June & Jam!

June has been a month where we finally saw things start to put on growth. The warmer overnight temperatures have made all the difference, and features like the Poison Garden and the Herbaceous Border are looking great.

We also completed the construction of our new Rose pergola that frames the Herbaceous Border. It will be planted in the autumn, and at 80m long I believe it will be one of the longest in Ireland.

We’ve had good and bad news regarding losses after a second hard winter. A lot of our southern hemisphere plants have given up and have to be removed. One positive note is that our 2 very large Drimys winteri have broken out new growth up to 2m up the main stem. We will now prune them back to this. Also, one of our Wollemi Pines has put out new shoots from the base. Our only worry is if we have another hard winter, we will see these already weakened plants ‘finished off.

It’s been a very dry month and we have spent a good deal of time watering our newly planted areas. If the plant is killed by a harsh winter it’s one thing, but if it dies from lack of water, that’s just neglect.

A lot of our fruit is ripening now, and we are busy picking and storing for jam making.