Strawberry field in the orchard

Things are moving quite well in the orchard despite the horrendous wet and cold weather we have so far this month.

At the back of the polytunnel I have enough space for growing fruit.

The position is ideal because it's full sun there and the fertile soil is dry enough but full of good nutrients for red berries.

So to make sure I don't grow berries only for the slugs and birds, I am going to install next year a fruit cage (5m by 6 metres).

This explains the presence of four salvaged rusty poles at each corner to mark the presence of the future cage.

I am not yet decided on the brand or where to buy it so if you read this and know some good deal around Dublin or Ireland, contact me in the comments below.

When you have an area populated by nettles and brambles for decades, expect hard work. It is crucial I think to get the soil right, so get rid as much as you can of all the roots and brambles 'knots'.

Believe me, it worth the efforts. In my case I expect I will still have the odd root and nettle growing for a while.

But if I constantly work the ground, sowing and growing demanding vegetables, I am hoping that over time nettles and other weeds won't be too much of a problem (well we'll see in few years).

Below is a crude design of the orchard. As you can see the challenge is the access limited to one small wooden bridge at the moment. So no heavy machinery, most of the tools I used there are a pick axe, a rotovator and lots of sweat :-)

Couple of more things to achieve, main one is the compost area and finishing all the gravel paths (in orange)

I also hope to have the grass sowed in the orchard before mid September. After that time temperature start to drop and it's virtually impossible to get the grass seeds germinating.

The Cottage garden

This was one of my first project a year ago, creating a small cottage garden corner.

Last year with a cold spring but a very hot summer it was a fantastic success.

This year it was great, colourful and bright until July, but recently with the torrential rain we had so far in August, it's fading away quickly.

Some of the plants are thriving like this mallow. Other are struggling.

I still have some gaps to fill up to complete the planting, probably a task for next early spring.

Before the perennials, I put there lots of bulbs, daffodils mostly, but also alliums for a bright display in spring.

I still have to find a way to prolong the season and get autumn flowers.

By the way the mallow was a bargain, 6 euros as a small plant, not too bad.

Growing veggies

A garden without vegetables can't be a real garden. Small or big space, you have to grow vegetables to appreciate it.
Tasty courgettes, potatoes, green beans, etc...

This year was my first attempt at courgettes, starting from a pack of humble seeds.

It begun in May with a seed tray in a small greenhouse and then got the seedlings outdoor mid June.

The summer has not been great this year so I don't believe I will get a great harvest but the few courgettes I already cooked are absolutely delicious.

The Orchard

One of the recent jobs I started this year is the transformation of an enclosed three quarter of an acre plot.
This started a year ago by weeding a lot the entire place and planting 10 fruit trees.
Unfortunately by lack of time I had to let it grow wild, but I managed to get some lovely apples and plums last year from the young trees.
This time I decided to tackle the issue and to help settling the orchard, I added in the middle a polytunnel.

Polytunnel up! Plum tree on the left

My budget is on the low side, so I chose an inexpensive model, but I have to admit it has been very easy to install.

The plastic of the polytunnel need to be buried to make it stronger

It took me two full days on my own but I am quite pleased by the result.







The next step was to clean up around the polytunnel. To do so, I started creating pathways with a layer of horticultural liner, to stop the weeds and a lot of stones.

The challenging aspect of this plot is its complete lack of access, being totally surrounded by ditches.

Border in place made from palettes



First path to the bridge in place...

So last year I built a small wooden bridge on a side, which means that all the materials can be bring now by wheelbarrow.

I don't even know anymore how many rounds of gravel I did to create the paths.

View from the bridge

Because the soil is mostly made of silt and clay, it is very wet, which means that just throwing stones there was not enough.

So because the path width will risk to expand every time I walk there, I decided to recycle some palettes I found and kept, and create a strong wooden frame for the sides.


The idea is to get some lawn around the trees, some paths to walk around the orchard easily, with some new areas dedicated at the back to fruits (sunny spot) and growing vegetables.

This is where it start. Almost two years ago, my wife and I have decided to embark on a new adventure, leaving Dublin for a new dream life in the country side, not too far away but enough distance to consider the area as rural.
I have to say I am considering myself as an amateur gardener so everything I write about this project is my personal experience and cannot be considered as a professional opinion.

This story is about transforming the land to a garden, over a period of ten years.

The land is divided in small disconnected plots all around the house.

One very visible structure is the farm itself. Traditionally build around a graveled yard, made of different sheds, an open barn and a granary.
One of the building is apparently more than 200 years old and was for a very long time a shop!

Because I believe a garden is a live being, it grows, evolve and for that I will also add here all the photographic memories of the transformations.

So if you are reading this for the first time, welcome on board and please share your own experience with us.