An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

The morning dawned bright and sunny so Kevin and myself paid a quick (2 hour) visit to the plot.The All Ireland Football Final between Cork and Kerry is this afternoon so I had to be near the TV, tickets to the match in Dublin were like gold so only the lucky ones got that far.Kevin was delighted by the size of his Sunflowers! Our harvest continues..Spuds which still look OK even though on cutting through them some are damaged by slugs and blight is visible.A big bag of pears left for me by Rhoda who even went to the trouble of printing off recipes for me, a post later about these.White turnips and more runner beans!The beans are star performers for us this year. This is the bed where i put in the trench composting all last winter so it seems to be paying dividends and the last red cabbage which is huge even after taking off all of the outer leaves.I pulled some carrots which are more embryo than even baby!This particular bed has not produced very well this year and is one earmarked fo...

I paid a quick visit to the plot yesterday, as it was wet and windy I was just going to harvest anything that was ready to go. I came away with quite a bit, I did not attempt to dig potatoes as the ground was so wet and mucky. I took 4 of our Chioggia beetroot,3 small courgettes,broccoli,parsley and some coriander leaves and 60 more runner beans. I realised I was counting the beans about halfway through picking them so carried on doing so.They are cropping very fast and beans that were tiny a couple of days ago were now 7 or 8 ins long.I am going to blanch and freeze all of these for the winter. The first lot of leeks need earthing up again soon and the others are putting on some growth at last. We staggered the leeks this year and so far they are growing to plan. Only 2 of the celery plants are growing as I pulled out the ones gone to seed and these 2 seem to be developing white stalks as they are covered in with hay. The courgettes are slowing down production at last. Today is wet al...

What excitement on the plots this morning when we learned that TV Chef Richard Corrigan and his film crew were going to pay us a visit!Saturday mornings are usually one of the busiest mornings on the allotment at this time of year as plotters tidy up and take home any produce that is ready for the weekend.It rained heavily but we had sunshine between the showers and when the film crew arrived the sun stayed out as if by magic so the plots looked their best.Daughter Kathryn and myself with Richard who is holding a cauliflower from Brian's plot which he was taking away to cook this evening. I must say he is a very pleasant man and dare I say it not a bit like his TV persona! The film crew with Zwena, they walked through all of the plots and Richard was very interested in what everyone was doing.They spent over an hour with us but this will probably be condensed down to a few seconds for TV. Corrigans City Farm which is about fostering allotments and growing your own food will coming...

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...

This will be a short(ish)post as I have lots to do but if I don't post tonight it will be Tuesday before I am back on the computer.I went out to the plot twice today so Kathryn is on watering duties for the weekend as the weather is supposed to pick up and I am off to Robert's Cove for a break.The new plot is nearly in shape, only 2 beds to plant up and they are earmarked for leeks and calabrese and maybe a few winter cabbages.I collected 2 bags of compost from our municipal composter which I only found out about recently even though it is very near me!All green waste can be taken there and the finished compost is free to take away. it is fairly strong stuff and they recommend it to be dug into the soil rather than used for mulch. I dug it onto the celery bed and planted the self blanching celery into it. The herb bed has been finished for a few days but owing to the camera problems I have not posted it before. To the right is the new rhubarb bed, lots of horse manure and I too...

We were out on the plot on Sunday which was a lovely Spring like day but now the temperatures have plummeted, some parts of the country are 4 or 5% below freezing which is very unusual for Ireland.The no dig method is being tried out on the very end of the plot where we have had nothing growing for the 2 years we have had the allotment. First photo shows the stages recommended. First the ground was covered with well rotted manure.I had to leave that over Christmas for no other reason than I could not get out there.I saved all the left over veg, peelings and also put on the remains ( leaves)of the sprout plants,the stalks of the beans and any yellowing leaves from the broccoli. Then covered it with cardboard and finally black plastic all held down with rocks. It will be left like this until it is time to set the potatoes. In theory when the plastic is lifted off the very nice worms will have mixed in all the rotted compost and cardboard. I need to read up a bit more on it so watch this ...

I went out to the allotment this morning in glorious sunshine but it was freezing cold.There has been snow as far south as the Wicklow mountains and it is still only October!It is definitely glove wearing weather out there from now on.The remains of the sunflower left in situ to feed the birds for the winter, it is growing on the plot next to ours which is used by Liam and William The last rose of summer left blooming alone! Also on the plot next door, there is not a leaf left on the tree just this single bloom glowing in the frosty sunshine. Our winter produce did not look very colourful until I added our pumpkin, which weighs in at 8 lb. Two kids up the country in Co Leitrim I think, grew a 550 lb One!!!We also have the first of the sprouts from one plant and the swiss chard which is still going strong. The celery under fleece to protect from frosts. I was a bit late as we had quite a severe frost last night. Although if the head I pulled up today is anything to go by they are not ...