Almost drought conditions in Ireland throughout July and all our pots suffered especially those in full sun and even a few days without water while we were away for a week left everything looking pretty limp but quick remedial action with a bucket of water into each pot usually works if you have not been away too long . I hate to see flowers wilting in the heat but we have too many pots to ask neighbours to look after them so they have to take their chances and before I leave I always saturate the pots … Snezana and I water differently as she is mean about watering whereas […]
My Gardening Month June 2022 … Cutting back for Ireland !
June is a month where the garden gets out of control quickly and you need to get it back or end up playing catch up for the rest of the summer ! So it is here where having been away for a few weeks we are both flat out cutting back and weeding not to mention primping up the new areas with bedding annuals and the odd fern here and there . To add to the work there had been a bit of a drought here while we were away and all the pots had suffered and wilted … I know … drought and in Ireland ?! A huge job […]
My Gardening Month May 2022 … Rewilding … That’s the name of the Game !
May is the green month , that time before colour kicks in through the perennial borders in July and August but for me May is best as I love the green leaf colour you get in May and May is also the month when the hostas and gunnera are really at their best . A lot of gardeners regard May as a waiting period , a limbo in the garden’s growth before that huge burst of colour in June and July … not for me as flowers are not a priority , my gardening philosophy is more towards leaf and structure but don’t think I am against perennial flowers , […]
My Gardening Month April 2022 … A Tale of two Hostas !
The last days of April sees the garden in full flow and is one of my favourite times in the garden , all vibrantly green and a complete contrast to the last few months of winter but of course the weeds are also vibrant and in full flow ! However just in case we get carried away with ourselves the weather in March over a few days was … well , March weather and there was snow , not Balkan but enough to cover the back garden chairs for a photo ! Fussy gardeners , there are a lot of them about , consider as a weed anything they haven’t […]
My Gardening Month March 2022 … Slugs the new Garden honoured visitors !
March is the first real sign of Spring in the garden , the extra hour in the evening is a great bonus , lawn mowers are dragged from hibernation and cursed at for not starting after the five month lay off but eventually we begin to organise and look forward to the new growing season and my favourite time in the garden . Spring has arrived in the Lower Wood garden . There is one tree in the front garden here , a large golden willow , that bursts into leaf almost overnight in mid March and when it does it really represents the end of winter . The poor […]
My Gardening Month February 2022 … shorts and t shirts at the beach !
Spring is definitely in the air as I write , our first snow drops have arrived and looking at these gorgeous little flowers I have the same thought every year that I MUST plant more snow drops next September ! A walk around the garden each morning shows more and more happening with daffodils popping up everywhere and today, a year after the new Water Garden was started, the final accolade that it had fitted in came when Snezana spotted the first frog spawn and I immediately went down to take a photo . Frogs just don’t lay their eggs in any old place as for example in all the […]
My Gardening Month January 2022 … Gardening is all about Optimism especially in January !
From the beginning of the month you could see the evenings getting that bit brighter , bulbs were pushing up and always you felt Spring was just around the corner … gardeners are big on optimism ! The resident gardeners at Petrovska Garden And myself January 27th 2022 There is an excitement about the end of January always for me because for Irish people the 1st of February , St. Brigid’s Day , is the first day of Spring , the end of Winter and the light still there until 6 o’clock gives the feeling that the gardening year is beginning now ! January is the month when garden writers […]
My Gardening Month December 2021 …F stops and Feng O’Shui !
December in the garden is generally a write off due to the holidays and the weather but then Storm Barra hit Ireland in early December and we lost two trees including a large fifteen year old eucalyptus tree and while getting it chopped up we used the opportunity to cut out nine conifers that had died over the summer and all this kept us busy right up to Christmas . These tree losses are what gardeners live with throughout the life of a garden , nothing is guaranteed to last forever . The eucalyptus I had planted in wettish ground fifteen years ago and while their roots love damp ground […]
My Gardening Month November 2021 … A Messy Month in the Garden !
Flowers in the November garden are rare here at Old Spa Road but I admire people who persevere with trying to keep the colour palette going in what is generally a blowsy rainy cold time and if you want to try this I would suggest planting as close to the front and back doors as possible because generally that is as far as most people venture out in the garden at this time ! Of course it is nice at this time of year to come across a clump of flowers such as nerines or alstroemeria as I did the other day in a friend’s garden in Clonmel but for […]
My Gardening Month October 2021 … Olive oil is for your ears !
I spent October planting and preparing for next year in the garden both in Old Spa Road and in Croatia , picked olives along the way and was reminded that gardening is an artificial intervention with nature where we try as gardeners to “improve ” nature … a bit presumptious don’t you think ?! An October walk in the Biokovo mountains , Gornja Podgora , Croatia My very first gardening blog was written and published eight years ago in October 2013 and here is an extract with all the hopes and aspirations for garden schemes and beds and fast forward eight years and nothing has changed , still aspiring and […]