Heywood Gardens slideshow

I've selected the best photos from my recent excursion to Heywood Gardens and put them up on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMrVTC2zI9U&feature=em-upload_owner

Lutyens Garden, Heywood.

Went back to Heywood Gardens in County Laois this week. The formal garden (not normally my cup of tea) was designed by Lutyens and said to be planted by Gertrude Jekyll. Faded grandeur wherever you look, its a wonderful place, especially mid-week when you are likely to be the only visitor. Here are some photos. Sadly the turtle fountains weren't switched on but still lovely. The holes in the circular wall give views of the countryside.

Willow water rooting liquid - free and effective

I've used this successfully in the past. Water your cuttings with willow water for guaranteed rooting. Any type of willow will work.

Make your own willow water:
Easily root azaleas, lilacs, summersweets (Clethra spp.) and roses by gathering about two cups of pencil-thin willow branches cut to 1-3 inch lengths. Steep twigs in a half-gallon of boiling water overnight. Refrigerated liquid kept in a jar with a tight-fitting lid will remain effective up to two months. (Label jar so you won’t confuse it with your homemade moonshine.) Overnight, soak cuttings you wish to root. Or water soil into which you have planted your cuttings with the willow water. Two applications should be sufficient. Some cuttings root directly in a jar of willow water. Make a fresh batch for each use. You can also use lukewarm water and let twigs soak for 24-48 hours.

Source: http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm

Why the French should run the world

Tanguy de Toulgoët  runs the Dunmore Country School in Durrow, County Laois. Spurning received wisdom, as only the French will, Tanguy has created a truly French vegetable (and flower) garden. No raised beds, no neat edges, very little watering, just hoeing and a democratic planting scheme where flowers nestle with vegetables and bees swarm all over both. He keeps bees (in the French style of course) and they feed all summer on his mixed garden.

The Goresbridge Community Gardeners visited recently for an interesting guided tour of what we are doing wrong (well that's how it felt).

Drills, familiar to potato growers, are used for all and sundry. The polytunnel is stuffed with 40 odd varieties of tomatoes and barely has room for a gardener to get in amongst them.

He doesn't dig. His compost languishes under cover for 4 years before being used and includes weeds and everything else - all broken down by Mother Nature into useable compost.

If you can get there, it's worth arranging a visit. Be prepared to be told in no uncertain French terms that this is the way it should be done. It works for the French and it works in Ireland too.

http://www.dunmorecountryschool.ie

Hanging basket tomatoes (indoors)

I've got 'Tumbler' tomatoes in a hanging container in the poly. They've flowered and are setting fruit. Great for a conservatory or porch etc...

See this comparison trial of various hanging basket tomatoes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/5054902/Best-tomatoes-for-hanging-baskets.html

Homemade coldframes

After languishing in the polytunnel, plants will not be prepared for life outside the tunnel. To develop strong stems and tolerance to winds & lower temperatures, plant need to be acclimatised more gradually than a straight transplant. Cuttings also benefit from shelter whilst developing roots and a coldframe is the ideal halfway house. Often overlooked but easily self-made, coldframes must have an opening lid so you can vary the exposure to the elements and close up at night if frost threatens. Apart from that they can be all sorts of shapes and sizes. Discarded wooden-framed windows form the perfect lid. Don't use double-glazed sealed units as they are too flimsy once the aluminium frame is removed.

Weed barrier is placed on the base, together with gravel if you have it. I also dose mine with slug pellets as birds don't go in the cold frames but slugs do.

In the photo, my original homemade cold frame, with rolling polythene cover is shown on with a newer one made from polytunnel plastic over a timber frame. The timber one had the inside painted white. The plastic-covered design is ideal if you don't yet have a polytunnel. Make sure it doesn't get too hot in sunny weather by adjusting the hinged lid

Also shown if some of the early (for this year) polytunnel plants. Hanging baskets and window boxes or containers can be grown at an accelerated rate in the polytunnel and then acclimatised outside during warm days until all threat of frost has gone (usually end May in lowland SE Ireland where I live).

Polytunnel crisis..

The polytunnel is teaming with seedlings, cuttings and bulbs, all waiting to go outside. We are still getting frosty nights so will hold off for a while before sowing outside. The photo shows only some of what is in the poly. The coldframes are also full. So much for "global warming"!