An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

Last weekend we had beautiful weather and I spent a couple of days in North Tipperary.While driving around I came across a tomb which dates back at least 2000 years BC.It is known as Leaba (bed)Duirmuid (Dermot)& Ghrainne (Grace)star crossed lovers of Gaelic Mythology.There are various sites giving the story online, all basically the same, I have used Squidoo and the drawing is from that site,the armies in the background were pursuing the lovers across the country and I think that is how there are various sites related to the lovers. Did they rest here and hide from their pursuers? This is not a tourist site and you may not find it on any map, I saw the sign post and knew of the legend so followed the directions. It is not a place for designer footwear as you have to trek about 400 metres up a boggy hillside. If anyone is touring around Ireland and comes across these blue signs they are worth following if you have time as they usually lead to interesting sites such as this. Once w...

Beautiful Spring day today, I was able to spend most of the day on the allotment, I even persuaded youngest S.Barry to come out and paint the shed. He is just starting here but got it all done in double quick time. The two plastic bags are protecting the 2 Goji berry bushes which are covered in leaves and I did not want any mishaps with them! I sowed carrots in the barrel in the greenhouse, again Amsterdam 3 Sprint. I am hoping to have an early crop of carrots before the outdoor ones are ready?!I filled the lower half of the barrel with spent compost from last year and just put new compost on the top layer with a handful of Fish,blood & bone. Kathryn spent Sunday turning over and picking stones off last years squash & pumpkin bed as this year it is going to house roots ie: carrots & parsnips. I spent today making a new bed (on left of scarecrow).This was a potato bed last year but had not been boxed in. I did that today and dug it over thoroughly because the idea of raised ...

Our allotment group walking behind our colourful 'float' in the village of Blarney for the St Patrick's Day parade AND it won the 2nd of 3 prizes!! Blarney held its first parade last year after a lapse of about 25 years and this was our first time taking part. I was amazed at the huge turnout along the main street, there must have been a few thousand people clapping and cheering.There was a farmer's & craft market set up in the village square with bouncy castles etc for the children. The weather was bright and dry despite a mixed weather forecast. This morning early in the Hydro farm barn it was all hands on deck to get the float prepared.As it was representing a garden most of the produce had to be bought fresh and only arranged at the last minute.I say bought because at this time of year we don't have fresh produce ourselves, but the idea was to show people what can be grown locally either at home or on an allotment Zwena had lots of photos of produce and even...

The tomato seedlings looked slightly spindly and as soon as I espied the first true leaves (hardly visible to the naked eye!) I decided to pot them on. When potting on tomato plants they should be replanted up to first set of leaves so that the leaves are just sitting on the soil. The hairs on the stems grow new roots and as tomatoes become quite top heavy when producing fruit they need a strong root system. These are the Incas, there are 9 plants at the moment but I won't need all of these so only about 2 or 3 really strong plants will be finally planted out in the greenhouse. I left the Yellow Perfection in their seed tray for another few days. The sweet peppers are finally up! The repotted seedlings are still on the windowsill, they were repotted into 3inch pots and will be potted on as the roots show through the bottom of the pot, not very scientific I know but it works for me! The Broad Beans are sitting out in the sunshine each day for a few hours to get accustomed to being o...

Great eggsitement (excuse the pun)at the Hydro Farm, the newly acquired Ducks & Geese have started laying.The eggs have been removed for safety until they have finished laying so they won't be damaged.Zwena has them cushioned in sawdust in this box for a few days to protect them.The large white eggs are the goose eggs and the beautiful pale blue ones are the duck eggs.Once the goose has finished laying, the eggs will be returned to her to hatch out. I must confess I know absolutely nothing about them so we are all dying to see what happens next. Never a dull moment at the Hydro Farm! We did have some snow on Sat morning but it did not stay on the ground. Our days have been sunny if not warm, as yet.The ground is warming up and is easy to dig over. I began cleaning out the herb bed and ended up completely revamping it!It is now longer and our solitary apple tree which has lots of buds is now included inside the bed. Sage, thyme & chives have survived since last year and our ...

We have had a lovely week weather wise, sunny days but cold & frosty nights.These photos have been taken over a few days both on the plot and at home and are not in any particular order. Today on the allotment the onions went in, these are Sturion and there are 2 rows of shallots which we have not grown before. I paid 2.45e a lb for the onion sets in a garden centre and there are 2 lbs of them in this bed. One of my fellow plotters told me Lidl are doing a lot of garden items next week and one of them is onion sets for 1e.He got them last year and said he had great onions from them.We are doing a second onion bed so Lidl will go in there and we will be able to compare the two. The cover is the enviromesh that covered the carrots last year, I thought it may as well earn its keep protecting the onion sets from the birds and frost.There was not enough to cover the whole bed so it will be interesting to see what if any difference it makes to cover the onions. Some people are very organ...

We have had frost for the past few nights, I was lucky I did not take a chance and insulated the plastic greenhouse the day I put it up.The bonus is the sunshine each day, not a lot of heat but when I started digging today I had to discard the jacket after a while and then the body warmer went the same way! Asparagus I went over to the asparagus bed to clean it up a little as some weeds are making their presence known already, like the creeping buttercup and dandelions.I was removing some of the old dead foliage and could not believe my eyes but there they were, 3 asparagus spears! It was the only plant that had them, these were some of the 7 new plants bought last year in Dunsland Garden Centre. They were 2 year old plants so we can have a light harvest from them this year.The spears are quite thick too, I covered them again with soil as they are a bit tender to leave uncovered for frost to bite. Friend or Foe? I disturbed a few of these while digging today, I am totally ignorant of ...