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...

I have not spent much time on the plot in the last couple of weeks due mainly to the weather conditions but yesterday was sunny and not too cold so I was able to do some clearing of beds.I dug all of the carrots ,a bit late probably as there is some worm or slug damage to a lot of them . I also cleared all of the sprouts as they seem to be early this year and I was afraid they would be past their best for the Christmas dinner! I spent last evening blanching and freezing the sprouts and some of the carrots with another session of carrots this morning.I must do an inventory of what is actually in the freezer for the winter. I pulled 2 leeks as D.Aisling is making pots of Leek and potato soup at the moment. The leek bed with the cleared carrot bed in the foreground. The beds further down were cleared by Kathryn and Gemma and covered with manure for the winter.It all looked a bit bleak yesterday. The blackcurrant bush which I pruned a couple of weeks ago, I took put about a third of the ol...

It rained steadily all through Friday and Saturday, this morning dawned bright and sunny but the clouds have been gathering and even though it has not rained yet it is on the way.I did not pick the raspberries when we were out on the plot on Wed morning thinking to leave them another couple of days to fully ripen.Yesterday in the midst of the downpour I was thinking about the raspberries rotting in the rain and the slugs so took myself out,donned the rain gear and set to work gathering the fruit and putting down slug bait.The rain was like a curtain it was so heavy, this photo is of the manure heap at the top of the plots, you can get an idea of the rain from the splashes in the puddle which spread and spread in to a mini lake. No..the men in white coats have not come for me...yet! View to the left from the shed where I had to shelter from the worst of it, I am sorry the rain is not actually visible but the leaden grey of the sky gives some clue! View to the right from the shed showing...

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...

Today is a beautiful sunny day and warm to boot!I did not go out to the plot as had to catch up at home.I had 1 kg of blackcurrants left since last year in the freezer so made about 6 lbs of jam using the easy method. Simmer the fruit gently adding some water, heat the sugar in the oven, I used 1 1/2 Kgs to 1 kg of fruit.Add sugar to fruit bring to one boil and test,it is usually ready and pour into jars.The smell of jam making in the kitchen was reminiscent of summer evenings! I had frozen some blanched pears last year and defrosted a packet to make this pear sponge. I would usually make it with apples but decided to try the pears. It smells devine but has not been tested as I write!The sponge topping is a basic queen cake mixture of 4 ozs marge, 4 ozs Sugar,2 eggs and 6 ozs SR flour.I will serve it with custard after dinner. The tomatoes are growing and show no sign of wilting after their shift out to the greenhouse, I still have them covered with a propagator cover at night. The sna...

The week kicked off with Callum's first birthday party which he enjoyed with extended family, his hands are being held away from the cake but he did manage to get a handful of fresh cream! Jack got his first tooth! Scott has been walking for a while but I never got a photo of him in action, I think he just stopped here to pose for the camera. The weather has not been conducive to outside gardening so I have been finishing off items I had started and which can be done beside the fire!These are two grown up sweaters for Scott.The turquoise wool was part of my stash but a little to girly for a boy so I teamed it with cream for one (with the V neck) and with navy for the second one (with a shawl collar). They are double knitting yarns but I knit it doubled as Aran weight on 5mm needles to make them nice and chunky. My crochet is very basic and I find it impossible to follow a pattern so it can be slow ripping until I get what I want. The two hats were done like that, I did the blue one...

Kevin and I spent about 4 hours out on the allotment today, we were the only ones out there until late afternoon when Mike and Christy came along.The veg harvest for today was potatoes in the bag, I think these are the Homeguard.5 courgettes,2 cauliflower,2 globe artichokes,Kevin's crop of onions and thinnings of carrots and white turnips, not a bad days bounty!His Mom cooked one of the cauliflower for dinner and was singing the praise of organic veg.I know by now that what we grow tastes so much different from what we buy but the cauliflower is a real eye opener as to what fresh veg should taste like! I did not put in too many plants ,not wanting all of them to produce together but so far they are developing two each week which is fine. Kevin with his crop of onions which he is very proud of, he has better onions than I have! I showed them how to put in one onion set and the kids did the rest themselves. Aoife's pumpkin the biggest of them on the pumpkin patch so far.All of th...

I cannot believe it is a whole week since I posted here! It has been a very busy week on all fronts and when I came home each night I just tidied up the house,showered and fell into bed.Today is our allotment Open Day and we have spent the week painting and bringing our plots up to 'show' standard. Today is marred a little as my gardener in chief Kevin was admitted to hospital last night and is waiting to have an MRI scan this morning but he is in good form and enjoying the attention. All of the old machinery has been painted and put out on display and flowers are blooming all over the place.A large number of visitors are expected and the day so far is sunny but breezy.Kathryn and the kids weeding up a storm to get all the beds cleaned up. One of the days produce, I did not have the camera some days or forgot to take photos.I pulled up all of the garlic as the rust had taken over despite spraying a few times.Some of the bulbs had started to develop into cloves, we can use them...

Some of the flower plants hardening off on the patio table this morning. They are nasturtiums and anthirrinum (snapdragons). The morning was warm and sunny if a little windy so I put them out for some fresh air. I decided to go out to the allotment as the weather held and was out there for around 11.00am.I straightened the potato drills of the main crop, British Queens and Golden Wonders, as some of them are pushing through now.I had a bag of hedge clippings which I put down between the drills and a bag of grass cuttings which I put on the drills which will hopefully cut down on some of the weeds.I put hay under the strawberry plants some of which have good size strawberries already and did a lot of just general tidying up and weeding. The rain arrived about 1.30 pm heavy and persistent so I did not hang around to take anymore photos! One I had taken earlier, before the rain and weeding the fruit bed. This is the blackcurrant bush which has a fine crop of fruit in evidence.The raspberr...