News - Page 11
Romance is in the air all over Ireland as Valentine’s Day brings the perfect excuse to spoil your loved one rotten.
Valentines Day in Ireland
Ireland has a special connection with Valentine’s Day, as the remains of St Valentine, patron saint of love, are said to be buried under a Dublin church. So it’s no wonder Ireland is the most romantic place to be this weekend.
Gardening Ideas For Your Valentines
To help yo...
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Over 80 gardens around the country are opening for the National Gardens Scheme Snowdrop Festival this month, celebrating the beauty of our best-loved early spring flower.
Snowdrop Festival
Some of the gardens are a galanthophile’s paradise with hundreds of different varieties, while others mix snowdrops with other early spring beauties like hellebores, reticulate irises and winter aconites.
At Devonshire Mill in Yorkshire drifts of the doubl...
Read more...Now in stock - We have fabulous bare root fruit trees at absolutely bargain prices. Now is the perfect time to plant bare root, during the dormant part of the year. By the time the soil warms up your trees will be all set to get growing for the season plus you get the benefit of the best value plants.
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If you’d like the chance to build a garden at one of Ireland’s leading festivals and win €400, the Clare Garden Festival would like to hear from you!
They’ve just launched their Pop-Up Garden Community Challenge to encourage community gardeners, youth groups, school gardeners and neighbours to show what they can do with a space just 3m x 3m.
The theme is ‘Greener Gardening’ and designs should aim to help householders and gardeners to protec...
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Slowly, slowly, the season begins to get into gear as you set about tidying borders and sowing the first seeds ready for the coming year. Here’s your list of jobs in the garden this month:
General tasks:
- Get new borders ready for planting during any sunny, dry spells, clearing away turf and weeds and adding lots of organic soil improver.
- Give paths and patios a good clean hosing off winter detritus and scrubbing away algae and dirt t...
Binoculars at the ready: the annual Big Garden Birdwatch kicks off this weekend, when gardeners and wildlife lovers get outside to paint a nationwide picture of the state of our garden birds.
The Big Garden Bird Watch
The initiative, run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, is now the world’s biggest wildlife survey. Last year more than 519,000 people counted an incredible 8,262,662 birds. Their findings have helped build up a detailed...
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Plant baby broad bean plants now for a super-early crop this summer. If you sowed seeds of winter- hardy varieties like ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ last autumn, they’ll be sturdy youngsters by now and can safely go in the ground over the next few weeks.
Planting Broad Beans
Choose a mild day to plant when the soil is workable, and cover with a clear polythene cloche after planting to keep them sheltered while they settle in – you’ll find easy-to- u...
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Set off your flowers to perfection by planting a hedge this month. Filtering out the wind can turn a garden from windswept hillside to cosy flower haven; hedges also provide homes for wildlife and soften boundaries to a gentle green that’s the ideal backdrop for brightly-coloured perennials. Choose from deciduous hedges which drop their leaves in winter, such as elegant native beech or hornbeam; sturdy evergreens like yew for year-round shelter; or for a more natu...
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Ireland’s snowdrop season is about to begin, with gardeners all over the country itching to see the first shy white flowers opening their slender petals from this month onwards.
Snowdrop Season
Ireland is famous for its snowdrop collections, with some of the finest to be seen anywhere opening to visitors throughout early spring. The biggest and best of the snowdrop festivals is held at Altamont
Gardens in Co. Carlow, which has been building...
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The humble garden gnome is under threat, according to a new survey which found gnomes are a top target for thieves.
Garden Gnomes Need Your Help!
Four out of five gnome-owning households have lost at least one resident to gnome-nappers in the last five years, with the north of England a particular blackspot for unexplained disappearances. In the north-east, the average owner has lost nearly four gnomes in the last five years. The safest places for gn...
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