Based in Draperstown the S.T.E.P.S Group (Suicide. Talking. Educating. Preventing. Support.) aims to raise awareness of suicide and mental health, and hope people will take looking after their mental health as seriously as their physical health. To this end S.T.E.P.S. approached Community Gardening to deliver a series of recreational gardening classes in a business unit provided [...]
According to the Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants the Tulipa is a "genus of about 100 species of bulbous perennials found in usually hot, dry situations" - quite something then, that they thrive in our cool, wet climate. The elegant closed goblet of the tulip is exquisitely beautiful, but when open it reveals [...]
Saturday mornings at Kilronan School, Magherafelt, became a very mucky affair! Children and their parents, grandparents and siblings from Desertmartin Primary School, Gaelscoil an tSeanchai and Kilronan Special School gathered from 10 am to 12 noon to learn a bit about nature and gardening through crafts and planting, whilst consuming lots of juice and buns.The classes [...]
I was really glad to see the back of March - it seemed to come in like a lion and go out like a polar bear! A thoroughly miserable month resulted in blooms and leaf buds on trees and shrubs being delayed. But when they appeared, they appeared with style and in abundance.My Narcissus 'Thalia' [...]
Congratulations to the winner and five runners-up in the Community Gardening Encouraging Wildlife poster competition. Prizes included a range of wildflower seeds, bird food and bird feeders, and homes for insects. The winning entries were: First Prize: Amy Donald, Year 7, Ballinamallard Primary School, with 'Let them in!!!' Runner-up: Katie-Rose Kelly, P6, Christ the King [...]
It is getting a bit late for planting bare-root hedging, but you may still be able to fit it in before the end of the month (February's edition of Gardeners' World Magazine has a guide to planting a bare-root beech hedge on Page 79). The beech (Fagus sylvatica) hedge and specimen tree are such a [...]
Despite the cold start to the year, the rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum, Champagne) at my allotment in the Springhill House Walled Garden, has emerged around the same time as it did last year. However, I did notice that a couple of the smaller leaves are blackened, which I am assuming is frost damage. Edible rhubarb [...]
January thus far would certainly not have inspired you to start to do any work in the garden! Apart from flicking through the 2015 seed catalogues, I must admit that I haven't thought about my back garden or allotment since December. Saturday, however, changed all that. There was a definite improvement in the weather and [...]
For centuries, the peoples of Northern Europe have brought evergreen foliage and berries into their homes during the depths of winter - mistletoe (Viscum album), holly (Ilex aquifolium), and Norway Spruce (Picea abies). More recently we have tricked exotic species into flowering out of season, providing blossoms in December e.g. poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima, native of [...]
Perhaps it is because they keep their leaves all through the Winter, or because they flower and fruit at this time of year, but in ancient times both ivy and holly were believed to have magical powers, and were used to protect livestock from witches and evil spirits. Ivy (Hedera helix) and holly (Ilex aquifolium) [...]
