An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

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...

 Posts in position for the wire fencing because we have been told that rabbits are also a big problem up here!Billy dug a trench along the fence line to bury the end of the wire to stop said rabbits from tunneling underneath. Windbreaker was then added for extra protection for plants as it is a wide open field! It is hard to see in this pic but the first permanent bed is in place across the back fence. I slipped 4 raspberry canes, 3 stools of rhubarb and 1 Globe Artichoke from the plot in The Hydro Farm. The shed has to be put into place this weekend before digging out the other beds ASAP! Potatoes are still chitting in the shed. Onions are waiting to go in. Seedlings are backing up at home waiting to be hardened off  Seeds planted today were Sugar Snap.These handy little seed trays had grapes in them, nice and high with air and drainage holes already in place and a  lid to act as an incubator Two of them just fit nicely into another reusable...

Cauliflower & cabbage plants, these were bought and potted on into larger pots and will be repotted probably twice more before going out into their permanent plot.They have been netted against the birds which would love a taste of some nice green veg to vary their winter diet.  Our seed potatoes chitting in the shed, not a whole lot but we don't have a lot of space and it will be late by the time we get them in  The rhubarb which I broke off  the big plants we had on the Hydro, I have one in the garden here which is growing fine these got 'a touch of frost' the other night and are looking a bit sorry for themselves I set to on the seed box last night and discarded out of date seeds and opened packets.I had been tidying out one of the spare rooms and came across a gardening journal which I had started last year. I start one every year but then forget about it! I was amazed at the amount of seeds I had already sowed by this time of the year so we will have ...

Unbelievable sight out on the allotment today! This is just one (forefront) of our 5 rhubarb  plants bursting into new life.I should have covered them just in case of severe frost but it was a quick visit and I was caught for time, hopefully I won't  regret the decision! The whole reason of the visit was to pull the remains of the Brussels sprout plants to give to the hens to nibble for greens. It was a beautiful bright and sunny day , a complete contrast to yesterday when we had to drive with lights on ALL day!  I just had time for a quick look around and I was amazed at the new growth breaking through, above some daffodils                                                                                                  ...

I popped out to the plot late in the afternoon, it was misty and getting wetter by the minute but I wanted to pick some rhubarb to make a Rhubarb and Orange cake which grandson Stephen had made.Stephen has taken to baking like a duck to water!The rhubarb had suffered in the recent downpours and frost and I had to clean the bed and pull lots of dead stalks hopefully it will make a comeback.I took a peek under the fleece and plastic of the strawberry bed and nearly fell over to see nice red fruit underneath.The slugs had chomped on a few but there were 5 nice red ones left for me!                                         With that encouragement I took a look around and discovered loads of gooseberries on our one bush, still small but lots of them  Carrots coming u...

We have been enjoying very unseasonal sunshine with temps in the high teens.Gardening on the allotment and at home has been a pleasure due also to the extra hour of daylight in the evenings since we changed to summertime. The rhubarb has gone mad this year, it is almost forming a hedge across the front of the plot. I picked some last week and made some very tasty tarts, I have seen new season rhubarb on sale for E 1.50 fro 4 or 5 stalks! The area netted in the foreground are onions which are coming up well, the netting was to stop the birds from pecking out the tops until they get established These photos did not upload in sequence! This is the asparagus bed which got a very overdue face lift and feeding, more below. I put in 4 drills of Sharpes Express and Red Duke of York, all first earlies. There are more to go in but these are the traditional St Patrick's day sowing The reason the asparagus bed got its long overdue TLC, we have asparagus! Kathryn noticed 3 spears on Sun but th...

I paid a quick visit to the plot today, mainly to take a photo of anything which would be edible for our Christmas dinner for inclusion on Matron's Christmas Food blog. I took the top pic of our brussel sprouts which are to grace our plates on the big day, only when I got home and uploaded the pic did I see the the tell tale marks of poachers who are trying to deprive us of our dinner!It entails another trip to the plot to 'save the sprouts'! Our herbs are waiting to be picked, the rosemary bush has really taken off and is putting on good growth. If we get severe frosts like last year I will have to remember to cover it as a lot of rosemary became frost victims last year. Thyme and parsley for the stuffing behind the parsley, the parsley is also being nibbled I think! I cut back all of the stalks on the rhubarb a few weeks ago and covered the crowns with plenty of manure, I was very surprised to see new growth springing up today. I recovered the crowns after taking the phot...

D.Aisling gave me this recipe for rhubarb shortcake which she got from a friend of hers.It has been tweaked a few times so I don't know where the original recipe came from.We all have a glut of rhubarb so something other than crumble is welcome. This is delicious hot or cold with cream or custard.The shortcake pastry is a bit fiddly to roll out but take it nice and easy and don't roll out too thinly.A spring form tin makes life easier, I don't have one so used just a cake ring on a baking sheet. Soften rhubarb first and allow to cool completely before adding to the pastry. I used 400grms of rhubarb,washed and cut into 1 inch pieces. No extra water is added and cook on a very low heat until soft. I used 100 grms sugar to sweeten but added more when cooked. Shortcake 185 grms butter 185 grms caster Sugar 1 egg + 1 yolk (beaten) 275 grms Self raising Flour Cream butter + sugar add beaten egg mixture Add flour and mix together It makes a fairly dry dough. Divide in two, cover w...

We have had frost for the past few nights, I was lucky I did not take a chance and insulated the plastic greenhouse the day I put it up.The bonus is the sunshine each day, not a lot of heat but when I started digging today I had to discard the jacket after a while and then the body warmer went the same way! Asparagus I went over to the asparagus bed to clean it up a little as some weeds are making their presence known already, like the creeping buttercup and dandelions.I was removing some of the old dead foliage and could not believe my eyes but there they were, 3 asparagus spears! It was the only plant that had them, these were some of the 7 new plants bought last year in Dunsland Garden Centre. They were 2 year old plants so we can have a light harvest from them this year.The spears are quite thick too, I covered them again with soil as they are a bit tender to leave uncovered for frost to bite. Friend or Foe? I disturbed a few of these while digging today, I am totally ignorant of ...