Another beautiful month has come to an end in our garden. Most of it has been spent clearing the vegetable beds, weeding and strimming the grass.
Cable drum mosaic table.
Our willow dome is coming on very well this year. On a hot day it is a lovely cool place full of dappled sunlight. We wanted a table inside it, and some friends gave us a cable drum last year, so we had the perfect candidate for the job.
A brief visit
The reason we have not written anything for a few days is that four out of six members of our family have visited Italy. It was a transition year school tour and we spent four beautiful and intense days in the area around Lake Garda.
April past.
April is really the month that transforms the land here in the West of Ireland, probably more than any other month of the year. It usually starts of quite cold and barren but by the end of the month everything has exploded into a crescendo of colour and form.
For the little people
So what do you do when you have planned a couple of work days in the garden but the rain keeps pouring down and all you want to do is stay warm by the fire? Spring rain is a wonderful thing, soaking all the roots of our newly planted specimens and setting everything in the garden up for a season of immense growth. It is not always wonderful to spend long periods of time in it though.
Our stamp on the stumpery.
The Victorians were known for adding a lot of quirky and artistic aspects to their gardens. Grottoes, unusual water features, mazes and labyrinths. We are particularly fond of the stumpery; a Victorian invention built from a pile of old tree roots and stumps with ferns, mosses and other plants growing amongst and on them. The first stumpery was created by an artist and gardener named Edward William Cooke in Staffordshire in 1856.
Anticipation in March.
There is a saying around here that you can get four seasons in a day and it has certainly been true for some days in the past month. Wet snow, sleet, torrential rain, blazing sun and summer temperatures have all played a role in the very changeable weather of March.
Read more
