Taurman's Profile

I have worked in the UK for the past thirty years and now taken retirement to a very scenic hill top garden on the Cork/Kerry border about 1,000 feet above sea level. The wind is an issue and my first task is to establish shelter as this garden was a mere meadow previously so lots of hedging and wind breaks while preserving the view. The soil is acidic and I have been on a trawl of the local garden centres to see what grows, met lots of inspirational people who say they saw other plants in other parts of the world suitable to this area so have planted them, many plants which are natives of NZ, not invasive but have never been grown here although known to us in the west. People have never engaged in variety planting so it is a pretty homogenous area plantwise, fuchsias, rhododendron, griselinia, sitka spruce, rusty and grey willows (known as sally locally), wild honeysuckle (woodbine) and bog heathers. The Sitka can be oppressive as it is grown by the Forestry Commission as a cash crop and covers swathes of the countryside but there is a campaign afoot to plant more broadleaf trees and thankfully domestically that is what people are doing. There is also a need for evergreen trees here as the country can take on a sad brown hue in the winter. I am a beginner gardener although I have always pottered, feel I need some technique now that I have the time.
Good cheer and happy gardening.
Taurman