An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

Coming out of the allotments today I stopped to pick a bunch of lilacs which are growing wild.There are lilac bushes in full bloom everywhere as this year they have not had to contend with wind and rain and are enjoying the sunshine.They are in my porch and filling it with their heady scent. My next door neighbour on the plot, Angela, taking a break from painting the shed.The last few days have been in the 20's and it is better than a foreign holiday pottering in the sunshine. Kevin and myself spent hours out there again,it really is a time warp where the hours fly by.The major job on today's agenda was making a new cage for the brassicas.The yard long beans have given up the ghost at this point so I took most of the bamboo canes and they will have to scramble up whats left as best they can, thats if they decide to grow anymore. This is the brassica bed under the old netting, the brussel sprouts were bending over as it was way too tight. New high rise brassica netting on bent b...

Kevin volunteered to come out to the plot with me today,it was misting rain as we left home but the sun had come out by the time we got to the allotment.Kevin filling pots for the strawberry runners, as the strawberries were on the work list for today. Some flowers on the plot first, this is borage which I grew from seed last year but I pulled most of it up as it was a bit of a thug taking up too much room. It is great for attracting bees and is a good companion plant to have in an out of the way area.It has reseeded around the plot, this is one I have left to grow. Nasturtiums from last year also reseeded around the plots, this one is a lovely delicate colour on the pumpkin bed.The original ones were red and orange but this one seems undecided which colour to go for. The bees were out before us today but not as many as yesterday, as it was a little cooler and earlier.This bunch was cut from just one plant and it is now in a pillow case in my wardrobe to dry out.I used rubber bands to ...

First I must explain the blog change!I returned to my blog after a lapse of a few days to find my background had disappeared and a floating box saying this video had been removed by Photobucket.I am not a member of Photobucket so thought it was a computer glitch which would rectify itself, not so!I visited Lynda's blog to find the same floaty box and Lynda has gone to the trouble of investigating.I had got my background from Cutest Blog on the Block who it seems have now removed this background and anyone who had this or other removed backgrounds had the same problem.I got a background from Blogger but the background picture refused to stay and reverted to black after a couple of seconds so now I have this one ,also from Blogger but so far so good! I was able to spend most of today on the plot as I have no children this week, I weeded and watered and planted 3 short rows of swede turnips for the winter. Lots of delicious things to harvest but I had to bring them home to photograph ...

What a weekend!I met Matron on Friday in Cobh on a stop over from a British Isles cruise.The Queen Victoria came into Cobh which was once named Queenstown in her honour.Cobh was the last port of call for the ill fated Titanic. I will just give very short comments as the pics will tell the tale (s) I got an unusual pic of the liner, the tiny tug busy tying up the ropes to keep the ship at the deepwater quay and the Brittany Ferries ship the Pont Aven passing by on her way to dock at the ferryport in Ringaskiddy. I met matron and we set off for Blarney Castle on the outskirts of Cork City.This is the famous stone,which is a lintel stone high above the ground.The attendant holds the victim while they lie down and reach out backwards to kiss the stone,Matron did but I didn't! We strolled around the spacious grounds of mature woodlands, this area is known as the Rock Close but my children always called it the Witch's garden! It is full of ferns and stone formations including Wish...

The rain cleared last evening for a few hours and this was the sky last night as the sun went down.Red sky at night is a good omen but the angry clouds hovering?! There was sunshine this morning and I went out to the plot to see how things had progressed or not.I had barely landed when the heavens opened and had to shelter in the shed for about 20 mins while it poured down.It cleared and the sun came out, I dug up some of the potatoes, these are still from the first and second early bed.They are a good size, some stalks have only 3 or 4 potatoes while others could have up to 8 fine size ones.Oak leaved lettuce red and green and spring onions and yes we are using our garlic which is perfect despite the onset of the garlic rust. One of the courgettes plants which seem to love the wet humid weather.This is one Kathryn put in so I don't know what type it is! Our sweet corn is romping away, again this humid wet weather seems to suit it but once the cobs appear we will need some sunshine...

St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St. Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain nae mair St Swithin's day is July 15th ,St Swithin was a 9th century Saxon ( English) Bishop of the famous Winchester Cathedral.When he died he asked to be buried outside the church, when the church was renovated about 100 years later his remains were brought inside and since then if it rains on that day it is believed it will rain for the next 40 days and guess what it rained here last Thursday! I have been kept busy all this week and have not been on the plot since Tuesday.Kathryn has been watering the greenhouse plants and reported blight has definitely arrived on the second potato bed. Kathryn cut down the stalks on the worst affected plants digging up one to check the tubers, the potatoes were a good size but discoloured to a grey/brown shade.They have been sprayed religiously every week since the end of May. I am painting my sitting room w...

The sun shone here in the south for most of the day and it was back to warmth and some work on the plot. The peas are coming along and setting lots of pods but to my surprise some of the lower ones had been chomped despite wire netting around the bed.When we walked on to the plot a rabbit ran from between the lavender and pea bed but I thought they could not get at the peas?!I had to put more netting over the lower one to prevent anymore incursions. Some of the snowball onions drying, these were about 10 that Michael had given me earlier in the year to try out. The second row of netting around the peas, I had to adjust the colour of some photos as the sun was so bright at this time of the day! Our lavender is nearly ready to cut, the bees are colonising it at the moment and anyone who passes takes a blossom to smell! The main onion bed. I bent over the stalks as it seems to be the done thing but I am not too sure of the benefits of it?!The onions on this bed are all good sized bulbs no...