An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

 Kevin and myself went out to the allotment on Fri afternoon, it was not just sunny but absolutely roasting! I watered all the plants in the greenhouse and it felt like a sauna. The tomatoes are ripening slowly.Harvest included: 2 courgettes lettuce Small Red Duke of York potatoes 2 cucumbers some french beans & small tomatoes blackcurrants,strawberries,red gooseberries & blueberries.The strawberries and cherry tomatoes went to Jack who eats them like sweets!.Not enough fruit to make a summer pudding so the gooseberries & blackcurrants were added to apples to make a summer fruit tart.The blueberries go on my cereal in the morning. The long green plant at the top of the photo is a Brussels sprout plant gone to seed, the 4th of 10 to go.It was brought home to the hens and I tied it to the fence.Within a very short time it was a skeletal shape hanging from the fence! Waste not want not. Kevin noticed some of the globe artichokes and asked to take some home...

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 ...

I took these photos on Monday last when we were still enjoying sunshine.This week has ended with torrential rain which is forecast to continue through next week as we are in the middle of a deep depression causing higher than normal rainfall for the first 2 weeks of July, Oh well another 'normal' Irish summer!The slugs have ideal weather conditions, humidity and rain. These are some of the tomatoes in the greenhouse which have set fruit, rain or no rain today I have to go out to water them, it is very easy to forget about plants growing indoors when you are looking out at falling rain. The harvest that day,spring onions, lettuce,the last of the mange tout which have now been cut down and added to our compost heap their roots were left in the ground to add nitrogen.A few dwarf broad beans which will be going the same way as the mange tout soon.Raspberries and some strawberries which were turned into muffins, I have an Italian student at the moment who will have chocolate cupcake...

I uploaded these photos last night but the computer gremlins slowed it down so much I gave up so here goes with second attempt.The sun has finally arrived but the down side is watering has become very important as most plants are just starting off and seeds need moisture to germinate.I filled a wheelie bin with water one morning when I was on the allotments alone we can use this with the watering can at busy times.Most people are going out in the evenings to water and the flow slows down when a number people are using it at the same time. The salad bed is filling up with the spring onions, lettuce and swiss chard. There is iceberg and butterhead lettuce, it is still covered with fleece at night and will be for another week at least. The onion & carrot bed, I swear these weeds were only a couple of inches high on Thurs when I was last out! I had hoed the bed when the onions had put on some growth but then set carrot and parsnip seeds so we could not weed until they were up enough to...

Some photos of the plot, I remembered to take the camera today!The rhubarb bed was extended last week and I bought 3 new plants.They are Timberly Early, 6 plants might seem like a lot but we all use rhubarb and love rhubarb crumbles with cream! The one I moved a couple of feet suffered no ill effects and is growing nicely The work in the greenhouse, instead of pots which dry out quickly we are putting the tomato plants directly into the soil.I pulled back the membrane and gravel and the soil underneath was in very good condition. I cut down a scaffolding board and piled up a load of manure to top up, all it needs now is some compost and it is ready to grow. I will put in some spinach and lettuce while waiting for the tomatoes to go out. I bought a new gooseberry bush to replace the one the sawfly decimated 2 years ago. We missed having gooseberries last year. hard to see but this blueberry bush is covered in buds, the other two have some but are not as healthy looking as this one.The w...

I went out to the allotment to spend a couple of hours before I picked the girls up from school.It was a beautiful sunny day and the temps must have been a balmy 12%!I had read Blackvillage blog about covering the strawberry bed with weed block fabric so set to work. I had planted a row of strawberries last week but dug them up and covered the bed, I cut crosses in the fabric for planting through, one row are second year plants and I also planted a row of the new runners which had over wintered in the greenhouse.We will know the age of our plants at least as 3 years is the optimum for harvesting a good crop. A view across to the end row of plots, which are all being readied for the new season The day was so nice I collected the girls from school and we went back to the plot to continue on the fruit bed. I had this thornless blackberry languishing in the greenhouse over winter but it does not seem to have done it any harm! Two Autumn fruiting raspberries were also in the greenhouse but...

Sunny spells and heavy rain today but I spent a couple of hours on the plot, mainly weeding and gathering our harvest for today which was a big bag full!Orla potatoes, 2 derby day summer cabbage,2 lettuce, 500grm raspberries all a bit muddy for the photo. I made raspberry jam using Darina Allen's recipe from her book 'Simply Delicious'which describes the jam and making it perfectly. Egual quantities of fruit and sugar.Heat the sugar in the oven ( heatproof dish)Gently simmer fruit until juice starts to flow.Stir in heated sugar and when completely disolved boil for 5 minutes, test for setting and put into jars. Some random photos, this is a genuine Victorian Loo which was once part of the Hydro Spa over 100 years ago when it was a very upmarket hotel and Spa.Did Victorians have funny (square) shaped bums?!It is now holding flowers and looks very at home in its new corner. One of our gates with a sign my sister Kathleen bought for me recently with the legend 'Dig for Pl...