Kitchen Garden Revival

"The biggest reason to have a kitchen garden is for your own happiness" writes author, Nicole Johnsey Burke, and I suggest that the best place to start for those who wish to have a kitchen garden is with this book. There is an approach in this book seldom, if ever, seen elsewhere - that the …

Six on Saturday, 27th June 2020

It has been a busy week in the garden. We tackled the pruning of three large hornbeam trees, Carpinus betulifolius, which had begun to spread a little too much and overshadow a large area making the ground beneath bone dry and a difficult place for other plants to grow. I suppose it is the way …

The Pyramid on the Roundabout.

It has been a summer of wildflower good news stories, particularly so regarding orchids. There were reports of Green-winged orchids appearing on the grass verges of a housing estate in the midlands when the local authority stopped mowing. Bee orchids appeared in large numbers on roadside verges in Co. Cork, again when the grass was …

She is an Academic Bee.

She came late to education but has certainly made an impact now that she is here. Already, she has been feted in local press and on the national airwaves with a special appearance on the main evening news. We cannot begrudge her these moments in the limelight for, truth be told, she is at present …

A Dirty Day!

I've heard it said of a spot in Co. Clare that, regarding the weather, they say that if you can't see the local hill it is raining; and, if you can see the hill, it is going to rain. We had such a day here today, a dirty day, a day when the rain clung …

Briefly, and in the Best Possible Taste!

I'm reading Kitchen Garden Revival (Cool Springs Press) by Nicole Johnsey Burke at the moment and I have been strongly struck by two of the central planks in her approach to kitchen gardening. The first, but not the main thought in my mind at the moment, is that the kitchen garden - and I imitate …

They Built a Bridge.

A visit to an external hard drive this morning brought up photographs from ten years ago when the new bridge close to our house was built over the River Suir. To locals it will probably be the "new bridge" for some years yet but it has been The River Suir Bridge and now, officially, The …

Six on Saturday

This is my first time joining this weekly posting of six photographs from the garden. I have seen it regularly on a number of other blogger's posts but hadn't felt inclined to participate but, why not! Phymosea umbellata, native to central and southern America. It's a member of the mallow family. We grow it in …

Those Bees in Tramore!

There have been a number of good-news stories from around the country this summer about native orchids. Green-winged orchids appeared on the grass verges of a housing estate in the midlands when the local authority stopped cutting the grass there. Perhaps, some of the residents might have complained of the less than usual tidiness of …

A Day Out…No, A Day Back.

We had to break from the cocoon of the Coronavirus Covid19 on Tuesday last for we needed salt for our water-treatment system. It meant going to the Co-op store in Kilmeadan and we were a little nervous about doing this. As it turned out, we were able to place our order and pay for it …