Simple Gardening Tips
The gardeners of Original Irish Hotels have been busy behind the scenes keeping their hotel gardens prim and proper and ready for your return. They are enjoying the sunshine and long evenings and know that their is plenty that can be done in your own garden to keep your green fingers busy so they have kindly shared some simple gardening tips for you to follow.
Gardening tips from Breda from The Headfort Arms Hotel.
1. Quick growing plants such as rocket, spinach and also beetroot leaves can be sown at intervals to add more interest to your salad.
2. Companion planting can be an effective way of cutting down on your use of chemicals. It needs some experimenting as it works for some and not for others.
Planting marigolds, lavender and herbs such as thyme and chives produce a distracting scent, keeping pests away. Also nasturtiums are perfered by aphids and cabbage white butterfly and are eaten rather than your broad beans and cabbages, cauliflower etc.
3. When watering hanging baskets put some feed in the water every time. It keeps a consistent amount of feed available to the plants. If you feed one day and water the next you probably wash out most of the feed put in the previous day.
4. Feed, weed and moss killer is a granular application for lawns which can be used at this time. Apply it as per instructions but make sure you put it on just before it rains. If you put it on and it doesn't rain you will need to water it in.
5. Dead-head rose's when the flowers have just withered and look unsightly. Cut the stem back to a healthy leaf-axil bud which will produce a new strong shoot and more flowers.
Gardening Tips with Caoimhin from Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel & Spa
Tomatoes generally come in two different growth habits: cordon (or indeterminate) tomatoes grow tall, reaching up to 1.8m (6ft) and require support; bush (or determinate) tomatoes are bushy and don’t require staking and are suited beginner. In Mary's Organic garden they grow the cordon varieties that require pruning.
They grow two varieties that are both sweet cherries called Sakura and Sungold. Tomatoes are easy to grow from seed. You can sow seed from late March to early April if you will be growing the plants outdoors. If you are planning on growing your tomatoes in a greenhouse, you can start sowing seed earlier, from late February to mid-March. Plants will still be available from garden centres so its not too late to give them a try this year. The taste from your home grown tomatoes will be far superior to anything available in supermarkets.
Seaview House Hotel Gardening Tips on Moss Control.
Remove loose moss in autumn (September/October), by scarification (vigorous raking). On small lawns this can be done by hand, raking out the moss with a spring-tine rake, but on larger lawns, mechanical scarifiers can be hired. Non-chemical, bacteria-based products such as Viano MO Bacter Organic Lawn Fertiliser, Neudorff
Organic CleanLawn, and Miracle-Gro Evergreen No Rakeclaim good control of moss, as well as feeding the lawn. Mow the lawn short before application and leave 7-10 days before mowing again. These products require wetting before it becomes active and can be applied from March to October when temperatures are above 15 C (59 F). The added benefit is that the dead moss should break down in situ, negating the need for scarifying.
About Original Irish Hotels
Original Irish Hotels are a collection of unique, owner-run hotels, located in Ireland’s most outstanding destinations. Open the door to the magic of unmissable moments with Ireland’s leading collection of independent hotels.
Our 60 hotels are dotted around the entire island of Ireland in must-see locations, from the Wild Atlantic Way, to Ireland’s Ancient East, the Causeway Coast, Dublin and the treasured heartland of Ireland’s midlands and lakelands.
Irrespective of where our hotels are, Original Irish Hotels pride themselves in hosting a unique and truly memorable experience for our guests, and soon to be friends. The collection is made up of a range of traditional and boutique hotels, castles, manor and country houses, all run by locals, ensuring a unique experience every time.