Month: November 2011

Even when i was tidying up the other day, I could not resist arranging some of the pots on the decking, for just a little while longer ;-))

I am trying to think up a way of incorporating some of the pots I have with grasses in them into the grass area. 

This plant is mentioned in a small article in the current edition of The Irish Garden. I like the look of it and have been googling it. I was just wondering is anyone has this plant or knows anything about it?

I havnt done any gardening for awhile, what with being in Donegal, grand-children and a painter in the house, (the last two,not a good combination!).

But just thought I’d put up this photo of my little azalea which I bought a couple of years ago for very little. They really are great value. It is blooming very early this year.

Not much time for gardening these days but here is the chilli harvest from a few plants that were in the sun room – not too bad. Now I know that it is not something I am doing but the conditions in the tunnel as the same plants there did not fruit at all. I don’t think I will grow many edibles in the sun room in the future though as they create quite a mess. I need to save up for a greenhouse….

I also got my sloe gin made from sloes picked earlier and frozen. Still have some left from last year as this year’s wouldn’t be ready in time for this Christmas.

I mulled over buying this rhododendron for a long, long time before succumbing. I have it in my Acid Triangle. Yesterday I had a very brief trip out to the garden and discovered that this rhodie is already starting to flower even though it’s not even December yet. All good! It can only get better.

November has seen further progress here in the gardens. We have nearly finished our new stone steps in the fern garden and they look like they belong there! People were climbing up the rock face to get a better view of the ferns, so we decided to make it a little easier.

We are well into the clearance in our Irish woodland area and will shortly be setting out new paths and steps. The aim is to educate tourists about our own native species and the importance of conservation of natural habitats.

Ongoing garden jobs include; leaf collection and composting, renovation work in the arboretums, more fruit planting in the walled garden, pruning of our grape vines, tree planting and general tidying of the beds and borders.

We are delighted with the weather and have our fingers crossed for a mild winter.

Its a bit overcast here this morning but I thought I’d take a photo of my hard work over the past couple of days. That barrel was a divil to move – used the principle of the lever – and the wrecking bar! Could have done with Peter’s crowbar not to mention Cherub to lend a hand 🙂

 I love Clematis Montana Reubens ever since my mother’s garden. I hope this one likes this corner. It has had a bit of an adventurous lie so far. I bought it for the balcony of my apartment in Dublin before I moved here to Laois and it did well there considering it was in a pot.

Carefully transported to Laois it spent the next winter (2007/2008) still in the pot, outside the back door and suffered the gales that blew our heavy timber patio table right across the deck!

When the garden hard landscaping was more or less completed we built a Pergola and I thought this would be the ideal place for Clematis to live. However, it didn;t do very well, but did produce some new growth and a few flowers. 

Winter 2009  nearly did for it but it came through. Reading that Clematis likes to be buried deep, that spring I dug it up. deepened the hole and added some compost. Again barely any growth. 

After winter 2010 it was really struggling, and the cold spell in late spring turned all the foliage brown so I was ready to give up on it. Dug it up in July, and was about to consign it to the compost heap when I saw some new growth at the root. This little plant deserved another chance. Potted it  in a nice rich mix of my own compost and some potting compost and it rewarded me with some nice healthy new growth.

Here’s hoping that it will like its new location. I’ve planted it good and deep, and as I said in a previous journal this area was the site of my compost heaps for over two years so there should be lots of nutrition in the soil. It is in the lee of the hedgerow so will get no early morning sun, and the roots are protected with some slates. I can’t do more. It it doesn’t start being a "proper" Montana I’ll just give up! 

I hope everyone is looking forward to our Christmas get-together in Johnstown on Sunday 8th January. I certainly am 🙂

I think we will have a bumper meeting because we have 30 confirmed attendees so far! A total of 31 attended last year. Please check the naughty-or-nice list below to check if you’re on it if you are coming!

The list should show everyone who has confirmed and the number of people they will be bringing. I know the number of people you will be bringing will change immediately as, for example, I can’t imagine Jacinta turning up without Steve and he’s not on there! Do let me know how many people you may bring as the more confirmed, the more likely we are to get extra space from Johnstown.

I would like to take Jacinta up on her offer of organising name badges as she did such an excellent job for our first Xmas get-together. Thanks, Jacinta.

I have mailed Gerry Daly, asking him to put a notice for our meeting in the ‘events’ section on this site so that should attract people who look in less frequently.

Now, don’t forget that if you are coming you should buy one gift for less than €10. It can be whatever you want but it should be wrapped. And plants can be wrapped you know – it is down to your creativity! Names of everyone who provides a gift will be put at random into a hat and each person will select one gift from the pile.

We will also have a raffle, to include five €20 vouchers kindly donated by Johnstown. If anyone has anything they would like to donate to the raffle, please PM me. (But no-one is obliged to.)

Looking forward to a great day! Oh, what time do you think we should meet at?

AitAlainn
BrunoCork
ClaireE	?
Clara
Conrad	?
Dick
Drumanagh
Eilish
Elizabeth 7
Fran M
HeadGardener
Hosta Ingrida
Jacinta
Jemo
Keego
Kitty	+1
Ladygardener
Liga
LindaB
Magiclou
Mairin
Moya
Myrtle
PCON
Rachel
Scrubber
TheH (Hazel)
Violeta

Came back from a weekend away and even though the weather was wet i managed to get in ten redstemmed dogwoods in the bottoms. They were good value. 7 25 for five well rooted stems-not huge plants but they will grow and grow. And then as i came up out of the scrub I noticed that these two daffs were actually out. I am sure lots of you have  them in bloom for ages but this was such a lovely surprise. I think its the first time ive had daffs in November! Was proper chuffed!

I have started to divide clumps of forget me nots .I hope they will take. 

This year I decided I would take a chance on some rose cuttings for the first time. I planted 3 stems into the ground and thought it would be next year before I would see any sign of life. But this morning I noticed that there is growth on 2 of them. Wahoo! Happy Days!

So, do I just leave them there in the soil, or should I pot them up to ensure their survival if we have another bad winter?