A natural retreat

National Botanical Gardens, Dublin

It's been a while since I wrote about places to visit with the environment in mind but last week I was blown away by a visit to the National Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin in Dublin. I have seen the odd programme about them but there was nothing to compare with the real thing. The day was dry which of course made a difference but there are beautiful glass houses to wander around even if it rains with a cafe to pop in to as well. The rose garden was perfect and mu parents and I spent time sniffing many roses to see which were the best. Squirrels pranced about the paths not worrying about visitors at all and were happy to come very close to us. In fact we were reminded by signs that these confident rodents would bite and to be careful but they didn't bother us. The kitchen garden was my favorite with all sorts of mouth watering delicacies on show and I was comparing many of them to my own at home wondering how I had done. Of course I have long way to go yet!

Getting there may be an issue as it is not really walking distance from say, Heuston Station and perhaps a taxi is the best option but  no doubt if you ring up before hand you may get a handy bus number to hop on to.

Entrance is free and there is a car park, should you wish to drive, with a fee of €2.00 only for the day I believe  and should you wish to you could stay from the moment it opens until closing time, for as long as the weather is on your side I cant imagine why you would want to leave. To find out about opening times just click here and to ring them just dial + 353 1 804 0300

Here are some of our highlights from the day.

Mum and dad enjoying the sensory garden

The sensory garden with all its shapes, colours and patterns

Beautiful Glass houses containing some plants that have been around
 since the time of the Jurassic period!

Nothing like a water feature.

My own Olympic champions

A little chef for pollinators

I'm always wishing the weather was better here and we do seem to get such a lot of rain. This year of course has beaten the rest with some rotten weather and I have done my fair share of complaining. However, I have heard of some real disasters regarding the garden and on farms with many people suffering complete failures of potatoes from blight as well as other problems which must be so disheartening especially if you are only starting out. Our family did small amounts, mostly because of lack of space and it being our first time but as I type this I am reminded that when we went to get garden bits and bobs at our local centre this is exactly what the lady at the counter suggested. Too many people go mad and plant so much that when things go wrong they give up altogether.

Anyway I am rambling away from what I really wanted to say. All in all I am very proud of our efforts and have had some real successes in the veg patch even though the produce was in limited supply. In fact its been so rewarding that I am definitely going to try and grow produce over the winter months to keep some snack or two on the plate. It will take some real planning as I dont know where I will get seed at this time of year in Ireland as most people seem to grow summer veg as a novelty so I need to check this out.

For anyone who is like me and wants to start out on the path to sustainability (of some degree anyway) then I must recommend the "Grow it" magazine. Forgive me for name dropping but if something works for me then I believe in passing it on and apologies if I have mentioned it before (i dont remember doing it). This magazine is a little pricey at €5.98 but with 5 packets of seeds to try each time it really works out quite well and I would have been lost without it.

Here are quite a few pictures of what has been going on in our garden over the summer months despite the bad weather and what I believe were slug conferences on many occasions!

The Squash  Patty Pan having been put out in the soil
was looking well..

..and it continued to flower ..

Result! our first squash. The slugs attacked another plant
but this one held on and is now quite big

Our cold frame was adapted to protect the strawberries form birds and it worked . We now have trailers to get more strawberries next year.

Tomatoes looking divine on the chopping board

Tomatoes looking divine on the vine

Peas, mums favourite veg to grow

Mange tout size here but we have since picked a couple of full ones

Tasty little carrots 

Fabulously delicious potatoes which have since been eaten

Something for the wildlife

Room with a view.

Room with a view
 and it even accommodates a fall ball which you can just see.

Mary Poppins would be proud as I purchased this little number at the garden centre the other day. I must admit after my initial delight with it I realised that I had just purchased more plastic, Doh! Oh well, you cant get it right all the time but that aside I must say I think its great. I have fed the birds from my cherry tree on the front lawn but crows also feed from the feeders which is alright as they need to survive too and I do get a fair share of finches and tits. Unfortunately, the larger birds do break all of the lower smaller growing branches which is always disappointing. I dont like putting seed on the ground as it encourages rats and neither I nor the neighbours would appreciate that. I must put a nail on the shed in the back garden as that would be much more suitable for hanging feeders but if I can encourage birds to this new feeder then I will have the best seat in the house...for free!

Cherry blossom from the front garden, now crow free

Finally...

 ...got out today and tidied the garden. I dont like overdoing it as I like to allow nature to enjoy the long grass and the wild flowers that grow from it but it was time for a clear up and so nice to be out in the sun and getting a little vitamin D. I have been following Gardeners World lately and in their July magazine they were on the hunt for butterflies. I must admit that they are very scarce in Ireland this year and even though I bought 2 shrubs especially to attract them into my garden I am afraid I haven't seen one butterfly. I did however find plenty of caterpillars munching away on my cabbages though last week so I am wondering, as with the flowers and other wildlife and the summer we've been having are they just a little late? If so then maybe I have something to look forward to but I hope my Buddleia (which is a butterfly favorite) will hold for them and not have died off. I do put it all down to climate change and wonder what the future holds?

Beautiful Buddleia but where are the butterflies?

Have you seen any butterflies this year? Are you trying to attract them into your garden? Let me know.

one two TREE!

Click to hear Natural Instinct Show and Agenda 21, Tree planting.

I often say "I'll let you know how it goes" so I thought I had better do just that. I'd like to cast your mind back to a previous blog called "wonderful result" here on Greenwatch (http://greenwatch-lesley.blogspot.com/2011/01/wonderful-result.html#more) when I spoke about a project for Charleville and a lovely green space with new trees and bird and bat boxes. Well it is almost completed with the help of Agenda 21 and wonderful community of people. They applied for funding under Agenda 21 and were successful and have been as busy as Easter Bunnies planting new trees and putting up bird boxes in the park in Charleville. It's also nice to know that in these hard times too, groups such as Agenda 21 realise the importance of helping communities and their environment. I went up there last week to do an interview with Ted Bradley and Tommy Kavanagh for my radio programme, "Natural Instinct", and it was glorious. So nice to see that people are interested in the Environment still and it wasn't just the 2 of them but several groups from the community such as St. Anne's Primary School, the Christian Brothers School secondary school and St. Josephs foundation with the Green Committee group there.

Ted Bradley & Tommy Kavanagh at the park in Charleville

"One flew IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION of the Hornets nest!"

Hornet's nest and one busy wasp at the entrance

While I like to think I am "One with nature" at times, I realise that I am a lover of all nature most when it is outside. My shed is my little get away where I sit and read or think and relax. Imagine looking up and seeing this little beauty in the above picture, staring back at me this morning. I am lucky it was only the beginning of the hornets nest and very small although the picture was taken on my phone and close up so it may look big to the viewer. Thankfully only a couple of centimeters in size and one busy wasp! Beautiful and perfectly formed but  briskly removed.

Wonderful result!



Soon to be "Lovely old Town"



I received some great news this week! Always welcome. Charleville is a a busy little town in North Cork which is always full of jolly hustle and bustle and cars and lorry's and all sorts passing through on the way to Dublin or Galway as Charleville is very much the gateway to a lot of towns and cities further north. I'm not complaining too much as we need all of the business we can to pass through and stop to keep people in work and the town alive. However it has built up with the Celtic Tiger so much that people have forgotten the importance of green grass, trees and wildlife. At present there is not enough of it in Charleville by a long shot. Here is what some locals are doing about it...

Feed the Birds

Who are you looking at?

I absolutely love feeding the birds and do it every winter. Some people say you can feed them throughout the summer which will give them the extra energy to hunt for their young and others say they should fend for themselves. I don't know, but today I decided it was time to get out the peanuts and fat balls and remind them that there is always a place here for them to stuff their little feathery faces! My parents live in the country and while I was there today I put the food out and waited...

Keeping Buzy

I've spent a lot of time this summer trying to get my garden sorted. We live on a housing estate and haven't touched the garden since we moved in. I knew I wanted as many wild flowers as possible, something that will attract the insects, bees and butterflies that I would like. At a festival recently I was told that a certain type of honey bee are a dying breed, and so I thought I would try to help them along...I have a lovely pot of lavender outside my front door and they seem to love this. Whenever I go outside this summer there is a gentle buzzing and unlike wasps I am never wary of them as I know they just want to be left alone to get on with their work. I made friends with a lovely lady this year who is really green fingered and she has given me some lovely plants to help me on my way. I popped out today to take a look at how my garden is getting on and here are some photo's...

Another day at the office.

Too good to miss

I do believe that's another type of bee, all in a days work.