An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

I returned from my nice relaxing Sunday afternoon and uploaded my photos and previous post.It was such a nice day I had left the hens out in the garden while I was away. I went out to put them in for the night and was stopped in my tracks! My lazy housewife beans given to me by matron over on veggies only blog , which had climbed their pole after a slow start were romping away when I put them out yesterday morning, they had grown bushy and green around the top of pot before climbing began. They have been out every day and the hens paid no attention to them as I had watched carefully, what changed yesterday I do not know. They could not reach the top growth and I can only hope they recover enough to provide seeds for next year, I had kept them at home not wanting to risk them out on the plot in case of wind damage! Matron if you are reading this my apologies and I am sure you are nodding sagely and saying I did try to warn you! This is entirely my own fault as I knew they had a liking f...

A beautiful sunny Sunday, much too warm to work. Kevin trying his hand at digging up some spuds for his Mom.Last night was very heavy & humid and I think our spuds look less green than they did, a few of us are convinced there is a definite yellow tint to the leaves. Beautiful flower arrangement which Zwena put on the tea room tables which are now outdoor tables in the courtyard while the sunshine lasts. Everyone who turned up today had brought something to share and we ended up sitting around the courtyard chatting and doing very little else, just taking time to drink the coffee and smell the flowers. I did remember to bring the camera and caught up on some pics of the plot. Tomatoes in the greenhouse are way behind what they were this time last year when we ended up with a glut, since moving them to the greenhouse they are beginning to climb but slowly. Liam's roses tumbling over the fence Inside the fruit cage the raspberries are ripening daily I left 3 strawberry plants on ...

Raspberries Yesterday I visited the allotment to pick some raspberries which are just beginning to ripen.Our Autumn fruiting raspberries are ripening at the same time?! There is a lot of wind damage with broken twigs bearing fruit but there was still enough to bring home and leave lots to redden fully, although the torrential rain all day today is not helping! Home Guard potatoes : I dug one tuber last week on the first row of Home Guard which had tiny marble sized potatoes underneath, we have had quite a bit of rain and we watered and gave the first 2 drills a liquid sea weed feed also. I dug the first tuber on the second row yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to find all of these underneath!Much larger than last week maybe due to the attention they got?They went into the pot and tasted more than OK, delicious! We will leave them now until next week and hopefully this rain will encourage them to grow a little more. We had a few flowers on our Duke of York's but none on the Hom...

Strawberry & Raspberry Pavlova. This is my first attempt at making a Pavlova even though it is one of my favourite desserts.D.Michelle makes them and my sister Kathleen has made them for years.With eggs freely available from the hens who continue to lay their 4 a day and with the fruit from the plot I decided to have a 'go'! I Googled for recipes and found one on the BBC Good Food site, I was also informed it is an Australian dessert and originated from Sydney! Link to recipe here The recipe was simple and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle just the way I like (love) Pavlova! I dug up one tuber of our first early Homeguard but was disappointed to find them very small,sort of large marble size! We have had weeks of dry windy weather which did not help so I will leave them another two weeks.The rain we are having at the moment may help to swell the crop. I pulled up one beetroot, the only decent sized one from our first sowing of them. We have great looking broad bea...

"The relics of Auld Decency" Our scarecrow got a makeover for the open day! It was the most successful Open day so far with friends,family and growers from other allotments and some GYO people also came along.The sun shone but there was a gale force wind blowing all day, we were windswept by the time we left to come home! Young Jack did not like the scarecrow and growled at him each time he passed. Then Jack discovered strawberries on tap! Our strawberry bed came in for a lot of interest all day, people were interested in the difference growing them in a raised bed made. Some of the crowd down the plots, the gentleman in the foreground grows veg down on Hare island off the coast of Baltimore in West Cork and said it would be considered a relatively calm day down there when I said it was very windy today! Each year we raise money for a charity and this year it was for Bernardo's Children's Charity.The marquee was set up with a mouthwatering array of home made cakes,tea...

Our allotments Open day is on Sat 18th and everybody has been putting in hours each day getting their plots in perfect order as it is the day when family & friends come out to see what we have been up to on all those days spent out there. Lots of painting going on and the courtyard is looking colourful and bright as well as gates and pots, anything that stood still got a coat of paint! I took some photos on the first day and will post more of the finished work on the Open Day. Hydro Farm Allotments ‘Open Day’ Theme: Fun & Formal Gardening. Date: Saturday 18th. June 2011. Time: 2pm. till 6pm. See the allotments with our ‘Plotters’ to show you around and answer your questions. We have a Recycle stand where you can see how to use common articles for your garden including a portable strawberry bed and a herb garden on wheels.We also have vegetables and fruit from other countries including, Australia, Italy, China, USA, & France Tea, Coffee and Home made Goodies will be serve...

Our glut of strawberries continues and we still have not resorted to jam making to use them up.D.Aisling got a recipe for Grown up Strawberry Jelly in a book 'The Farmer's Market cook book.A friend loaned it to her as small son Jack (2 in July) is a committed vegetarian for months,just try to get anything tasting of meat past his lips and he spits it out!Aisling was looking for recipes to vary his diet a little. The grown up jelly can be made with any combination of soft fruit, I just used strawberries this time, make up the jelly with half the quantity of water and half of sparkling wine. I used Rose bought in Aldi's for 1.75e, the bubbles stay in the jelly for some reason. I don't have a jelly mould so used these supermarket cartons, the ridges on the bottom make a nice design when turned out.If being used for a party etc, cream could be piped around the edges and decorate with strawberries and a few mint leaves. The rhubarb shortcake ( recipe here )with strawberries ...

More pics of Bloom in the park 2011 Lots of photos but short on the prose! Above, poppies blooming in the walled garden Myself and sis Kathleen ,legless in the walled garden. Peony Hollyhocks? Even in the best of gardens the carrot fly is feared! The Alice in Wonderland garden ,easily the best for me. Giant teacups All is not what it seems when you go through the looking glass,all the greenery is artificial! Playing cards Mad hatter The Barbershop singers wandered around entertaining Workshops for the kiddies Edible landscape, allotment type garden Keelings were pouring out freshly squeezed orange Juice New Irish cream liquer, we had to sample! Mushrooms Veg grown in rows of military precision, more artificial looking than Alice's garden Just one of the lunchtime queues, the one I was in! Owl Kiddie garden inspired booties Potting bench, remember those strawberry punnets?! Wheelbarrow of veg. Kids getting their hands into compost in the Growise stand Another queue, this time for th...