Autumn Bulb Planting

Is it just me or does anyone else think it’s been a bit of a strange year regards to the weather? Most of the trees have had an autumn look to them all summer and, some fruit has flourished while others were non-existent and I have no idea what the season is in the vegetable garden. We’re still waiting for our first courgette and I was busy last week chasing our pea and bean structures (complete with peas and beans) down the road in the strong winds. The cabbages have gone brown and I don’t think we got one strawberry. None of these issues are any fault of mine of course; thankfully I have the weather to blame.
Time is moving on mind you and it’s now time for us to be thinking about the seasons to come. If we plant our spring bulbs now they will get a great start for next year.

Planting spring bulbs

The bulbs of spring flowering tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus are planted during the autumn months of September, October and November. Select good firm, disease free bulbs. Plant the bulbs three times deeper than the greatest diameter of the bulb. For example, crocus bulbs that usually have about a one-inch diameter should be planted three inches deep. The bulbs will grow and flower best in well-drained soil. Hyacinths and tulips can be left a while until planting as they flower later in the spring, so they can go in before the first heavy frosts in winter. The bulbs need to develop a root system to take up water and nutrients from the soil, so early planting is recommended for all of the others.

Tools of the trade

One of the best tools to use to plant your bulbs is a spade. (If you were to dig a separate hole for each bulb you will still be in the garden by the time they are in flower!) Pick an area where you want to plant the daffodils and did out a comma shape or something curvy, a straight line can look a bit regimental. When the shape has been dug out, stand with your back to the hole and throw the bulbs over your shoulder. If they haven’t ended up in next-door’s garden you should have the bulbs settled nicely in a naturalized manner. These can be covered over with soil. Try to keep the “pointy” end facing upwards as this is where the leaves and flowers come from. This isn’t really critical though as the bulbs have the ability to set themselves upright underneath the soil

Wood Shavings

If the ground is wet work some sand or wood shavings around the bulbs as they mostly originate from dry soils and tend to rot if they sit in water for any length of time. Put bunches of bulbs of the same colour for maximum impact. If you are doing more than one patch let a few of the next batch of different colours mingle at the edges. The other option is to go for a mass of colour. Plant the bulbs in layers, the largest ones go in first then throw on some soil and then smaller bulbs can then be planted. Try to go for bulbs that flower at the same time so you aren’t left with yellowing leaves when the later flowers come out.
If you fancy planting bulbs like crocus into the grass then dig up a sod and tuck the bulbs underneath and replace the sod. In spring they will come right through the grass and look as though they have always been there. The same can be done with daffodils but they will need to be planted a bit deeper. If they are too shallow rodents can munch away at the bulbs, the flowers tend to be smaller and if there is a heavy frost you can say goodbye to them altogether. The rule of thumb is the depth of soil above the top of the bulb should be about twice the width of the bulb.

After Planting

After planting you can sprinkle a little bonemeal or other slow acting fertilizer over the area, this will help them establish in spring. While the plant food is in your hand it would be a good idea to give any other bulbs a feed (if you can remember where they’re planted!) Failing this you can wait until spring when the tips of the leaves start to push through the ground and then feed with a fast release nitrogen fertilizer, I have my comfrey juice made up ready.

Old Gardens

Renovating old gardens.

As satisfying as it is planning and planting a new garden, there’s something magical about unearthing an old garden with lots of history. I imagine it’s similar to renovating an old house, peeling back the layers. Sometimes it could be old cracks and falling plaster, but other times it can be unearthing gems such as old antique fireplaces or hidden signs of how things used to be. The garden I am working on at the moment has had its fair share of history and stories.
Originally built in the mid 1930’s, this small town garden has been left to grow wild since the previous owner of fifty years passed away. The garden is divided by a solid concrete path with railway type tracks running the length of them, again made out of mass concrete. At the side of the path are small areas of grass and sprawling roses that spike your arm as you walk up the four steps from the kitchen. The garden hasn’t been cut back for about three years so I can see at a glance that cotoneaster is starting to take over and there are a few trees that will get very big very soon, especially an ash tree covering the washing line and a sycamore that will send it’s helicopter seeds all over this garden and the neighbours every autumn unless it is removed all together. I can also see a small area where a glasshouse used to stand and a small patio area just large enough to set a table and chairs. Surrounding this are old herbs, sage, curry plant and a dead basil tree, the frost from last year has forced another casualty

It’s only the first day I have seen this small overgrown garden so I won’t be doing anything too drastic straight away. First of all I will just spend time in the garden. This standing around looking into space thinking is what used to get me into so much bother both at school and when I worked for other people, it was always assumed I was “slacking off work” when I stared out of the window or into space, when I was actually using my imagination. Who am I kidding, I was slacking off work. I still am probably, but now I don’t have anyone telling me off.
There are moments of pure inspiration though and these can come to anyone at anytime, so I don’t want to force the issue. The garden will let me know what to do, but I must make a start, well Julie is, as I am thinking about things she just gets on her boots and starts clearing the area around the clothesline. Practicality sometimes outweighs artistic temperament- if you don’t have anywhere to hang the washing, it could ruin your day.

My mind wanders back to 1997 when I answered a job advertisement from a stately home in Edenderry, County Offaly. They were looking for someone to lead a team of gardeners and landscapers to renovate their 2 acre walled garden and bring it back to its former Victorian splendour of grape houses and melon pits.
Ballindoolin Walled Garden
The walled garden was created with the house in 1822. It was built at the beginning of the modern garden era, as we know it today, before then natural landscapes were popular around large country houses.

In 1822 Scot J. C. Loudon published his "Encyclopedia of Gardening" containing instructions for all the various garden elements which became fashionable in the 19th century and all these elements can be seen at Ballindoolin; the rockery, shrubbery, glasshouse, rose garden and massed carpet bedding which lent itself to the planting of parterres in a formal manner.

The 18th century landscape gardener Lancelot "Capability" Brown designed "natural" landscapes by using clumps and belts of trees to enhance the natural countryside. This can be seen in Ballindoolin looking West from the Iron Age Mound on the nature trail. The woods were planted around this time and it is possible that the folly (Dove Côte) was built as a ruin to compliment the natural wild look of the landscape. The ha-ha or sunken ditch which surrounds the land at the front of Ballindoolin House is a barrier to livestock but gives the illusion of continuous fields stretching into the distance from the front door of the house

After the First World War labour became increasingly expensive, and many beautiful gardens became neglected due to decreasing family fortunes, and large scale planting of shrubs as ground cover to reduce maintenance became popular. The Ballindoolin gardens shared the same sad fate, over the years the walled garden and pleasure gardens became almost completely overgrown and deserted.
Restoration

In 1996, Finola Reid the co-ordinator of the Great Gardens of Ireland Restoration Programme, first visited the overgrown gardens at Ballindoolin. One year and much soul searching later the decision was made to apply for assistance. It was a big step to take for the family living in the house because one of the stipulations was that the house should be open to the public. Ballindoolin's only other means of income was from farming and the anticipated earnings from agriculture didn't look very promising in Ireland in 1997.
The refurbishments didn’t stop at the garden. Ballindoolin House now has a museum, enclosed children’s animal farmyard, nature trails, a lime kiln and craft shops.

I didn’t get the position but I keep a keen interest in the gardens development and pop in occasionally to see the family and stand and stare into space. I am still staring, albeit on a greatly smaller scale.

We're Back

My gardening.ie website was shut down a couple of weeks ago. It’s all very technical, but stems from me getting a “budget” web hosting company to put the site through some years ago. They promised “unlimited” everything and a 24 hour helpline, all for about 2 euro a week. It all seemed too good to be true, and it was. Hidden somewhere in all of the small print was something that referred to the CPU usage. I’m not sure what this is exactly but a quick glance at the search engines on the computer tells me it’s either a Central Processing Unit or Cold Pad Underwear, whichever one it was I was using too much, and without warning the site disappeared off the internet. It was only the patience of my trusty friend Adam Porter from Porter Computer Repairs in Buncrana who painstakingly compressed all of the information in the site to 1GB and transferred it to another hosting company. It’s probably the same sort of thing as me stuffing an acre of grass clippings into one dustbin liner bag.

Because the site was off for nearly two weeks, all of the work I did in the past getting recognised on the web seemed to disappear. Before the “Great Crash of 2011” I was getting up to 2500 page hits a day from gardeners all over the world. This has now dropped to about 40. How soon we are forgotten! Hits are rising again and I’m sure I’ll be back up there on the top of Google shortly.

Questions and Answers
As soon as the site came back I had a few gardening questions to answer. Some of the issues raised this week show that neighbourly disputes with boundaries can get very serious and out of control. Most of the time boundary problems can be sorted out amicably. It’s only is extreme circumstances that you will need to seek legal help.

Before you read them though I must stress that it isn’t me giving the advice to the problems so take no responsibility for their accuracy. Ah, the joys of the legal system.

Neighbours tree causing damage.

Q. The roots of our neighbour's tree have damaged our side path and garage wall. They have only been living there for a year and a half and obviously did not plant the tree.
1. Who is responsible for repairing our path and wall?
2. We have asked them to take the tree down and they are considering this. However if they refuse, we will need to think about cutting the roots and erecting a root barrier. If they agree to this, who is responsible for paying and which side of the fence should they be cut from?
A. They are responsible for the abatement of nuisance after you have established (proved) the tree is implicated and served formal notice. The abatement of nuisance may fall short of felling the tree, they probably only need to cut the roots from their side. The neighbours or their insurance company are only responsible for damage that occurs AFTER you have served formal notice, so right now the costs of repairs and rectification fall on you.

Installing a root barrier is your choice and your expense. I would stress here that dealing with issues such as this will best be done with the neighbour directly.

Transparent Hedge

Q. We have a very long privet hedge down one side of our property. The neighbours hacked the hedge back to the very edge of the boundary. My neighbour asserts that it is his right to cut it back to the boundary. However we are now left with a hedge that I think is completely died. There are no leaves on it and it is completely see-through I can basically see directly into my neighbour’s garden and he can see into to our garden. Before he cut it back we couldn’t see anything through the hedge.
A. Your neighbour had every right to cut back the hedge to the boundary because it’s trespassing. However Privet is tough as old boots and will quickly re-grow.

Invasive Cows

Q. My garden backs onto a field where the farmer keeps cows... I have a 4 ft wooden fence along the back of my garden, but the cows are now leaning over to eat my shrubs and plants resulting in the fence being broken. I contacted the farmer who told me that it was my responsibility and that I shouldn’t plant anything in my garden! I cannot afford to keep replacing the fence every summer and wondered if anyone knew of farmers obligations for his livestock etc.

Any helpful advice would be most gratefully received!

A. All livestock owners have a duty to retain their animals. The farmer could install a barbed wire fence back from your wooden fence to retain his livestock. Other ideas could be to make the fence higher with wire so it keeps them from nibbling your shrubs but doesn't spoilt he lovely view of the cattle, barbed wire might be a bit excessive. If you have the room try growing an attractive hawthorn hedge, one of the best deterrents you can get.

You are entitled to grow what you like in your own garden by the way...