My garden a year on

robineire · Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 4:43 pm Post subject: My garden a year on

This is my second summer in Derrykyle, last year was hot early and wet for the rest of the year, this has been the opposite we had a very cold spring here with all the bushes and plants about a month late but after a wonderful few weeks of weather the gardens are looking great.
Its hard to keep up with the three acres I have tamed, a bit, out of the six that make up my grounds here but actually when I take a walk into the untamed bits its great to see a mother Mallard duck with 8 ducklings doing her thing unpestered and a pair of what I think may be red kites, but seeing there are only 7 breeding pairs in Ireland they could be sparrows or swans, I'm not a twitcher I'm afraid.
Over the last couple of months one roddy after another has come into bloom there have been whites, pinks, purples, reds a light blue one and an orange one and they seem to be staggered so that when one ends another is in full bloom. I cut back a lot of bushes the first year I was here and they all seem to have been revitalised for it as this years blooms are very impressive.
[/img]

kindredspirit · Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 5:25 pm Post subject:

Very nice. The gardens are not lost after all. Smile

Br1an · Rank attained: Hazel Tree Joined: 21 Feb 2008 Posts: 9

That looks like such a wonderful place.

I hope you remember to take time out to enjoy it, which is easy to forget when you get bogged down in maintenance.

Sive · Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:38 am Post subject:

Stunning !

Good guy · Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:54 pm Post subject:

Wonderful!

robineire · Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:47 pm Post subject: The midgies

I really enjoy the garden my only problem is the midgies, because I have a lot of trees around and the ponds the whole place is infested with the wee darlings until November. I have thinned out a lot of the trees that were suffering from overcrowding and standing dead ones and there is a bit more breeze through the garden than last summer but they are still woeful.

Not sure if anyone that reads this blog has experience of the C02 emitting midge machines as I was thinking of investing in one but don't want to waste my money as there are plenty of other jobs needing the cash injection.

My next project is to create a lawn between the front gate and the house which is too bumpy for the lawnmower at the moment and is long grass, weeds and the odd bush. I have been taking photos throughout the year and some of the highlights are on picassa https://plus.google.com/112827770475239457171/posts?hl=en

robineire · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:07 pm Post subject: Fourth Spring in Derrykyle

Well this is our fourth spring here in Derrykyle and there is quite a noticeable difference to the place. Most noticeable is the tree thinning that has taken place and the lack of bramble bushes now.
I had a horrendous time last year with gales knocking over about 45 of the softwoods here but actually their falling has worked out well with more of a breeze now the midgies are not half as bad as they were and I have firewood for years to come.
This last few months I have had helpers from a website called Helpx staying with us and helping me in the garden five hours a day five days a week. It has worked out well as I ripped my Achilles tendon off last December and was in a cast and orthopaedic boot for the first part of the year and not up to fitness until the Autumn.
I borrowed an excavator to dig up the fallen tree roots and ended up doing a lot of other work with it too like dredging a bit of the pond and creating three large rockeries. Photos to follow Smile

tagwex · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:48 pm Post subject:

Looking forward to seeing those photos as I was following your progress with interest.

robineire · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:00 pm Post subject: Some Spring pics from my garden

robineire

I had about 45 trees come down in the February storms of 2014 and it has taken me a year to get them logged and sorted out here partially due to injuring my Achilles tendon and being in a cast for months, anyway the photos below are some of the devastation and clearing.

The bottom couple of shots is an area I have cleared and aim to put a wild flower meadow in. I built a couple of rockeries with the stones I dug up when uprooting the stumps. Planted heathers and some other rockery plants on them so it should be a bonny wee area when things come into bloom.

tagwex · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 11:10 pm Post subject:

By contrast the area beyond your boundaries seem so bleak. A lot of hard graft gone on there, well done and it's looking good.

Good guy · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 11:29 pm Post subject:

You have done a huge amount of work and the results are well worth it. I'm looking forward to more photos as the year progresses. Well done.

OscarKane · Guest

Your garden looks so nice.