A STROLL IN THE GARDEN - MARY DIXON

This week we are in the garden of Mary Dixon from Buncrana. Mary’s garden is set in one of the most beautiful areas of the peninsula with views of the Swilly and backing on to Swan Park.

How long have you been working on the garden?
I have been working on the garden for over fifty years. When my husband and I moved into the three hundred year old farmhouse the garden was a wildernesses. The whole area was full of brambles. I remember I started from one end and slowly worked my way across the ground digging it over with a spade.

What is your favourite plant?
I love hydrangeas. I have a selection of them in the garden such as the mophead ones and also a climbing one that covers a rock at the front of the drive. Of all the colours I like the red and white ones the best.

What is your favourite feature in the garden?
There is a place in the garden where I always sit so my family had a pergola and seat built especially for me. That has to be the best spot in the garden!

What is your favourite season and why?
The summer, because I enjoy the colourful flowers in the garden.

What work gives you the most pleasure in the garden?
Seed sowing in late spring. I particularly enjoy staring the sweet peas and godetia.

Any irritations, how do you cope?
Mare’s tail (horsetail) it is very hard to get rid of. I tend to apply a contact weed killer to the fresh shoots that come up. There are three on the market, Verdon, Hedlan spray and Tetral. All of them have to be used with extreme caution and put directly onto the leaves.

What is your best gardening tool?
The spade. It has served me well

Top gardening tip?
Get help if you can’t cope!

Any plans for the future?
I would like to set up more low energy lights around certain areas of the garden to give it more depth in the evenings

Horticultural.

ME AND MY MOTOR -ROBERT GURNEY

It is Me and My Motorbike this week as Robert Gurney from Ture shows us around his fabulous 1976 Honda Goldwing GL1000. For the last eighteen years Robert has run the Auto Electrical Repair shop in Ture (also known as RG Rebuilds) He specialises in alternators, starter motors and diesel pumps. Robert has a lifetime of experience and enjoyment with the combustion engine.

How long have you been interested in bikes?
I have been passionate about bikes for years. I used to race bikes on the track. I was in the Foyle District Motorcycle club and was the Irish champion on 250 and 500cc scrambler bikes three years running in 1973-4 and 5. The bikes used for scrambling at the time had to be adapted from basic road bikes. Boy were they heavy!

Any plans to change the Goldwing?
Not likely! I always wanted a Goldwing with a sidecar and I am not letting it go now!

Is it reliable?
Very, If it does break down I will be able to fix it myself too because there are no complicated electronics.

Best thing about the bike?
The tow bar is very handy. It allows me to attach the trailer tent to it and away I go. Don’t forget the two-seater sidecar too.

How does riding the bike differ when the sidecar is on?
It is totally different and takes a bit of getting used to. When you turn the bike you have to lean in the opposite direction or the steering gets really heavy.

Any modifications?
The wheels on the bike are made especially for carrying the sidecar. They are stronger and have flatter tyres.

How is the sidecar greeted on the road?
There is a lot of interest in both the bike and the sidecar. It is amazing just how many people have never seen a sidecar before. Thankfully cars give me a wide berth as they are not sure what they are passing!

What would you really like to be driving around in?
I have owned Rolls Royce’s, a Lamborghini, and numerous other cars and motorbikes. I can honestly say that my favourite is the Goldwing!

Motoring.