This evening I got a message in from Ross. He tells Shane to talk to me. Shane contacts me and gives my number to Jo. Jo calls me. Voicemail – long[er] story. I call her back. No voicemail. I get a text. She’s in the theatre. She calls me and I answer…. By the way this all happened via twitter just after 7pm on Saturday and yes today the 8th May.
Getting to the point….
Jo Mangan is the artistic director for The Performance Corporation, a [theatre] production company [is that grammatically correct….?]. Anyhoo, they’re doing a play called, wait for it….
Slatterys Sago Saga
The Sago Saga…
Seems the sago’s have caused a saga already, because on Monday afternoon there’s a photo shoot with Photographer Colm Hogan. And as per the name of the film…. you guessed it Einstein – they need Sago Palms [or something like….]. They need about 100 or more. Or some. Anything. They have 20 already. They only want to borrow them. This is Ireland… not South Africa climate. It’s a very long shot.
In Return…
I’ll figure something out to make it worth your while…. In the meantime…. contact yer man or the fella you know who knows and lets see if we can make a miracle happen. Wouldn’t it be a nice [happy] story if we did…. 🙂
You’d know from the ‘March in the Garden’ post that I had just sown my seeds. Well germinated at this stage, the above photograph shows the results after just after 2 weeks. Growth is starting, slowly but surely and it seems to me we’re going to be on for a cracker of a season!
I’d like to try to try not to write about just growing your own… but when the garden centres now have entire sections dedicated to what I can only describe as a phenomenon, it might just prove a little more difficult than expected. That said, this isn’t your average ‘get out and rake your lawns’ type of a piece, it is was I will be doing this month.
Since last month, mainly due to doing the grow your own course I have now sown or started growing: seed potatoes, onion sets, lettuce, chives, parsley, coriander, spinach, basil, mustard, strawberries… the list is literally endless and in a few weeks I will be giving the stuff away at a rate of knots. The gig here is only to sow in small amounts and little by little. I don’t want to farm the land. And I need to ensure that I continue to enjoy what I have always done…. without it becoming laborious. I have but a wee 6′ x 4′ aged old glasshouse.
To other garden stuff. The weather has been tough and very unpredictable. As I write we had snow yesterday, 30th March. But there are more buds on the trees and some are literally on the verge of bursting.
The daffodils are also in bloom, not all, which is good as it means I’ll have flowers n the window for the first time this year and for a longer duration.
The lawn… don’t get me started. I’ve cut mine once this year. And that’ll be it until that drop of rain stops falling and temperatures start to rise to a consistent 12-14 Celsius. That said, I have been laying rolled lawns this year. Great from a clients and my perspective because there is no watering at all – where normally in ‘good’ weather the high temperatures and lack of water would cause shrinkage and watering would be recommended only at night time.
Outside of that all of the stuff I planted last year is doing great. The rhubarb in particular has just rocketed.
The hens are also back laying again after their winter sabbatical… which is great for baking. Yummy! I’m pretty much getting four eggs a day now. Outside of that there were some other creatures spotted recently around there… A good clean out was given, some bait was put down and the jack russell was let loose… I think this one [above] looks happier 🙂
The only thing I would suggest you do not forget is tree planting season. The leaves are pretty much at bud burst point. And it is around this time that the race is on to get the final bit of the bare root and root balled chores complete. Thinking of buying a tree [?] at its best and best value… do so now.
Did I miss out on anything…. ? Leave a comment and let me know. That’s more than enough to keep you going for the bank holiday weekend 😉 I leave you with this to ponder on….
I haven’t done an ‘In the garden‘ session so far this year. Mainly because, well… I guess the snow, the rain, the cold and in such abundance just got a bit too much for me. Anyhow, that aside, it’s time to get grooving and moving and here is why and what I will be doing in the garden this month.
The lime trees [image 1] are the greatest sign for me that life for this year is almost there. The burning red new stems and buds are so pretty. Loosen the straps, check the stakes and remove all the dead or diseased wood. This goes for all trees including the fruiting varieties. As you can see from my olive tree [image 2] that simply needs a little tidy and some select pruning but its not until we get to the smaller plants that some real work is required. The large window box which fed me with salad for all of last year [image 3] needs a total clean out. Very simply grub out all the old plants, but don’t throw out all the compost. Simply replenish.
The easy plants are the 3 just above, in order, rhubarb, sorrell and chives. Not a whole lot for me to do here just yet. They come up year after year. I may decide at a later stage to divide the chives and the rhubarb, but for the moment it’s simply a little taster of what nature is going to give me to eat this season.
The greenhouse has been pretty much empty since last year. It’s got a little grubby. The 2 dogs use it as a sun trap type conservatory and its very quickly transformed. Then its to my store of seeds to figure what I wish to grow for this season.
Potting table at the ready… this one above I made myself from an old pallet. It’s really durable and well able to withstand the elements. The window boxes are refilled. I’ve sown some spinach in here direct, which is not my usual way of doing it…. but lets see how they get on. The seed trays [my preferred method] are washed and filled, pre-soaked and in here I have sown coriander and chives.
That’s not all I have sown…. there are also some broad beans in liner pots [image 2 above] and anything else you can think of. There’s probably too much of everything in fact but, I live in a rural farming village so a lot of this will be bartered for bags of potatoes and other veg that I won’t grow 😉 All things in order I just need to keep my eye on the max min thermometer for very low temperatures [early frosts] which may affect. As a by the way, I’m going to give it a little longer before I go and mow that lawn of mine.
Now I’ve got to go and give my chicken run a lick of paint. But that should easily keep you going for the next 3 weeks or so. See how you get on, any problems or queries you know where to come. Of course in gardening, there’s always an alternate 😉
In 2007 my garden design ‘no rubber – soul’ [more commonly known now as the morris minor car garden] for the inaugural Bloom in the Park won silver medal. More importantly, for those involved the quite long media list [available on request] was endless. It even featured on Australian t.v.
In 2008, I and The Donegan Landscaping team went a stage further with ‘Pour L’amour de Jeux’/ for a love of the game [more commonly known as the pink boat garden] . Once again we were without a main sponsor – but for those involved the response was amazing. Of course the pink boat is now one of the star attractions at this years Electric Picnic.
So why am I on the airwaves bleeting about Bloom 2009 so soon? Well, we need a sponsor. We have had none for two years and whilst so far, [honestly…] child hood dreams maybe got the better of me, at some point, unfortunately, costs must be considered…
Do I regret it? That’s a bit like asking did you regret getting married? When you love something so much… it was not ever considered. In that context, not an inch of regret. I love it.
Donegan landscaping has a host of awards from 17th century design and build to the most modern of gardens.
The garden name & theme has been chosen, concepts are in place. I guess all I need now is you….
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