SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Laura, Seon, Mary, Brendan and Rose collecting blooms for Daffodil Day in Buncrana

Spring has certainly sprung and Inishowen is buzzing with the sound of lawn mowers and strimmers. The grass is growing quickly now and the familiar spring flowering shrubs such as the yellow Forsythia and pink Ribes are cheering up the garden alongside the daffodils and emerging tulips. If you are planning a new garden or looking after your established plot, the Inishowen Independent is here to help. Check out the local suppliers and follow our top tips for successful growing.

TOP GARDENING TIP 1
There’s no need to be too tidy under hedges; keep a rough area to encourage wildlife. Keep a pile of logs or branches to rot down and an uncut grass area with a few weeds.


PLANNING A GARDEN

Spring is in the air and our thoughts are moving to our gardens. Most of us have little difficulty watering our plants, finding a patch for the sweet peas or mowing the grass. When it comes to the planning of a garden though, even the most seasoned gardener can break out into a sweat.

Some of the best-designed gardens in the country have come, not from professional training, but by trial and error. Over the years dedicated gardeners will plant shrubs, lay paths, create herbaceous borders and put in water features. Then the next year everything could change. The garden is a living thing and like all of us, changes all the time (hopefully for the better)There are as many designs for gardens as there are gardeners and some people wouldn’t dream of doing anything in the garden unless a professional landscaper was present. A garden designer could save you a lot of time and money, as they know the pitfalls of poor planning in the garden, they will listen to your ideas and then put them into a workable plan.

If you choose to go it alone you can create your own ideas. Put them down on paper first. If they don’t work you can try something different. You can start on a small area of the garden first, maybe a flower border or raised bed for some salad vegetables. If you decide to get in the big boys or hire machinery to get the garden levelled, check out the local hire shops. Remember to have fun.


TOP TEN FLOWERING SHRUBS FOR SPRING
All of these shrubs do exceptionally well in Inishowen. Check out the fine examples at your local garden centre.

Azalea. Avaliable in many varieties and colours. The Japanese hybrids are wonderful when grown together.
Berberis. Spiky evergreen plants look great all year round.
Chaenomeles japonica. Japanese Flowering Quince. The flowers are large pink, red or white and the shrub produces quince fruit that can be made into jelly.
Forsythia. Beautiful yellow flowers emerge before the leaves emerge.
Hammemelis intermedia. Witch hazel flowers before the leaves in yellows or oranges clustered down the twigs.
Lilac. Lilacs have a strong scent that carries quite a distance. Although classed as a tree they make a fine addition to the spring collection.
Mahonia aquifolium . Spiky evergreen shrubs with spiky leaves and yellow flowers.
Ribes sanguineum. Pink flowering currant.
Rhododendron. Evergreen shrubs range from 30cm to 10 metres. Early varieties are in full bloom now.
Viburnum Pieris japonica. An evergreen with white or pink flowers in tumbling clusters of bell shapes. The new leaves are a strong red colour.


TOP GARDENING TIP 2
Take your time removing winter mulch and cutting back evergreen plants such as lavender. There’s still time for a cold spell and there could still be a frost.



IN THE FLOWER GARDEN

Now is the time to:

Leave daffodil foliage intact for at least six weeks after flowering to regenerate bulbs, so they'll bloom again next year.
Sprinkle organic fertiliser around clumps of tulips.
Fill up those gaps in flower beds with primulas and polyanthus.
Prune forsythia and flowering currants as soon as flowers have faded.
Plant out groups of gladioli and begonias in borders.
Sow sweet peas directly outside at the base of obelisks or supports.
Plant out perennials in groups of three, five or seven. Odd numbers look better.
Sow hardy annual flowers directly into beds.

IN THE VEGGIE PATCH
Now it’s time to...

Sow seeds of dwarf and climbing beans in deep pots or cardboard toilet roll tubes filled with compost.
Plant new asparagus beds, they will take time to mature,but it’s worth the wait.
Continue planting potatoes, shallots and onion sets.
Feed spring cabbage with a high-nitrogen fertiliser.
Feed fruit trees and bushes.
Check out the garden centres to see what veggie plants are for sale.

IN THE GARDEN
Now it’s time to...

Check tree ties are not too tight or cutting into bark, and loosen if necessary
Cut back any overgrown ivy, it can be a pest on trees and take the plaster off of your walls.
Freshen up the garden by pressure washing patios and driveways.
Snip plain green shoots off variegated shrubs Spread a compost mulch around border plants to suppress weeds, grass cuttings can be used too.
Put pond pumps and fountains back into pools, thoroughly cleaning filters first.
The ground is drying so you can lay turf or sow new lawns from seed .
Clean out bird baths and top up with fresh water.

TOP GARDENING TIP 3
Work with nature. Grow native plants, which will thrive in Inishowen. Ask your local garden centre about the best plants for your garden

TOP GARDENING TIP 4

Don’t become green with envy when you see your neighbour with the latest gadget…. This year, less is more….



How to be an ethical gardener
It’s more important than ever to be environmentally conscious in the garden. Here are a few ideas to help you along the way.

Avoid nitrogen-rich fertilisers - they require large amounts of fossil fuel to make and emit nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than CO2
Add homemade compost (about a bucketful per square metre) to boost the amount of water and nutrients that soil can.
Go manual - buy a push mower and a watering can.
Choose sustainable wood for your garden furniture.
When you're paving, consider lower-emission alternatives to concrete. Made from recycled and reclaimed materials, they have catchy names like pulverised fuel ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag.
Get low-carbon outdoor lighting, such as solar lights or LEDs
Recycle wastewater from the kitchen and bathroom for use in the garden
Discover plants that can withstand long spells of heat, including French honeysuckle, Lavender, Iris, and Salvia, and water infrequently but thoroughly, at the base of the plant
Avoid patio heaters

KEEPING CHICKENS

Photo: Shane from Chic-hens makes keeping chickens easy with his purpose built houses

LAY A LITTLE EGG FOR ME….
Noeline, our friend who runs Mayo Animal Welfare is up visiting and we’re wandering around the garden looking for a suitable place to keep some chickens. “The time has come when we need to be harvesting more than just vegetables” I tell her.

Noeline has some fabulous free rangers herself and our lads thought they were being given chedder cheese in a bowl when we handed them some scrambled eggs made from one of the eggs. The colour was so rich and golden. If you have ever had a wholesome egg from a free range chicken, you will know that the extra work needed to produce them is well worth the effort.

Noeline is a dab hand at looking after birds as she has been rescuing all types of flying animals for years. “There are certain key things to take care of first.” She begins. “Keeping chickens is one of the fastest growing hobbies in Ireland and it’s not surprising. Get yourself some good ones and they are productive, friendly pets which give you a regular supply of fresh eggs and liven up your garden with their antics.”

Are they expensive to keep? I ask Noeline as she looks at the possibility of converting the shed into a chicken house. “They are relatively inexpensive to keep but they need a little attention to keep them in good condition.” Noeline continues, “you do need to look at how many birds you can keep though.”

COMPANY
“A solitary hen won't be a happy bird, so you should have at least two. Four to six will supply the average family with an ample supply of fresh eggs and you could keep this many in a house approximately 1.2 by 1.8m (6 by 4ft)”

SPACE
“Chickens’ housing requirements are quite simple as they will spend most of their time outside, unless they’re laying eggs, sleeping or sheltering from bad weather. You can either build your own house from wood or buy a readymade one. I tell Noeline about a local supplier called Shane Houston from Chic-hens in Carndonagh, his designs have the shed raised up off of the ground so the chickens can run about underneath, which will be ideal for people with limited space. “That sounds ideal.” She agrees.

INSIDE THE HOUSE
“So what about inside the house?” I ask. “The basic requirements inside a chicken house are a perch to sleep on and sufficient nesting boxes - at least one per four chickens, as they will take it in turns to lay. You should also consider how easy it will be to clean and how easy it will be to move, if you make your own give yourself space to get in and out to clean.” She advises.

OUTSIDE
“For safety and security when you are not around you may need a run for the birds. I have a netted area that also has a secure cover of netting too.” Noeline and I are walking towards the lawn to see if there would be more suitable. “The run will need to be large enough for the hens to rummage about and flap their wings, so the larger the area the better if it going to be permanent and unable to move. Make sure the netting is dug into the ground though as foxes can tunnel under it.

Clean ground is also very important – any area that the birds are running on can soon become spoiled. Ideally you could make a run and house that you can move around, a bit like a rabbit run.” Noeline suggests. “Moving them around will provide the chickens with a different outside space and keep them occupied.” Noeline projects and looks at me winking, “they like to be kept busy.” Then adds as a caution “Whatever you do, the run and the house should both be secure against vermin and predators including foxes, badgers and rats.

FEEDING
I would be a bit reluctant to put the run on the lawn as it would deprive the lads of football so we head off into the undergrowth to look at more areas. “Do you feed the chickens your leftovers?” I ask. “I do, within reason, I give them a balanced chicken feed, either in pellet or mash form, this contains all the minerals, calcium and protein they need but I do give them treats too.”

TREATS
“If you want to give your birds an occasional treat, avoid any salty, sugary or fatty foods which can play havoc with their stomach and their health overall. Stick to wheat and fresh vegetables.
This also provides you with the chance to add a little cod liver oil to their diet, just mix in a very small amount with the wheat to help the birds to feather and keep them in general good health. A supply of grit is also essential as it helps hens break down and digest their food and make those lovely shells.”

Noleline has found just the right spot for the birds next to the outside tap. “You should provide chickens with a constant supply of clean water, so use a poultry font drinker. Water should be changed on a daily basis and kept outside the poultry shed but under cover to avoid wild bird droppings. Drinkers which are used inside can cause damp which is a health hazard for yourself and the birds.” She advises. “By having the run near the water supply, it will never be an inconvinence to refresh the water.”

GENERAL CARE
“Look after them like you would any other pet.” Noeline advises. Leaving them in damp and drafty accommodation will only end with a variety of poultry-related problems. Clean the house on a regular basis and use dry, dust-free wood shavings for the bedding; try not to use straw or hay as it can quickly become damp underneath and go mouldy. And concludes “They are not water birds like ducks so need a nice dry environment.”

We head back into the house. We now know where to put the run and house, all we need now are the chickens….

CHIC-HENS

The number of types of chicken can be a little mind-boggling for beginner poultry keepers like myself. Contact Shane at Chic-hens http://www.chic-hens.ie/ or tel: 086 0616324 to get advice and see what he has hatching and check out his fabulous houses. Ideally buy the chickens when they are between 16 and 20 weeks old – at this age they can still be tamed and will either have just started laying or be about to.

GARDENING COURSE

SPREAD IT AROUND
I’m outside and it’s wonderful. The sun is shining and the ground is dry. I was spurred on by the good weather last week to go out and collect a couple of trailer loads of very well rotted horse muck to put into the vegetable beds. I read an article recently that says bags of this stuff fetch up the €6. If that’s the case, I came home with €600 euro worth of poo in my trailer and I couldn’t have been happier.

DETOUR
I did take a slight detour over the border with the trailer. I used a lot of Highway Code hand signals when I was driving along (it’s usually other people who give me that hand signals, or gestures as I think they are more commonly called), as I wasn’t sure just how well the indicator and brake lights were working. I pulled into the B and Q car park, as I did, the few bags of old straw in the trailer left a bit of a trail. I got these to throw on top of the spud tops as they grow up, and I thought it was about time to get the seed potatoes.

“You’re too late mate.” Said the chap in the gardening section of the vast DIY centre. “We had earlies, and lates but they’ve all gone. There’s been a mad rush on them this year,” he tells me as I notice most of the salad vegetable seeds racks are empty too. “Apparently there was some chef bloke on the Late Late Show a week or two ago talking about growing your own, it’s made a big difference to the sales.” he says with a shrug turning back to his shelf stacking.

SPUDS
I spend half an hour choosing some seeds that are left. All my old favourites, including cut and come again salads, courgettes, mange tout and sweet peas and sunflowers for Julie. After I drop off the muck and straw, I take the trailer back to my friend. “I’ve left it too late for the spuds.” I tell him wryly. “Here” says Colm. “I have some left over.” He gives me four different types of seed spuds. I have Home Guard, from the Co-op, British Queens, Orla and some very special ones, that are almost a secret called Sarpo. These are a massive “as big as your foot” spud that has been grown in Inishowen by John Reilly in Malin. They are blight resistant and are excellent for our local climate. I leave full of glee planning to return the favour and give Colm some Kale seedlings in exchange, when they are grown.

SEEDS
I am getting our shed ready for the seed planting. It has plenty of light, as the back is made up solely of two very large, double glazed patio doors, which were taken out of the house some years ago.

I clean the tables and put a porous material down to retain the moisture. I am going to put my seed trays on top and I have treated myself to John Innes N°1 compost, which is very fine for seedlings.

CATTLE FODDER OR SAVIOUR?
I have tried to buy most of the vegetable seeds locally as the Co-op are stocking a good range this year, but I have had to go further a field for the likes of my Curly Kale. Still regarded as cattle fodder, we love it as a spring green. It can be grown in any garden and is ornamental enough to be put next to the roses and delphiniums in the herbaceous border.
ALL SET
So I am all set. I have got the spuds in. The raised beds outside are warming up with the sun and will soon be ready for planting out the herbs, carrots, peas, beans, spinach, onions, beetroot, spinach and a wealth of salad plants. Inside the makeshift greenhouse the trays are ready for the plants I like to start off indoors such as courgette, broccoli, and squashes. We lost most of our large seeds one year when we had them outside because of mice. I like to give these a bit more protection. This year too, Julie has decided to grow some alpine strawberries from seed, which might prove to be fruitful (groan).

LABELS
We won’t be short of labels this year either. I have made sure we have enough so there will be no doubt between the peas and the mange tout. I made loads of them by cutting apart old white plastic ice cream containers…. We all have our weaknesses.

ORGANIC GARDENING COURSE

Are you interested in setting up your own vegetable plot but don’t know where to start? Mary Reilly is going to start an organic vegetable growing course at her farm in Fawn, Malin (Greenhill Farm) and has recruited Klaus Laitenberger, who was the former head gardener at the Organic Centre in Rossinver and Lissadell house to come along and start us on the road to self sufficiency. The course dates have yet to be confirmed, but it won’t be long as everything is starting to grow quickly now and we need to have the beds sorted. Contact Mary now to get booked in. 074 93 70029greenhillfarm@eircom.net .

TOOLS

WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO…
Twenty years ago I paid a visit to a peat processing plant in the midlands. I was with a group of horticultural students and the owner of the plant happily answered some difficult questions. One of them, asked by a lad who was very aware of the impending energy crisis asked, “How long will the peat last in Ireland?” The owner answered that we have loads in Ireland and “the company will have enough for at least twenty years”…. Well… that’s about now then.
Using peat-based compost in the garden has always been a recourse that was unsustainable and best avoided. Peat bogs store twice as much carbon as all the world's forest combined but every year an area of Ireland ten times the size of Monaco is dug up. A scary thought….

DOING YOUR BIT
When we go into the garden the last thing we need to feel is that we are adding to global warming and pollution. As we are tightening our belts it makes sense to save money in the garden, not by buying cheap rip offs of quality products that break or fall apart a week after you buy them. Buy the best, when you can afford it. This philosophy goes for the seeds as well as equipment. You will be far better off in the long run buying top quality seeds as more of them should be viable and give you a healthier crop. Buying top quality tools will also mean that they will last far longer, giving you better long term value and they are a lot safer. The last thing any gardener needs is for their tools to break, it can be very dangerous.

Here are some more tips to follow in the garden

Avoid nitrogen-rich fertilisers - they require large amounts of fossil fuel to make and emit nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than CO2

Saving money in the garden is important and if you can use your own compost to feed the soil, all the better. Add home-made compost (about a bucketful per square metre) to boost the amount of water and nutrients that soil can retain - and avoid shop-bought, based composts

If you have a small lawn, go manual - buy a push mower, they sound great and give you a good workout too. Swapping your petrol lawnmower for a manual can cut emissions by 36kg of CO2 every year - and knock over €35 off your fuel bill (as well as gym bills).

Choose sustainable wood for your garden furniture. Check the source first. Avoid Vietnamese garden furniture for example as most of it comes from illegally logged forests in South East Asia.

When you're paving, consider lower-emission alternatives to concrete. Made from recycled and reclaimed materials, they have catchy names like pulverised fuel ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag. Get low-carbon outdoor lighting, such as solar lights or LEDs

Get a rainwater butt and run it from the down pipes.

Discover plants that can withstand long spells of heat, including French honeysuckle, Lavender, Iris, and Salvia, and water infrequently but thoroughly, at the base of the plant
Avoid patio heaters at all costs; they are really wasteful… get a blanket instead.

Digging in a low volume irrigation system with a timer in a large garden can cut water use by half. It can save the time you spend watering the garden by about 90%.

GREAT GREEN GIVE AWAY
Trevor Sargent, the Minister of Agriculture and Food (Green Party) is launching a Get Ireland Growing campaign at the end of the month. He says “with the recession and the growing problem of food security, (this idea)…is finally gaining traction.” He continues. “People have started to realise that it’s much more economical to grow their own food and seed companies are recording record sales.” He is highlighting the fact that Ireland will not be able to import all of the food it needs and that countries like China and Africa, who currently supply us with onions and beans, will need to keep the food for themselves and says that the Get Ireland Growing Campaign is “aimed at everyone who eats.”

In the not too distant future our local councils should be getting information and merchandise to distribute to anyone interested in growing their own. We should be getting trowels, seeds, markers and gardening gloves.

IT’S THE COUNCILS REMIT TO PROVIDE ALLOTMENTS
Trevor Sargent and John Gormley, the Environment Minister, have been trying to convince local authorities to convert waste ground into allotments. “Under the Local Government Act of 2001, local authorities have a remit to provide allotments to people in response to any demand.” Says Sargent. So it’s time to vote with your feet. The Green party will be giving postcards to anyone who thinks an allotment is a good idea for their area can send it in to the local authority expressing their interest.