New Young Shrubs.

Shrub cuttings I successfully managed to to "strike" roots last summer.

It's been a fantastic week weather wise and I have been gardening every day.

I feel like I have had another week's holiday already. But here in West Cork instead of the Algarve.

I realised (knew) that I have far too many potted shrubs and perennials and really need to make more vegetable space.

I gave my brother 18 young shrub plants the other day for free.  He's going to top them up with good potting compost and feed them and grow them on in his greenhouse.

I successfully  propagated over fifty shrub cuttings in Autumn.  But you can make soft wood cuttings from Spring and all the way to Autumn when you can make soft and hardwood cuttings going into Winter.

In my photo there are Hydrangea,Hypericum and Fuschia shrubs.

I might chance a few crates of them at a carboot sale at the weekend.  It's forecast twenty percent rain.  The plants will like the rain but the punters might not?

I am sure I will find somewhere to plant them in the gardens or sell them again some time.

Why do car boot sales start so early in the morning?  Why can't  they start later and go on all afternoon?

Do you grow your own plants from cuttings?

"Am I Turning Into Eric Olthwaite?"

 I bought this spade at the carboot sale on Sunday;

A really "interesting" new spade

In Ingerland or Blighty they call this spade/shovel a " Grafter" in the building trade.  They were used by navvies to dig trenches for pipes and cables etc.  

It is quite old and I paid ten Euros for it,  I said to man: " It's a cracker". I sounded like Frank Carson if I had an Irish accent? Well he did live in Blackpool didn't he?🤔

I want the spade/shovel for planting shrubs.  It's such the right weight and strength for the job.  I think I could be turning into Eric Olthwaite:

 

Do you ever buy a tool that feels the right weight and just perfect for the job?  I am not talking about a jemmy for a cat burglar.

Isn't Michael Palin a national treasure? So was Anita Carey who played Eric's sister.  I loved her in: " I Didn't Know You Cared"

Making The Most Of The Dry Weather To Weed The Repurposed Raised Beds.

I think the true April showers begin this weekend and we won't  need to water our newly planted vegetables every day.

So I took the dry weather opportunity to hand weed the repurposed plastic oil drums and baths.  I used a little hand fork to dig over the soil after I had weeded them:

Leeks happily growing in the deep soil and fym filled raised beds.  

The plant beds are ex heating oil tanks that I cut in half and drilled drainage holes in them.  I don't think I will ever need to replace them unlike wooden raised beds.

Knee height or waist high gardening is the way to go for elderly gardeners and deep soil and fym filled beds give good drainage and depth for the vegetables roots systems.

Weeds appearing in the soil is a good indicator that it is warm enough to plant and sow and get good germination.

The last week's weather is like the darling buds of May when everything is in bloom.

I am really enjoying the great weather.  I just hope we don't  pay for it with a wet summer.

Are you busy weeding and sowing and planting in your veg plot or allotment?

Like I often write on here.  Contai er gardening  makes it possible to grow vegetables without the need of a veg plot or allotment.  You grow them even in a concrete yard.

There is still plenty of time to plant your spudatoes..

Old Cow Milk Jug Carboot Sale Find.

 Old cow milk jug ornament.

I presume you pour milk into the hole in its back and pour it out through the hole in its mouth?🤔

There are no makers marks under the cow.  Perhaps it is foreign?  Its definitely very old and another piece of pottery to add to our ever groaning shelves.

It was cold morning and you never know what you will find.

I much prefer browse buying than trying to sell stuff.  It was a lovely spring day.

Digging Over And Weeding A Veg Plot For A Nonagerian Vegetable Gardener.

 I know an elderly man in his early nineties who phones me on his mobile phone every year and asks me to dig over his veg plot on his smallholding a few miles from me.

He covered up the plot in March with great builders plastic sheeting and he rang me again this week to remove the plastic and dig it over and get it ready for planting.

I duly agreed to get up and carry out the task the next morning:

Just starting digging off any vegetation and digging over the plot.

Me digging over the plot.  There is a grass strip around the plot.

All dug over and ready to be planted.

The man told me he would never be able to carry on gardening if it wasn't for me digging it over and getting it ready for him.

I said: "Horses for courses".  We both agreed.

I went away in awe of someone who believes in keeping fit and active and doesn't use chemicals and grows naturally.  What an amazing gentleman.

They have put poultry bedding and manure on the veg plot for over twenty years.  I can honestly say I have never worked such nicer and friable soil.

I hope I am still active and gardening in my nineties.  Perhaps being 61 is still young? Apparently I am in the 60-69 young, old category.

Enjoy the sun this weekend and your garden or allotment?

Garden Drystone Wall Making And Planting Up With My Homegrown Perennials.

 I spent four days helping build some garden walls.  There was 3 of us constructing them with the help of a 3 ton digger to dig out the stones and topsoil and put any large stones into place.  Here's  a photo of one part of the wall:

A brand new drystone wall that looks like it's been there for hundreds of years.

It was backbreaking work yet it was worth it.  My builder friend should take the credit for most of the construction but I did fill every stone layer with stones and soil and laboured and shovelled all day.

Number one son mainly drove the digger bringing big stones and topsoil to us.

One day last week I got up at 6.30 in the morning and filled up our vehicle with plastic crates of my shrubs and perennials that I have grown and propagated myself.

I spent the morning planting shrubs, applying bark and planting the tops of the wall with Sedums, Geraniums, Osteospermums, ajuga..

It was four days hard work.  But when you stand back and admire our work I think we have created something natural and a beauty.

That was a political broadcast on behalf of the unofficial Drystone Wall Society UK and Eire.

A Bucket Of Poultry Manure For The Vegetables.

 A new brand to me but still the same stuff!

Being an organic or natural gardener.  I don't use man-made chemicals on the veg plot.  

I had a big pile of fym but it got spread over a stony area of a field to make top soil and eventually more pasture.

We have a big pile of this year's fym but it's far too fresh to use until Autumn.

So I purchased a bucket of poultry manure for 15 Euros at the weekend from a garden centre.  

I spread the poultry manure pellets on the onions, cabbages and potatoes 🥔 that we have recently planted.

It's smelly stuff and I would  recommend you wear gardening gloves when handling it.  It's  a lot easier than piking and barrowing tons of fym.

That's a job for the Autumn.

Does anyone else use poultry manure pellets?  Do you like them and do give your plants all the minerals and vitamins they require?