I’m nearly embarrassed to talk about gardening when I think of the trouble people are in with flooded homes, farmland and yards.
I’ve always lived on high ground, so I can only imagine what it feels like to hear the rain pound against the slates and worry will the river burst its banks.
Farming families haven’t just landed from the planet Mars, they have farmed these fields for generations.
They need help and need to be listened to. Remember it was the knowledge and experience of farmers that solved the environmental issues on the Burren. Farmers must always be part of the solution.
Records are beaten
With February being such a wet month, I got very little done in the garden. The Shannon metrological station recorded 330% higher-than-normal rainfall for the month of February and we are just across the river from it.
Even without the rain you’d want to have been begging for pneumonia to spend much time in the garden.
All I did was a bit more tidying up on the raised flower beds and they look the better for it. Already I can see the new shoots of peonies, lupins and roses emerge.
Peonies and lupins
Fully grown peonies do better if staked as their flowers are very heavy and tend to sag if hit by bad weather. I have a wonderful old peony that came with me to Ballyanne from my home place.
It's a good idea to stake the old-fashioned peonies.
It had a single tuber and I didn’t give it much chance of surviving. I planted it against an east-facing wall and following the old wives’ tale I didn’t expect to see a flower for seven years. But it flowered the next year and has flowered without fail every year since.
I love lupins, with their stunning pastel-coloured columns of flowers. However, they are a martyr to slugs and snails. It will take slugs less than a week to demolish every bit of emerging growth.
They will make such a job of it you’ll be left wondering where the lupins have disappeared to.
Everyone has their own way of dealing with slugs and I’m not going to tell you what to do. But whatever you do, do it now before any serious damage is done.
Divide and transplant snowdrops. You still have time to build up your stock of snowdrops. Now when the flowers have gone over but the leaves are still green is an ideal time to divide and transplant them.
Pick a nice spot along a path or under trees or in flower beds. They will flower reliably from the green.
Now is the time to divide and transplant snowdrops. Here one clump has enough bulbs to create an extra 12 clumps.
If the weather gets anyway co-operative tidy up your flower beds and get ahead of weeds. Move anything that has outlived its welcome and freshen up the space with something borrowed from another part of the garden.
Give your flower beds a good mulch. It helps suppress weeds and makes everything nice and tidy. If you want a splash of colour then a few pots of polyanthus or violas will create instant impact.
Now is the perfect time to divide and transplant snowdrops.
For those of you who regularly read this page, my echiums are still alive, only God knows how. The honey bush ‘melianthus major’ has shot out a big display of flowers but I fear its chances of surviving the weather are slim.
TJ Gormley of Tuam Farm Supplies, Cormac Sheep Equipment and Cormac Tagging is a passionate gardener and this is his favourite time of year.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t passionate about daffodils and young lambs. Our home place was covered in daffodils and I wanted the same here. I have 15 varieties and that helps lengthen the season from February to April.
“I plant no fewer than five bulbs at a time and I keep them in the brown, meaning they don’t have to compete with grass or shrubs.
TJ Gormley has always loved daffodils.
“I plant different varieties together to create a longer season. I cut them back when the green stems have turned yellow
“They get a dash of 7-6-17 in October and when treated this way will grow heads three times the size of other daffodils.
“I planted four 20kg bags of bulbs and I reckon it would take 25 bags to rebag the bulbs today. I’m always looking out for new varieties and I love them all.”
TJ likes to support Daffodil Day, especially if there’s any shortage of daffodils.
He got his interest in gardening from his mother Mary and he trained in horticulture at Warrenstown College. He says he grows enough vegetables to feed the parish. “Even at this time of year what could be nicer that a homemade soup with fresh celery, leeks, carrots and parsnips straight from the garden.”
Daffodil season
The Daffodils by William Wordsworth has to be the nicest poem ever written about flowers. All you have to do is recite it, close your eyes and there they are stretching out along the margin of the bay, or field or lane.
Daffodils the signature flower of the March garden.
This poem encouraged me to mimic what the poet had seen and create my very own 10,000 saw I at a glance moment.
Our lane is about 300m from the road and 15 years ago I started planting daffodil bulbs along the length of it and on both sides. I’d buy a 20kg bag of bulbs and off I’d go planting seven bulbs in each planting spot about a meter apart. They are still going strong.
I’m nearly embarrassed to talk about gardening when I think of the trouble people are in with flooded homes, farmland and yards.
I’ve always lived on high ground, so I can only imagine what it feels like to hear the rain pound against the slates and worry will the river burst its banks.
Farming families haven’t just landed from the planet Mars, they have farmed these fields for generations.
They need help and need to be listened to. Remember it was the knowledge and experience of farmers that solved the environmental issues on the Burren. Farmers must always be part of the solution.
Records are beaten
With February being such a wet month, I got very little done in the garden. The Shannon metrological station recorded 330% higher-than-normal rainfall for the month of February and we are just across the river from it.
Even without the rain you’d want to have been begging for pneumonia to spend much time in the garden.
All I did was a bit more tidying up on the raised flower beds and they look the better for it. Already I can see the new shoots of peonies, lupins and roses emerge.
Peonies and lupins
Fully grown peonies do better if staked as their flowers are very heavy and tend to sag if hit by bad weather. I have a wonderful old peony that came with me to Ballyanne from my home place.
It's a good idea to stake the old-fashioned peonies.
It had a single tuber and I didn’t give it much chance of surviving. I planted it against an east-facing wall and following the old wives’ tale I didn’t expect to see a flower for seven years. But it flowered the next year and has flowered without fail every year since.
I love lupins, with their stunning pastel-coloured columns of flowers. However, they are a martyr to slugs and snails. It will take slugs less than a week to demolish every bit of emerging growth.
They will make such a job of it you’ll be left wondering where the lupins have disappeared to.
Everyone has their own way of dealing with slugs and I’m not going to tell you what to do. But whatever you do, do it now before any serious damage is done.
Divide and transplant snowdrops. You still have time to build up your stock of snowdrops. Now when the flowers have gone over but the leaves are still green is an ideal time to divide and transplant them.
Pick a nice spot along a path or under trees or in flower beds. They will flower reliably from the green.
Now is the time to divide and transplant snowdrops. Here one clump has enough bulbs to create an extra 12 clumps.
If the weather gets anyway co-operative tidy up your flower beds and get ahead of weeds. Move anything that has outlived its welcome and freshen up the space with something borrowed from another part of the garden.
Give your flower beds a good mulch. It helps suppress weeds and makes everything nice and tidy. If you want a splash of colour then a few pots of polyanthus or violas will create instant impact.
Now is the perfect time to divide and transplant snowdrops.
For those of you who regularly read this page, my echiums are still alive, only God knows how. The honey bush ‘melianthus major’ has shot out a big display of flowers but I fear its chances of surviving the weather are slim.
TJ Gormley of Tuam Farm Supplies, Cormac Sheep Equipment and Cormac Tagging is a passionate gardener and this is his favourite time of year.
“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t passionate about daffodils and young lambs. Our home place was covered in daffodils and I wanted the same here. I have 15 varieties and that helps lengthen the season from February to April.
“I plant no fewer than five bulbs at a time and I keep them in the brown, meaning they don’t have to compete with grass or shrubs.
TJ Gormley has always loved daffodils.
“I plant different varieties together to create a longer season. I cut them back when the green stems have turned yellow
“They get a dash of 7-6-17 in October and when treated this way will grow heads three times the size of other daffodils.
“I planted four 20kg bags of bulbs and I reckon it would take 25 bags to rebag the bulbs today. I’m always looking out for new varieties and I love them all.”
TJ likes to support Daffodil Day, especially if there’s any shortage of daffodils.
He got his interest in gardening from his mother Mary and he trained in horticulture at Warrenstown College. He says he grows enough vegetables to feed the parish. “Even at this time of year what could be nicer that a homemade soup with fresh celery, leeks, carrots and parsnips straight from the garden.”
Daffodil season
The Daffodils by William Wordsworth has to be the nicest poem ever written about flowers. All you have to do is recite it, close your eyes and there they are stretching out along the margin of the bay, or field or lane.
Daffodils the signature flower of the March garden.
This poem encouraged me to mimic what the poet had seen and create my very own 10,000 saw I at a glance moment.
Our lane is about 300m from the road and 15 years ago I started planting daffodil bulbs along the length of it and on both sides. I’d buy a 20kg bag of bulbs and off I’d go planting seven bulbs in each planting spot about a meter apart. They are still going strong.
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