Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden

Friday, 10 March 2017

Wood Pallets and Vertical Planting

I love all the amazing projects using old (and new) wood pallets, like these vertical planters. So creative! Quite eye catching! And quite easy and fun to make.

Photo left, and most of those below, were taken at 'Bloom' garden show in Dublin (what a fantastic annual garden show - highly recommended.) They have inspired me to make my own vertical planter for the garden - however its now in winter hibernation and needs some TLC in the coming months before I freshen it up.

Above: My own little wood pallet planter made very easily and quickly (photo taken early summer), and easy to hang on an existing sturdy fence panel. The trailing petunia filled out over the summer and looked really good.

What a great way to recycle an old drinks crate!

Monday, 6 March 2017

Gearing Up for Gardening

I've been in a deep Winter slumber and haven't been into the garden for several months. However, March is here and I've got the 'gardening bug' so I'm itching to get back out into gardening. Over the weekend I started my garden 'spring clean'. Lots of tidying to do.

I've been looking through magazines and old photos to get some inspiration. A few photos taken last year that give a bit of inspiration this time of year...

Pallet projects seem to be really popular in the UK and USA. These photos were taken last year at gardening shows and at a community garden. What a great way to recycle and have a bit of fun. Pallets are often free of charge so this is a great low cost way to add some new pieces to the garden!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Sunday, 18 September 2016

Apple Harvesting

It's almost apple harvesting time, and this is a very exciting year for me! I have a bumper crop of 43 apples!

Six years ago I bought a self pollinating apple tree that I have grown in a pot. Over the years, I've averaged 13 apples each year (expect in 2013 when I had 0 apples). This year I've taken extra care; I've ensured the tree didn't dry out; I was careful in Spring and throughout Summer to take off leaves infected by little green caterpillars that ALWAYS infest the tree and eat the apples. I have fed and fertilized. (And I pruned last year).

A view upwards. It may be hard to believe there are 43 apples but there are. However, some are going to be too small for eating. I just couldn't bare taking any off. This year is a bit of a quantity competition!

These apples have fallen from the tree naturally (not counted in my 43). The tree has shed quite a few apples over the Summer, a natural process. Of course, I'm not sure what variety of apples they are, as the label is long gone and I never recorded what variety I bought.
So looking forward to eating my organic apples this year!