Gardening

[Jack Williams]

I'd much rather have your blackberry brambles than my out of control self sown wild and very thorny roses.
I may have to hire a contractor to risk his (or her) life attacking them.
I thought they looked good at first..
A Cymidium orchid has put on a good show in the little garden by the front steps this year though. Things in that garden have a mind of their own.

[Jack Williams]

Last year it was this lilly's turn:

[Jack Williams]

The council and I planted some trees. There was nothing on this section but hedge of (noxious) privet & boxthorn when I got here, but many years ago the council had planted on the burm native Kowai trees, which are really mature now and flower excellently each Spring.
Not all at once, but one this Spring, and another the next.
I planted this South African Flame tree, rescued from my friend Angus' pot. He had nowhere to put it.

[Kirbstone]

Great shots Martin. Love your terrace-with-a-view-of-the-Med! I'd swop any Irish terrace for that tomorrow morning. Nice kilts too, btw.

I see you're sensible enough to put everything in pots so spreading underground weeds & shoots just don't happen. By the same token your 'Triffid' in a pot could easily be dealt with. You must save a fortune in petrol for the lawnmower!!

The only plants we keep in pots here are those that require to be put in out of the frost in Winter, which is just about now, so I've built my MM a low little truck/trolley she can walk pots onto for transportation indoors. Reminds me of the Flanders & Swann song about 'ever so House & Garden' where one line says: The garden's full of furniture & the house is full of plants!

Nice blooms, Jack, and you've submitted as pic. of that SA Flame tree you planted before. It stands over your bus stop if I remember rightly.

T.

[Kirbstone]

Re-opening this thread after 6 months, I submit pics. that aren't pretty to look at, but represent what's going on here, A/ to repair Winter storm damage and B/ to prepare for the growing season that is upon us now.

My dear spouse has given in to age and put potatoes in bags rather than digging them in, and we're providing temporary accommodation for our army of poultry weeders for the re-built soft fruit garden, the large hut being for the geese, of course.

Tom

[Kirbstone]

Ah well,

Here's one to make it all worth while.....Front gate 150 yds away down that drive.

Rs Spring Drive April 2014.jpg

Tom.

[dillon]

I don't garden like I once did, with a "market garden" which consisted of about an acre of sweet corn in staggered plantings timed to begin sales about mid-June and finish up just after the Fourth of July, then another acre and a half of watermelons would come on later in the summer. In addition I grew lesser amounts of trellis tomatoes and cucumbers, squash, okra, lettuce, cabbage, collards, pak choy, cantaloupes, honeydews, poblanos, chilis, jalapenos, cubanelles, and various green peppers. I worked myself to death all summer for a very minimal retuurn, and once my elderly parents were both deceased, decided it was no longer worth it and trned the whole farm over to my nephew who does very well with PYO strawberries and pumpkins. Since I am an agronomist by profession, I still get to deal with the farming headaches of others.

[Jack Williams]

Early Winter here, but prepatations for Spring are already happening.
Weeding as necessary, mulching as usual.
Most in the photo are spraxias, very bright and pretty, but there are always surprise ones which may have never been seen before!

[Kirbstone]

Visiting West Connemara, Co. Galway last week-end we got a look at a 6-acre walled garden, that at Kylemore Abbey, which demonstrates what a team of eleven!!! gardeners and apparently unlimited access to weedkillers can do.

Rs Connemara Kylmore Gdn1.jpg

Rs Connemara Kylmore Gdn2.jpg

Rs Connemara Kylmore Gdn3.jpg

Makes you weep, actually. Back home here we're struggling to get rid of the worst of the nettles &c and weed between the paving slabs before some guests arrive later on today.....

Tom

[skirted_in_SF]

All that green just makes those of us from dry California weep in envy.

[Sinned]

MOH and I have just spent two days taming the weeds and that what I call sticky bud stuff is horrible - the stems, leaves and seeds stick to the skin never mind the clothes. It comes out easy enough but it sure grows fast! We can now get the garden furniture out and enjoy the back area as we should in this weather. The birds do complain though as over the winter and spring they have had the garden to themselves.

[Kirbstone]

In this dry weather the plethora of indoor & outdoor potted flowering plants favoured by SWMBO all require copious quantities of water.
Fortunately we have a very deep artesian well which regardless of the drought supplies the necessary. The only problem is the time taken to go round all these wretched thirsty plants......

Tom

[Couya]

I know how much water plants can absorb!
It's an everyday task here in summer, indeed for short periods in previous years, I have felt the need to get the hose out twice a day. Right now however, we have no water at all in the building after something or other burst down in the basement. I get my basic aquatic needs from the fountain at the end of the road, two days already with a 10-litre can, but am certainly not going to carry enough water back to keep the plants happy too. As it happens, today is cool and misty, so they won't suffer too much.

Martin

[Kirbstone]

With our afternoon temps. still in the high teens it's hard to realise that we're nearly into November. The shortening days are the real tell-tale, of course and last w'end they put our clocks back for Winter. We've had no frosts to date, so there's no dramatic foliage colour to be seen here yet.

All the same I managed in a day-and-a-half to tame the top of our 8' high, 50 meter long half-circular beech hedge which hadn't been touched for several years. Instruments of choice...hand shears, pitchfork & big barrow.

Up on the ladder leaning into the hedge was nowhere for skirts, but for the barrowing I was free of prickles & out came the mini-skater!

Tom

[Couya]

I sometimes wish I still had a garden, with the immense pleasure involved in growing ones own things, and relaxing in the surroundings one has chosen -- not that I was ever as creative as Tom K, and my hectare in Ardeche, France was quite basic, flowering shrubs, fruit, veg and an occasional sheep or goat. No pool or boathouse -- hardly any water, in fact, which would be a problem.
But being reminded of the hard work involved with nasty things like brambles, I'll be content with the plants struggling to grow on my roof terrace, where the hardest job is holding the watering hose.

I have discovered I can make a panorama with my ipad, so thought I'd try one of my terrace, but at 10 Mega, I doubt it would come through here. It can however be seen on Facebook (Martin James Sheffield), but don't expect a work of art or even glimpse of a skirt.

M