WHAT ARE YOU?

The walkway in Brisbane was well planned.

ARE YOU A PLANNER OR A PLONKER?

I was out and about the peninsula this week to see if we gardeners are either Planners or Plonkers. Now before you think that I have started to quote Del Boy from Only Fools and horses, let me explain.

When you are buying plants for the garden, do you chose a plant to fit a space (planner) or do you buy plants and put them wherever you can find a space (plonker)?

I must confess that I am a bit of a plonker. Mainly because I have a very small garden and if I was to be a planner and stick to the recognised planning distances I would only get about three cabbage plants in the raised beds. I tend to plonk the plants down and suffer the consequences of moving them after a year (usually to someone else’s garden!)

Here are what some people on the streets say about being a planner or a plonker:

“I am both a planner and a plonker and enjoy doing and being both!! Sometimes you know exactly what plant you want and it's fun searching high and low trying to find it, I've travelled miles around the country for a particular variety regardless of whether I have space for it!” V.J Carn

“I have always been a 'plonker' but, having recently moved house and taken over a substantial barren garden, have great intentions of reversing this habit and being a planner. Deep down though I know I will revert back to plonking!” F.Y. Buncrana

“I started life as a plonker but after years of learning, some bitter experience and reading a few good design books would like to think that I am slowly maturing into a planner. I still occasionally get a bit over-excited at the local nursery and come home with more plants than I have space for, so end up doing a bit of semi-planned plonking; which I guess makes me a planker..!”J.B. Malin

“I'm too far down the line to be anything but a plonker.” C.S. Buncrana.

I'm a plonker, but because I colour theme the beds it doesn't seem to matter much. I also buy so many bargains there’ s no way I could ever be a planner.... I think plonkers have much nicer loved gardens... anon.

Horticultural.

PORTRUSH POSTERS

PORTRUSH

TREE PRUNING

How not to prune a tree! It isn't just a case of lopping off branches. There is always an inner canopy to see in a tree. Below is an example of how to do it. Patrick McCartney from Buncrana stands back and takes his time when pruning.

This tree was pruned the day before this photo was taken. Not bad eh?

A STROLL IN THE GARDEN -PADDY MCCARTNEY WEEK 3

Shallow rooted carrot varieties are ideal if you don't want to get the spade out.

Paddy McCartney from Greencastle is very multi faceted in the garden and to guarantee the pollination of his fruit, vegetables and flowers he keeps two beehives.

BEE KEEPING

Tell us a bit about the bees you keep
I have kept bees for years and I couldn’t imagine the garden without them. The bees work hard in my own garden. Also in early summer the bees go down the hill to collect nectar from wild flowers and in the late summer they go up the hill to the heather beds as well. When I work in the garden the hives are behind a six-foot hedge. This stops them from flying into me as by the time they have flown over the hedge they are well above head height.

Do you get much honey?
We get enough for ourselves and a few friends. I collect the honey once a year. I only have two hives so we don’t really produce on a commercial level!

What does the smoke do when it is blown into the hives?
Smoking the bees helps the keeper to harvest the honey safely. When the bees smell the smoke they think there is a fire. Then they gorge themselves to save their food. This makes them drowsy and harmless.

Are they dangerous?
Only when provoked! If you agitate one of them, then all of the other bees come over and have a go at the enemy! This thankfully doesn’t happen often

Top gardening tip?
If you have raspberries growing you might need to support them. If you put up a wire net, don’t put the wire right down to the floor. That way you can still get to the weeds around the base of the plant.

Have you any plans for the future?
I will be introducing more raised beds into the garden. I have them already for the vegetables and I would like to grow flowers that way too. As I get older I am less agile and raised beds are really handy to sit on and work with the plants and soil. I might even de-commission some of the garden and turn it over to members of the annual courses so they can look after it as part of their course.

Thanks to Paddy for his pearls of wisdom over the last three weeks!

Horticultural.

HOOPERS LAW

I have just bought a site for a new house and it has a hedge surrounding it. I would like to keep it and improve the look of it. I would be interested to find out how old the original hedge is. I have heard that you can assess the age of hedges by counting the species in it, how does this work. Thanks D.K. By e-mail

Using a method called Hooper’s Law can age hedges quite accurately. This mathematical theory is based upon the number of woody species found in a 30m (100 ft.) length of hedge. Dr Hooper tested hedges of known age from old maps; he found that the number of species multiplied by 100 roughly equals the age of the hedge. However at least 3 random samples should be taken and an average calculated. It seems to be too simplistic to work but the theory has been proved accurate time and time again.

Horticultural.