An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

 Today's harvest from the allotment, it was not very colourful until I added the carrots and beetroot from the raised bed.I cut down the Broad beans and stripped the pods which are filling the bag on the left.I just cut the stems leaving the roots to rot down in the ground as legume roots are rich in nitrogen. There are 7 courgettes! Time to start making soup I think. The carrots from the covered raised bed are really tasty, these are the Sutton's baby veg which we are using while young and tender, leaving others to mature. We are coming to the end of our new potatoes, these are old reliable Home Guard, there are more beetroot and 2 nice  size heads of Broccoli. A few weeks ago we didn't think we would have anything much to take home as we started so late but the heatwave helped and dare I say it , those nice soft summer showers!  The tomatoes in the lean to tunnel are just about OK, not a lot to harvest at all.I have almost stripped all the leaves and branc...

 We have learned over the years its a mistake to sow everything together as you end up with a glut of different veg and if it is a hot summer as this one has been (so far) then you don't want to be cooking every day to use up the veg. I had some of these seeds which are Sutton's Speedy veg they are ready to harvest in 10 weeks from sowing which would take us to the end of Sept and into Oct therefore  utilising  the ground as much as possible and for those of us paying for allotments that is the bottom line. The first early spuds, a lovely variety called Premier has just vacated its space so I have followed up with planting out my leeks and also sowed these veg varieties in any spare space. Baby beets,turnips and carrots.They are picked and used small so are tender and tasty as we can vouch for the carrots which we have been using in another bed already!  Thinnings of an earlier sowing of the Speedy baby veg and sugar snap peas with the Premier e...

 Lettuce of varying colours and stages of growth under the plastic cloche. Spinach at the very far end is coming on slowly.  Blossoms are coming out on the broad beans, these have really taken everything the very unseasonable weather has thrown at them.They are not quite as tall as I would expect but hopefully they will continue growing while producing blossoms and pods. Semi permanent brassica cage in place today, not a very pretty sight but hopefully (a word we seem to be using a lot of this year) a useful one!  More rain with some sunshine today, other parts of the country  have thunder & lightening so we shouldn't complain down here! I have worked out an easy method of uploading photos and text, just do one photo at a time, Simples! Networked Blogs have been sharing my blog onto FB almost as soon as I hit the publish button. I found with the last post it took nearly 24 hours to do it?! I think it is now one of the services on FB payment plan!

The plot is taking shape but the weather is not helping, which is everybody's complaint on this windswept isle.In view on the left side are onion beds, 1 red baron and 2 white then potato beds.Across the back fence are raspberry canes ,rhubarb and globe artichoke ,all moved from the previous plot at the Hydro Farm. White fleece, back left side is covering one of Billy's raised beds. I sowed carrots, Pak Choi and beetroot in the bed today and covered with enviromesh, even the carrot fly may be deterred with the cold weather, but covered the bed 'just in case' ! The second raised bed is empty awaiting top soil and manure to sow courgettes which are on the bedroom windowsill as I speak hoping the weather will improve before June to put them outdoors. There is a space left beside that bed to take the Sweetcorn which are struggling in the back garden at the moment. I had moved them outdoors at home to harden off but had to cover them today with fleece to protect th...

We have lost a lot of time to clear the plots and get ready for winter due the the weather recently.I spent a few hours there on wed when the sun shone unexpectedly. I dug out the roots bed and brought home some unusual specimens! It took me the best part of an hour to dig out 8 parsnips!Last year we had a 4 kg monster and that was just the part I was able to unearth. This year I specifically picked seed which was recommended for small gardens and containers?!They were long and big, most of them coming in at a kilo weight.The seeds were planted back in late Feb as parsnip seeds are supposed to be the first to go in, because of slow germination I planted more in late May and they were of a much more acceptable size even though only 4 of them grew! I spent the whole evening scraping ,peeling, blanching and freezing parsnips.I know they can be saved in sand but I don't have the space to keep them over winter like that so freezing is the best option for me.For all of their size I ended...

Sinead & Aoife with armfuls of Lavender this evening.I am going to try drying it in bunches this year as there is only so much I can do with the dried flowers. I have one bunch already in a vase on the windowsill to see if it will dry there. It struck me this evening while cutting it that there is a marked absence of bees around, last year I could hardly get near it as so many bees had taken it over each day. White Ghost pumpkin,according to the pic on the label it has a white sheen to the top of the pumpkin. Calabrese is setting nice large heads, we have cut 2 so far and they are delicious.I cut a cross on the stem after taking the head, it is supposed to encourage side shoots to grow. I gave the whole brassica bed a dose of rhubarb tea which is recommended to discourage white fly as the smell is foul and it confuses them?! It is made by soaking rhubarb leaves in water for a few weeks and the resultant sludge is rhubarb tea! Remember my mutant beans? They have now been put out on ...

We have a new resident on the Hydro allotments!Zwena has added a lamb and there is a companion arriving in the next day or two.Willow is the German Shepherd standing guard with Owen and lamb.I am always fascinated at Zwena's control over her dogs, Willow is a young dog and is in the process of being trained. Owen and Lamb who I don't think has a name yet! A seed sowing marathon was in progress today before I went out to the allotment in the afternoon.Matron visited Cork last year and very kindly brought me some packets of her own saved seeds. This one is Lazy Housewife, a Victorian heritage variety, read about it on matron's blog. Recycled tall plastic containers with ready drainage holes underneath and most of them have clear covers making an instant incubator for small amounts of seeds. They came with soft fruits from Aldi. Dog beans!Also from Matron,they have a stunning colour but are plain broad beans! The windowsill is filling again, peppers on the left,I am leaving th...