Hello from Cork.

Hi,
Just signed up to the gardenerscorner site today. Looks like a nice forum. Time off today with not a whole lot to do in the garden. Did a little bit of weeding but the ground is too wet to do that much. Started work on my current garden just over five years ago and still have some planting to go. Most of my interest in gardening is to promote wildlife so a lot of what I have planted should eventually produce some fruit or nuts or at least provide some flowers to promote pollinators in the garden. Also interested in perennial edibles for my own use. Going to get another few shrubs and small trees in the next couple of months so any suggestions for any unusual hardy perennials that are good for flowers or fruit would be appreciated. Some video of what I have been doing so far is on youtube under the channel name sustainableveg. Hope you have a nice Christmas holiday and all the best in the new year.

 

Welcome to the forum, I too am a very new member, you sound like you already know a fair bit about gardening, I am new to everything, hoping to grow some plants from seed so wish me luck!

 

Thanks for the welcome. Best of luck with the seeds. Bit cold here still for most things to start from seed outside but a sunny windowsill is always a good spot to get things going with a bit of a head start before planting out. I have used premier seeds direct on the amazon website before and found them to be good value. Also worth checking with anyone you know who is already gardening to see if they collect any seeds in their own garden as it would be good to propagate things that you already know will do well in your area.
Happy planting!

 

Thanks for the welcome message.
All the best!

 

@Sizzy6 I'll be starting collected seeds today in soil blocks, and as you can see by my zone, that will be definitely be indoors! And because the ground here is will stay frozen for at least the first 12" until spring, growing from seed indoors is all the gardening I can do right now. I also order in seeds but at the moment, I am just enjoying going through the catalogues and making my wish list

@Macraignil I garden because I find it good exercise and I always expect the plants to give back as much as I've given. Either with fruit or vegetables, or attracting birds and bees or in some cases just give me something pleasant to see.

Welcome to the forum! ​

 

Thanks for the welcome message.

I think my garden is a bit milder than that but still a bit too cold for planting seeds for another while. No point having things getting too stretched and scraggly before planting them out when I can just plant a bit later and they will catch up when they will grow faster when it is a bit warmer anyway. Weather is a bit unpredictable here so don't always expect to get a return from plants but as long as I keep planting something should work out anyway. Saw some daffodil plants starting to sprout leaves yesterday and there are already some primroses flowering
All the best!

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Macraignil.

 

Welcome to GC.

 

Hi @Macraignil ,



Welcome to GC

 

Thank you for the welcome messages.
Just posted a clip of how half my garden was looking last week.
All the best in the new year!

 

Macraignil & Sizzy6 A very warm welcome to you both. YES Gardeners Corner is THE gardening forum.
Great respect for each other and loads and loads of experience. However. Gardening on the moon!!! We haven't tried that yet. Good to have you both on the team.

 

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the welcome message. Probably will steer away form the moon gardening this year anyway. Lots of other little garden experiments to get on with anyway.
All the best in the new year.

 

Hi, Macraignil! I'm in the west of the county and take an interest in (veg only) devising novel ways and means of doing things for practical and economic benefit, e.g. everlasting runner bean sticks, and similar pea supports, to overcome the need for expensive bought products that last no more than a season or two. Sensible salvage is also a theme of mine.

Glad to share with you (or anyone) if useful?

 

Hi Coachman,
Thanks for the offer of some bean sticks but just use the renewable sticks that grow in the hedges and on trees around here so not looking for any everlasting ones. I think I have a few pieces of bamboo and a couple of tree pruning branches already lined up for this summer. More in North County Cork myself but travel into the city regularly for work. I have loads of old windowboxes I'm not using if you can think of anything to do with those.

The largest number of them were cheap ones without the drainage holes drilled out and the plastic has got a bit fragile with age so I think I'm going to have to dispose of them as scrap if they can't be salvaged in some way. Was experimenting with getting a business going selling cooking herbs in the windowboxes years back but the business took a turn for the worse when the girlfriend at the time decided to move away from where I was getting things established and they have been stacked doing nothing since. Also have loads of Jerusalem artichoke which will probably be starting to shoot up new stems again in a few months if you can think of any worthwhile use for them. Gave up selling them to restaurants as I got an offer of full time work and did not really have the resources to scale up the harvesting, cleaning and preparing the roots for sale at a level to make a functioning business. Was interested in their potential as a biomass source for making fuel but still not invested in getting any experiments going. Could offer some blackcurrant and gooseberry prunings for propagation as well so if you are near Cork city over the next few week let me know if you want some.
All the best.