I am bored of rain. Fed up with cloudy days. Sick of the grey drip-drip-drip of this cool, showery, sun-starved, stormy summer, and the monotony of a weather forecast that only predicts more of the same. But even so, I’m forced to admit that the silver lining to what’s been a very sodden growing season is that many of our most beautiful, late summer-autumn flowering garden perennials and shrubs are loving the biblical quantities of rainfall in recent months, a high note to what’s otherwise been a forgettable year.
A large part of the reason for their contentment is that these plants thrive in the kinds of growing conditions often described in gardening books, as well as gardening columns such as this one, as “moist but free-draining”. The latter is a description that’s bewildering to new gardeners, a frustrating, bamboozling contradiction in horticultural terms that needs explanation. How, you might reasonably wonder, can a soil be both moist and free-draining at the same time? Wet and yet dry? The answer is the kind of soil where stagnant rainwater doesn’t regularly pool or puddle around the plant’s roots to create anaerobic growing conditions but instead drains away quickly, albeit not to the point where the soil is ever parched and thirsty.
Of course, not every Irish garden or allotment naturally provides these kinds of growing conditions. In many, for example, the existing soil is too heavy and abundant in tiny clay particles to be naturally free-draining. In this case the ground will be nutrient-rich yet very slow to dry out in spring, but then inclined to bake hard and to crack in a warm, dry summer. Alternatively, in an especially wet summer such as this one, clay soils can be sticky, slow to drain after heavy
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Biodiversity and sustainability have become buzzwords in horticulture of late. Encouraging wildlife, using items in a sustainable manner and reducing our waste is crucial for a healthy garden and planet – but for many of us, working out how to do this can feel overwhelming. Here’s my simple steps to starting your journey to a more sustainable and wildlife-friendly growing space…
Sparrowhawks are one of the most agile birds of prey in the UK. They evolved to nip, dive and swerve around trees to hunt in forests, and this means they’re also well-adapted to hunt amongst the buildings in our urban centres. I’ve seen them several times in my garden in urban Cambridge. Either perched on my fence, streaking across in a blur, or, on one memorable occasion, swiping a Starling from the bird feeder and plucking it on the ground.
When not in flower, it’s fair to say dahlia plants rarely command a second glance. In fact, to the uninitiated, they could be easily mistaken for potatoes, not that surprising when you consider that these two fast-growing, frost-tender tuberous species share a surprising amount of common ground regarding their geographical range in the wild and their fondness for a certain set of growing conditions that includes a rich, moist but free-draining soil in full sun or light shade. But the comparison ends there. Unlike potatoes, which are valued solely as a tasty food crop, dahlias are generally prized for the otherworldly beauty of their often large and vividly colourful flowers.
In an age where sustainability and environmental consciousness are paramount, integrating solar panels into your garden emerges as a smart and responsible choice. These innovations not only enhance your garden’s aesthetics but also align with your eco-conscious values.
Border plants play an essential role in unifying gardens. They are used to delineate space and accentuate the lines of a landscape, including planting beds and pathways. Border plants bridge the gap between the floor plane of a garden and its plantings, creating a more finished look. The best border flowers for your garden include annuals and perennials that complement their surroundings while guiding the eye through the landscape.
In an age where sustainability and environmental consciousness are paramount, integrating solar panels into your garden emerges as a smart and responsible choice. These innovations not only enhance your garden’s aesthetics but also align with your eco-conscious values.
Could you please help to settle an argument between my friend and I about whether it’s a good idea to feed garden birds? My friend is of the opinion that they’ll survive just fine without our help, and that feeding them only increases the risk of spreading disease. RS, Dublin
Do harmony and balance in an environment design bring the occupants peace and prosperity? The answer is yes according to the ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui. Using Feng Shui principles means arranging objects and space in your living space in a way that will accomplish these goals.
Potato blight, also known as late blight, attacks the foliage and tubers of potatoes, eventually causing the crop to rot. Caused by the same fungus responsible for tomato blight, it is a particular problem in wet summers. Potato blight was responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 19th century, devastating crops in the ground, and those in storage too.