Green fingers, green thumb

I have spent an hour watering sixty saplings I planted in the field in front of the house: Ash, Hawthorn, Field Acer, Horse Chestnut, Hazel and Hornbeam. Where is the rain when you want it?

An inspiring friend who has grown the most beautiful forest garden with her partner over the last twenty eight years had saplings ready for me wrapped in paper and plastic bags with a little soil and water to keep them moist. I am excited to see if they survive. I am germinating some Scots Pine seeds from a tree in Phoenix Park; only one small green shoot so far.

I have cut plastic bottles to put around the saplings to stop the rabbits from eating the stems while I am waiting for some spiral covers. Apparently, saplings are delicious tender snack for rabbits. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben tells us about the cycle of trees. The saplings are the children of trees and trees create an ecosystem to protect them. It makes these saplings even more precious.

The blankets of snow in the morning a few weeks ago revealed the tracks of the nocturnal life here: fox, bird, rabbit, and feral cat. I hear badgers and hedgehogs are about but I’ve yet to see one. I realise that we are intruders here really and I will be sharing the garden with them. I want this garden to be for us all.  

The Illustrated Practical Guide to Wildlife Gardening, Christine and Michael Lavelle, has been my go-to book the last few weeks planning the garden, it is not currently available online but will be in branch when we reopen. If you want a wildlife garden, I would give it a read. I have also borrowed RSPB Gardening for Wildlife, Adrian Thomas it gives great advice on creating gardens for wildlife. Lots of tips on creating meadows and woodland in your garden, anything to get out of the constant lawn mowing!

As my first Spring in New House has arrived in the garden and new life begins to emerge. Catkins are like decorations on trees, Hawthorn just started changing last week and in days got thicker. The hedges look like they have been carpeted. Primroses randomly planted by my children were an early hit of colour that just keeps giving. My father told me that my grandfather always planted them as flowers of hope peeping up from grassy banks.

 

The birds are eating me out of house and home and much of my understanding of the garden birds is thanks to Sam our library wildlife expert, (you can see his videos on Dublin City Library Facebook pages). Very inspiring and informative! Bird feeding is great fun for children too and refilling the food and washing the feeders. If they would move their dawn chorus to 7 o'clock - I'd be delighted!!

50 Wild things to do at home and Nearby, Wildlife Trusts is a full of ideas for activities in the garden. Making compost, reading an animal track, building a bee house, taking wild photographs . We have been trying some cloud spotting today as it is cloudy, a very tidy activity!

I am germinating cornflower, nasturtium, lobelia, poppies, sunflowers, parsley and thyme, scots pine on the windowsills. Some are outside for a few hours each day acclimatising, some are outside fulltime. I am preparing flowerbeds to house all these when they are ready to go out but there is a lot of hard graft to get areas cleared and ready for purpose. 

This whole project is trial and error. I am putting things in the ground and in pots and seeing how they grow. Having books and magazines available to browse has been a great help when I start a new task. Advice from people is my favourite way of learning and people are so passionate and willing to share their gardening tips. Between watering seeds and trees, feeding birds (and then watching them eat!) and trying to learn how to dig a flower bed I am kept busy.

I’m looking forward to bright evenings; it's good for the head. 

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Submitted by Tamsin in Phibsboro library.