Month: February 2013

Herzlichen Glückwunsch an die großen deutschen Lehrer. Ein Sträußchen zu diesem Anlass. Und Entschuldigung für die schrecklichen Deutschen.

Paddy

Left to right: Straffan, David Shackleton, Primrose Warburg, Mark’s Tall, Lady Moore (at top) Wendy’s Gold, Woodtown, Spindlestone Surprise, Kildare and that funny little thing poking its head out of the vase is Irish Green.

This has been flowering its socks of for a couple of weeks now,  and the smell in the kitchen every time I go in is just to die for.    But if you can see the flower is gone over and now at the base of the bulb here comes a new flower and yes! the smell is to die for all over again……just saying!!!

I spent the weekend in the garden and I got some jobs done – not as much as I would have liked but it was still highly satisfying. It wasn’t cold on Saturday once I had plenty of clothes on and Sunday was really sunny so it was very pleasant out there.

I got the two biggest perennial beds cleared and mulched. They are edged with loose slates and I cleaned off each of these slates as well and edged the grass. The blackbirds and chickens continuously throw soil back on the slates and path though, so I’ll have to keep sweeping it back.

The tree surgeon is coming the week after next and his work will open up some new areas for planting. The area around the pergola was originally planted out with different hardy geraniums but now G. phaeum has taken over. I think it’s time to dig out some of these and plant some different woodlanders. There is often a toss up between mass planting and variety and I think it’s time to go for a bit of variety. I got some lovely plants at the get together that would look great there.

I am also planning to extend the border on the other side and plant more woodlanders there as it is in shade. I marked this area out with white marking fluid and it looked so big I got a fright. Will I be able to fill it and more importantly to maintain it? I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew! This is evidenced by the number of areas that fall by the wayside and have to be renovated!

 I put cardboard over half of it to kill the grass and make it easier to dig out. Now that the kids have left, it is time for the lawn to go to.

. Cherub Lute: ‘Did you notice Mr Scrubber for the past few days?’ Cherub Cymbals: ‘Do you mean the way he’s going around in a kinda daze?- and mutterin’ to himself?’  C. Lute: ‘Yea, I think it might have been something he ate-I distinctly heard him mutter something about ‘grey Stew’. Sure that would put anybody off eatin’-imagine the likes of grey stew!Yuk!.  ‘Ahem!’ This from further down the Scrub ‘I do think you misssunderstand. I don’t think its ‘Grey stew’ ‘It’s actually Grace Dieu- I’m quite au fait with French as you know well and Cherub let me in on a little secret’. ‘Well Mr Frenchy Pants ‘ chirped Cherub Lute who always enjoyed being disrespectful to Micilin dee – Are you going to share it with us?’. ‘I don’t think I can achshually’ retorted Micilin with a touch of asperity in his voice. ‘After all it is a secret’

Well what has grey Stew or Grace Dieu or whatever to do with Mr Scrubber going goggle eyed for the last week?’ asked Cherub Cymbals. Here Cherub himself intervened before Esmeralda got the chance to say ‘–oggle eyed, ogle eyed’. Mr Scrubber went there last week. ‘WHERE?’ shouted both Cherub Lute and Cymbals together in exasperation. ‘It’s a garden’ said Micilin,’ who was bursting to tell all along, ‘ in Gracedieu in Waterford.’ Am I correct Cherub?

‘Yes Micilin and Mr Scrubber has been a little overcome since he was last there. So much so in fact that he has not as yet managed to compose himself to write an account of the day!’ ‘I find dat too’ said Micilin swishing on the ‘s’s,  ‘I find the contemplashun of perfekshun to be at times almost overwhelming’ ‘But then I often encounter perfeckshun in my affairs’. This was said as a side wipe to brazen cherubs who did not treat people of perfekshun with the respect due to them!- and who obviously would not encounter perfekshun in their daily goings on.

‘Ah! Said Cherubs Lute and Cymbals together, ‘He’s been to see a garden!’ ‘Perfekshun in a garden’ added Micilin. ‘And he’s so gobsmacked that he’s gone a bit do-lally?’.Such impertinence shocked Micilin to the core, especially as Esmeralda echoed ‘-olally,-olally’ in great delight. To be honest she did not realize it was disrespectful she just like the sound of it.’ ‘I think we have heard enough today’ said Cherub firmly ‘and no doubt once Mr. Scrubber has fully recovered we shall hear all about ‘Grace dieu’in time’ ‘Yessh’ agreed Micilin Dee and I am sure his eloquence will do justice to what I hear is an excepshunally lovely garden.’ ‘-unally lovely garden’. ‘-unally lovely garden’ ‘Indeed’ said Cherub closing down the conversation as night approached and a great full moon rose over the scrub. He turned to watch Mr. Scrubber gather up his tools and tarpaulin and head for the house. ‘Yes, give Mr. Scrubber a day or to more and he will be back to himself again’.

You may remember last week I did a journal on some of my snowdrops that had been eaten to bits.

Last Friday I decided to divide the clump that had been eaten the most, I discovered that it was small snails that had done the damage. It’s the perfect time to do this job.

The snowdrops here came from a brother in laws garden in Kildare two years ago. I dug them up and had them planted here with in a day or so. 

I think with hindsight I should have divided them then. The clump I dug up the other day was not that big, but boy did I have a job.

The bullbs were disformed because they were grown together so tightly, in places they were 3 and 4 bulbs deep where the bulbs had grown over and under each other.

It took a good 30 minutes or so just to break them into small groups, I then had to dived them again into single bulbs.

I ended up with 7 decent sized clumps around the garden. It will be interesting to see how they preform next year. But a gut feeling tells me they will be glad of a little bit of space.

Lots more dividing to be done of the coming weeks, lots more snowdrops for the coming years.

I forgot I had planted these crocusses until this evening. They looked lovely in the evening sun.

Planted the first veriety of our early spuds today, Rocket, planted 6 bags, all our early spuds will be grown in bags, 30 bags in total….

My internet connection went really weird yesterday. I went to log on as usual after tea to see who was around etc. but my browser couldn’t find www.garden.ie I tried every trick in the book without success. The really weird thing was that my phone (which has internet from O2) was able to connect without any problems! Unfortunately typing up a journal on the phone is not my idea of fun, so I gave it a miss. Today I spent over two hours on the phone with the Eircom trying to resolve the issue and finally they had to admit that it is their modem that is at fault so I hope to have a new one within 3 days. Bit of a change for me to be at the receiving end of techie troubles!!!

Ok, so I have found a work-around for now, but hopefully when my new modem arrives all will be well.

So when I was finished fighting with the phone people (can’t believe I have a second week of phone troubles – who says technology is getting better?) I escaped out to the one place where technology is definitely not needed – my garden! What a beautiful day it was. I began by having a walk around the garden to calm myself after all the stress! 

I was struck by how many of the Sedums have taken on a pretty pinkish hue with the cold weather. Photo 1 is a good example. My Heather Bed is also in full lower. This is such a good-value bed, flowering for months from now right to the summer. Then when the flowers have gone is it still an attractive bed with its gentle mounds of foliage.

Then I got stuck in to a small bed and got it all cleaned up, fed and mulched before darkness fell. I was just starting to tidy up my stuff when I found I had a visitor – the last photo isn’t great because it was getting dark but if you look closely there is a cheeky fox in the middle of my garden! He was totally comfortable about ten feet away from me – and when I moved he followed! Must have been there about 15 or 20 minutes! Not sure if I’m pleased or not – just glad I didn’t accept the offer of chickens a few weeks ago 🙂

Just spotted this starting to flower today. Its stem is too stiff for a Kaffir Lily. There is a Crocosmia near it but it is salmon-coloured. Somebody may have given it to me at Blarney last year.

I asked before about this plant and I was advised that it was Rheum….now some leaves have appeared on it and Im wondering could it be Rhubarb? the stems are very red and the leaves look very curly….or is it actually the flowering plant?

Pictures arent great…..but thanks anyway 🙂

What a day it was, wasnt it just the bees knees!!!!….I couldnt believe that when I woke up this morning it was -3 degrees. I thought, heck thats that then it will be too cold to go out. But then the sun came out and the clouds parted and it was just the most beautiful day we have had. I cant believe its still only February.

Wasnt sure if I should do anymore in the garden as I have been in it everyday last week and kinda ‘overdo’ it too……but………………………………….

After walking the dogs I thought I might just go out and chat with my hubby who is doing our extension……so we looked at one of the borders. This bed on the North facing wall so it was quite damp, although it does get the sun first thing in the morning. There was a lot of moss…I mean a lot!….it was like a carpet I could have covered the entire hallway with it lol…..anyway it was cleared eventually……as nearer to the end of the bed towards the house end the soil was a lot better and much lighter which was a help. There are a lot of roots from the trees and previous trees ie. staghorns…..so it was quite hard to navigate around them   

So now we have  the bed cleared all we have to do is go and get some plants for it!!!! I do have lots of bulbs and plants to plant out but I think it might be a bit early yet what with all this frost. So Ive started some in pots for now indoors…so fingers crossed they will come on and I will be able to plant out in March…or at least when the weather gets that bit warmer…..

Hope you all enjoyed the day wherever you were 🙂

Ok, after a very cold start, the sun came up and melted off all the frost and ice. It turned out to be a spectacular day and it was warm enough for me to working in a jumper. Time to resume painting the shelves. It doesn’t look like I’m going to get any help this year. Got the right hand of the G.C. done before we went on holidays. But it has been too wet since we got back to continue. Making steady progress now, thank God.

Look at this mornings sunrise.  

Unbelievably the snow was all gone today and bright sunshine graced the skies.

There was no time to loose so out I went to prune, clear, weed and edge.

The two trees that were recently felled got chopped up too (but not by me).

That new lasagne bed is filling fast!

Spring stands still for no man (or woman)!

Yesterday, I noticed the big change, no biting wind, a clear blue sky and warm in certain parts of the garden. To day was even better and while I did no gardening yesterday, I made up for it to day. Plenty of digging took place and the soil, what condition. I planted out quite a number of herbacious perennials. The seeds were given to me last year in Johnstown and the labels were not available but the plants are there so perhaps later somebody will identify them for me. The temperature went to 27C in the greenhouse and like yesterday, the vent  was opened for a while. The vine has come on a lot and the reproductive parts are apparent. I wonder how did PCON get on with his branches. Remember from Deborah’s photo where I handed what was like two sticks to Fran! 

I was surprised to see that some of the ‘weeds’ growing around the edge of our drive turned out to be Lobelia, but more surprised today to see one of the plants surviving in the ‘dirt’ between the cement pavement and the house was in bloom… Amazing really, especially as I have struggled with Lobelia seeds in the past (drowned them :-/)  can you believe this is in flower? 

With last week being so dry and fine, I decided to tackle into clearing out the veg patch and preparing it for this year. I had heard that there was going to be hard frosts at night so thought now was the ideal time to dig over the beds, with the hope that the frost would kill off any weeds that had their roots exposed. Once i got started and stuck into it, I found i kept going. A lot of grass and weeds had not only grown in some of the beds that weren’t used last year, but had also grown outside around them and was nearly smothering some of them. I got out the spade and dug out all of the grass and cut the weeds at ground level. I filled any hollows and levelled any bumps to give a fairly flat surface all around. The raspberry plants didn’t do great where they were last year so i took them up and replanted them along the fence. There are still two beds left to go in where the potatoes were last year and then i will put down black polythene and stone chippings to cover the whole area. It will leave it clean and tidy and also easily accessible in winter or wet weather without walking into wet mud and having the place destroyed. Please God it will see the end of a lot of the weeds and will leave nothing to be maintained only the beds. I’m eventually hoping to make a cover for each bed so that when they’re not being used, they can be covered and keep away the weeds.

February has seen the real start of spring here in Blarney.  The bulbs are popping up everywhere now, and as I said last month, they are a welcome splash of colour around the gardens. It’s really a great time of year to be out and about as there is something new to see every day.

We are continuing with our tidying and mulching jobs around the borders and getting everything ship shape for the coming season. A couple of trees came down in the woods and have provided a lot of fresh chippings for the paths in the fern garden and woodland areas. All of the azalea and rhododendron beds are a priority at the moment as they will be the focus for visitors in the coming months.

We have been hedge planting around the estate using mixed native varieties to fill in gaps in our existing hedges. They are an important wildlife resource and should therefore be looked after. We have also donated hedging to Blarney Tidy Towns, who are doing a tremendous job. These will be planted out along the Blarney to Tower road over the coming weeks.

The waterfall in the fern garden has been an ongoing project for the last two months but I am pleased to announce that it is finally completed. It really adds to the atmosphere and will also benefit the ferns by providing a more humid microclimate. All that remains is to plant up the little nooks and crannies in and around it. We are expecting a delivery of new ferns in the next few weeks. We already have frogspawn in it, which was a welcome discovery as it promises a new frog population to keep the slugs at bay.

The peach, apricot and nectarine trees in our glasshouses are now coming into flower. We use a little paint brush to help pollinate them, as there is very little insect activity so early in the year. This helps to ensure a reasonable crop.

Seed sowing is well underway and we have lobelia, petunia and bedding begonias emerging in our heated propagator along with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and brassicas. We have also started off dahlia, begonia and gloxinia tubers in pots and crates of compost. It is important not to overwater these or they will rot. In a separate little propagator we have some unusual varieties of banana growing which we hope to establish in the new Jungle border. The jungle border will be planted up in the late spring after the danger of frosts has passed. It’s proving to be a very interesting project.

Another new project is our Primrose display bed that we have just completed at the main entrance. It is planted with 25 different varieties from the Kennedy Irish Primrose range. What makes these special is that they are all of Irish origin. The centre of the bed will be planted up with a blue rose named ‘Blue for You’ which should add a splash of colour in the summer months.

The new facebook group ‘Friends of Blarney Castle Gardens’ is proving to be a success with its members. Please join if you have an interest in gardening or want to keep up with the latest news from the castle. I update it most days with photos and information. There is a lot going on at the moment. I look forward to seeing you online or in the gardens. Adam

Did a fab walk up the zig-zags from the Gap of Dunloe yesterday. Beautiful day, though very cold, great company, fantastic.

We bought the scrapings from the bottom of our fuel supplier’s turf shed last year and it’s been wonderful. The ‘kirauns’ get dried off and used on the fire, the dust is sieved out and used in composts, and the rest makes a good mulch. I love recycling! Also I’d seen a lovely picture on somebody’s journal of a planted welly, so as I had an old pair of split ones they too have been planted up with allium moly (golden garlic).  

I’m glad we went out gardening Saturday before the temperature plumetted – we got a lot of clearing and mulching done and Alan has filled the last veggie bed so bring on the sowing season!  

We also planted out all the Johnstown swapped plants plus the summer bulbs I got in Aldi. Alan was in a different Aldi on Friday and came home with an impulse buy too. If we wrote a book on reliationships it would be called, ‘Men are from the Chill Cabinet, Women are from the Garden Aisle’! 

A few members were having great difficulties logging on here yesterday. It was so frustrating as I was getting e-mail notifications, but when I clicked in to go to Journal Entry, it was freezing on me.

Yesterday I spent a good 5 hours up in Dad’s, as promised. I cut back and pulled up lots of Loganberries, Brambles, Teasels and Ivy, and bagged the lot. The moss was so thick and squelchy on the tarmac that firstly I had to brush vigorously with a stiff yard brush, which I find very difficult to use as it is very heavy, and then scoop it all up in my hands. Still lots there, but I did the best I could for now. Maybe the sun will get on it this week to dry it out a bit and next weekend I should see the finished result. His garden faces north so it doesn’t get the sun for long in winter months.

I managed to bag 10 black refuse sacks of overgrowth. And struggled to lift a cup of coffee to my mouth when I got back home.

Dad was so impressed with the difference in the garden. I could actually see a sparkle in his eyes which was brilliant to witness. I won’t publish any ‘before’ photos because it really was an unholy mess (although I may be persuaded, 🙂 . It’s a small garden, so hopefully a couple more weekends should see it looking quite ok.

We picked our first lemon of the year this weekend, it was put to good use with a bag of ice and a bottle of Gordons!!!!!

I managed to get the compost heaps turned during the week and was delighted with the results!! all ingredients have composted down fully to give us plenty of compost for growing our tomatos and early spuds in!!

Oh isn’t it bliss to head out on a fresh weekend morning with the dew on the grass glistening in the Spring sun like sparkling diamonds and all the while hoardes of finches and tits chattering away in the nearby trees reminding you that you are not the only one with work to do. About the same time every morning of late a Great Tit arrives and perches on next door’s beech hedge chirping away trying to coax a female into a bird box that I put up last year. He has managed more than once to get a female to inspect the box for herself but not yet managed to get her to commit, hopefully he will woo one over soon as my daughter regularly asks me “Where’s the baby chicks Daddy?”

The focus this weekend was on the planting of a number of fruit trees which I bought in Aldi, I’m hoping they will be as good as a passing shopper informed me – he was in total awe and amazement at his bounty from similar trees in the last few years. So here was the lineup…….

2 pears – Conference and William Bon Chertien have been planted against the back wall of the garage which is almost directly South-facing so plenty of sun for those to bathe in. My soil is heavy which according to the growers label will favour the trees which look to be in really good condition right now. All I have to do to finish off these is install the training wire and vine eyes to the wall itself for support.

6 raspberry canes have been planted to one side of the tunnel (inside the fenced area away from fruit loving dogs). Their supporting wall is West-facing and was in full sun from noon today, as the season progresses that moment of first sun exposure should arrive earlier in the day and am therefore hopeful of a really good bounty from them. They will be finished off by mulching the bed with some really nice home-made compost recently turned over for me by a resident rat.

4 apples – Cox’s Orange, Bramley, Braeburn and Gala have all been planted and staked as standalone trees along the West-facing side of the garden for good daytime sun exposure and within 12 ft of each other to aid pollination. They also serve to screen off the garden shed and the tunnel when seen from inside the kitchen.

1 cherry – Kordia has been given pride of place right in the centre of the lawn also adding to the screen but moreover to provide a nice vista when in blossom and viewed from inside the kitchen. This particular fruit tree is really chomping at the bit to get going as it had already started breaking bud before I planted it.

So here’s hoping that these trees/canes will provide a nice harvest over the coming years but if not overwhelmed by fruit I would hope that at least some nice foliage and blossom will add interest to the garden and be an enticement to the kitchen-side viewer to come out into the garden and explore the environs. But, alas if all that fails at least the above mentioned 13 plants will only have cost me a weekend’s work and just under €45!