CountryLife Spring 2015 - Everything you need to transform your garden, for less

Everything you need to transform your garden for less.

spring 2015

Grow Your Own

Outdoor Living

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Spring Colour

Malachy’s gardening blog

Hi, my name is Malachy, I am a horticulturist with CountryLife, Dungarvan. I have been gardening since I was 5 years old when my mother gave me a part of our garden as my own. I have studied horticulture in the National Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin and was a winner in the young horticulturist of the year competition. My special interests are plant propagation and cacti!

Old fashioned but still the best Last year I planted some old fashioned shrub roses in my garden. My two favourites were 'Souvenir du Dr Jamain', a deep rich-crimson that had a most amazing scent. It grew to four foot high in its first year and I have since learned that it makes a good climber, growing to six feet or so. Don't over feed this one as it can be prone to producing more leaf than you may like. It is probably best to give it a shake of slow release bonemeal in spring.

I look forward to masses of scented flowers from next May that I can see from our kitchen window.

M alac hy

Top 4 Rose Pests

My other favourite is 'William Lobb', not a pretty name but my God what a scent. If you take a deep sniff you would nearly get light headed! It is dark, crimson-purple with mossy soft thorns behind its flowers. I noticed that there was not a single blemish on its leaves despite last year being a tough year for blackspot and downy mildew.

Pruning & Care Now is a good time to prune your roses before growth commences. Most shrub roses can be shortened to three feet or so, unless you wish them to climb up a trellis like me. In that case reduce last year's growth to two thirds until they have gained the height that you require. Aim to snip out crossing branches, dead twigs and old stems to leave last year's nice straight stems. It is best to snip them just over a bud where last year’s leaf was. Also try to find an outward facing bud so that you get an open centre. However if you are not sure don’t worry as roses are as tough as old boots and won’t die!

Beat tithhem a ll w lea r Ultra Ro sec

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Feed through the growing season with a Tomato or Rose food to keep the flowers coming and remove old faded blooms to save the plant forming seed.

Other than that all you have to do is keep sniffing the flowers and enjoy!

Read more of Malachy’s gardening blogs at www.countrylife.ie/blog

1 Aphids 2 Blackspot 3 Mildew 4 Rust

Rose pruning ensures that plants grow and flower well each year. If left, climbing roses can become a tangled mess of branches with very few flowers.

Rose pruning is not difficult. Use a good quality hand pruning shears like these ones.

Roses

Sorrento Pergola • Pressure treated • Easy to assemble • Made in Co. Laois • 1.35m x 0.82m x 2.14m

Floribunda

Hybrid Tea

Hybrid Tea

Patio Rose

or €7.99

Grown with love by Hughes Roses, Co. Westmeath

Shop online at www.countrylife.ie

each

>

2 for €14

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perfect for climbing roses

from

€9.99

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Climbing Roses

Love S p ri n g C o lo u r

Aubrieta

Quick & easy seasonal colour

Bedding 6 Packs

Alpines 9cm

Primrose

Camanula Garganica

Pansy

10 for €2 0 or €2.50

Dianthus

Myosotis

each

Grown with love by Young’s Nursery, Co. Limerick

Viola

Marigold

€2.99

Petunia

Grown with love by Spring Nurseries in Cork and the O’ C onnor family in Wexford

Amazing blooms year after year

Perenials 2L

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Shrubs 2L

Aubrieta

Cistus

Lavandula

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or €6.50

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Hydrangea

or €5.99

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s! r e f f o h c t a Mix & M

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2 for €60 Chrimson Maple

Hebe

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Ornamental Trees

Oak

4 for €20

or €36.9

Jacquementi Birch

Grown with love by The Rentes Family, Co. Kildare

5 each

€4.99 each €5.99 each

Any 2 for

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Need advice? Just ask - we have a trained horticulturist in every store

grow your own Potatoes Planting Potatoes • Place them in an egg box or on a tray in a bright, frost-free area. In a few weeks they will sprout (chit), when they reach 2.5cm they are ready for planting • You can start planting between March and April

Jean

• Choose an area in full open sunshine, with good air movement but not too windy or exposed either • Dig a narrow trench (5 inches deep) and add compost, farmyard manure or well-rotted grass clippings • Place seed potatoes a foot apart and cover with soil

• When you see the first shoots, keep covering them with an inch of soil from between the rows to protect them from frost and to encourage the potatoes to grow underground • Repeat this step a few times until the ridge is about 10 inches high • When watering make sure to water only early in the morning and not when the sun is at its hottest during the day • You can harvest your early potatoes when the flowers have faded to brown and the foliage is still green

Potato Care

Hi my name is Jean, I am a horticulturist with CountryLife, Ashford. I grew up on a farm, we always had a veg garden, so you could say that horticulture is in my blood! I studied Landscape Horticulture in UCD and have worked in landscape architecture and the garden centre trade. I love growing my own fruit and veg and I’m always trying new varieties and ways of growing.

GROWN IN IRISH SOIL FOR IRISH CONDITIONS Our seed potatoes are grown with love by IPM Potato Group in Co. Donegal

The most common potato disease is “Potato blight” - an airborne fungus that can attack the whole plant.

The first signs of blight are brown spots on leaf tops of the potato plant, sometimes accompanied by white fluffy fungal growth. Don’t worry you can avoid it if you follow our tips: • The easiest thing to do is to plant blight resistant potatoes such as Sarpo Mira.

• Keep earthing up potatoes as they grow, this will protect potato tubers from spores.

• Ensure that the beds are kept clear of weeds.

Put away the sprays - Sarpó spuds look after themselves

• Check your potato leaves daily in humid weather and keep an eye on the “blight warnings”.

• Spray your potatoes with Bordeaux Mixture every two weeks when the foliage is unfurled.

It is best to do it before the risk of blight (usually sometime in mid-May).

• If you notice that blight has gotten the upper hand and all the leaves are turning black then cut the stems off at ground level leaving the tubers in the ground for at least 10 days, then dig your potatoes.

Use Rootgrow friendly fungus to give your seed potatoes the best start. Rootgrow, or mycorrhizal fungi are a remarkable group of organisms that have been benefiting plants for at least 400 million years! Sprinkle a little under your seed potatoes when planting for healthy growth and €6.99 strong tubers.

Sarpó Mira Blight resistant seed potatoes ty Excellent late maincrop varie rous vigo ce, stan resi - good slug weed suppressing foliage, and grows well in a wide range of soils. Will yield huge crops of tasty, floury tubers that have a long storage potential.

Spring Offers Shamrock Multipurpose Compost 75L

€7.99

Shamrock Potting Compost 75L

€7.00

Growise Multipurpose Compost 56L

€6.49

Miracle Gro All Purpose Compost 50L

€6.99

Get straightforward gardening advice from our horticulturists at www.countrylife.ie

Grown with love by The Rentes Family, Co. Kildare Plum

Cherry

5 each

or €19.9

2 for €30

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• Complete with wide roll up doors at both ends.

Assembled: 1.9m x 2m x 3m

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Cannes Rattan 6-Seater Set • High quality, rustproof aluminium frame, covered in a hand-woven synthetic rattan • Durable and low maintenance design • Easy-to-clean glass top table • Ideal for all weather use • Includes washable cushions • Seats six people • Table c. 140cm. Weight: 85kg

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Visit our Award Winning Garden Centres Kildare

Offaly

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Monasterevin • 045-525337

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call us: LoCall 1890 321 321 email us: hello@countrylife.ie Check out our blog for lots of straightforward gardening advice from our team of horticulturists

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