Category: - Gareth Austin Horticultural & Media Services

Kids Harvesting Heritage Lumper Potatoes

10/15/2013

Its been all-go this week with the harvestign of the Lumper potatoes as part of the Living Heritage Project.

Various schools have been out digging up their spuds, some have had great success, some not so great, but the kids are loving the unusual shapes and sizes of these heritage potatoes.

The Lumper potatoes are true to their name...lumpy!

the kids certainly enjoyed harvesting the Lumper heritage potatoes, see more harvesting in schools here, almost as much as they enjoyed planting them!

See harvesting pics from St Therese Primary School and St Pauls Primary Schools here

Planting summer Clematis

1/8/2013

When planting Clematis and other climbers it vital to plant them at an angle like this, this encourages the roots to grow out away from the tree/fence etc into an area thats easier to gather food and water....

Clematis loves a cool root, so over plant deeper than its in the pot, so plant 5inches or more deeper.

Our plans here is for this Clematis to twine up around this purple plum ( the clematis is bright pink) and give a complimental colour int he late summer.

Lots of compost is added as this area will be dry in the summer (due to the competition from the tree)

Planting new fruit bushes

1/8/2013

start by marking out the hole

Now is a great time to be planting fruit bushes in your garden, the dormant season (now) is great for planting as it allows lots of time for the plant to settle in before it need to start growing and putting on foliage....and this is what we did at Groarty primary School this week....

and all the better when the plants are half price lol!!

nice hole, twice tge size of the pot and work in some chicken manure and some compost from the school compost bin

a good heavy mulch of compost at the end is recommended, this helps to reduce weed growth at the start, but also helps to conserve moisture if it turns dry. Spacing wise keep your fruit bushes 4' apart, it surprising how big they get...so the 4' spacing is at least a minimum. These fruit bushes will give a wee bit of fruit this year, but after 3-5 years they'll be at they're peak...giving many kg of fruit per bush.

St Terese Lenamore Bulb Planting

10/30/2012

St Terese Primary School in lenamore was the latest group to join in with the 10000 daffodil bulb target, a class from every year group took part and we managed to plant 1000 on the school grounds, with a large clump planted outside each classroom window....the kids are in for a real treat come the Spring time. Pictured is Mr McClaffertys class....who excelled at the task and planted hundreds!!

Ashbrook Field Trip

10/23/2012

massive beech trees

This week the kids from Groarty primary School and myself visited the historic Ashbrook House in Ardmore, as a field trip venue to look at Autumn leaves and trees its ideal, everything is a short walk from the coach drop-opp point, the range of tree sis extensive and mature and there is many unusual and interesting varieties on site, and it gives us a chance to combine History and Horticulture....

amazing colours

some seriously mature trees

taking in the sights in the hallway

and of course there is the house itself, which is just lovely, and where else could you do a autumn tree trail and combine a visit to a pre-plantation house....very few places. We were guided in the house and gardens by Mrs Beresford-Ash who was very generous with her time and the kids loved hearing abotu the history of her, the family, the hosue, the furniture, the artifacts, the animals everything. And the kids were excellent is asking interesting questions, showing great respect for their surroundings and were a shining example in good behaviour.

old carts in the coachhouse

cracking wee architecture gems

just class....

in under 2 hours the kids had found every tree on their Woodland Trust Autumn leaf finder checklist, found umpteen mushrooms, lichens, ferns and the likes, saw trees of a size and age you would struggle to see outwith a Botanical Gardens, toured a pre-plantation house, saw an old sawmill, a laundrette, a pantry and let's not forget about the stuffed Leopard and the Bear....without getting their feet muddy (a school teachers dream!).

Ashbrook house can be contacted on 02871349223, house is private and only open to appointment.

St Patricks Bulb Planting

10/20/2012

Thursday afternoon I was joined by Ms Adlard and the After Schools Gardening Club in St Patricks for a big of daffodil planting....and boy can these folks motor!!...the group is only small...I think abut 12 but we managed to get about 550 planting in an hour...We're making a massive square of bulbs on the lawn as you look up from the front gate, sounds easier than it is...so the p5's worked out how to make a right angle on bare ground, we made our square and then got planting....mighty craic!

ms adlard leading the way

the scale of the project is visible

Slievemore Bulb Planting

10/20/2012

I spent a great day in St Pauls Slievemore Primary School planting Daffodils with the entire School, we planted close on a 1000 daffodil bulbs in the school grounds. It was a mighty day and it was great to have the company of every class from p1-7 come out and plant as many bulbs as each could. We planted the bulbs en masse around the car park areas so visitors to the school next spring will be dazzled by the daffodils for years to come...this is all working towards my challenge of planting 10000 bulbs with Housing Executive this Autumn....and we're getting there!!

My thanks to School Principal Catrina McPheely for helping to make this event possible and to Patrick Duddy from Housing Executive for his on going support with this Bulb Planting initiative.....and most of all thansks to all the kids in St Pauls for a really enjoyable day....and when you look at the pics above its hard to believe these were all taken after they have been planting....not one kid clabbered in muck....

Daffodill planting in Steelstown Primary

10/17/2012

lining the driveway with daffodils

Just Spent as great afternoon planting 1000 daffodil bulbs around the grounds of Steelstown Primary School. Glad to have the guys from Shantallow Community Residents Association to lend a hand digging the holes, although the kids took great enjoyment from using the spades too....

planting a 'daffodill hill'

lots of happy faces!!

another batch of happy faces....

a total of 4 classes came out to help us plant a serious amount of bulbs, in 4 big areas in the schools grounds. This is part of the 1000 daffodil bulbs i'm planting in Association with Housing Executive this Autumn.....

another happy class

I was delighted to have such energetic kids to help....and to have the great guys from Shantallow Community Residents Association on board to help dig the holes and co-ordinate the whole thing. Its when all these groups come together that events liek this are easy and straight forwards and for many years to come the kids will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour every spring....

Blighs Lane Spinach Harvest

9/18/2012

The kids of Blighs Lane Nursery were especially proud of their mega harvest of perpetual spinach....we got 2 massive sink fulls....they were delighted, the wet summer ensured the raised beds were never short of water....making for a mega harvest!!

Random Flowers from around a kitchen garden

9/18/2012

baby pink cosmos

flowers coming on carrots

fennel flowers

dainty flowers of rocket

a climbing red rose