Treading lightly, one step at a time.
My name is Maria. Many of my earliest memories are to do with nature and plants. I remember travelling along a road through a forest in the middle of winter in Sweden and every time the moon glimpsed through the trees I would shout out in wonder “Look at the moon”. This annoyed my big … Read more About the author.
Over the last few years we have extended our old cottage, built a conservatory and are now in the process of renovating and improving our shed to use as a workshop and storage facility. Our aim is for our buildings to have as little negative impact as possible on the environment. We have used reclaimed … Read more Building our sustainable home.
Even before we bought our cottage and piece of land four year ago, we were planning our forest garden. Forest gardens exist all over the world and their history goes back for thousands of years. It is a way of growing mostly perennial vegetables, shrubs, trees, vines and other useful plants in a way that … Read more Gardening in harmony.
It is less than a week now to our Open Garden day for Amnesty. Although we have lots to do still, today we decided to help the little people in the garden, by building them a summer house and putting up some bunting. We know they are shy creatures and that they may be a bit startled by all the visitors to the garden on Saturday, but we still think they want their place to look the best.
June was a month that seems to have passed very quickly this year. Maybe that is because we have been busy preparing for our open garden day on July 15th. There is still quite a lot to do in the garden, and we are baking every day and kind friends are letting us use their freezers for all the muffins, Swedish cinnamon buns and scones. We have had masses of ripe raspberries over the last couple of weeks and most of them have been used for vanilla and raspberry muffins for our guests on the open day.
Over the last four years we have worked on our land and transformed it from a bare field full of creeping buttercups to the productive and sustainable garden it is today. Although we have added decorative elements to many parts of it most of the planting has been put in to serve a practical purpose. Fruit trees, berry bushes and many perennial and annual food crops jostle for space with plants that support wildlife, nitrogen fixers, plants for weaving and supports and many medicinal and culinary herbs.
Our original herb garden that we planted four years ago is quite far from the cottage, tucked away in a corner of the garden. Although it is a lovely place to visit and enjoy, it is not always very practical when you need some rosemary for the roasted vegetables or some sage for a sore throat.
Our open day for Amnesty International Ireland is drawing closer and there are many things to prepare and finalise.
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.
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.
