COMPOSTING MADE EASY

Hi and welcome to Inishindie. If you are linking in from the article in the Inish Times this weeks edition then you would like to know more about composting.

There are articles on this site to help you (just type "composting" into the search box.)

For a great site then go to the Compost Association of Ireland

Happy composting!!

BULBS

Pot spring bulbs such as dwarf narcissi, hyacinths, Iris reticulata and crocuses at fortnightly intervals for a staggered display in both the house and the garden. (It is amazing how cheap these bulbs are getting I saw a box of 500 dwarf daffs for about €6 the other day). Use ordinary potting compost with some coarse sand or grit mixed in.


Plant nerine bulbs and divide old mounded clumps after flowering. The best place for the heat and sun they need to flower is at the foot of a south-facing wall. Plant the bulbs with the nose just showing above the soil and give protection with a mulch if it gets really cold.

CONKERS

As I don't have a picture of any conkers, how about one of Swan Park in Buncrana?

NUTS

A council in England is paying contractors €150 euro per tree to remove conkers. Officials fear locals' windows will be broken as children throw objects into the trees to loosen the chestnuts. The contractors remove the conkers from the trees and leave them on the ground so children can still play with them. Peter Whish, the council's tree officer, said: "We're basically saving the council some money. One resident regularly has her windows broken in her conservatory by people throwing things into the tree. "There was a good conker crop so she gave us a call early and we were able to respond." However, World Conker Championships organiser John Hadman said the council were ruining the conkers by not allowing them to fall naturally. He said: "If a conker hasn't fallen to the ground naturally then it isn't ready to play”.

ALPINE TROUGHS

Winter is closing in. Take a few minutes to make sure your alpine plants are not covered with we leaves. Move any small alpine troughs (mind your backs!!) to a covered porch or lean-to to protect them from the rain (if you do not have a suitably ventilated and unheated greenhouse). Alternatively, shelter the troughs with transparent acrylic sheets suspended above them.

Horticultural.

DUBLIN VISIT

No photo's please!

We were in Dublin last week. I decided to take my two lads and their two cousins to the National art gallery, to introduce them to a bit of culture. (A run around in a big building) We had a great time. The kids found the lifts fascinating and setting off the alarm when I touched a 500 year old painting was very exciting. (How was I to know that invisible infa-red beams shining down from the ceiling protect the pictures)? The security guards certainly earned their money that afternoon and of course the children got the blame…. Kids eh?


After we were asked to leave we decided to check out the new computer section that has opened. Here you can do a virtual tour of the gallery without being shouted at. The kids loved it and probably spent more time on the computers than they did in the gallery. Some people might think it strange to be looking at a picture on a screen when the real thing was upstairs. It became obvious to me that the gang had taken in more than I imagined. They toured around until they found their favourite pictures and zoomed in to get the details.


This gave me a great idea for the armchair gardener for Christmas…. a virtual garden. Just think you could use one finger to dig the plot, sow the seeds, and weed. When all this gets too much you can switch the computer off and you wouldn’t even have mucky boots or tools to clean. You could watch the plants grow in the comfort of your armchair. There are drawbacks of course. Your own garden would become a wilderness, you wouldn’t get any fresh air, your skin would go transparent because you wont get any sun and unless you went to the gym for some exercise you would loose the sight of your feet. Maybe it’s not such a good idea after all.