Paddy Tobin, An Irish Gardener
Our garden, gardens visited, occasional thoughts and book reviews
One can create one's own pressures in life; it's in the mind! Even such a light and trivial matter as an occasional blog brings certain demands with it - though the demands are all from myself, I should say immediately. As I write regularly, I also feel the need/demand to write regularly though I generally … Continue reading The Demands of Writing – and Looking back!
It was a phrase we used, this "walking the property", when we lived in a previous house with a very small garden. It was in a suburban housing estate and our first home. We were so proud of it and loved our garden and would walk around to check on this and that plant most … Continue reading Walking the Property!
A few days of strong wind were the feature of the week. It stopped active gardening for two days, caused damage to a range of plants but, thankfully, nothing particularly serious. All will recover quickly and the garden will be none the worse for the experience. It was enough to dull my enthusiasm for the … Continue reading This Past Week.
Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb! A saying from childhood: The windy day is not the day for thatching – everything in its time, in other words. We might extend the saying today: Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb … ná lá na garraíadóireachta ach an oiread – nor the day … Continue reading Ní hé Lá na Gaoithe Lá na Scolb!
Over recent years I have been less diligent about certain maintenance routines on the two small lawns to the front of the house. These have always been referred to as the lawns - the square lawn and the round lawn - while, elsewhere in the garden we simply have grass, that is not maintained to … Continue reading Hairdresser to the…Grass!
It has been a good week! Ten weeks at home have passed. We haven't been out once and we have enjoyed it. Yes, there are certain things we miss: we haven't seen our grandchildren except via Skype or Facetime and we haven't had any of our days out - outings to visit gardens etc. However, … Continue reading Favourite Photographs from the Last Week.
“You’re at your happiest”, she said. I could only look at her with my usual non-comprehending face, mouth open, jaw dropped and blank expression. It’s a regular expression of mine. Mary makes statements, like the above, which leave me, well, wondering; wondering what’s coming next or wondering if she had said something before this that … Continue reading At My Happiest.
Yes, I went on a bee hunt. You know the story – Long wavy grass, deep cold river, thick oozy mud, big dark forest, snowstorm and…no, there was no narrow gloomy cave and no bear! I did say it was a bee hunt! It was a short hunt, just to the garden to a patch … Continue reading We’re Going on a Bee Hunt!
The body doesn't lie - yes, I'm getting older ("older" is older than simply being old!). There are a few aches and pains this morning, just in case my poor memory has allowed yesterday's activities to slip away into the mists of the past. Gardening is a gentle activity, perhaps not in the young garden … Continue reading The Body Aches in the Morning.
Yes, we stopped for afternoon tea today; something very different for us as we wouldn't usually do so. Now, before going further, let me comment on "afternoon tea". This is certainly a British, perhaps more especially, an English practice - tea in the late afternoon, 4 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time. I am of a generation … Continue reading We Stopped for Afternoon Tea.
Paddy Tobin, An Irish Gardener 