Archives: journal
actually got out in the garden today. no rain!!!!
the weeds are doing wonderfully they are growing better than ever.
veg doing well , but paeony roses poor this year , not as many buds and none at all on some, very disappointing ,the worst year ever .
on a happier note the rodgersia is doing better than ever, must be all the rain.
the mellianthus which was battered by the wind has perked up and looks like it may be ok. the laburnam looking good
have put up some pics
Wasn’t Jekka McVicars herb stand outstanding? And what an accomplishment winning so many medals over the years. I have to say I was dead impressed with the Caymen Islands Garden. It was so inspiring.
The vast range of bulbs on display from Avon Bulbs was brilliant. Second to none. I bet you Rachel would give her eye teeth for half of those bulbs. The display was indeed breathtaking.
But what about John Wheatley’s show of Dahlias! God, they were so ‘I gotta have all of them’. So many people regard Dahlias as common. Why? They are magic. The vibrance of colours and range of lush foliage and petal shapes from Dahlias, are enough to coax dormant plants out of their dormancy purely to compete with the ‘commoners’. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder though. I Don’t care who knocks them. They’re the tops for me. And the large array of sunflowers available these days come a close 2nd. Big and bold. And vivid.
And I adore Carol Klein and her constant enthusiasm.
But come on lads, enough about Joe Swift and Alan Titchmarsh etc. where are our very own Irish horticulturists disappeared to? Why do we all have to turn to the bbc to quench our thirst for horticultural knowledge and snippets of information? Maybe my eyesight is beginning to fail me but I don’t see anything from RTE when browsing through the tv guide. Correct me if I’m wrong please.
Wasn’t Jekka McVicars herb stand outstanding? And what an accomplishment winning so many medals over the years. I have to say I was dead impressed with the Caymen Islands Garden. It was so inspiring.
The vast range of bulbs on display from Avon Bulbs was brilliant. Second to none. I bet you Rachel would give her eye teeth for half of those bulbs. The display was indeed breathtaking.
But what about John Wheatley’s show of Dahlias! God, they were so ‘I gotta have all of them’. So many people regard Dahlias as common. Why? They are magic. The vibrance of colours and range of lush foliage and petal shapes from Dahlias, are enough to coax dormant plants out of their dormancy purely to compete with the ‘commoners’. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder though. I Don’t care who knocks them. They’re the tops for me. And the large array of sunflowers available these days come a close 2nd. Big and bold. And vivid.
And I adore Carol Klein and her constant enthusiasm.
But come on lads, enough about Joe Swift and Alan Titchmarsh etc. where have our very own Irish horticulturists disappeared to? Why do we all have to turn to the bbc to quench our thirst for horticultural knowledge and snippets of information? Maybe my eyesight is beginning to fail me but I don’t see anything from RTE when browsing through the tv guide. Correct me if I’m wrong please.
Saturday while doing a good deed I ended up in a yard where a man made concrete flower pots of all shape and sizes. He made other items as well, like colour flagstones and kerbing, but it was the flowerpots that caught my attention. I done a deal with the man and bought 4 0f these pots for 55 euro. I justified the expense to myself by considering that plastic ones were nearly as dear and break more easily. In this time of recession I bought quality to last. However would herself indoors agree with me or would I recieve instant divorce. Neither did she agree with me or divorce me but I have now changed her name to "the wicked chicken". I am on cream crackers and water for the next month to pay for my garden indulgences. But it was worth it and I smile every time I pass them. I also dropped a waist size. Wait till see finds out I have ordered two of the large ones with bases for them to sit on. I may get use to dry cream crackers.
worth the punishment
seems to have been raining for ever. got lovely geraniums and other good stuff on saturday last but still have not planted them! This is the first year I have grown potatoes and am nervous about blight warnings, not sure what to do. Runner beans planted a couple of weeks ago look a bit windblown but at least they are still alive! fingers crossed for some dry weather this coming weekend.
The month is pushing on and still it rains. Can’t see any light at the end of tunnel.
I have three projects I want to get underway………
Paint front wall, hasnt been done in years.
Develop a space for bamboo.
Get the driveway sorted. At the moment its one continuous puddle.!!!!!!!!!!!
just dryed out. took gerrys advice and pruned back my grape vines in my greenhouse. I have them trained near the roof , the condensation rained down on me. It was just like being outside in this beautiful may weather.
The reason i grew grapes in the first place was for shade in the greenhouse, it work well sometimes too well.
I hope to have some photos soon. when my son shows me how to up load them.
here a question is a greenhouse a posh name for a glasshouse?
just seen BBC2 chelsea show `strawberries’ bring on summer…….please.
The robinia pseudoacacia seems to have suffered from the harsher winter this year. It’s looking definitely not great, what a shame! A lot of its branches do not have any leaves at all, and even the leaves are not looking great. I knew it is a sensitive tree, but it was fine the last 3 years, so I did not worry too much about it this winter, and obviously I should have…
When we moved here, there was already a small robinia in the same spot – beside a fence -, and my partner, who is not a gardener, always said it was the nicest plant in the garden. Then, during our first winter here, there were a couple of storms which brought the fence down, and we decided to have it replaced by a stronger, better one, the next spring. Not having much time (or experience about putting such a fence together), we got a company to install the whole thing, and at the time, I remember being worried that they would break some of the plants beside the fence. My partner jokingly said "they can break anything, but not THAT robinia!". Well guess what, when we came back home after the fence was installed, everything was in perfect order…except for the robinia, which had been unfortunately broken!!! We waited for a while but it did not grow back, so for the next "Father’s day", I got a new robinia to replace the old one. And took great care of it as they told me in the garden centre that it was a sensitive tree. Now I hope that if it had a set back this year, it will get back into better shape next year…
Damaged robinia pseudoacacia
Blue flower.
Nothing done this evening.Home late to see more annoying showers.All plants inside tunnell and greenhouse checked over for water etc,at lunchtime today.
Well I’m afraid I have not had much time in the garden this week thanks to the weather. The lawn is so wet, that just walking across it leaves a muddy track. At least there is the Chelsea Flower show to look at on the TV. No lawn in any of the show gardens this year……….is someone trying to give us a hint.
Granny’s Bonnet
I planted this 2 orange trees from pits many years ago, when I was at school.
Now this trees are about 1,5 metres tall, and I plan to cut them (they almost overgrow the window) and inoculate. I guess I will find grafts in our garden centres. Would be nice to have flowers some day.
On the picture you also can see cissus and peperomia.
Orange trees from pits
It seems that we have our own ‘Lost Garden Of Heligan’ at Kells Bay near Caherciveen in Co. Kerry. I happened on the site www.kellsgardens.ie while looking up the Dicksonia site for some ferns. You might like to take a look at it. It seems to be a very interesting project. They are restoring an old Victorian garden which has an abundance of southern hemisphere plants growing in it. Tree Ferns have even naturalised there. Might be worth a visit!
Well I am totally new to the gardening game.
My husband and I own 2 acres of meadow land. Really nice. The previous owners looked after it well but when we bought it all hell broke loose. Had no time to care for it. Slowly getting in there now to find the plants they put in.
I am now putting in my own plants. I have so many apple trees and plum trees. Also strawberries, currants and gooseberries. Most of them are mature bar the strawberries which I planted and not having much success with them.
Well sheltered which is nice.
Couldn’t believe my luck today.
I was visiting a Garden Centre to pick up some mini-stakes and came across a great deal on Buxus and Bay.
I got the three Buxus and the Bay in the picture for just EURO 50. The Buxus were 10 each and the Bay 20. One of the Buxus has a dead branch and some dead leaves but that’s nothing.The Bay is taller than my husband!
Really chuffed.
Bargain
The news that the digger is wanted back spurred us into action today. We had been keeping off the grass because of all the rain but this is a minor consideration now.
My husband attacked Rapunzel’s Forest with the digger. I had had a go at digging up one of the roots from one of the Rosa Rugosa and failed. So, as we have the digger, this seemed the only course of action. My husband couldn’t believe how the roots had spread and how tough they were. I repeat, I will never plant Rosa Rugosa again in my life.
Two Red Hot Pokers were sacrificed to let the digger at the roots but this is a small price. I know the whole area looks a disaster in the photo but it will look better when the roots are lifted off. It looks like my gargoyle has crawled out of bed in protest!
Rapunzel’s Forest
will be back to English language computer Monday next DV. Germany tomorrow these computers have keys in different positions so its a slow chore typing for journal. Will report on the floral displays I saw here when back in Ireland. look forward to reading what my friends have been doing. Hope the weather dried up. It was great here just a few showers and lots of sun.
got a lot of work done today. was sick and tired running in and out of the greenhouse with plants . so decided to plant out dahlias as some of them were in bud. did some more weeding, surprise surprise!!! imagine if our plants grew as well as weeds!!.
also divided and replanted loads of primroses then watered everything.
then sat on balcony with hubby for a glass of wine . bliss!!!
a glass of wine and thee!!
On Friday, I went around the garden collecting seedlings that I had noticed starting to appear all over the place, and potted them all up. I ended up with several alchemilla mollis, some geraniums, some hebe, and some aquilegia. Nearly enough for a mini plant sale! I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, but hopefully I can give them away to people who might use them in their garden.
The grass finally dried up enough so I did not miss the opportunity, and cut the front and back. Hard work this time as the grass had grown a lot! I also trimmed all of the borders, which I don’t particularly like doing as I usually spend more time fixing the trimmer than actually trimming (well, probably because I don’t use it properly in the first place!)
And today, I happened to have a couple of hours free when my daughters were at a party and their dad doing an exam, so where did I end up? In a garden centre of course… I did not plan to do that, but them when I dropped my girls at the party the mum said "enjoy your shopping"! I thought, "well I’m not going to go shopping", but then "perhaps one garden centre on the way home"… And that was it. I only got a few plants actually, a few violas, a hosta and a geranium. I knew what I wanted to do with them, so I planted them all as soon as I got home. The hosta and violas in tubs, and the geranium in a corner beside the steps, in the big border I’m hoping to eventually reclaim from the gravel.
Last but not least, I also repotted 2 orchids. One of them really, really needed to be repotted as it is in a mini pot and had lost a lot of compost. It was not looking too good, and I hope it will survive the repotting!
The sunflower and marigold seeds sowed about a week ago are starting to appear. No sign yet of the rudbeckia or the poppies, but judging by the notes at the back of the packet, these take longer to germinate. So, let’s be patient (not a quality of mine!)
So, two good days in the garden, but the more I do, the more I want to do, and the more plans I have! Now, I’m looking forward to going to Bloom (next Thursday!)
New little plants
Yesterday dawned bright and beautiful. So unusual for my weekend off. Myself and Steve headed down the east coast. Ended up in Mount Usher Gardens. I can’t believe that I never went there before. You know, lads, we are so very fortunate to be blessed with such wonderful gardens and landscapes. It doesn’t even matter about constant precipitation when you see what else is on offer here in Ireland.
But in saying that, I am very very glad that we finally got to have a dry and really sunny day. Mount Usher was breathtaking. Head Gardener, you would give your eye teeth to have gunnera and ferns as massive as the ones we saw yesterday. The azaleas and rhododendrons were spectacular. In fact, everything was. It was such a smashing day that we couldn’t even get into the restaurant for a bite to eat. It was packed to the gills. Didnt matter though. I was just so glad that we had witnessed for ourselves what Rachel shared with everyone by posting those wonderful snaps she took while there. Thanks Rachel. I have posted many more photos in my albums.
Lilac
having broused through a lot of members i see most members are one time visitors.
not being great at internet but love gardening can this site delete members who give no input example being ARGILLIAN CASTLE this garden is 250 acres and 2 miles from my home. its a co. council park which has its own site. it is a member for what reason ADVERTISMENT ? I visit this park on a regular basis and love there walled garden.but they have no input except their name.How do other members feel?
What a great day today was I spent all day in the garden planting all the plants I bought over the last two weeks all in place and all looks great.
I weeded every bit and when I was tidying up saw behind a big area I forgot to do ,but I hope that tomorow will be fine and I will do it my back aches but it was worth it .
