Recycling waste cardboard in the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine Cottage…part of the work programme for today as I continue to make new beds that will be planted out in the Spring.
It is early morning here in the west of Ireland and the sun is playing hide and seek…a beautiful, warm autumnal morning.
The kind of day that makes one feel so good to be alive and out in Nature!
The abundance of the harvest continues.
Work is ongoing in converting the Lodge to a workshop and shop.
The apple harvest is bountiful…nine years of apples and no chemicals, sprays or other tampering with Nature!
Tomatoes are falling out of Potager beds…these are the seeds that Tara Angell sent me from New York…Black Tomatoes.
This is the potager bed I made with students in a workshop this summer. There is no soil in it, just home made compost and shredding mulch.
In fact, all the seeds sent to me this year and last are growing magnificently here in the west of Ireland, in these north facing gardens of poor, thin soil!
As I walked through the gardens I noticed the abundance of berries for the birds this winter…a sign of cold days ahead!
This huge shrub almost dominates the apple trees in the orchard…keeping the wild birds fed and happy!
What is a garden without birdsong?
Have a good week ahead everyone!
Enjoy the rest of the photographs taken this morning here in the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine Cottage…
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your garden is amazing!!!!!!
Thanks!
Afriend sent me the best saying and I had to pass it along: “Permaculture: Revolution disquised as gardening”.
It’s always such a pleasure to read your blog posts and look at the beautiful photos…good for the soul! 🙂
Thanks Julie…it’s rewarding for me to receive such uplifting comments. Bless you X
Hi Colette, your garden looks so beautiful this morning – so inspiring. I am also collecting cardboard for my garden. I am going to pick nettles later – there’s absolutely no shortage here 🙂 We have arranged a doggie-sitter for Sheba and I am looking forward to really seeing your garden tomorrow.
See you then! 🙂
I don’t have a garden shredder but I spent my weekend sieving the large compost heap in my garden (twice) to make many bucketloads of fine shreddings to spread on the soil between and around my plants. Many years ago, before I was really into gardening, my father-in-law bought me a hoe – I never realised until recently how effective it is for weeding between the plants. I use the hoe and then cover the soil with the shreddings with the aim of suppressing the weeds, enriching the soil and retaining moisture. Eventually I want to fill in all the spaces with ground cover plants but I haven’t decided what to use yet.
It’s really hard to get comments posted on here 🙁 WordPress seems to have ridiculously strict spam-filtering.
It sounds like you had a busy weekend and very productive weekend! That’s a great idea on how to get the most out of the compost! Something one can do without needing a shredder and emulating the action of forest floor enrichment.
So many friends have made the same complaint about posting comments and I am at a loss on what to do! I shall have another look at the settings…thanks for informing me 🙂
Your garden looks lush and beautiful Colette.
Inspired by your use of hanging baskets to grow strawberries, I’ve dug up some of the baby plants produced by my strawberry patch this summer and put them in pots on top of a high brick wall, in the hope that the slugs won’t find them there. Time will tell.
I’ve saved seeds from brussels sprouts and tomatoes to grow next year. I’m also going to try to germinate seeds from blackcurrants, gooseberries and plums – not sure if these need chilling for a few months before they will germinate, so I will try some and see what happens.
Keep up the good work 🙂
John (Portsmouth, UK).
It’s always great to hear from readers of this blog…thanks for posting, John! 🙂
The blackcurrant seeds will need chilling first, but that will happen in the pots if left to over-winter!
Blessings X
Colette