Speaking of which, I tidied up the homepage for my landscaping website. I think it looks better…?
Jane Powers noted : Bad news for Monsanto here: http://bit.ly/146vL8 and here: http://bit.ly/diwGeN But will anyone pay any attention? Jane is most probably right you know. I wrote this post on Weedol and Scotts – check out all the comments
I wrote this post about Sonairte and pumpkins last year and I also wrote this post on Sonairte itself. Halloween on the horizon – this is what they have this year….
On Saturday 30th October, between 11am-1pm, Deirdre Rogers visits the centre for a workshop of Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Festive Crafts. This workshop is suitable for all the family, and all participants should bring a glass jam jar which, with Deirdre’s help, will be turned into a scary Halloween direction.
On Sunday 31st of October Sonairte will host its Halloween Family Fun Day. This event, which includes our regular Food and Craft Fair, will feature lots of games, fancy dress competition, zombie hunt, pumpkin bowling, scary stories and loads more.
Jason Roe had his BTW meet up last week. I’m now thinking I should do Movember. I also wanted to say thanks to Jason. A bit like the garden group, Jason does it free gratis and for the craic. I like that. It’s not always about the money….. right ? That reminds me, Open Coffee Drogheda is on soon. Good girl Mary.
Thanks to Stephen O’Leary – I now know Movember has an Anthem
And Finally:
one of the worst jokes I have ever heard….. Still made me laugh.
The advantages of audio and the internet. I listened to this whilst typing this post. The advantages of knowing Paul O’Mahony. I have noted those two places for my next visit there. Paul is right about the ducks
In 2001 at 24 years of age with a rented bedroom to work and live from I set up Donegan Landscaping. Now aged 34 I guess things have changed a fair bit. In particular in the last 12 months. Nothing deserved of a Nobel Prize, just life and I guess with that, I as Peter the Gardener and as Peter individual have changed. The many time related cliché’s come to mind….
The fact that my hobby is also my job is an absolute honour I am blessed with and about the only thing in life I do take for granted. But it can also be a bit of a curse, for others…. I jest. But 24/7 and 365 days of Peter, trees and the great outdoors can I’m sure get a bit, you know…
To delve further, it’s well known I’ve not had a summer holiday as long as I have been employed in the horticultural industry, summer and hay making I suppose [?]. I did take my first summer holiday a Friday off this year and go camping in Roscommon, in a forest. In the great outdoors. My point is that I work hard and extremely long hours.
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But by far, even more important than that, this year there came a new addition to the Donegan family and that really made me stand up and analyse myself. It may have been the catalyst, but I guess it was becoming more and more necessary to assess my 24 hour 365 day timetable. There was a mild point also where I simply wasn’t enjoying gardening, for a period anyway. But then I think everyone has a little blip like that in their career and you and I both know that was never going to last long as far as I and gardens are concerned.
I guess I also needed to get back to basics. Simplify Peter Donegan. Make myself the gardener that I always was and am. I wanted to start wearing my shorts in the rain again, having my cup of coffee on a winters morning break and enjoying going back out into the rain. I don’t know how to explain that bit, maybe dirty fingers on a more regular basis…..? Does that make sense….? Today, in terms of staff and conglomerate [?], it’s just me and one other. Or just me. Things are getting a lot less complex. In gardening terms, I guess there were things I wanted to achieve as a gardener. And I did. I now have no title after my name. But I’m enjoying myself, more, like I used to.
To what has changed, in everyday terms…. the most obvious to mind is that I’ve not built a show garden in competition in over two years now. I would happily in the morning, but the financial unnecessaries that comes with self funding don’t seem so logic anymore.
The last one I created was in Bloom 2008 and it very nearly closed me down. I’m not irresponsible or silly in that regard but a very long story [?] left me with no sponsor for a second year running and although there may have almost been a sponsor- in the end I pretended I had one so I could build a garden.
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In reality, I was 90% there in terms of cost layout and also owned a very large prop. Essentially, the show gardens I have done have taken me about 9 months to put together. It can be done a lot quicker – if the money is there – but when reliant upon what and who you can lay your hands on free gratis, friends essentially, it’s very wise of me to remember that cars and boats don’t restore themselves within weeks. With zero dollars and zero signs of a potential partner knocking on my door, I dont see a design being entered into a garden competition in the near future. As versus that, I’m all for the variant journey and the interesting story – if the opportunity knocks I’ll answer the door, but I guess I just won’t bank on it taking place, for the moment.
Going further, this year after 10 years, I left the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland. No apparent reason as such except for a bill of around €500 per annum. With that overhead eliminated it essentially means I can’t put a garden up for an ALCI award, obviously. Also after 5 years, I have left the Bord Bia Quality Award scheme. More an audit of the business and the behind the scenes rather than my ability to build good gardens. With two audits per annum and a please find attached invoice for a few bob I decided not to go ahead for the year 2010/ 2011. To cliché, if I’m not in I can’t win.
Essentially there is no other award scheme available in ireland that I am aware of. I know things cost money but I also know I’m going to be asked, especially when June 2011 comes around. When I met Aiden Cotter CEO of Bord Bia at Bloom 2010 – the second question he asked was if he would be seeing me at the next Bloom In The Park. I asked him if he had a sponsor in mind for me….? Cheeky, maybe
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Gardens for me were never about, as much as they look well on the wall, awards, they simply came with the road trip.
Essentially, what really makes my day is knowing I made someone, you, smile because of what I did with your space, garden or patch outside. But outside of that, still with gardening in mind, I’ve things I want to do, different things in my life. I like interesting people who say hello, goodbye and thank you as a minimum. It is usually the basis for which I have taken on the more unusual projects. I hate saying I’d love to and much prefer to say I’m doing, pressent tense.
I was reading my review of what I did last year in 2009. I like the 2 closing paragraphs. I was trying to figure what I would write for this years review. It’s somewhat award-less, but as it nears Novemeber I know it’s been another one of intrigue and unpredictability. I like that. It’s not over yet.
What next for me? Honestly, I’m unsure what the future holds. But awards somehow or other in the greater scheme of things don’t seem as important. I guess I am simply trying to do whatever it takes to remain in gardening as Peter Donegan [please insert title of your own choice after name]. In that same breath, as an individual I’m generally a very upbeat, positive thinking kind of person and 99.99% of the time simply put just a happy gardener.
The directional growth of an organism in response to gravity. Roots display positive geotropism when they grow downwards, while shoots display negative geotropism when they grow upwards. Also called gravitropism
source: The American Heritage® Science Dictionary 2002
It is also defined as:
the response of a plant part to the stimulus of gravity. Plant stems, which grow upwards irrespective of the position in which they are placed, show negative geotropism
source: Collins English Dictionary 2009
So why is the gardener throwing fancy nouns all over the landscaping blog…?
In very simple horticulture and specifically it’s relevance to you – here’s my breakdown of the above definition, for you….
if one should plant a bulbupside down – the roots will always grow south or upwards and the stem will always grow north or downwards. Fact.
In really simple terms, there is no incorrect way to plant a bulb or seed.
So why then do I see this on so many gardening blogs and websites…?
Plant the cloves the right way up! – like any other bulb, if it’s planted incorrectly they will never see the light of day – literally. The base of each clove should be pointing downwards while its peak should face the sun. Fairly obvious, one would assume, but the number of people who ask the question illustrates the need to make the point.
The video below is really terrible… but scroll, to about 30 seconds on the timeline and watch it until the end. It explains it extremely well.
The same theoretically applies to any plant, tree or shrub. This definition should not be confused with phototropism which is a plants stimulus or response to light.
Plants can sense the Earth’s gravitational field. Geotropism is the term applied to the consequent orientation response of growing plant parts. Roots are positively geotropic, that is, they will bend and grow downwards, towards the center of the Earth. In contrast, shoots are negatively geotropic, that is, they will bend and grow upwards, or away, from the surface.
These geotropisms can be demonstrated easily with seedlings grown entirely in darkness. A seedling with its radicle (or seedling root) and shoot already in the expected orientation can be turned upside down, or placed on its side, while kept in darkness. The root will subsequently bend and grow downwards, and the shoot upwards. Because the plant is still in darkness, phototropism (a growth movement in response to light) can be eliminated as an explanation for these movements.
Several theories about the manner by which plants perceive gravity have been advanced, but none of them is entirely satisfactory. To account for the positive geotropism of roots, some researchers have proposed that under the influence of gravity, starch grains within the cells of the root fall towards the “bottom” of the cell. There they provide signals to the cell membrane, which are translated into growth responses. However, there have been many objections to this idea. It is likely that starch grains are in constant motion in the cytoplasm of living root cells, and only “sink” during the process of fixation of cells for microscopic examination. Roots can still be positively geotropic and lack starch grains in the appropriate cells.
A more promising hypothesis concerns the transport of auxin, a class of plant-growth regulating hormones. Experiments since 1929 have shown that auxin accumulates on the “down” side of both shoots and roots placed in a horizontal position in darkness. This gradient of auxin was believed to promote bending on that side in shoots, and to do the opposite in roots. Confirmation of the auxin gradient hypothesis came in the 1970s. When seeds are germinated in darkness in the presence of morphactin (an antagonist of the hormonal action of auxin), the resulting seedlings are disoriented—both the root and shoot grow in random directions. Auxin gradients are known to affect the expansion of plant cell walls, so these observations all support the idea that the transport of auxin mediates the bending effect that is an essential part of the directional response of growing plants to gravity.
Culch.ie have some candidates [?] attending the Culchie Festival @ Leitrim October 22-24. There’s also a great gig called Are You Afraid of the Farm? Well worth checking out! Think I’d rather the Culchie festival somehow
I’ll explain this one in the podcast:
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And Finally:
The Sodcast will be [re] available to sponsor November 1st 2010 – Interested ?
It’s a bank holiday weekend in Ireland. I’ve got some hedging to trim and tidy. This one below is hawthorn. I’m not its biggest fan, only because of its thorns… but it so well worth it for what it does for nature and wildlife. The garden is about more than just me. I might just give them a little slow release fertiliser. I hope I make to a park as well.
Bit too early you for this you say….? In the garden calender, you have less than 9 weeks to the years end.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me….
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Christmas gift buying can be a tedious affair particularly when buying for…. well, just about anyone. I don’t know about you but, I know as sure as Willy Wonka will be on tv this Christmas, I have never bought myself aftershave, shirts or socks, in the last 10 years. That is by no means a complaint. Far from it. What I’m really looking forward to however is my first ever Christmas knitted wooly jumper…. you know the one with the reindeer on it… the Daddy ‘rocking around the Christmas tree’ ones….
On that note I have 10 real green garden gifts that will make your life that little bit easier.
Give It The Garden Once-Over:
A makeover, a facelift… you may simply require that little extra professional touch to brighten up the front or back garden for the festive season. Weeding the beds, some bark and some berried plants or simply some additional instant planting. Planted exactly to your liking or positioned to brighten up that apartment, existing garden or balcony.
Instant Colour Planters:
For the office or home, for inside or out. One for the entire office or one just for Mary. Culinary or colour or simply pretty and inviting. A living gift that will last that little bit longer and will spice up that Christmas dinner.
A Tree Is For Life – Not Just For Christmas:
Email or call. Your trees or tall shrubs can be fruiting and small and – or native and tall. Planted on your date of choice or simply delivered to your recipients door.
Especially For You:
Maybe you have an existing garden but you’d like something that little bit more unique and one off. You’ve searched the stores and you’ve had no luck there. How about a gardenfeature made just for you ?
In Need of some Sound Advice:
Reckon you may like to do the job yourself but simply don’t know where to start…? Book a day with yours truly to get the best from your garden whilst in your garden. Your very own garden class, a consultation, plant shopping or a garden layout. As you wish…
The Ultimate Garden Design:
Scheduled, time-lines, products and plants. All drawn and planned – all in order, organised and tailor made to suit your budget and space in your great outdoors.
The Seasonal Hair Cut:
The hedge, the trees the lawn. It may not be the Phoenix Park but sometimes the arms of others are better used, letting you get on with the things that matter more.
A Class Apart:
Fancy your very garden class just for you and your group of friends. A day out in your garden or at your place of work, one with your very own group of budding gardeners should be just the ticket. Green by grow your your own or specific to the more amenity side of the garden, maybe you’d like to mix them both… The choice is yours. All materials can be supplied and the time-lines and times to suit yourself. All you have to do is turnip turn up. Simply send me and email or drop me a line.
Everything You Need For The DIY:
If you fancy giving it all a try yourself…. all of the pieces to complete the puzzle hand picked, delivered and wrapped if you wish. All of the garden products you could ever need to complete the tasks at hand or to put that final addition to that great outdoors.
Still Stuck….
Depending on the person you have in mind, that may not be such a surprise Pop me an email or pick up the phone. There’s something out there for everyone….
You can as always contact me via the following options.
Still made me laugh.
Peter On: