Month: April 2014
When Steve and I were down in Grace Dieu Lass’ garden a few years ago, Paddy kindly gave me a nice clump of Solomon’s Seal which is doing great where I have it planted. It’s taking over now where others have left off. I do love this plant.
i have to say that the garden on last nights supergarden was well planted. i think she did a great job, maybe they heard me giving out about the lack of varieity of plants hopefully the next four gardens follow suit
Yes these are not as bad as the Primroses but that is because I pull out so many every year. Still there are lots and lots and they are allowed in the ‘hot’ area as the only blue flower just because it will be a couple of months until the reds, yellows and oranges are at their best. From then on…..no blue may enter.
A warning re weather, there is a gale and heavy heavy rain here at present and I forgot to stake my Delphiniums!!!! So if it is heading your way get those stakes in early tomorrow.
To day I was at the Country Market in the morning, sold five tomatoes (Gardeners Delight) and two bunches of rhubarb. In the afternoon, I was in the garden, did some weeding, digging and edging. The sun shone for hours and it was enjoyable to be in the garden. wasn’t it interesting how much colour we have had in the flowers since January. As one type of flower goes another comes. The rockery is full of colour with the alpines in bloom. It reminds me of the song: There are so many colours in the rainbow… Yesterday, I bought a large packet of Nasturtiums, five varieties. Four of them are down.
The weather was glorious yesterday and there was one heavy shower, which was very welcome.
I didn’t feel like gardening at all but somehow mustered the inclination to spread the last of the mulch (small amount left from last year), weed a small area and translate several clumps of lychnis.
I noticed lily of the valley and a certain euphorbia are running in a weedy way. They will have to come out. Also, the ocassional bluebell is popping up in the borders. Yikes. They are hard to remove!
This erythronium is looking lovely though.
Paris quadrifolia has finally opened today. It’s clumping up nicely.
It is so exciting to find that I have thrushes nesting for the first time since we bought our house 14 years ago. I don’t know how the male doesn’t have laryngitis as he sings and whistles from dawn to dusk. One of them flew out of a bush in a rage and gave out to me because one of our cats happened to be lying underneath it! There’s lots of bird activity everywhere.
I’ve got cherry trees flowering, birch trees with long dangly catkins, and hundreds of blue flowering pulmonaria besides all the bulbs flowering. The camellias are also full of bloom after the very wet weather we had.
While everybody is getting rid of the moss in their lawns, I love my moss; it’s so soft and springy. I try to be as organic as possible
Oxalis adenophylla opened up today. Such a delicate shade of pink.
I would like to have a lavender hedge, and I need to freshen up the herb plot, so I have decided to try growing my own from seed. On the matter of lavender has anyone had much success of growing lavender from seed and how long did it take to get flowers?
When Greta was in my garden yesterday she spotted a peony in my Acid Triangle. Now why didn’t I notice that before. This has self-seeded from the one beside my Primrose 5 Steps area – about 10 feet away from it. I wouldn’t imagine peonies do this too often. AND it’s about to flower, so it must have been there last year also, only I was too blind to see it.
These little fellas are looking brilliant at the moment, a nice clump of them.
For some time now my garden has been a great place for Ladybirds. To day I saw a few red beetles in the lilies. I looked to see if they had black spots. No they had none so i made my way to where I keep my pesticides. They were no ladybirds and they were encountered before. So it was a case of SHAKE WELL and spray. Now they are gone where all harmful beetles go. You might call this red creature Billy. Before the spray it was lily beetle. Now they have got what is Billy lethal.
Back at base again, plenty to look after after almost a week. Nora and I have a great interest in gardeing although Nora keeps her garden perfect. That is one of my inperfections. Nora’s daughter, Patricia (known to her friends as Pipi) is also interested in gardening and looks after the lawns as well as taking a keen interest in the environment. she ismore into the wild life and is very concerned about life around the lakes around Castlebar. Here is a garden she set uo beside the lake.
It’s been quite a long time since my last entry but was out this morning and couldn’t resist photos of this trillium.
Douentza is Open on 12 & 13 July 2014
Arrived back home to day at 6 p.m. I was in Castlebar with my sister Nora and her daughter. I did some gardening while I was there. We had the best weather in the country. Yesterday one of the warmest parts of the country was in Co. Mayo. As i was driving back i could see a change. I had given Nora some tomato plants and Kerria. She and I visited a garden centre/nursery just outside the town and bought some plantsI believe the man who owns the place is John Cuniffe. A friend looked after my greenhouse while I was away. I will have photos to morrow.
as you all know supergarden is back on our screens this thursday. one thing i hope ios that they use a good variety of plants, over the years the plants have taken a backseat to the hardlandscape and it is boring. there is such an array of plants out there and the chose boring stuff like lavenders etc. you wont see lupins and echinacea or even poppies. i know alot of these plants willl not be in flower for the show but there are heucheras etc that could be used for colour even hebes.
so PLEASE use nice plants this year, no BORING safe options
I really thought Begenia Ballawley was really hardy but here it got scorched by frost over the last few days. We have had some really lovely weather but with very frosty nights. It shows what a cold area it is here – away from the mitigating influence of the sea and low lying near the river.
Could someone please tell me do seeds of this plant need special treatment to germinate?
I have sowed three lots, on heat, off heat and in Lidl greenhouse with nothing to show.
Thanks as ever.
Some weeks ago I planted Liatris corms in two old buckets. I wasnt quite sure what they were as I found them loose in a small tub. Took me a while to figure which side was up too!!
Anyhow now I find I have dozens of these Liatris sprouting and my question is do I plant them out now or let them grow on in the buckets for a while yet?
Should I plant them close together for effect or spread out. I believe they are very hardy and self seed?
Thanks .iers
was looking forward to this from the moment i planted it, the centre has pink Muscari called ‘pink sunrise’ and their surrounded by white Muscari,’white magic’ but it does not work, the bulbs are grand, but the result disappointed me greatly.
Wow! Theres some change in the weather since 5pm. I managed to get the Carrots and two drills of Parsnips in this morning while the ground was workable and warm. The rain this evening will speed germination no doubt I just hope it stops before the week is out.
Saturday morning I was awoken at 445am by woodpigeons singing outside the bedroom window. There are at least 5 pairs nesting all about the garden in the Leylandi trees. I gave up at 650am and got up, which is unusual for me on a week end. Actually the early start was brilliant and I had so much done by the early afternoon I took the evening off.
I then found one pigeons nest at headheight in a Leylandi and guess what, two fine white eggs in it. Oh well I suppose its going to get a lot more noisey with earlier alarm calls here in the next few weeks.
John cut the lawns today and planted the runner beans I think the beds stand out when the lawn is cut
Easter sunday -sean goes fishing!
Lee – goes play soccer!
Tasha and Harry go off eat easter eggs!
Me -what do i do ?
I edge a new border!
potatoes all in, sweetpeas out, hanging baskets made and the tubs are all planted up with Begonias ,Fuchsias,Geraniums,Petunias and top off with Lobelia trailing. There must be over 20tubs to go around the cottage and john calls that cutting back (old habbits die hard) We saw our first swallows in the garden last week. The tomatoes we planted in the tunnel have there first flowers showing,luckly we have not had the frost this end YET.
