Hedging

ESCALLONIA FEELS THE PINCH

The cold spells this winter have taken it out on our Escallonia hedging. I tend to keep the hedges quite tidy around the garden and I cut them late in the season last year so the fresh new leaves had no real protection from the exposure to the elements.

Some of those around the back of the house I didn’t get around to pruning before the frost and snow and I thought these looked a lot better, as the older leaves seemed to offer a bit more resistance. That is until I cut them back this week. Underneath the older leaves, the young shoots have been totally destroyed by the cold and turned crinkly and brown. I’m not too worried though as I am sure the plants are resilient enough to sprout new leaves all over when the warmer weather comes.

I remember one time a neighbour of mine panicked when this happened way back in the early 90’s. The first thing he did was to hack back ten years of growth and reduce the hedge to a foot high. Yes it grew back again, but so did other hedges that were left alone that weren’t touched and they had the benefit of still being of a reasonable size to keep children’s footballs out of the gardens.

Cold weather cordyline crisis

The same issues have affected cordylines and yuccas around the peninsula too. Their tops and younger shoots have been destroyed completely by the frost and some are looking very sad. If they are mature it hopefully won’t kill the plant tops, it should just check them back. There can be three outcomes from this happening. The plant will die right back and new shoots will grow from below the base, the head of the plant will die and new offshoots will appear high up making the shrub lovely and bushy. The third outcome will probably mean a trip down to the garden centre to buy a new specimen. Some people tie up the plants with sacking to protect their tops, which in hindsight was a very good idea.

Dog resistant plants




Our veggie patch is well on the way to being ready for planting. Julie went in and did the initial weeding and I have gone around in her shadow and mounded up the soil in the beds to dry it off and warm it up in the sunshine. As usual I am totally averse to digging so I didn’t strain myself too much. The beds look good, all I have to do now is to find the piece of paper with our planting crop rotation on it to decide where to put things. The plan this year probably needs to incorporate vegetables that don’t get dug up by dogs. We still have the stray dog living with us. It has been very helpful rolling around in the soil where I am trying to work, breaking it into a fine tilth for me then dropping it all over the kitchen floor.

We got a custom made kennel from Mickey Donaghey ‘s Carry Garden Sheds in Drumfries and put it near the front door to keep it out of the house where it is systematically eating all of our shoes. I carefully made a nice bed for the dog out of a wool carpet and a foam pillow. Within an hour of laying it all out, everything is all over the decking in tiny pieces along with a pair of Wellingtons and an old shoe she found in the garage. But when she looks at you with those big brown eyes, what can you do?


COMPETITION TIME





I have a bit of an offer for you this week. It is a free draw to win an acupressure mat. I have been using an acupressure mat, (also known as the ‘Bed of Nails’) for a while now and taking time out every day to relax on the 6000 sharp needles. It all sounds a bit bizarre, and I suppose it is, but it seems to have improved my mood, which the family will agree is always a good thing.

Ease the pain
The mats are supposed to help other symptoms too apart from gardener’s back Reports say they can be effective for stress, depression, insomnia, poor circulation and allergies. It works by releasing endorphins in the body, so just to let you know it’s VERY prickly. Restex Bedding in Letterkenny and Buncrana are also stocking the mats if you wanted to see them before you entered the free draw

To enter the FREE prize draw to win a mat costing €48, go to the shakti.ie website and answer a simple question. Ends March 31st 10. Good Luck!