Half way through October Ireland went into level 5 for a six week lockdown in a last ditch effort to short circuit the recent rise of Covid so that life can return to somewhat normality for us to be able to link up with family and friends again to enjoy Christmas . Most people have been scrupulous in following the social distancing rules , wearing face masks etc. but of course there have been the yahoos who insist they must drink in pubs in large numbers and celebrate wildly after football and hurling games , no need to mention who of course but the rest of us older people have […]
I was in Croatia for three weeks in September looking after a garden there that I first planted some years ago and it took a while to adapt to a new Covid environment not to mention travelling on a plane for the first time in these scary times . Getting through Dublin Airport was a doddle , almost totally empty, hand dispensers every 20 metres , everyone social distancing and wearing masks and it felt very safe . The plane was half empty and lots of space for social distancing in fact I had a row all to myself and again it felt very safe apart from the fact that […]
Even though we are no longer in lock down Covid has not gone away and as the young are partying like mad the numbers contacting the virus have shot back up and along with it the fear and shaming of people who go abroad for a holiday even though most EU countries have lower Covid figures than Ireland . August has been wet , gardens are semi flooded , lawn mowers have been idle and Autumn has come quickly with falling leaves everywhere . One of my favourite garden writers , Stephen Lacy , in a recent article titled “A fresh pair of eyes on your garden can throw up […]
Apart from a worry that Covid could spike again we are all approaching normality but at least as a result of the pandemic we have adopted better precautions at safeguarding ourselves such as hand washing and wearing face masks in shops and these measures will continue at least until a vaccine is found . I visited a garden last week within a group of five friends and even though we were outdoors all apart from two wore a face mask … I choose not to wear a face mask as I still draw the line at outdoor use in lots of space among people I know , who are not […]
After close to 12 weeks in lockdown since early March we can all begin to get back to normal life such as it can be before a vaccine is found for Covid and for us gardeners slowly but surely we can visit other gardens which we have all missed . In early June a group of us , while observing social distancing , got together to pay a last visit to Fairy Hill garden just outside Clonmel , where Mary O’Donovan gardened for the past forty years until her sad passing almost a year ago . The house and garden have now been sold and Mary’s executors very kindly allowed […]
At last some good news this month as the world seems to be tentatively moving to a recovery from Covid and slowly making it’s way to normal times again although it will be a new norm and not the world we knew pre Covid 19 . In mid May the garden centres were allowed to open again . We of course headed to our local Clonmel Garden Centre , long queues but great to see the friendly faces of Chris Hanna and his staff all lined up behind tables full of glorious plants and all seemed almost normal again , a long way to go but a welcome day in […]
Normally April is a happy month in the garden with everything to look forward to in a new season however this year of COVID 19 has meant that the outlook is pretty uncertain for all of us , no vaccine in sight yet and no idea when cocooning , social distancing will end or when normal life will resume again , we can just hope . Colour in the garden in April For me April has always represented the real onset of Summer and is a ferociously busy time trying to get the last plantings done and get the weeds under control before the explosion of growth that is early […]
The country in lockdown , the older generation , myself included are cocooning , panic buying in the shops , toilet paper at a premium … the majority of people out of work and in lock down , keeping each other at two metres distant when venturing outside , normal life today is like looking at an apocalyptic movie and who could have predicted the effect the corona virus would have and will the world , our world ever be the same again and of course it will , patience is the thing and those of us with gardens will have them pampered like poodles with so much time to […]
February is the month the garden comes alive for the new seasons of growth Spring right through to November and what were spindly insignificant little shoots barely above ground in January are now transformed into flowering beauties with the daffodils , crocuses and snowdrops leading the way . Nothing beats a dry day in February in the garden , winter is still hanging around but optimism is in the air and I always remember the early months in the garden back in the late 1970’s when I had my first garden in Rosslare and the sheer joy and amazement that you had actually got something to grow , it was […]
A new year and away we go again in the garden and what we do first in these unappetising cold wet and windy days is not important , what is important is that we get out there in the first place ! Like everybody I have to force myself out in these early days of January but after a few days I snap back into focus and for me I tend to ease my way in (and my muscles !) by some pruning of the willows and dog woods and over the following few days I move on to the grasses and then each day I see what needs to […]
