Community Gardening

April is the start of the gardening season for me and I've been back up at Antrim Castle Gardens volunteering weekly in the gardens. The grounds are owned by the local Council and the space is wonderful to work in with very beautiful surroundings.

Last year we developed a new Cottage Garden that has been developed for the most part from recycled materials (logs, old castle gate, etc) and from plants that have been donated. This is really its first year and we're looking forward to seeing how it looks this Summer. Its a work in progress, particularly as our budget is very limited.

Poppies grown from seed collected from plants in the garden.

We started sowing seed in March and things are really growing well - won't be long until we will be planting out.

We also have a Heritage Garden that we've been developing over the last couple of years.

We've a core group of 15 volunteers and others who dip in and out. It has been really enjoyable gardening with other enthusiasts, and I'd highly recommended community gardening projects! 

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

Community Gardening Update

Even though summer feels like it's coming to an end, there's still lots of harvesting (and deadheading to be done) with flowers, herbs, fruits and veggies still available and many plants thriving.

The community garden at Antrim Castle Gardens has looked well this year. We're a small group of volunteers who give a few hours each week to keep areas of the gardens 'under our care' looking good and productive.

This year our greenhouse contained several varieties of tomato, cucumber, and a grapevine - with our very first bunch of grapes! One of our volunteers made a sign, writing with chalk on a piece of slate, to help encourage donations from passer-bys in exchange for a plant. This has worked well as a way to raise some money for projects.

  

One of our members had an idea of a 'cut flower' bed so we developed this area earlier in the year, growing plants from seed. It has turned out to be an eye-catching area, which contains plants like sweet pea, cosmos, snapdragon, asters, and dahlia. 

Last year we noticed one of our flower beds was in a shadier section of the garden so this year we developed a 'Woodland' flower bed. Many of the plants were donated to our group from some of the plant nurseries that attended the Garden Show Ireland (Northern Ireland's largest gardening event). 

Above and below: The flower beds bring lots of colour throughout Spring, Summer and Autumn with their mix of perennials, herbaceous plants, bulbs and some annuals.

Above and below: This year we have also been fortunate to have obtained a polytunnel. This will allow us to grow more plants from seed, and soon it will be filled to the brim!

Our group never seems to rest and our current project is developing a Cottage-style planting scheme that will run across an area approx 30 feet by 10 feet. This well keep us busy over Autumn and into the New Year.

For more info on the volunteer gardening group, click here. 

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

Garden Show Ireland Inspiration

Lots of inspiration and gardening tips at this year's Garden Show Ireland held at Antrim Castle Gardens during May. 

The show featured lots of ideas that could easily be incorporated into smaller gardens, which is something I enjoyed seeing. From growing veg in 'trugs' to creating a little piece of paradise outside your back door and using splashes of colour and a variety of pots (and no grass to mow) - there were lots of tips that could be adapted. Here are some of the designs that caught my eye... 

The winner of the Eppy Schierbeek Cup, sponsored by Friends of Antrim Castle Gardens and supported by the Enkalon Foundation, was the Men's Shed Project. This little garden definitely has a man's touch and uses lots of recycled materials (tins, old stove/wood burner, tools, etc). This is the 1st garden the group has ever designed and they did a great job! Gold star for creativity / theatre!

Above and Below: It's great to see a design concept on paper, and then the finished product. This is one of the professional show gardens on display, called 'My Space' by Ryan McGee. It had a little water feature (the circle with pebbles) and has features that look as if they could be incorporated into an ordinary back garden (with a good joiner/ woodworker and bita cash!)

Above: Another professional show garden, by James Purdy from JP Architects and Landscape Design.  

Above and Below: More great ideas for the small garden - raised beds for growing herbs, flowers and veg (no more sore backs!). I love the bright orange garden furniture and lime green plant pots - a little splash of colour is always welcome in Ireland to brighten up our rainy, overcast days! 

Of course Monty Don was the main feature of the garden show this year. I was impressed that he took time to autograph books, chat with people and he posed for numerous photos.

Monty gave a very inspiring talk to a packed out audience. For those outside the UK, Monty features regularly on TV and in numerous magazines. His talk was on the theme of 'easy gardening' and included the importance of the soil (feeding the soil not the plant), growing things you're good at and suits the growing conditions (not fighting against nature). He talked about how the best tasting potatoes are 'earlies'. He gave lots of other tips and insights, and he received a roaring applause from the local crowd (I've never seen such a happy lot after listening to Monty - who is much more humorous than I'd ever imagined!)  If Monty happens to come across my blog... Monty, please return to Antrim next year!

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

Garden Show Ireland: fun-tastic displays

This weekend is Garden Show Ireland at Antrim Castle Gardens and it's a fantastic show this year! I'm attending over three days (volunteering) and had a fab time today enjoying the atmosphere (no plant purchases yet). I enjoyed some fab food, superb jazz music, and, of course, looking at the garden designs.

Left: A garden designed by ReConnect, a charity that supports adults with acquired brain injury, has brought some magic to 'the office' under the design theme of 'Colourful Garden'. More on the design concept can be read below. I love their creativity and the fact that they up cycled so many items and only spent about £80. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Above: Also on the theme of 'Colourful Garden' the North Coast Integrated College design makes outdoor life and gardening look much more appealing to young people with its bright colours and creative use of materials. More on their design concept can be read below.

Above: If you're a gardener, you're likely to be a fan of wellies! Nowadays there are great looking wellies for all occasions (easily ordered online) and don't they look great recycled with some wildflowers (part of the Grow Wild display)!

This is only a little snapshot of some of the eye catching, fun focused displays at Garden Show Ireland taking place at Antrim Castle Gardens this weekend. More on the show later. I'm loving the buzz and excitement of the activities - and Saturday Monty Don is visiting!

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

Update on Community Gardening Project

Every once in awhile I do an update on the community gardening project I'm involved in, at Antrim Castle Gardens. Through a very dedicated team of volunteers we look after various areas of the garden. Currently we're working on projects coming into the Summer, as well as keeping the areas tidy and looking good for the prestigious Garden Show Ireland which is taking place over three days 8-10 May. (Click on the photos below to enlarge.)

Above: We've been sowing seed from March and are growing plants for new projects we're developing in the gardens - a cut flower bed and a cottage-style garden. We also grow veg and herbs. We're getting a polytunnel this month, which will help us manage the pricking out and growing-on process.

Above: This is our fruit growing area, where we have apple and pear trees, gooseberry bushes, rhubarb, strawberries,etc. Some of our members are keen scarecrow makers and, of course, visitors and children to the gardens love seeing scarecrows!

Above: A Cut Flower Bed (under development) - the tripods have been planted with sweetpea; paths have been made out of wood/willow and 'volunteer labour' and will be filled with stone. A range of flowers from dahlia to cosmos will be planted in this new area.

Above: This view shows some of the areas that we maintain as volunteers in the Gardens. Many of the plants are donated by the Council as the garden is located on Council owned grounds and is open daily to the public. It is a beautiful location to volunteer and we enjoy the interaction with the public (who always have very positive comments).

Above: A view of other areas we look after. The main flower beds don't look particularly interesting at this time of year (something we are looking into). However, the beds are mainly for Summer interest, and many of the plants are still to emerge from their Winter slumber. Come Summer, there will be some wonderful plants on display such as eye-catching Verbena and Astilbe Purple Majesty, which will attract wildlife such as bees and butterflies to the gardens. 

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

Seed sowing

We've had lots of sun this week and my little seedlings have suffered a bit from the heat and the drop in temperature at night. I'm eagerly awaiting their growth, and trying to ensure they don't dry out or suffer from sun scorch.

I've a good variety of seed sown. I'm aiming to grow veg that looks interesting as well as tastes good. Some varieties I've gone for include:

red/green lettuce Lollo Rossa
purple/green kale Red Russian
red stemmed Rhubarb Chard Vulcan
stripy Courgettte Coucourzelle

Above: Kale and courgette are growing quickly. The next step is to pot them on , with the aim of planting out into the veg area at the end of May (to ensure they don't get hit by frost).

Onion sets Stuttgarter have grown quite quickly. They are now relocated and have been planted outside. Of course I had too many that I could use, so I'll be giving a tray to one of the garden club members - 0ne of the benefits of being involved in a gardening group.

If anyone would like to take a look, my gardening group has set up a FaceBook - click here to visit. 

Happy Gardening!

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

Labelling plants

Above: permanent pen has almost faded from last year.

Recently I've been making an effort to label plants, particularly when sowing seed or purchasing a new plant. Despite my efforts, I've discovered that pencil and 'permanent' ink seem to disappear from both wood or plastic plant labels within less than a year (sometimes much sooner). 

I've been looking at alternatives... I'm toying with the idea of purchasing a wood-burning pen kit to see if that would be a good solution.

Above: Permanent ink on a plastic label, (written a few months ago) is starting to fade a bit. Pencil works better on plastic but it too seems to disappear within about a year.

Above: A newly written label in pen on wood. How long will it last?

My gardening group has also had the problem of plant labels 'gone blank' over approx 6 months' time. Unfortunately, this has caused some confusion over what plants are where. We're also looking at low cost, more permanent plant labelling options.

If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share.

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

Gardening Year in Review

January: Cabbage Jan King - a welcome winter sight!

I feel like I've been in hibernation over the past six weeks! Time has flown by, and now that all the seasonal festivities are coming to an end, I’m hoping to get back to regular blogging and catching up on my blog reading too!

Here’s a little review of 2014 in the garden and how the year took shape....

February: seaweed added as a mulch.
2014 was a year that began with some of the wettest, stormiest weather on record.

March: Spring crocus bulbs look bright and cheerful.
Mild weather gave way to an early Spring with bulbs popping up a few weeks earlier than usual.

April: A new herb container with thyme, oregano, chives, and lavender is added to the garden.

May: lots of pretty pink and purples come into flower.

June: The bees start busying themselves in the garden. Pictured on Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun'.
June and July were lovely months for gardening with some warm weather.

July: Summer is all go with weekly volunteering in the community garden.

August: brings lots of colour with roses, perennials and annuals.

September: lots of veg being harvested, particularly towards late Summer. September was the 2nd driest on record, and we had some fab sunny days. The insects also seemed to enjoy the 'Indian Summer'.

October: I consider seeds and order a few new varieties (e.g. asparagus lettuce) - only a few packs purchased this year!

November: I tidy up the herb container and cut straglers back.Weather reports describe 2014 as a topsy-turvy year! Most years in the garden are a bit topsy-turvy. All in all, I'd say a great year!

December: I bake, eat, visit family and think about the New Year goals for the garden!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

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

Plant Swap

A couple of weeks ago my gardening group had its first plant swap! What fun! 

It was a fab night with food and socialising and lots of plants to choose from. We also brought along gardening books and magazines to swap them too. However, the plants proved most popular on the evening.

I came home with lots of goodies, some of which are pictured here. I acquired two new shrubs, one a Weigela which is now potted up. I also came away with 2 Agapanthus, 2 Lychnis Coronaria, Primula Auricula and various other plants. Some I have in holding areas until I do some further Autumn tidying.

It was amazing to see such a variety of plants brought along by our small group. I think we had about 15 people on the night. Everyone was delighted with the numerous free plants they took home and we'll be planning this event on an annual basis.

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