Author Topic: Gardening (???) in Ireland - spring 2013 (Read 6748 times)

ideasguy · « **on:** March 23, 2013, 09:10:23 AM »

James' mum took this photo yesterday of his Dad helping their neighbour get their car along the street and home.
Taken from the comfort inside an upstairs window of course

Can't remember seeing him using a spade before

Julian and James (see jeep in foreground with no snow on roof) had managed to get home safely a few minutes before this shot was taken.
This is a flat street! Remarkably, the roads were barely passable to allow them to get so near home before skidding to a halt.

Overnight? About 3 ins more snow. A day to work without conscience on the computer, without feeling I should be out in my garden.

Palustris · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2013, 10:08:02 AM »

Took these yesterday, but we have had another 4 inches or so of snow over night.
http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Owdboggy/story/7671

ideasguy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2013, 03:34:54 PM »

No gardening today Eric

I'd love a conducted tour of your greenhouse and alpine house

Some interesting looking stuff there.
Are they unheated?

Palustris · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2013, 04:06:45 PM »

Not only are they unheated, they are open to the elements except directly overhead. Hence the snow on the plants.
Snowed non-stop here all day and the Woodshed roof has collapsed under the weight. We cannot get at the logs, fortunately we had brought in enough for the rest of today and probably half of tomorrow too.
Looks pretty bad in N.I. too. At least (with a bow to Hubris) we have not lost power. The Interweb is a bit off and on as the snow builds up on the satellite dish.
Deepest snow we can remember since we moved here.

ideasguy · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2013, 05:40:42 PM »

Yes, for some reason we seem to have borne the brunt of it over here in N Ireland.
Fortunately (for us

) all the power cuts were in the Belfast area.

The odd thing is, 10 miles south of us there is no snow

Julian (my son) lives near Dromara in Co Down, so on high ground. Breath taking scenery driving anywhere around there, particularly the drive he does each day to Newcastle Co Down (where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea!)
The snow is the worst he has seen in the ten years of so he has lived out there.
His Sky reception is down completely Eric, high on the chimney of his 2 storey, so he wont be wiping it off!.

Juls and Jamesey had fun in the garden making a snowman.

trishs · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2013, 06:01:47 PM »

I was wondering how everyone was faring so enjoyed looking at your photos

Glad the power cuts haven't affected folks!

Didn't want to push my luck too far by asking Rog to take any but he has been out performing basic first aid bondage on a couple of miniature conifers and knocked heavy accumulations of snow of a few more susceptible full sized ones. By the time he's ploughed through the deep snow down our long garden to feed our outdoor cats and our four sheep he's not really in the mood for much more in the way of outdoor pursuits

maybe tomorrow when it it is forecast to have stopped snowing but still very cold; nothing is likely to melt too soon. I think I picked a good time to be ill. Day #7 and still no improvement. I'm getting rather fed up. I googled Sinusitis and it reckons on average two and half weeks to recover! Can't manage much that requires thinking/concentration so all my important indoor chores still not getting done.

ideasguy · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2013, 07:10:53 PM »

Get well soon! Theres work to be done in the garden now its spring

The snow will be with us all for some time, Trish.
Its going to take a while for this to melt. How about this for a snowman?

(James on top of the mountain!)

ideasguy · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2013, 07:12:39 PM »

and then I received an email with the subject:
Finished planting
That boy of mine has a sense of humour

Heres the attachment:

ideasguy · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2013, 07:14:16 PM »

and I grew that hedge against the fence from cuttings

Hope it survives

NightHawk · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2013, 10:32:56 PM »

Sorry to hear you guys are suffering from all that snowfall.

Just a little bit of rain down here in the south - no snow. Watching the weather forecast yesterday we could see that just north of us was going to get the snow, and we would escape its wrath.

Not able to do any gardening though, ground is too saturated with rainwater. Still quite cold temperatures and intermittent wind.

Hope you get better soon Trish.

ideasguy · « **Reply #10 on:** March 24, 2013, 10:02:24 AM »

Bet you are glad you moved South Laurie

What is it like back "home"?

NightHawk · « **Reply #11 on:** March 24, 2013, 10:27:19 AM »

Sooooo glad for many reasons George.

I suspect the weather conditions up north are similar to what you're getting at the moment, but we don't have any reasons to keep in touch any more.

Palustris · « **Reply #12 on:** March 24, 2013, 11:47:25 AM »

It is still snowing here and also quite a sharp frost. Not sure we can actually get out into town, Optician's appointment tomorrow.
Got my walk this morning and noticed that the Barn roof at the farm up the road has collapsed and their beams are over 12 inches across. Friends in North Wales have over 2 feet of snow, they have never seen it as deep even in 1963.

ideasguy · « **Reply #13 on:** March 24, 2013, 04:07:40 PM »

We had sunshine since late morning and this afternoon today and snow has cleared in parts of the driveway.
The (sheltered) patches where I feed the birds has cleared and the birds are finding the seed I put down on the day it all started. Ive been throwing seed at the South side of the house to keep them alive. It was quite clear close to the house on that side. Never seen so many birds as we had yesterday and today

NightHawk · « **Reply #14 on:** March 24, 2013, 05:17:14 PM »

It's been dry here today, overcast and VERY cold (thankfully no snow though).

Got wrapped up well and went for a walk in the Forest.

Garden's not looking too bad, grass is starting to grow again, but ground still too wet to do much to it yet

trishs · « **Reply #15 on:** March 24, 2013, 06:28:28 PM »

Some of the snow around here has melted a little today despite it being very cold. We've had bright sunshine for a few hours so I took advantage of our 'free' electricity and solar heated water to do a couple of washes. Much to my amazement the thick shirts which I made Rog go out and hang on the line got almost dry!

I take it you've all seen the weather forecast for the coming week...? More snow forecast in places as the week progresses, and especially for the south on Good Friday!.

NightHawk · « **Reply #16 on:** March 24, 2013, 10:16:00 PM »

Quote from: trishs on March 24, 2013, 06:28:28 PM

... More snow forecast in places as the week progresses, and especially for the south on Good Friday!.

Oh goody. Look forward to that

Hadn't seen the long range forecast, so a bit of a shock.

Eric Hardy · « **Reply #17 on:** March 25, 2013, 10:20:09 AM »

Our youngest, Tom, is in Ulster at the moment playing his contra with the Ulster Orchestra. This was his last Facebook entry "A day of power cuts and snow in Belfast...the show must go on....but when the lights go out and everyone gets sent home it is a bit hard to do Beethoven 9 on your own. The trombones did a lovely chorale rendition from the last movement of Brahms 1 as the audience who had braved the blizzard filed out. No Ode to Joy tonight then!"

Eric H

Palustris · « **Reply #18 on:** March 25, 2013, 11:10:38 AM »

Still frozen solid here, but we did get into town. It was packed and the pavements have not been cleared, but the roads are ok. Our lane is a bit hairy but passable.

roiphil · « **Reply #19 on:** March 25, 2013, 09:58:49 PM »

no snow where we are down south actually had to cut the grass middle of last month

well the son did

it was fairly warm, now it has gone cold at night again and coldish days sometimes, be carefull if your in a snow affected area

ideasguy · « **Reply #20 on:** March 25, 2013, 10:50:36 PM »

Fortunately, we are not on high ground, and we don't have livestock!
You may have seen a farmer from here digging sheep out of the snow on National TV. It looked like they were completely buried!
Some farmers have managed to round up their sheep (lambing season) and bring them under cover. A news item showed a farmer whose barn had collapsed, with losses of the sheep rounded up for safety

. Now that is tough!

We drove to Belfast today (Mary had a hospital appointment with THAT ankle!)
The most treacherous part was our driveway

. The roads had been cleared by snowploughs and were snow free, with heavy snow piled at either side and between the dual carriageways.
Quite incredible

The DOE road services need a commendation. The N.I. Electricity workers need medals for bravery!
I shivered just LOOKING at TV news items showing them working in these conditions. Some houses have been without power for 3 or 4 days now.
In some more rural areas the snow ploughs are having difficulty clearing the roads, sometimes due to cars abandoned by the roadside and buried by snow!

Palustris · « **Reply #21 on:** March 26, 2013, 10:42:35 AM »

This is the woodshed.

Most of the wood is behind the roof and getting wet!

ideasguy · « **Reply #22 on:** March 26, 2013, 08:23:09 PM »

Ouch

Looks a bit dangerous to start repairing that roof Eric.
Is it a galvanised roof?

Palustris · « **Reply #23 on:** March 26, 2013, 09:14:48 PM »

It sure am! And heavy too! And with 2 foot of frozen snow on top!

ideasguy · « **Reply #24 on:** March 26, 2013, 10:03:15 PM »

Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow

I wish you luck with that Eric.
My sister rang in the middle of all this to ask if my greenhouse was OK. It was, fortunately. She then told me how her neighbours greenhouse had collapsed under the snow.
Now, I would not fancy clearing that up

Author Topic: Gardening (???) in Ireland - spring 2013 (Read 6748 times)

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