winter. From my experiences with last winter’s harsh conditions I would recommend Pansies over everything else. They took a real beating last year and still continued flowering into the spring when all else had given up.

We have a lot of work planned for the month ahead. Our second phase of our new rhododendron bank will be planted. (Plants sourced from Millais Nurseries, UK) This will complete this project and should provide a fantastic spring show for visitors.

We are in the process of clearing out the old rose bed by the main entrance. It has provided a great show every year but the roses were getting old and unhealthy, so it was decided to replace them. The new variety is Rosa Blarney Castle, new to the market this year, so it seemed a pretty apt place to display it!

To day was ideal for the garden. I have had two bags of Alliums (or is it Allia?) I have a small bed where I have some of these already, ones that gave flowers this summer. Fuchsias which were in that bed were lifted and potted. A number of French Marigolds were lifted and put in the compost heap. After a bit of digging the Alliums were planted. There are still a few Antirrhinums there but I will leave them there as long as they will look good. One of the Shasta Daisies from Noelle was planted.

woke to a dreary wet and windy day but the postman didnt disappoint, my order from seedaholics arrived yippeeeeeee. will have some fun,

monarda didyma panorama "red shades", lychnis coronaria,monarda "anorama mix"heuchera micrantha "melting fire", monarda fistulosa "bergamot", heurchera sanguinea "bressingham hybrids, geum "lady stratheden", geum " mrs j bradshaw", euphorbia marginata "summer icicles"coraderia selloana "pink feather and white feather varieties, dipsacus sativus fullonum "fuller"s teasel", amaranthus tricolour "illumination" and "early splendour", acanthus mollis " bears breeches", primula denticulata "ruby"agapanthus "headbourne hybrids". cant wait to see them in the garden next year, especially when the new layout is done. does anyone know if you can take cuttings of amaranthus, it said it is an annual but so is coleus but you can keep it going with cuttings, it looks so beautiful. this is my second time writing this out, the bloody internet is acting up with all the wind and rain. fingers crossed it will go through this time

Does anybody actually use seed compost for their seeds?

I usually use general purpose and a little sand but invested in seed compost today as many  seeds are about to arrive and the compost I have is very lumpy .

A definite drop in the temperature to day. Some pruning of tomato plants in the greenhouse, looks like the day for the tomato plants is coming to an end for another season, leaves from trees falling, showers, change in the direction of the wind, apples almost ready to be picked, not as good a yield as last year. Very soon it will be time to prune blackcurrants. Some more daffodils to be planted. looking forward to a day free of rain when I can get the mower out for the last or perhaps second last mowing this year.

Lovely photos of your garden and  Kilmacurragh. The latter has improved so much since I was there some time ago. The white Anemone in your garden appears double? If so I would love to hear the name.

I had planned to do this work for some time. After returning to full health after antibiotics, I had this work in mind. However the weather broke. You may remember that at the end of September, we got it warm for a few days, then came the rain. To day while on the cool side I had planned to get the job done. I wasn’t free until about 4 p.m. as I was the the Country market in the morning(sold two lb of tomatoes) then I had a meeting in Tullow. One can imagine that the grass had grown quite a lot in a month under these conditions. The action was slow compared with normal but eventually I got half of the job done. Also due to moss in the lawn, it was not as dry as I would like. I believe that to morrow will be dry and mild so I hope to get the mowing complete. I also hope to get at the two compost heaps at the side of the house. I believe that the progress of the break down of matter in them should be good. Probably I will make one heap out of the two and the grass I have cut could be the beginning of a new heap. I notice that there is quite a lot of moss in the lawn so very soon I will start spraying it with ferrous sulphate. No photos to day. I notice that the mushrooms have reappeared in the same part of the lawn as last year. Natives of the Baltic countries: Violeta, Jurga, Liga may comment on them. I didn’t eat last year’s ones but if edible may try these.

 

 

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