Update on the garden

Having 4 dogs pottering around the garden does create a challenge in itself. For various reasons, the main ones being:

 

Odd things grow in Irish Gardens

 

Ellie, loves to dig, and hide tennis balls. We believe she does this as a – in case of accidents policy. (In other words some kid accidentally enter the garden and they do not have a tennis or football with them.) She buries them in the ground in odd places, hides them in the hawthorne hedge and even carefully places them in the branches of a thick shrub at the far corner of the garden.

All-focus

Doug; loves to ramble and eat. He will eat, nasturtiums, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, courgette and any fruit. He is currently eyeing up the apple tree.

Brook – energetic greyhound will lie down on any part of the garden or just anywhere.

 

Bell will eat her way through any tall shrub or plant just to create a short cut.

So all in all I think we are doing ok.

This is the new wildflower area of the garden, seeds and weeds flourish as do ocassional children who decide to be a gardener for a while.

How about you guys and ladies and your gardening exploits during the past few months, any success stories?

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Progress

I am rearranging my garden, out of necessity and because of these bothersome days where we are confined to close quarters. And I decided to post this brief post specifically to let Maxwellthedog know that we are working to get it done and some tomatoes growing asap! But as you may notice I have some help (there is four of us living in the house) so all is not lost.

Digging up Bob’s beloved strawberry and blackcurrant patch was tough work,

I had taken cuttings of the blackcurrant bush last year, so it will be replanted in a suitable spot.

As you can see the canine help were their usual supportive selves, Belle and Brook had retired to the yard to get the most sun.

I am interested in learning if anyone has a green house and what they recommend I plant in it, remembering that Ireland is not the hotest place on the planet.

Take care.

Hello –

It is a strange world and that is a fact.

One question for everyone, have you noticed, when you escape the confines of your four walls for a walk, how eager those who pass (some 8 feet from) you are to say “Hello”? This time last year I purposly said, hello to everyone I passed on a mile walk around the village. I received two hello’s from the many groups of mothers and children who were on their way to the school.

Have you noticed any other positive indications that we might be learning how to interact in a new and better way?

And more importantly, how are you coping? Any hints or tips on how to stop watching a screen from sun up to sundown?

A new helper in the garden. Belle is visiting for a few months and loves company. Her idea of helping is..sitting.

A picture tells a story.

Sit and stay is a useful tool, especially when this collie likes to explore. (There were a lot of cars around.)

Judy, the black labrador, appreciates a rest and will sit and stay forever.

 

 

She, was taught by the best sitter of them all,

BOB

Gardening friends

People who don’t garden think it is tiresome, a never-ending job. A little like exterior housework I suppose.

However, I find it therapeutic and I am never alone.

We have a new visitor but he is a pretty young and scrawny looking Robin, we will have to feed him up.

Odd things you find growing in the garden.

Irish weather is always a hot topic (excuse the pun) but when one day you wake up to a dark sky and thundering cold wind. The next day it is beaming sunshine and heat. It is no wonder Irish people are so besotted with the weather.

However I am discovering that there is another hot topic in our house – strange things that pop up in the garden.

See for yourself. I look forward to the many varied comments that will follow the pictures below.

I was weeding and discovered this gorgeous plant, weed??

Then this odd looking object.  I wonder who or what planted it?

 

Summer is over but Bob has found…a new love

Yes, Summer is definitely over, no more raspberries or blackcurrants to pick. The blackberries are rare to find these days but don’t worry he (Bob)  has moved on to bigger and greater things…

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Apples!

I am hoping gravity takes over and one (a small one) hits him on the head because they are very nice apples and we would like to have a taste of one or two.

 

Hot Days, Cool Dogs & Flowers

It was hidden from sight for seven months but at last we have some “terrible hot weather” as we call it because Summer is here, again, however briefly. Truth is most Irish people wilt at anything above 21 degrees.

But Bob has his own solution, which consists of sitting (no surprise there), in the shade.

Though I suspect he is simply waiting on those raspberries to ripen.

 

While Ellie as always is searching

intently.

Not noticing the beauty popping up around her.

Summer Fruits

This year my garden is one long continuous battle, for a variety of reasons.

I spend a lot of time pulling weeds,or devising ways to fend off attacks from slugs and snails. These, I believed to be the worst offenders in the garden. This stupid belief was shattered as I went with a bowl to see what strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants I could collect.

Take a look at this:

And what was worse he went from  raspberry plant to

 

 

to strawberry, to blackcurrant!

So my greatest garden pest is a dog named Bob!

How do we know the weather is changing?

The answer in this house is simple. Take a look at these pictures,

Bob hunkers down for a boring day of watching me clean the house,

 

Ellie, gathers every sock she can find, and then hides them creating her own version of: “Go Find”

Even the  sunflowers start to turn away, as though attempting to hide from the impending rain. (Also note, gate painting had to stop, though the painter was not sorry about this change of plans).