Gardening in a polytunnel in Ireland ... The beginning

Gardening in any weather!

After last years very poor yield in my garden in south east Ireland I decided to order a polytunnel in January, so hopefully this year I shall have vegetables and herbs in abundance.
I decided to get a 10' x 16' from Colin Warren polytunnels
The first job was to level the site...part of which was my original vegetable garden.

The site which I had covered with plastic to kill back some of the grass.

The site then had to be levelled with extra room at the front so that the door could open outwards.

The van arrived with all the kit and two men to construct my tunnel. The hoops and the door frames were inserted into holes and concreted in place. 

The cross braces were put into position and the frames for the doors. Heavy wood battens were fixed all around the base.

Next  the plastic went on over the frame and was stretched taut and fixed around wood battens at the base, which were then secured to the wood already in place. It was then pleated and fixed around the door frames front and back

A stout door was fixed in place.

And a net screen on the back, which also had a roll down plastic door inside for the colder weather.


Watch out for the next part where I shall be planning and building the raised beds inside!

My garden in Morocco.....update

More news about my container garden

 

 I didn't expect such fast growth... these are the rocket seedlings five days after sowing

 ...and eight days after sowing...this is amazing! At this rate of growth, I shall be eating them in a few weeks!

My garden in Morocco

Indoor gardening

This is a real challenge for me...my blog readers will know that I have a large garden in Ireland


Now I am living part time in Morocco and as I am staying in a Riad I decided to try making an indoor garden.
I bought two planters in the Souk, made from recycled motor tyres, and begged some soil from my landlord.

Both of them are now filled and seeds have been sown ( I probably should have waited for the new moon)

It still is chilly at night so I have been covering them with fleece....now I have to wait and see if they germinate!

I sowed some rocket in October and that seems to be doing very well...a 'creature' ate the basil plants!
And we have mint for the tea.

 
So watch this space for an update.

Spring

Has Spring come at last?

Snowdrops one of the first flowers in my garden ...and one of my favourites!

Welcome Visitor!

So delighted to see my friend the hedgehog in my garden

The warmer weather perhaps encouraged this little person to come and look for food.

 
Its amazing how quickly they can move too !

Autumn Colours...My August Garden

I have been lead astray these past few weeks...visiting garden centers....They draw me like a magnet and at the moment there are many excellent bargins!
So this is my new autumn colours collection  !

 

 

 

 

 

Now to find spaces for them and hope the winter is a kind one!

Garden News for May

Already into June! I have been back from Spain a week.In the two weeks I was away my garden had turned into a jungle of greenery! I am just beging to get it tamed.
Today I sowed more seeds both  in the greenhouse  and outside.
The seeds I sowed at begining of May to replace the plants that were killed by the frost were ready to plant out...so now I have all my runner and French  beans, peas and courgettes looking good....no more frosts please!

Runner beans

Peas

 I also planted out Squash and Vegetable Spaghetti.

Courgettes, squash and vegetable spaghetti

Salads

Tomorrow I have all the broccoli, sprouts and kale to plant out.

Broccoli and kale

 And a few more seeds to sow, then its just the leeks to put out, they are not quite big enough yet ... and then I should be able to get on with the flower borders.

While I was away my beautiful double red hawthorn came into flower.

Double red hawthorne

In the green house the tomatoes and cucumbers are doing well....so are the weeds!

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

 

 

......and the first strawberries!

Strawberries

And more outside......

Broad beans at last fattening up!

Globe artichokes

 

 

 

 

 

and herbs

Garden News

Frost damage
We had a 'white out' last night my poor plants didn't like it at all!

The runner beans are not going to recover, I have had to sow another lot in the green house.....

...and the french beans too!

The courgettes are looking sad..... luckily I only put two plants outside.

... and I think the artichokes will survive.
I just hope we don't get another one, May frosts seem to do the most damage.

Garden News for April

Planting out, potting up and other garden happenings.

Broad beans I planted out survived the rain and sleet

 In the green house the seeds I sowed have started to flourish, assorted sweet peas

Courgettes, vegetable spaghetti and squash

Runner beans

Sugar peas and french beans

Tomatoes and globe artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes ready to plant out

and in the greenhouse borders.... lettuce and

 Mizuma greens

and the strawberries have started flowering

 and outside

The last of the Purple sprouting broccoli

Lovage, delicious added to soups

and cat mint for my feline friends

apple blossom

and black currants

Unfortunately the damage from two winters ago is still showing up

..lots of pruning to do!