This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Friday 28 March 2014

Community Gardening Update

The volunteer gardening group at Antrim Castle Gardens have been meeting regularly since last year and now with Spring here, there are lots of jobs to keep us busy. We're planning for the year and have lots of ideas and projects on the go. Many areas of the garden are still looking to be in a Winter slumber however there are some early perennials showing strong growth.

Left: and below: The main courtyard area with various flower beds that we'll aim to enhance this year.

This month we've been sowing seed in the greenhouse and hope to increase the plants we can grow from seed each year. We're growing some heritage vegetables, including purple tomatoes, and are excited about this.
Above: Some perennial plants begin to put on steady growth.
We planted various Winter annuals in December which have only more recently begun to flower. We also planted hyacinths and tulips amongst the annuals.
We have been busy designing a new area of the garden which will be a traditional 'kitchen style garden' with heirloom vegetables and herbs. Above we begin to think about the design aspects. We won't be using the wood boxes in this area as it wouldn't be in keeping with the Victorian style. However, the boxes were handy to help visualise our structure.

More updates over the coming months!
Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

10 comments:

  1. It's beautiful - love that greenhouse. How do you have the time for this and your garden?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks very nice, organised and in order, and I bet you have a lot of good time creating it with others:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's looking fabulous, and oh, how I'd love a greenhouse like that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The garden is a wonder. I will enjoy seeing the progress your group makes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That looks fantastic. What an inspiring place to work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The gardens are looking fantastic. Wish I could see it all in person about July or August. I love the annuals right now and the new perrenial growth. I know you enjoy working there with the group.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You know that I am the sort of person that likes order and regularity, so don't take this the wrong way: I think the garden layout is in danger of becoming TOO regular. It reminds me of Villandry! Nature doesn't do straight lines, so a few softer edges might be in order, perhaps? Having said that, it is apparent that everything is immaculately maintained, so Bravo for that,

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Kelli, I love the community garden! It's a wonderful idea.....I've seen them in Boston, MA and they are a pleasing spot of green in an area void of plant life......We all have different taste and how boring life would be otherwise. I like the orderliness of it. It's pleasing to my eye.....and great to see plant growth when we are still waiting for "real" spring. Happy Gardening, Sally

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now that what I call a brick built raised bed (or four), if my eyes don't deceive me!!!

    Lovely textural variation.

    You just need to persuade them to grow more veg!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for all the comments, will keep you posted on our progress as a group!

    ReplyDelete