A Sensational Week in Corrogue
Learning to Come to My Senses
In Cordressagagh the rain is falling outside the window. The wood pigeon coos, and the dawn is breaking and I have awakened with a winged heart ready for another day of loving (Kalib Gibran) – or at least that is the intention.
This morning the scent of the hydrangea still lingers in this room. It brings me to my senses and reminds me that I am part of that which is infinitely sensational. It takes me out of my mind chatter, and I get to come to my senses.
Table of Contents
· This Week in Cordressagagh.
· Seed Sowing Begins.
· Along the Beauty Way.
· The Wildlife Pond.
· The Writer’s Garden.
· The Shade Garden.
· The Kitchen Garden.
· Sunday’s Podcast.
This Week in Cordressagagh
In the garden there has been lots of tidying up. We got rid of a lot of rubbish. One full trailer load and more to come. This is a process of letting go all those projects I had envisioned over the years, but which never came to fruition.
Seed Sowing Begins
Image by Manon25s from < Pixabay
I have on the table in the living room a tray of seeds which I will troll through today to see what I will begin to plant into seed trays. Bee will be doing this with our new worker Colleen (aged 11) later in the week.
This will involve a trip to Enniskillen to the Ashville Garden center to buy bags of John Innes No 1 seed sowing compost. This is the best compost I have found for planting seeds. These seeds I will plant in the 72 modular seed trays I bought from Fruithill Farm, and which are used by the Organic Centre in Leitrim.
I love these trays. They are sturdy and made to last. I am looking to try out some trays made of recycled rubber that are fairtrade and sustainable. I will keep you posted on this.
Sweetpea Planting
This week I recovered the sweet pea plants from the wreak of the small polycarbonate greenhouse blown down in one of the many storms than now blow through Cordressagagh.
I have planted these around the edge of the entrance to the St. Brigid’s Garden and they will cling to and climb the eight foot high bamboo structure. In this way they will create a living wall of flowers that will share their sensational fragrance.
Later we will cut them and have them in vases in the house and give them away to friends who visit.
Along the Beauty Way
Daffodil – Pheasants Eye
Image by photosforyou from Pixabay
The Way of Beauty which edges the east lane where walkers stroll is beginning to look beautiful. Now each morning I walk along the lane and just look. I now have time to look where before it has been preparation and more preparation.
I sense the hyacinths that are beginning to emerge. The purple crocus with their saffron stems are saying “Hey look at me” and I do.
The lovely host of daffodils (William Wordsworth) have their green stalks above ground and their yellow heads are beginning to open. Spring is nearly here, and the quest is now on.
This is the quest where you undertake to bloom into manifestation all that is created to be expressed through you.
The Wildlife Pond
I am presently researching heavy duty preformed pond liners for the planned pond at the far southwest corner near the oak tree.
This week I planted in that area some bullrushes -Typha latifolia in the very wet soil which is what they love.
These remind me of my childhood when we as children played in the Folly with beloved friends and we ran along the Folly riverbank with bullrushes ablaze pretending to be Viking invaders.
Amidst the seed packets that I sorted through was a sedge grass Carex Pendula. I found that this likes water so I will be planting a few rows of these seeds to plant around the planned wildlife pond.
The Writers Garde
© Geolina / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0
The Emily Bronte roses are starting to bud. I got an email from David Austin roses from whom I bought them reminding me to prune them back. (mid February).
This reminds me that I really need to buy a DECENT pair of secateurs and not those that cost a couple of quid or euro in Tesco or Poundstretcher.
The ones I have in mind have a holster for the secateurs which I think would go some way to ensuring that they don’t get lose in the garden. The brands that I am looking into are Wolf and Falco.
These are more expensive but at least they do the job and won’t crust the stems which would happen with a cheaper choice.
Many of the thousands of spring bulbs that I scattered in this garden are beginning to come up and these will be followed by tulips Greenland and White Emperor and Narcissus Segovia that I planted around November and December 2023.
The Shade Garde
Primula Quakers Bonnet
One of my favorite parts of the garden is the shade underneath the hedge that borders the lane on the east side of the property. The snowdrops are still out, and I need to divide them when the flowers go over.
The Lenten roses which I planted last year are now in full flower and look amazing. I have ordered some plants from Farmer Gracy which include Hosta ‘T. Rex’ and Miscanthus ‘Silver Charm.’ I have still to order the giant fern Osmunda Regalis which as its name implies is rather regal and is rather large.
One of my favorite sights of this time of year is when the primrose “Quaker Bonnet” begins to flower. I have a host of these primroses along the bank. All the other primroses that I buy in the garden centers and from the open prison polytunnels near to where I live don’t come back.
The Kitchen Garde
I see that the Lamb’s lettuce that I planted from seed into the 72 modular seed tray and then planted in the raised bed are doing well. I have promised to share some with my favorite post mistress in Dowra.
The rhubarb is now putting out stalks and I will need to feed it so that will be on the shopping list when next I go to the garden center.
One of the fun things about raised beds is that they are so easy to bring back into production. I cover some of our raised beds with cardboard and it’s a simple matter of pulling back the cardboard and planting into the soil once the weather has warmed up.
So, the plan is to begin to sow carrots, beetroot, cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts and more kinds of lettuce. The plan was to keep these under cover under the polycarbonate greenhouse but that is now in ruins given the storm. So I will have to do a work around of some kind.
I can see the ruins of this polycarbonate greenhouse possibly being turned into a kind of cold frame. There you have another project in my imagination.
Theres plenty more going on here in Cordressagagh such as the labyrinth project, the polytunnel re-skin project, the Fruit and Nut Garden, Stewart’s Grove, The Fairy Garden, and my plan for a meditation garden and a chakra garden. All of this will unfold in this weekly Mindful Gardener Newsletter.
But enough for this week. Have a great week and remember to Companion Your Greatness - Tony
This Sunday’s Podcast
This Sunday’s Mindful Gardening Podcast is entitled “I Listen to the Wind of my Soul.” This is about being able to listen to that deeper part of your being. It is the invitation from what I call “Soul to Soil.”
I use the acroymn S.O.U.L for the phrase “Source Of Unconditional Love.” This is what you are invited to listen to an attune to with the practice of Mindful Gardening.
.