Big changes at Gortnalee

 Its been a bit all over the place this past week at Gortnalee. The farmer next door had the hedge that forms our boundary cut back a few weeks ago and it was clear that the hedge had been completely destroyed by brambles. Last year we had a situation where two of the original blackthorns broke off at the root - they were competely dead.  Most of the other original blackthorns were also failing. 

Puss kept a close eye on the digger man 

There was nothing to be done to revive hedge plants over 100 years old! The farmer decided to remove the whole hedge and the bank replacing it with a stock-proof fence instead. I am really ambivelant about it all. The hedgerow was such a haven for wildlife even if it was a nightmare to manage. 

In some ways it feels like how the garden was when we first came here - the wind whistling through and the whole place feeling really open and bare. However, it is only one side of the garden - the rest of it is unchanged. I have already planted the boundary now all I need is the patience to wait for the new shrubs to grow.

I have extended the Laurel hedge down past the seating area we call the Coffee Corner so that it will once more be a sheltered spot to sit with the best view of the garden - it will just take a while! The rest of the boundary border is Escalonias that I tried to grow there when the hedgerow was behind them and they are already looking happier to have space and air! 

The lower garden is still a work-in-progress but already I am making plans ....

And there was I thinkg the garden was NEARLY finished ........

Project almost complete

Getting rid of the boardwalk has been a heartbreak for me as it was a real feature of the garden. Here is how it looked when the boardwalk was removed!

The first stage was to map out the new path for what will become the bamboo walkway. It was a terrible job because the bamboo roots had penetrated under the boardwalk and didn't want to be removed! The path builder had recently aquired a mattock and it proved to be the perfect tool to clear the ground but it was really hard work!

The new pathway follows a similar route to the boardwalk and will eventually have the edges planted up with low-growing plants.

I still need to access the lower area with the wheelbarrow and the raised beds where the only edible plants live!

There is still a bit of work to do - The pathway to the compost area needs a bit more work.

I had some help from a great teenager the past couple of days - he perservered through hail rain and storm to barrow tons of gravel for me to finish off the groundworks of the replacement for the defunct boardwalk!

Here you can see the great job my helper has done in refreshing the whole area! I'm sure he didn't count the barrow loads but I bet he slept without rocking that night!

There's a Project in progress

 I mentioned that the Boardwalk that was a feature of the garden has had to be removed because the timbers supporting it were showing serious rot. The project to replace is is well under way but for the moment I don't want to reveal too much until it is finished!

So here is a bit of a sneak preview - these hollow blocks are part of the solution but they still have to be filled with compost and planted. There are a lot of them! I originally thought I would plant them with sedums, campanula and other rockery-type plants but now that the project is progressing I have had a change of heart. 

I heard mention of the benefit of planting Dahlia from seeds and it occurs to me that these pretty and floriferous plants would look good in the blocks - there won't be enough soil to maintain them for more than a season but the just might fill the bill.

When I spotted these Cosmos seeds I remembered that last year all I had of these great plants were a few casual self-seeders so it is time to replenish them!

When I buy seeds it always seems to be a major task to start them off - and I am not known for my success in this area! This seed tray was a Lidl purchase ten years ago - some years it doesn't get the dust brushed off, but this year it is back in action! It took a total of 15 minutes to fill them with compost and then I brought the planter indoors. Less than 10 minutes saw the two packets of seeds were planted and the lot set up!!!! Not really a major task after all! 

So for further developments watch this space!!!!

I'm sharing this with my garden.ie friends and also on my Facebook account.

Clearing up for Spring

I have been beavering away clearing the borders in readiness for Spring and it has been a pretty slow process - some of the borders took days to clear so I had an idea on how to speed up the procedure. Yesterday I tried it out and I am delighted with the results. This is the area before I started.

My old process was to cut back debris, then carefully weed the area thoroughly. The border being worked on looked wonderful for a couple of weeks but then lost its appeal as the weeds came back. I know I was probably the only person who noticed these weeds, but I couldn't help but feel discouraged. This is an example!

Yesterday I was just about to start the borders at the end of the garden, the Hot Border and the borders round the stream, and looking at the extent of this area I was disheartened. So I took a deep breath, and got cracking - cuttting back everything in site, but ignoring the weeds!!!! 

And guess what? It looks grand!!!! Yes, I know when I look closely I can identify the great crop of bittercress, and the fairly widespread thistle seedlings, but when I walk down that path today it looks neat and ready for Spring! Here is another angle!

I guess we gardeners can be divided into the micro-managers who obsess over every weed, and the Big Picture people who just want the garden to have an overall cared-for appearance! And some of us (like me) swing between both styles!