Archives: journal

Little Friend

hi everybody

                       well had a read of my book now just need time to put it all into practice, did no gardening again at weekend, talked into babysitting duty on sunday!!!. no gardening this weekend  either, we are partying yet again my youngest daughter was 30 last week but went on a cruise( very jealous)with her partner and came back engaged, see how bad i am on sunday?? grass really needs cutting. wisteria should be in full bloom by next week, and the clematis is doing very well. will post more picys soon .

model shed

crystal series

8.30am and it was lashing down, we were literally soaked through but not enough to dampen our spirits. Especially as we had been blessed with a Mini Digger thanks to the kind folks in VAZUMO.COM. After a crash course on how to drive the digger Eamonn was off like Bob the Builder on a mission!

As we were digging past a certain depth it was necessary to have an Archaeologist present as we dug. Poor Darragh, out designated Time Team Member, had to stand over the hole and watch as it was slowly dug just in case we unearthed some hidden treasure. A few hours on (and thankfully it had stopped raining) and the hole is done. Sadly no gold was found, sorry Darragh!

Throughout the morning fantastic friends arrived to help with the Big Dig. This project would be impossible without them so a HUGE THANK YOU to…

Javier, Anna, Gerard, Claude, Jeanne, Andriy and of course Eamonn!

Your hard work and encouragement is really appreciated, thank you all.

By the end of Saturday the main excavations were done, the path was edged and the garden was really starting to take shape.

Sunday morning was designated to cutting the posts for the path wall after which we loaded them into the car and headed down to the garden site in Phoenix Park. Sunday’s progress was good, the posts went in and now stand firm and the path wall is really starting to take shape. Although, in it’s unfinished state it does resemble an unused mine shaft! We left at dusk only because we could no longer see where we were digging.

Our determination to finish this garden project to the high standard we want means that Eamonn and I will be there every evening this week installing woodwork and preparing for planting.

Love-lies-Bleeding & Sunflower ‘Velvet Queen’

Composition

Tree poeny

Took an early morning trip to Lidl yesterday and bought 7 Hydrangeas, now because they have blooms on them, I’m getting the feeling that they are more than likely ‘hothouse’ grown. So the dilemma being do I harden them off before planting outside? Do I chop off the lovely blooms? HELP!! would be grateful for any advise. I also bought 12 carnation plants which are lovely and today I did plant them out. Also fertilized the 2 raised beds and watered them all well, the east wind is’nt making for pleasant gardening, although today was better, making us think very strongly about a shelter belt. Did’nt have this wind problem in the surburbs, but hey! country life brings us new challenges.

Hubby did a great job of lining all along a fence that we have a huge shrub bed along  one side of the garden, we have escallonia hedging planted along the fence and really they have’nt come on too well so we guessed they are windburnt and a bit frost bitten too, so hopefully this will give the required protection.

He also made me a frame for sweetpeas,  from wooden supports and chickenwire, and I dug in homemade compost, organic vegeatable compost and general purpose compost, so it wont’ be down to us if they dont’ thrive.  Have to seriously think about getting the tomatoe plants into their final position, I have grow bags at the ready, still scared of putting them outside though in case its too early, but they do need a new home. Hope your all having fun gardening. Ciao!

Over the past few months I have spent alot of my time in my new poly tunnel.  It is trial and error this year, and I hope by next year I will know how to manage the space and plants.  I have potatoes, carrots, onions, green beans, beetroot, lettuce, scallions, strawberries and tomatoes.  I think putting in the potatoes was not a good idea, but I won’t know for sure until I go to reap the harvest.   I am hoping there will be some potatoes under the stalks!

no gardening for the last few days. my darling grandson has come home from spain and we are are playing ball and rolling down the garden.

lots of flowers picked for nana!!!! will take some photos soon of charlie (16 months) no flowers left . but what fun

Early potatoes

I am off to Thailand today. I have arranged to visit the national botanic gardens in Bangkok on Saturday. Looking forward to it as I will. Have a keen Thai gardener to guide me. Hopefully lots of photos to follow.

Hello All,

The goji berry seeds have germinated, first appeared after ten days, and we have 14 seedlings from 16 seeds planted so we are both well happy with that.  The Ubirkany tomatoes have caught up with the Aurora and Amish Paste and have now been planted in their final pots.  All three varieties are now about 10 to 14 inches high and are starting to get bushy. 

 My lovely lupin tree is dead, killed by huge grey/green aphids, i think.  We cut it back hard last year, and it was full of new growth, and the next thing it was infested.  i sprayed non stop for about a week, but the damage was done.  the last time i saw these was about 5 years ago, when they killed another lupin tree i had.  anyone else had this problem?  Between bugs, slugs, cats etc. its a wonder anything manages to grow.

Tulip Day

I spent yesterday in the pond pulling out stinking Elodium! i smelt like a sewer by the end of the afternoon. But it got done. Sad to find that all my fish had died. It was a cold Winter so I assume it was that. But the pond is full of tadpoles and with no fish we will have tons of frogs.

The water lilies have big fat buds so will be out soon if it warms up and the east wind ceases – 13 knots yesterday. 

Does anyone know if you can put pond content on the compost??

Mrs Great Tit  still sitting on her eggs. We heard the cuckoo on Sunday morning but it did nto stay.

Geranium macchorrizum

Lilac tree

It has been so nice to make the most of the weather and the evenings.   My new border that was done a few weeks ago is really coming on.  The greenhouse is full of my hanging baskets and pots waiting to go out.  We planted outside our squash a few weeks ago but it must have been too cold as we had to bring them back in again they were not happy.  Thankfully have seemed to recovered and lots of new growth appeared again. It’s the first time this year that I’m growing tomatoe plants.  Are they best left in the greenhouse or shold I plant them outside now? Any tips please

Just in from the garden. Have extra planting room now because Steve dug up my bamboo on Sunday. I have loads more space now. I planted a lovely rose a few weeks ago called’Tequila Sunrise’ which has yellow petals, edged with red. I planted dahlias last week in same spot, red, yellow and white. And also today I planted geums, red and yellow, Asteriscus maritimus ‘Golden Dollar’, Escallonia and Pinus mugho.

I think rain is on the way, so I’ll leave my potting on until later. I can take cover in the greenhouse.

Lilac

Potted on the tomatoes today from their 4inch pots to 9.5 ltr pots – this should keep them happy for a while longer.

Pulled up bolting spinach out of the tunnel and fed it to the chickens – yum yum – have more seeds to sow but it got too cold today – tomorrow …..

The beauty of Broom.

I had a very nice lawn before I decided to put in a pond and glasshouse now I have a pile of clay and the thought of putting the lawn back is daunting. I started the pond back in March and orderd the greenhouse then as well. It took eight weeks for the greenhouse to get here and then there was no clips to hold in the glass that took another week. The machine that dug out the pond tore up the whole garden and the dumper that brought the soil to the bottom of the garden tore up the end of the garden. At least now both are finished but I missed the begining of the seed sowing for the greenhouse I am trying to catch up on that. I am sowing seeds and I should be planting out the plants. I suppose I can learn a lot before the sowing starts next year. I have that many gardening books and water gardening books it will take all year to learn.

I have started two raised veg beds and they seem to be coming on well.

Looking at all the gardens on this site gives me great ideas of what can be done and fair play to all of you from the small gardens to the large ones.

I have to say I’m really looking forward to learning about all the aspects of the garden