Category Archives: Seeds

Blue Beds, Blue Hands

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It’s amazing the difference one weekend of hard work can make in the garden. Last week, I was beginning to panic at the lack of progress on the plot this year, I’m at least three weeks behind with my planting and the place was looking very bare and brown and boring. Something needed to be done.

My new herb garden

My new herb garden

The sun was mostly shining this weekend, with the exception of some lovely rain showers and the temperatures are finally up after what was the coldest March on record. Last week I dug up the terrible wasted area outside the shed, this weekend, I used the space to create a small herb garden. I planted rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, French tarragon (avoid planting Russian tarragon if you can, it has very little flavour), chives, lavender plus some echinacea, chamomile and bergamot. I also have some mint and lemon balm (bee balm) from last year and after saying I was not going to plant borage this year, I found a borage plant growing under my artichokes, it obviously wants to grow so I might as well let it. I’m also going to add some parsley, basil, coriander and caraway later in the year. It looks a bit bare at the moment but should be a lovely addition to the plot once it’s established.

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The shed area, big difference from the mound of weeds and rubble that was here two weeks ago. I love that you can see a neighbouring plot in the background with its lovely neat drills. 

I had been meaning to treat the wood on my raised beds for a while but kept putting it off. I decided this weekend that I should get around to doing it as the beds were looking a bit worse for wear after the winter. I toyed with the idea of getting a natural colour wood stain but I eventually chose a bright blue, I wanted to give the plot a bit of personality and thought blue would be nice and bright during the lean months when there’s little colour in the garden. It took me hours to do but it was well worth the effort, I’m hoping to add some more blue later, maybe a blue gate. Though maybe next time I’ll wear gloves, my hands were an almighty blue mess when I was done.

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Blue Beds

 

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Blue Hands

Having painted the beds, I spread a mountain of bark mulch along the paths, these had just been muck and weeds before so I was very eager to do something with them. It really makes a difference to the plot.

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I’m planning on using the empty bed in the left foreground as a hotbed.

 

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The entrance to the plot, definitely an improvement

I planted very little at the weekend, just some beetroot and radishes. Next week I need to get my peas and beans planted before it gets too late. Despite all my hard work, there’s still a huge mess to deal with next weekend, one whole end of the plot needs to be dug as it’s where the legumes are to be planted. It has been started but it’s a big job. It’s the embarrassing messy end of the plot and it must be conquered, especially now; no point in having pretty raised beds and a big pile wasted ground beside them.

Also, there’s not much point in having pretty beds with no veggies so this week I’m going to do some serios planting, excited!!

Keep Calm and Pot On

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I’m sitting here, looking out at a very rainy day, the May bank holiday hasn’t been the warm, gardening filled weekend I hoped it would be. I’m starting to get quite frustrated with the weather the past few weeks, I feel like I haven’t seen the sun in far too long and the garden is starting to suffer for it. I wouldn’t mind the rain so much if the temperature was good but it’s far below average for this time of year and on Friday night, it got down to One degree. So much for summer!

To fill the gardening void in my weekend, I’ve been looking for other things to spend my time on. On Friday, I began sprouting some chickpeas, I love chickpeas and couldn’t resist trying this out. Chickpeas are basically dormant seeds, which when kept moist, begin to sprout. I simply dampened a few sheets of kitchen towel and placed  them on a seed tray and spread the chickpeas out on the wet towel. It reminded me of school, when we would grow cress and alfalfa sprouts on wet paper towels in the science lab. The chickpeas should sprout pretty quickly and I’m looking forward to trying them fresh as they are much nicer and contain higher nutrient content. Chickpeas are very low fat, high in fibre and vitamin C and are great for blood pressure, and of course, they’re very tasty. I’m going to make some  homemade hummus and falafel with them when they’re ready so keep an eye out for the recipe.

Borlotti bean

I also had to spend an hour or two, potting on my chili and tomato plants which were fast outgrowing their small pots. I should really be moving my tomatoes outside by now but the weather is still a bit too nippy, I’m going to hold off for another week or two. Instead, I had to be content with potting them on and hoping I don’t somehow kill them in the process, I seem to have bad luck with the potting on process, especially with my tomatoes but thankfully I had no casualties. My borlotti beans are finally showing themselves, I think the cold weather had stunted their growth a bit, even though they were in the greenhouse, I’m going to waith until mid June to plant them on the plot just to be safe.

I visited the allotment breifly to plant my red cabbages and celery, I had to cover these up though as there was frost predicted. I used fleece to cover the cabbages and for my celery, I used old plastic bottles as cloches. I only had two of these to hand so I fashioned a homemade cloche from wire and plastic for the remainng plant, it looks a bit mad but it does the trick.

Homemade cloches

The one thing that seems to be thriving in the current weather is my early potatoes, I had to earth them up the other day as they were getting pretty large, I even noticed some flowers starting to form. Even if the bad wether ruins everything else, at least I’ll definitely have some spuds!

Dave earthing up the potatoes

My strawberry plants took a beating during the week and are looking very bad indeed, however, I noticed some new rhubarb growth, looks like the wind didn’t kill it completely and it’s coming back which is a great sign. All in all, it’s been a quiet week on the plot, hopefully, next week we’ll be getting our shed, the poor car is covered in muck from hauling the tools back and forth, it’ll be nice to have a place to store them on the plot, and of course to hide from the rain showers.

Potting on

Red Cabbage

New Rhubarb growth.

Snails Pace

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Having an allotment is not just about growing vegetables and fruit. It is a place to go when you need a break, It is a haven from city life. It is a hobby like no other. It is a garden for those without.  It is a place to bring the kids at the weekend, or to sit down with a flask of tea and simply enjoy the view. Some people have them simply for one crop, some people only grow fruit, some people don’t grow food at all and just use their plots for growing flowers.

Myself, I’m growing whatever it is that takes my fancy, whether it be pumpkins, strawberries or some flowers for the bees. I’ve been reading about companion planting lately, a method of gardening where you plant different plants in close proximity which benefit each other, wether it be by pollination, pest control or nutrient uptake. I have planned out a four year crop rotation for my plot, and strict companion planting methods do not necessarily fit into my plan, however, I have planted a few things with other crops in mind. I am growing chives, which I will plant near my carrots as they help deter carrot root fly. I planted borage, beside my strawberries to help encourage pollination and repel pests. I have been growing some marigolds to attract the pesky slugs away from my brassicas, and attract the slugs they do! I started my marigolds about six weeks ago, in pots at home. They germinated well and I moved them out to the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago.

Nibbled Basil

Yesterday, I went to water my plants in the greenhouse, but when I opened it up, my marigolds had all but disappeared! Gone. Eaten. Savaged overnight. There was telltale signs of slugs trails on the soil. Exasperated, I took everything out of the greenhouse, but could not find the culprit. As I was disposing of my destroyed marigolds (sniff), Dave found a small snail on the side of one of the pots, little bugger. One tiny snail had destroyed all twelve of my marigold plants overnight, so much for moving at a snails pace! I suppose the marigolds did do their job of attracting him away from my other plants, my tiny lettuces were left alone, he did have a nibble of one of my basil plants though. I now have zero marigolds for my allotment. One can only laugh. We got rid of said snail, and dave made a few beer traps in the greenhouse for future slugs and snails to hopefully fall into.

Snails dinner! This was the only one left standing!

Sunflower

The windowsills at home are becoming more and more green. The chilli and pepper plants are thriving and I will move them out to the greenhouse in a few weeks. My tomato plants succumbed to whatever illness it was that was killing them, I declared failure, swallowed my pride and bought myself some tomato plants in a garden centre. they’re a far cry form my measly efforts. A few weeks ago, I gave my dad some of my tomato seedlings and his are thriving! I obviously gave him the best ones (that’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it). My courgettes germinated in a few days and are thriving so far, I was surprised to see how strong they are. Only half of my sunflowers took, but at least thats better than none and I also spotted a green shoot about to pop up in one of my pumpkin pots. No sign yet of my celery or borlotti beans but patience is the most important tool at my disposal and I need to learn to use it more!

Courgette

All in all, it’s been a quiet week, we’ve only been up to the plot once, for an hour the other day, we dug out another potato bed and we’ll plant our maincrop spuds this week. They’ve been chitting away since February and have lovely strong green shoots on them.

I took the time to go for a little walk around the site and it’s great to see some of the wonderful plots, It’s amazing just how much the place has changed since early March. Every plot has it’s own personality and you’d be amazed at how many ideas you’ll get and how many people you’ll get chatting to if you walk around. Gardeners seem to be the friendliest bunch, always happy to share some advice, or ask for some when it’s needed. It really is a great community. There was a gazebo on site the other day where they were selling  plug plants, they had a great selection, including some unusual varieties. There’s such a great set up on site, the allotment shop has a great selection of all things garden related and the best thing is, all the proceeds go to the Epilepsy Care Foundation so it’s worth buying on site, when possible. You can even buy your shed and they will install it for you. I’m a particular fan of the tea/coffee van that visits every weekend, and last weekend, I spotted an ice cream van on site with a queue of allotmenteers lining up like kids to get their 99′s. I think I’ll stick to my cups of tea for now though, there’s still quite a chill in the air.

My pitiful tomato plant compared to the garden centre plant

Pumpkin pushing its way above soil

Okie Dokie Artichokie

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Easter has been and gone, I’ve eaten far too much chocolate and I need to get out in the garden to burn off those easter egg calories. The weather however had other plans for me. Easter Monday was miserable, grey and wet, I was grateful for the rain though, it’s the first real rain we’ve had in weeks. We’ve been experiencing some stereotypical April weather this week, lots of rain showers, very windy, some hail, warm when sunny, bitterly cold when it’s cloudy, the weather doesn’t know what to do with itself really. At least now that all the raised beds are finally built and the plot is taking shape, I’ve been able to focus on planting.

Globe Artichokes

You may remember, I planted some Jerusalem Artichokes a few weeks ago, there’s still no sign of these but they do have a very long germination period. Jerusalem Artichokes are not actually from Jerusalem and they aren’t really artichokes. They’re a cousin of the sunflower and are a root crop. The reason I mention them is, on Tuesday, I planted two Globe Artichoke plants. These are worlds apart from the Jerusalem artichoke. These are actually a perennial thistle which grow large edible buds which are delicious to cook with and are often found in Mediterranean cuisine. I love artichoke hearts so I can’t wait to harvest my own. Each plant has a yield of about 12 hearts per season so I planted two, this should be enough for me. There has been some frost of late so I fashioned two cloches out of plastic bottles for my artichokes should they need the extra protection.

It may only be April but I’ve already been planting some winter crops so my plot doesn’t look totally bare in the leaner months. I planted some Salsify this week. Salsify is a root crop that has a long cropping season and will provide a nice winter crop when other crops are scarce. The long roots taste like oysters and are often named “oyster plants” for this reason. It needs the same soil treatment as carrots and parsnips, fine, well drained soil, I planted it in the same bed my carrots will be planted in. I bought some purple sprouting broccoli today, this is another long cropping vegetable and will not be ready for harvest until early next spring, but this will give me something to pick when nothing else is ready in the garden.

Planting Pumpkins

Today I planted Pumpkin seeds and Borlotti Beans, I’m growing a miniature variety of pumpkin called Baby Bear, they are quite a lot smaller than average pumpkins but each plant should give me 5 pumpkins, I plan on making lots of pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup and the seeds are delicious when toasted, pumpkin seed bread is particularly yummy. Borlotti Beans are a variety of french bean, great for drying for use over winter. I got a dwarf variety which don’t have quite as high a yield as the climbing varieties but I planted twenty plants which should be enough for a good crop. The beans are very pretty (I may have bought them purely for their aesthetic quality) and apparently make the best beans on toast, Dave’s favourite!

Borlotti Beans

Borage

It’s not just winter planting I’ve been focusing on. I’ve also been getting ready for summer. I planted some Borage this week. I’ve been looking for borage seeds everywhere the past few weeks and couldn’t find any. I have a thing about growing plants from seeds, nothing beats seeing your little seedlings poke their heads above soil, but I’ve had to buy my artichokes and borage in plug plant form as I can’t seem to find the seeds for either anywhere. Borage is a herb, it has beautiful blue star-shaped flowers that are wonderful for attracting bees. The leaves have a cucumber flavour and the flowers have a sweet honey like taste and are one of the few naturally blue-coloured foods. I planted one of my borage plants near my strawberries as it is said to protect them from a lot of pests. I planted some lavender, cornflower and sweet peas too, I’m hoping these will not only attract some pollinating insects into my plot but also provide a splash of colour in the summer months.

Hopefully this will all be beautiful and colourful in a few months

I planted some lettuce to be transplanted to the plot in a few weeks, I planted two varieties, Little Gem and Lollo Rossa, both easy to grow and delicious in salads. This week I also planted courgettes, celery and beetroot so all in all it’s been a very busy planting week. The plot is still looking very brown but there is some colour starting to creep in, the onions are starting to throw out green shoots and the potato shoots have a lovely, velvety purple/green hue. There’s some flowers on my strawberry plants too. My little greenhouse is really filling up and the windowsills are full of chili and tomato plants. All in all, I’m starting to feel like the hard work is paying off, before I know it, it will be summer and my plot will hopefully be green and full of life.

Onion shoot (and weeds of course)

Muck!

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Muck. It’s everywhere, it’s on my wellies, it has stained my socks, it’s encrusted into my favourite black jeans, it’s lodged under my fingernails, it’s in my hair. It’s all over the car, it’s on the floor of the house, I’ve even mysteriously found some in my bed. Thankfully, that’s not the only bed it’s in, it’s also in my raised beds, which as of today, are all finally full of soil. We’ve spent the past week hauling soil back and forward in wheelbarrows for the beds. I’ve had some help doing this, Dave and my friend Mark have been helping me with it, nothing like having a couple of men around to help with the lifting, without them, it would have taken me three times as long as it did. All in all, It took about sixty trips back and forth with the wheelbarrow. We sieved the soil into the beds and added compost. The plot looks very different now with the beds filled and it means I can get a lot more planting done in the coming weeks, which is ideal as it’s planting season.

Raised beds full of soil

The weather this week has been drastically different to last weeks glorious sunshine. It has been cold, grey and miserable with strong winds and ground frosts, we even had some light snow and hail. I didn’t make it to the plot much this week, thankfully I’d had the foresight to cover my peas and other crops with some horticultural fleece on Monday, hopefully this will have protected them from the frost. My rhubarb was not lucky enough to escape the weather, It got battered in the wind and when we finally made it down to the plot today, two of my rhubarb plants had been damaged. Hopefully they’ll recover.

Myself and Dave got quite a lot done today. We filled the sixth bed with topsoil and rejoiced that they were finally all done! I’m hoping to add in four more later in the year when I’ve harvested my potatoes and onions, but, for now, no more wheelbarrowing and hopefully no more sieving! I also filled my small raised bed today and planted some strawberries. I covered them with fleece for tonight to try to protect them from the wind, it will probably do no good but it’s worth a try. I’ll put some netting around them in a few weeks to protect them from birds, who cannot resist eating the fruit. I also planted three raspberry plants. I drove two stakes into the ground and ran three lengths of wire between them, this will act as a support for the bushes, which they need as they get bigger.

My strawberry bed and raspberries. I'm pretty proud of my DIY efforts.

I planted some swiss chard and perpetual spinach. I planted a variety of chard called “bright lights” which has beautiful, multi-coloured stalks and should bring a lovely splash of colour to the plot. Perpetual spinach is very similar to annual spinach, however, it is far easier to grow and less likely to bolt. These two plants are also known as leaf beets and  are should be treated the same as beetroot. For this reason, I included these in the root section of my crop rotation. Three of each of these plants are more than enough for a family and if taken care of, will crop for a year.

Red Dukes growing strong

I’ve noticed quite a few weeds popping up the past couple of weeks, especially in my potato bed. They are only tiny stalks at the moment and I’m pretty sure a lot of them are actually grass seedlings. I’ve been keeping these in check as much as possible by pricking them out while they are still young shoots. Today, while checking my potato bed for weeds, I noticed that a few of my potato plants had popped their heads above soil. I’m very pleased, this is the first thing to grow on the plot, everything else I’ve grown so far has been in pots at home. It’s rewarding to see the hard work pays off and even though there’s still a lot of work to do, at least I already have something growing. My onions are starting to grow too, I’ve noticed a few green shoots poking out of the bulbs.

I’ve also been busy planting at home. My lovely Mam gave me some sunflower seeds. She gave me four different varieties, including one called “Teddy Bear” which looks particularly nice. I planted these in 5 inch pots and they are sitting on a sunny windowsill while they germinate. I also planted some sage, which, surprisingly, germinated within a few days. My other herbs are doing well in my little greenhouse and should be ready to plant out in another three/four weeks. My marigold are growing strong and my tomato and chilli plants are coming along nicely too.

Tomato "Tigerella"

The next week will be a busy one on the plot. I have plans to dig out a new flower bed and I need to tidy the place up, particularly the pathways. The back of the plot needs a good dig and hopefully in a few weeks I might get a small shed. I need to build a new gate too, the one we made last week didn’t last long unfortunately, these things happen though and next time I’ll go about it a different way. The wood didn’t go to waste though, I used it to build a small fence around my asparagus bed to stop anyone from treading on it.

All in all, it’s been a productive week despite the weather. I ‘ll most likely spend a good few hours on the plot again tomorrow, make the most of the weekend. Hope you all enjoy the bank holiday weekend.

Happy Easter!

Raised Beds, Wigwams and Ducks

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The beautiful weather continues here in Dublin, and we continue to work in the allotment as much as we can while it lasts. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be hoping for rain, but I am. We need it, my clay soil is baked and the water on site has not been turned on, thankfully there has been water provided in tanks and the supply is being switched on tomorrow morning. I am enjoying the sunshine immensely though, I even have a bit of a tan!

The allotment is really taking shape this week after much hard work. I finally dismantled Dave’s wigwam-for-no-reason, dug some manure into the circular bed and planted my 3 rhubarb plants.

Yummy Rhubarb!

Men at Work

I enlisted some help on Monday in the form of my friend Mark who’s an archaeologist, I knew he’d be a dab hand at digging. We brought a bit of lunch and spent a good six hours on the plot. I bought 18 scaffolding planks for my raised beds, they sell these on site in the allotment shop at a great price so I didn’t have to worry about transporting them or getting them delivered which was brilliant. Dave and Mark spent the day cutting them down and drilling them together. There was a minor incident with a saw and Dave’s index finger but some tissue and duct tape solved that problem (I call it the man-plaster). He made six 8x4ft beds in total. Myself and Mark did a good bit of digging, he’s very nifty with a rake and had a lot of my uneven soil levelled out very quickly, it was sorely needed as my plot was quickly taking on a mini-mountainous terrain.

Gooseberry bush on my Dad's plot

I took a break from gardening yesterday but I did visit my Dad’s plot in St Annes Park in Raheny yesterday evening. It was such a beautiful evening, the sun was setting in the walled garden and the allotment garden looked gorgeous. My dad’s plot is  in a well established park and there’s a huge amount of wildlife in the area and it was great to hear the cacophany of birdsong there yesterday evening. The allotments have been there two years are it’s great to see how they’ve changed since they opened. There’s some really lovely plots there and I got some great ideas for my own plot while looking around.

 

 

Our snazzy gate

Today myself and Dave were on plot P26 for a few hours again. We made a gate using some old trellis donated from my parents back garden. Dave simply hammered the trellis onto two wooden stakes and the gate was done. It’s a little narrow to fit perfectly between my gate posts so we’ll have to add another piece of wood to it. I realised I forgot to bring hinges though so we’ll just have to hang it next time we get down. I’m thinking I might paint it, give it a bit of personality. I’ve been admiring many of the other plots on site and am amazed at the creativity I’ve seen, especially when it comes to things like gates and fencing.

 

I fixed my disastrous onion netting today by making a sturdier bamboo cage around it (I stole the idea from my dad’s plot), it looks much better now and hopefully the birds will really have a hard time getting to my onion sets. I put some weed protection fabric down on some of my paths so I could see where I’m going, hopefully this will prevent me from walking on my beds as I’ve inadvertently done this a few times.

Improved onion netting

While Dave took a well deserved nap in the sunshine, I errected two bamboo wigwams. I planted some peas and will plant more in about three weeks, that way I should have a longer supply of peas during the summer instead of them all cropping at once.

I also planted some Coriander seeds. Coriander also benefits from successional sowings so I will plant more in a few weeks. I planted a variety called “Leisure” which is an excellent variety for leaf production. If you want to grow it yourself, try to avoid buying plain coriander seeds as they are far more likely to bolt.

This weekend we will have the “fun” job of filling the raised beds with topsoil. It will most likely take about 60 wheelbarrow loads so it will probably take us all weekend. The temperature is due to return to normal March levels at the weekend so at least we won’t be sweating in the sun while carting loads of soil back and forth.

We’ve met quite a few of our neighbours over the past couple of weeks and it’s lovely to chat and get advice from other plot holders, it’s already a lovely little community. I spotted some seedlings poking their head up in my Jersualem artichoke bed today, myself and Dave couldn’t figure out if they were weeds or artichokes so I’ll be watching their progress to find out. Dave also spotted a couple of ducks hanging out near our plot, they must have flown up from the estuary.

Quack!

The Grand Stretch

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Spring has officially landed! The sun has been beaming for the past few days and it is set to stay that way into the middle of next week. Today was a warm 14 degrees and tomorrow is predicted to get up to 17, almost tropical for March. There’s already a grand stretch in the evenings, as we say here in Ireland, and the clocks go forward in the morning, giving us an extra hour of sunshine in the evenings.

Garden Riddle

Myself and Dave took advantage of the weather the past few days, spending quite a few hours on the allotment. Yesterday, we filled up the car, made a packed lunch and readied ourselves for an afternoon of digging. We dug out the onion bed and the bed for peas and beans. The soil on my plot is a clay soil so can get quite clumpy and requires quite a lot of digging to break it up. We took all of the soil out of the two beds, Dave is really good at this and had them dug out in no time. We turned the soil over for the onion bed and spent a good hour or two just raking it and taking out big rocks and stones. I used a sieve, also known as a garden riddle (I’m learning something new every day) to remove any of the big stones left over after all the digging.

Action Shot

Planted asparagus trench

After some well earned tea and sandwiches, I planted my asparagus. We dug a trench about 20cm deep and 40cm wide, I added in some compost and made a ridge down the centre, I spread the roots of my six crowns out on either side of the ridge and covered them with soil. As they grow, I will continue to add soil and the trench should be level by autumn. I covered them with some horticultural fleece for now to protect them from ground frost. Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant and needs to be planted somewhere it won’t be disturbed. It likes well drained soil and full sun. It has a lovely ferny foliage in the summer months. It should not be harvested for the first two years of growth, which is why many people don’t grow it, however, if you have an allotment, you should try it. It will crop for over twenty years and it one of the nicest fresh vegetables available.

Planting the red onion sets

I planted my onions and shallots today. I planted some Red Baron and Stuttgarter Giant sets. Onions are a great crop, easy to manage and give a great yield for a small space. Space onions about 10 cm apart in rows about 20-30cm apart. If you plant onions closer together they will be smaller and if you plant them further apart, they will grow larger, If you want large onions, all you have to do is give them more space. I planted about 40 red and 40 white onions. I also planted 8 shallots. One shallot set will give you a yield of about 6 shallots. Dave swears by them and often uses them in cooking. I still have about a square metre left in the bed so I might plant a few leeks.There was some glorious sunshine when I was planting the onions and the birds were singing away, it was the first time on my allotment that I’ve forgotten about the digging and felt totally relaxed, it was lovely. I covered my onions with netting to protect them from birds as they will happily steal onion sets from the ground. After about three weeks, the onions will have rooted and the netting can be removed.

Stuttgarter Giant, ready for planting, golden in the sunlight

My....em...extremely "neat" netting for my onion bed

Next week, we’ll be starting construction on the raised beds for my brassicas and carrots. I’m hoping that by next year, I’ll have mostly raised beds in the plot. I’m going to use scaffolding planks to build them as they’re untreated and relatively cheap to buy.

The plot is slowly starting to take shape, it’s still a mess at the moment and it will be at least another few weeks before it looks well. Everything is looking very brown, I can’t wait until the summer when I have some greenery.

I read an interesting fact yesterday, last year in Ireland, gardeners in allotments and at home grew over €9 million worth of fruit and vegetables. Nine million! That’s a staggering amount of produce. That’s 9 million euro not being spent on mass produced, chemically treated food from the supermarket. It’s a very promising figure. I am finding myself more and more interested in growing my own food and buying organic produce, a little effort goes a long way and if we each only grow one successful crop this year, we are still making a difference. I’ll leave you for now with a few photos of the plot the past few days.

Dave made a wigwam out of wood for no apparent reason

Potato Bed

My lovely flask

Rainy Day Blues, Paddy’s Day Greens

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I had great plans for today, I was going to get up early and spend the day marking out my beds in my allotment and installing my netting. I have had a very busy week and have been unable to get to my plot to do some proper work on it so I was very much looking forward to making some progress. My plot, along with a few others surrounding it had been driven over accidentally by a dump truck which had compacted the soil to a point that we couldn’t even get a spade and inch into the soil. This delayed us getting the work on the plot started. Thankfully, the lovely helpful lads who work on site arranged to have that section of the field dug over by a tractor to loosen the soil for the plot holders.  It would have taken me weeks to just loosen the soil by hand. The ground is nice and soft now so I was planning on putting in a few hours of digging today. Mother nature had a different plan. I woke up early, made myself as cup of tea and looked out the window to discover it was lashing rain and miserably dull and grey. Cue much groaning and general exasperation on my part.

I shouldn’t complain really, it’s been a very dry few weeks in Dublin, it’s barely rained at all in six weeks and the ground is practically crying out for some rain. I should have known it would rain, it is the Paddy’s Day weekend, I would be surprised if the heavens didn’t open at some point. Unfortunately, the rain has prevented me from going to my plot, not because I’m afraid to get wet but it’s simply counterproductive trying to dig wet soil. I also realised that while I have a good pair of wellies, I have no other suitable attire for rainy weather. I resigned myself to having to wait another day or two before I can begin some proper work on my plot. I went shopping to cheer myself up and bought a lovely pink raincoat, now I’ll have no excuse to avoid going out in the rain.

Red Dukes, ready for planting

I am itching to plant something on my plot. I have a bed almost ready for my jerusalem artichokes and for my asparagus, I should be able to plant them in the next few days. I’ve also dug out a bed for my potatoes and that should be ready for planting this week also. I’ll be able to plant my early variety, I chose Red Dukes of York for my earlies as I’ve heard they’re an excellent grower. I was hoping to plant them tomorrow as Paddy’s Day is the traditional day to plant your first spuds but I’ll just have to hold off another few days as there’s no point planting them until i have the soil prepared properly.

So far, all of my planting has been done at home, you may remember I planted some sweet pepper and chilli seeds a few weeks ago, these have done very well so far and are growing fast.

Chili Seedlings

I planted some tomato seeds the other day, I chose to try three varieties, Sungold, a lovely yellow cherry tomato, San Marzano, a great Italian variety, brilliant for cooking and Tigerella, because they look pretty and I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. The seeds only took a few days to germinate in the heated propogator.

Redcurrant growing strong

Next week I’ll plant my blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes on the plot. If you remember I asked for some advice on what to do with these as I bought them as bare root bushes and they were sprouting. I was advised to plant them into pots in the interim. The redcurrant bush has come on brilliantly since I planted it in the pot, the blackcurrant bush is not doing nearly as well, hopefully when I plant it out it will improve. My parsley seeds finally germinated and are growing well, I also planted Thyme, Rosemary and Basil seeds, all of which have germinated, though only one of my rosemary seeds had come up so far. I planted way too much thyme so will either have to discard some of it or give it to someone who might want some.

We found a foster home for Gilla, the lovely dog we found on the allotment the other day. She’s now in a home with two acres of land and an owner who’ll take great care of her.

I thought I would introduce you to two of my pals, who will be some of my chief veggie eaters this year. Snickers and Brambles are my pet guinea pigs, they love fresh veggies and I’m sure will benefit from the plot more than anyone else in the house. Lucky pigs!

Snickers

Brambles

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you all enjoy the Paddy’s Day weekend, I’m not a fan of it really, too much mindless drinking and standing in the cold, watching a parade that always starts late, with ten minute gaps between the floats. I’ll be avoiding town like the plague, watching the all important Ireland vs England rugby match and gardening as much as I can. I always try to wear green on Paddy’s Day but this year I don’t think I have any green clothes, maybe I can find some shamrock to plant on the plot instead, can’t think of anything more fitting.

Deals, Dave and the Dog

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It seems like spring is finally here, we’ve had a few days of glorious sunshine, albeit it very cold. The daffodils and crocuses are in full bloom and I’ve been able to ditch my warm winter coat, for now. I’ve been doing some more planning and preparation for my allotment, which I will be getting in only six days, I can almost taste the excitement. I’ve been doing some more bargain hunting this week, I visited Dealz in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, yes, thats “Dealz” with a z. Everything in the store is only €1.49, and they have quite a lot of gardening supplies at the moment, I bought some netting and some plastic tunnel cloches for unbelievably good value, they also have onion sets, trellises, gloves, pots and various other garden supplies that might come in handy. If you’re over that way, you should have a look around, you’re bound to find something you need for a great price.

Yesterday, I errected my plastic greenhouse in the back garden, it’s surprisingly sturdy and was easy to build, despite the lack of instructions. I will use it to harden off some of my plants and for my peppers and tomatoes until I can invest in a polytunnel. I put some weights on the bottom to protect it from the wind but I doubt it needs these, as I have it in a very sheltered spot, I was just being over cautious. I planted my blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes in pots for now as they were sprouting like crazy, they seem to be doing very well and the greenhouse is already coming in handy as i can put these in it during the frosty spring nights.

 

I planted some Rosemary, Thyme and Basil seeds in seed trays yesterday, there’s still no sign of my Parsley which I planted two weeks ago but this is to be expected. I also planted some Lavender seeds, I’m really hoping these take as there’s nothing I love more than the smell of fresh lavender in the garden. I fashioned a watering can of sorts out of a used mineral water bottle by poking some holes in the lid. This seems to be perfect for sowing seeds as it’s easy to control the amount of water being poured on the new seeds and too much water is  detrimental to their growth.

Looking very pleased with his fungus

I also have to mention, as much as I hate to, the mushrooms. Before I do, I would like to point out that I despise mushrooms, they are, my most hated thing in the world, with no exception. My boyfriend, Dave, however, can’t get enough of them so he is growing some in a tub in a dark corner of the house. They seem to be the easiest things ever to grow, all we did was add compost and water and covered them up with a cardboard lid.  I should be pleased that they are starting to grow, but to me they just look awful and I can’t figure out how people are willing to put such things into their mouths. They are coming along well though and we should have lots of mushrooms within a fortnight. I’ll get Dave to share his supposedly delicious mushroom risotto recipe with you when they are ready for cultivation.

Dave’s lovely dog, Starbuck, has been helping me out with my gardening efforts this week by licking my face while trying to build the greenhouse, jumping all over the greenhouse, attempting to eat my bag of potting compost, using my young blackcurrant plant as a makeshift headbutting post and helpfully chewing my packet of thyme seeds to shreds, thereby ensuring I can not save the leftover seeds for next year. What would I do without her?

Cute but mischievous dog, she must love thyme

On bargains and John Denver

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When I was eight, my school class had a substitute teacher for three weeks. They were the best three weeks of the school year as she spent the whole time teaching us songs and showing us episodes of the muppets. The reason I tell you this is she taught us a song by John Denver, called “The Garden Song”, which to this day when I think of it, gets stuck in my head for weeks on end.

John Denver performing  The Garden Song on the Muppet Show

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground

The unfortunate truth is, it takes quite a lot more than this to get a garden up and running. A rake and a hoe, though essential, won’t get you very far. There’s spades, forks, trowels, dibbers, secateurs, watering cans, sheds, greenhouses, polytunnels, pots, propogators,  protective fleece, netting, wooden stakes, bamboo canes..the list could go on for quite a while. That’s before you even consider the cost of seeds, compost etc. The first year of a garden is not a cheap one.

I thought a blog post about affordable gardening supplies would be beneficial to everyone and I will probably do a few. Before I tell you of some of my recent purchases though, I urge you to recycle as much as you can, not only is it better for our environment and easier on the wallet, it promotes creative thinking in the garden, which is part of the fun of the growing experience. I will most likely do some posts on recycling ideas for your garden at a later date so keep an eye out.

I have shopped around quite a lot the past few weeks, trying to get good deals. It’s always a good idea to check your local hardware shop for tools etc as they will most likely be a lot more affordable than those in the larger shops. Tesco have a sale on their gardening supplies at the moment, I managed to pick up quite a few cheap items, plant labels for 79 cent, garden twine for €1.50 and an eight pack of pots for €2.50. I bought a lovely blue spade for only €7.50, they also have matching gardening forks for €12.00.

It’s almost foolish not to check Aldi and Lidl for their weekly deals. Aldi in particular have excellent deals this week, I spent less than €30 this morning and bagged myself two large sheets of protective fleece, two packs of weed control fabric, two large bags of organic compost, protective netting and bamboo canes. I also bought a heated propagator last week in Lidl for €19.99. These prices are a fraction of those in the large garden centres and it’s well worth investing in them now as they sell out very quick.

Only €2.99 each in Aldi

These shops are also brilliant for buying seeds with many of the packets costing only 79 cent, compared to the €3 or €4 in the garden centres. That being said, garden centres are,of course, better for buying certain items, in particular seed potatoes, onion sets, perennial plants and special variety seeds.

It may seem like a false economy to buy cheap gardening tools, however, in the first year, there’s quite a lot of expense and I think the more deals I can get, the better. Once I have all the essential items, I can then think about buying more expensive items if I want.

On the growing side of things, I’ve had some excitement the past two days as my chilli and pepper seeds have germinated. It only took six days which is very quick, I was expecting them to take at least ten to twenty days, investing in the heated propagator is already paying off. I also planted some parsley yesterday, as I hear it can take up to a month to germinate.

Devils Brew seedlings

I’ll put up more tips on where to find gardening bargains in a few weeks. For now, I’ll leave you with the second verse of the garden song which is very much echoes my current sentiments about my gardening efforts.

Inch by inch
Row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone keep them safe below
Till the rains come a-tumblin’ down