Starting of with daffodils

Well I must admit I am all new to daffodils but already totally hooked. First to set the seen. I am a teacher and and live in N.Ireland with my wife Jules and 2 yr old son Theo. After finishing playing rugby, due to injury, I decided I needed a new hobby to keep me busy at weekends. My dad and Grandad have always been keen gardeners, and it was only a matter of time before I realised i enjoyed it as much. After moving to my new house developing a new garden became top priority.

I became a member of my local gardening society (Fermanagh) to meet people with similar interests. Fermanagh GS run a daffodil competition each spring and i always admired the flowers the competitors brought. Last November it was announced that the Northern Ireland Daffodil Group were running a talk by Janis Rukansan. Iwent to represent mysociety and really enjoyed it and was made to feel very welcome. A few days later i bought some bulbs from Ringhaddy and got them planted into one of my veg raised beds.

This spring i entered a number of  shows and enjoyed showing my few flowers. The highlight was winning the novice section of my society.

I have boughtsome new bulbs and Brian Duncan has very kindly given me some bulbs to plant. This next year is going to be so exciting.

 This is a frame I built to protect flowers from extreme weather.

 

Raised beds used last year for bulbs.

These are my new raised beds that I have built November 2012. Planted up with mainly Div1 and 2.

 

5 comments for “Starting of with daffodils

  1. Wow, Dave, you are off to a great start with those wonderful raised beds!  Welcome to Daffnet!

  2. Dave,

    Your set up looks GREAT! With your glorious daffodil climate and with the obvious thought and care you have taken in your planting layout, I’d LOVE to see how your things do next spring.

    Thanks so much for sharing and welcome!

    Steve

  3. Hello Dave,

    Welcome to Daffnet from New Zealand.  It seems wwe have a bit in common – I too played rugby until my wife burnt my boots!  I was a school teacher until I went onto teach big kids at our local University.  And I learnt to love daffodils from Mum and Dad who were keen amateur growers and showers,

    One suggestion for you – get into breeding daffodils – it is not difficult providing you are patient enough to wait out the five years that is needed for  a flower to be seen.   Cross up those Duncan varieties with some of your original stock – they are sure to be good breeders.  I am sure that some of your Irish daffodil growers will recommend joining their Society which puts out some excellent publications.  So welcome again to the wonderful world of Daffodil growers.

    Cheers,

    Peter Ramsay

    PS Many Kiwis like me are absolutely disgusted with the on-field behavior of some of our intenational rugby  players.  The All Blacks are a great team but descending into cheap shots is plain stupid!

  4. Hi Peter,

    Thanks for your kind words and the advice. I do plan on having a go at breeding daffodils. One of the members of NIDG did a talk about seedlings earlier this year and i found it very interesting.

    Dave Hardy

    p.s.  I am actually English but live in Northern Ireland as my wife is from here. I have always admired the All Blacks over the years and seen them play more than England or Ireland. Their style of play was always something I tried to copy. Recently though the silly shots have tarnished the All Black name. But true rugby fans know this is only acts of individuals and not a true reflection on All Blacks.

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