An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

Time flies, I feel guilty for not posting more often but it just seems like a few days since I last posted, am I turning into Rip Van Winkle??!! Blogger has changed since my last posting so I had to find my way around my own blog! The weather is very changable here, sunny days, freezing nights ,wind, rain in fact typically Irish. We put in a green manure over the winter months it was our first time using it and results were inconclusive to say the least.This one was in early and grew fine, here it is just coming into flower which if my memory serves me right shoud be cut down now. Green manures are supposed to help stop leaching of nutrients over the winter months through wind and rain, using a legume sets nitrogen in the soil for later crops.It is now recommended to put in a green manure between crops, not leaving the ground bare at any season for any length of time as it also keeps down the weeds and saves some work in the weeding dept. The same patch after I cut the tops down ...

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...

Blarney St Patrick's day parade drew a huge crowd to the village, the parade was supported by all the neighbouring parishes and there was a great buzz as the participants took up their stations.We were in position no 36 and there was quite a few behind us. The sun shone throughout apart from one light shower just before the parade took off. There were 2 raised beds on the trailer and a pergola, 2 scarecrows were suspended from the top and various garden implements. All available personnel were out early to prepare the float (trailer)!Julie was busy with the paint brush and Michael was putting the pergola together In the foreground are the various bits the rest of us were gathering to fill the raised beds etc. Scotty driving the jeep with some of the allotmenteers behind. The balloons are actually vegetable shaped but it is hard to see them in the photo. The motley crew behind with garden implements, wheelbarrow etc, Willow the german shepherd is sporting a tricolour ribbon for the...

Cead Mile failte agus la shona duit amarach fe La le Padraig A hundred thousand welcomes and may you have a great day tomorrow for St Patrick's day

These photos were taken with my phone...why? I forgot the camera yet again! The early potatoes chitting in the cold greenhouse, they have a fleece covering to protect from frost which we have had since I took these photos.We have sunny days but very cold evenings and nights. I mentioned chitting in the previous post but on rereading it I realised I should explain 'chitting'. I know when we started on the plot we had heard of chitting but had to look online to find out exactly what to do. Chitting is a way of starting the potatoes to send up little stalks to give your potatoes a head start in the ground. If you look closely at the seed potato there will be a grouping of eyes around one end which is called the 'rose' end.Stand the seed potato with this end up, in an egg box which is ideal for the job or any other suitable container. In a few weeks you will see it sprouting,when sowing around mid March keep the sprouts at this end up as they are the potato stalks not the...

Sunday was beautiful and mild with bright sunshine, Kathryn and the two girls were on the plot early to begin the big dig, I arrived later and we set about transforming last years potato patch into this years onion beds, alliums follow pops in the rotational scheme of things. It always amazes me that no matter how many times or how deep you dig you will always find more spuds that were missed and some still come up through the subsequent crop! 1st onion bed In the foreground are the overwintering onions or what is left of them after the birds. The other beds have green manures and we can leave these beds for another few weeks.The lush green one is Landsberger,it did go in earlier than the other two which are sparse enough Red Duke of York, a first early in their egg trays to 'chit' it is the method of sprouting the pops before planting to give them a head start. They are covered with the fleece to deter pests and in case of frosts. The onion beds covered with netting in case th...

I went out to the allotment today for the first time since before Christmas which seems like months ago so much has happened and changed in that time. Sinead and Aoife came with me and spent some time checking out what had changed around the site since we last saw it. Zwena has some fantastic plans for the Hydro Farm not just for this season but the coming years, it will be a very exciting place to be! On 24th March Brown Envelope Seeds are visiting us and advising us on seeds and planting etc and we will also get a discount on the seeds we buy. They have been selecting over the years for varieties and individual plants that work here as they operate in West Cork. Their seeds are open-pollinated, or open source seeds, which means that you can save your own seed from them. The farm is certified by The Organic Trust so that the seeds may be used by certified organic growers. There are no chemical treatments carried out on the seeds or the plants they are harvested from. (IRL-O1B3-EU Symb...