The Garden

This week we looked at our garden, in a very sad state after the winter. Anne Marie came by with a plan, it will certainly looks welcoming a lot of work to set up but hopefully just maintenance after that. I get to keep the climbing roses, Phil was not so keen, and those Berginia are staying which we both dislike. The slugs love them, eating massive holes in the leaves. To be truthful they have sent up a mass of pink flowers this year which is the only colour in the front of the house. In the States they are nick named Elephant Ears for the way they flap in the breeze if they get big enough. Like so many gardens in Ireland we lost our Griselina hedge. This variety would not normally have been grown here, but Ireland experienced years of mild winters, global warming we all thought, and them 2 humdingers of winters where temps in Kilkenny were recorded at -15c. Griselina is only hardy at around -12c. If any survived the first winter they were all zapped out by the time the second cold winter came. I am going to plant potatoes this year, got the seed spuds today. I am looking for that new potato taste that is just missing from most of the one you purchase. Having just re read this I end up saying stuff my parents said that I swore I would never say as I got older. I hope Lottie does not do a repeat her performance with these as she did with the daffodil bulbs a few years ago. As fast as I was planting she was digging them up & giving them to me. In the back garden we have 2 sets of French doors, once nicely decorated with daffie's the other side bare - I just gave up! The herb garden is replanted & I notice mint springing up all over the place, hard to keep that down. On the weed side the dandelion seems to love these cold winters, have you noticed the verges etc at the side of the roads a mass of yellow & it doesn't matter how many I pick daily from the lawn (well that's rather a grand name for the green patch at the back of the house) there seem to be even more the next morning. Next week some rhubarb recipes