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Week ending 27th February
How quickly the weeks pass and how little I seem to get
done! Both, aspects of being old. At this time of year, and
especially now that at last there is some drying, I feel a day with nothing
done in garden is a day wasted. I
was busy today on other things but when I came home after six was able to do a
little bit of preparing ground under the light of almost full moon! So something done!
Nights are still very cold but the drying wind is great. My
baby brassicas, now all pricked out, are doing well on windowsills and I
have sowed a tray of cauliflowers, which I see are starting to germinate. The broad beans inside also
are up and look well. Still no sign of their companions outside.
Next week I hope to plant shallots and onion sets, and sow
some more broad beans and parsnips. I will be taking care of my precious
seedlings, making sure they don’t dry out and, if weather is fair, starting to harden
them on outside windowsills during the day.
Week ending 20th February
How cold it
still is, waking to hard white frost every morning. I have been
able to do a little in the garden on sunny afternoons, forking over ground and
always there is tidying up and keeping back the jungle. I doubt if the broad
beans and parsnips that I sowed earlier will have survived. I have a few brassicas up
in seed trays inside and they are doing well. Brussel sprouts and red
cabbage pricked out.
The seed
potatoes upstairs have some nice strong short sprouts and yesterday I bought
onion sets and shallots. I know shallots are supposed to go in on the shortest
day but that was impossible, besides I saw none for sale. How busy we are all going to be
when the weather warms up.
Very little
frog spawn this year, very few frogs appeared and there were never the days of
frog sexual exuberance in the pond that has happened every other year. I read
Michael Viney’s in the Irish Times that frogs could have been killed
by the extremely cold weather. I rather hope this is so and not some more
insidious deaths caused by chemicals we have introduced to the water. Strimmers
also can kill lots of young frogs. When I mention frogs people say
how they haven’t seen one for years and how once upon a time they were all over
the place. I do hope
they are not becoming extinct. Anyhow
with luck there should be some tadpoles here soon.
Week ending 13th February 2010
I have been
reading the wonderful old gardening book I found in a Charity shop “Gardening
through the Year” by Arthur Hellyer. Not only does he suggest what we should be doing in February,
but he has the month divided into early, middle and late. He reminded me that if you grow
Jerusalem Artichokes, this is the time to plant them, a very easy crop, great
to smother weeds, and they will grow anywhere. You will probably have to ask
gardening friends for some tubers to set and it is worth
looking for larger and smoother ones; they will be easier to manage when you
cook them.
Went with my
daughter Katey, a great gardener, to Hosford’s our local
and excellent garden centre last weekend. We bought seed potatoes Duke of York
and Charlotte and they are now chitting under a skylight in my attic. Sharpe’s Express, in my opinion
the tastiest early potatoes, were sold out but Katey managed to get
some later in the week. I was
amazed to see cauliflower plants for sale, which prompted me to start
some seeds in my utility room on a warm tray: cauliflower, brussel sprouts
and red cabbage. Outside the ground has dried up very well and I put in a row
of parsnips with a few radish seeds to mark the row, parsnips being very slow
to germinate. I was glad to read Arthur Hellyer for mid
February “Do not hesitate to sow parsnips out of doors. The longer and more
steadily they grow the better.” It has been very cold but if they fail I have
only lost a few seeds and can try again.
This week I
pruned my two black currant bushes, cutting out one or two old branches, also cleared
away the weeds around them. I believe blackcurrants like to grow on bare, i.e.
weedless, ground. Mine survive whatever, and I always have a fine crop to
make the most delicious of jams.
Week ending 6th February
No garden diary last week
because of flu. Meanwhile spring has sort of arrived, small leaves appearing on
honeysuckle and more flowers on celandine.
Vegetable garden still looks
pathetic, I tried to rescue some of the autumn sown broad beans but they have been
devastated by weather, as usual wind has done the most damage. The later ones
were mostly eaten (by mice?) and I
filled in the gaps with new seed and also put in a few indoors in milk carton
pots. Joy Larkcom suggests this with all vegetables so
that one can fill up spaces. Two small
jobs done, I cut back the autumn raspberries and weeded my clump of rhubarb.
At this time of year I am
collecting milk cartons and any other containers (and so many seem to come with
shopping) that will make useful seed trays or plant pots. It looks like
next week the weather is going to dry up and I may sow some parsnips and
perhaps sprouts and red cabbage in a tray, winter vegetables need a long
growing season. I am looking forward to hearing Madeline McKeever talk on vegetable growing at Clonakilty GIY meeting on next Monday 8th , she knows so much and is generous with her
knowledge (O’Donovan’s Hotel 8 o’clock).She will be bringing her Brown Envelope
seeds to buy, seeds produced by herself here in West Cork and so things that do
well in the locality
The frogs are back in the pond! Every
year an excitement, they are still quite quiet but they will soon be in a
frenzy of competing for mates and mating. I am so glad I
have the pond and frogs, they are becoming scarce with destruction of wet lands
and nasty chemicals in the water which harms them through their skins. I do hope that when
I no longer live here the new gardeners will preserve the pond.
Week
ending 23rd January 2010
The sun is getting a little stronger
and the days a little longer, on the edge of my drive there are celandine in
flower, and there are catkins on the hazel bushes, spring is coming!
The ground is still very wet and apart
from pruning and tidying up there is very little I can do in the garden. I did
prune my gooseberry bush and have been clearing the leaves that were pulled
down on paths by the starving birds. I was thrilled to find a sleek green frog (Kermit?) under a pile of
leaves, I wondered where he had spent the cold weather and was glad to see him
alive and well. I quickly covered him over again.
The cold was exceptional for Ireland
with water in buckets and watering cans frozen solid, and the ice thick on my
little pond. I have been wondering about the frogs and if they were surviving,
so was happy to meet Kermit and hope he is a forerunner of the annual arrival
of dozens to mate in the pond.
Week ending 16th January 2010
Poor
garden, it is looking very bedraggled having suffered weeks of rain, frost and
winds. On inspection I find the chard very damaged, the broad beans I was so
proud of nearly dead, the white sprouting broccoli also damaged, but the brave
purple sprouting surviving well. There still are a few sprouts and leeks to eat
and, if I can find them, some parsnips.
The
snow last weekend was amazing and very beautiful, where it lay on the red
branches of dogwood by my pond quite lovely. The invading red wings and other
northern birds were desperate with hunger, every leaf and bit of seaweed turned
over many times in a frantic search for food. As suddenly as they arrived they,
like the snow, have disappeared leaving a few small corpses.
On Wednesday afternoon I was able to get out
for a short time into the garden ,first time since before Christmas, such a
joy.. I pruned my red currants and cut back some of the invading jungle, and
felt much the better for it.
Looking
forward to better weather.
No actual
gardening possible, the ground is frozen solid, I hope the cold is doing good,
breaking up the soil and killing slugs and snails and other unwelcome
creatures. Sadly it is also
killing birds, I found a dead thrush lying on a path. There seem to be a lot of
birds about and I am told they are arriving in Ireland from even colder lands
to the North and East. I think I have been neglectful about feeding birds but I
do know, once started, it is important to keep on, a little bird can use so
much energy flying to an empty feeder it can be at great risk of dying. I have always considered that by
letting my garden be a bird friendly habitat I was doing enough, probably not
in this ferocious cold. I do break the ice on my pond each morning so that they
can drink.
For
exercise I have been sawing up wood for my stove, warming myself twice, very
pleased to have that other useful product from my garden, this is wood
harvested last winter.
GIY
Clonakilty is hosting a talk on beekeeping on Monday 11th January, O’
Donovan’s Hotel 8 o’clock and on 8th February there will be a talk
from Madeline McKeever who will also have her Brown Envelope seeds for
sale, and on 8th March the wise and experienced gardener Marian
Crudge will be with us. Dates for your diary if you live anywhere near and
surely by February the weather will have warmed up. I do remember a saying from
my childhood in Scotland, “ As the days get longer the cold gets stronger” !
Keep
warm, and be cheered that the days are getting longer and if winter is here,
can spring be far behind?
Week ending 19th December 19, 2009
This is a tough winter for gardeners, either too wet or too cold,
as it is today.
I did get one afternoon tidying in garden which I much enjoyed,and on
cold evenings have warmed myself by sawing up wood harvested last year. I am
amazed at how much timber I have in my small patch of land and it was bare
ground twenty years ago.
Last weekend the fox visited in broad day light and got my hens
which were out in garden! It is sad to see the empty run but not a bad time to
lose them, I think they would soon have stopped laying and it is rather nice
not to have to go out to feed them these chilly mornings! I am getting soft. I
was in the house when Reynard called, if I had been outside he would never have
dared, so my own fault. I shall miss the eggs, no eggs taste as good as those
from my own hens that are able to eat grass and anything else they can scratch
up.
Someone asked me recently about growing winter vegetables, having
thought about it realized they need a much longer growing season than summer vegetables,
so check your seeds and make sure you are ready come February to start things
like parsnips outdoors and Brussel sprouts, red cabbage, cauliflower etc. in
trays, may be not suitable things for very small gardens as they are in the
ground for a long time
Probably no diary until 2010 so I wish anyone reading this a very happy
Christmas and that next year will see gardens flourish with bumper harvests and
lots of good things to eat. Jennifer
At last two dry days. I was clearing back some invading weeds this afternoon and found the
ground almost dry enough to, maybe, plant garlic tomorrow.
I found this today, not exactly gardening but I like it:
PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS
1.Peas of mind
2.Peas of heart
3.Peas of soul
PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH
1.Squash Gossip
2.Squash Indifference
3.Squash Grumbling
4.Squash selfishness
PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE
1.Lettuce be faithful
2.Lettuce be kind
3.Lettuce be patient
4.Lettuce really love one another
NO GARDEN WITHOUT TURNIPS
1.Turnip for meetings
2.Turnip for service
3.Turnip to help one another
TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME
1.Thyme for each other
2.Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends
Water freely with patience and cultivate with affection.
We reap what we sow.
Week ending 5th December
The end of the wettest November in living memory and, as I heard it said, this
is climate not weather; we can expect more wet and floods in the future. From
the window of a train to Dublin during the week I saw how soaked the country
is, water everywhere, miserable cattle sheltering in muddy fields. It must be
devastating for farmers already affected by low prices. Surely a wake up
call to all of us to examine our life styles and our carbon footprints.
Not much happening in the garden, and I have done no work. The broad beans sown
in October look good and those sown in November are bravely emerging into the
wet and windy world, these winter sown beans always cheer me up with their hope
of better days. There are leeks and parsnips to eat and some green stuff from
chard and kale, a few Brussels sprouts.
One sunny afternoon (when was that?) I looked out my kitchen window and there
was a bundle of fur enjoying the warmth in a sheltered corner of the bank
behind my garden. A gentle tap on the window and up came a fox’s head all
bright eyes and quivering ears, when he or she could see no danger he settled
down again to enjoy the winter sunshine. I imagine it was a young fox, so very
beautiful but I hope my hens are safe in their run! Of course as soon as I opened
the door he was away, disappearing into the bushes.
Monday 7th December is the second meeting of GIY Clonakilty, O’Donovan’s
Hotel 8 o’clock. There will be a
talk on no dig gardening – see our home page for more information.
Week ending 21st November
Week
ending 5th December
The end of the wettest November in living memory and, as I heard it said, this
is climate not weather; we can expect more wet and floods in the future. From
the window of a train to Dublin during the week I saw how soaked the country
is, water everywhere, miserable cattle sheltering in muddy fields. It must be
devastating for farmers already affected by low prices. Surely a wake up
call to all of us to examine our life styles and our carbon footprints.
Not much happening in the garden, and I have done no work. The broad beans sown
in October look good and those sown in November are bravely emerging into the
wet and windy world, these winter sown beans always cheer me up with their hope
of better days. There are leeks and parsnips to eat and some green stuff from
chard and kale, a few Brussels sprouts.
One sunny afternoon (when was that?) I looked out my kitchen window and there
was a bundle of fur enjoying the warmth in a sheltered corner of the bank
behind my garden. A gentle tap on the window and up came a fox’s head all
bright eyes and quivering ears, when he or she could see no danger he settled
down again to enjoy the winter sunshine. I imagine it was a young fox, so very
beautiful but I hope my hens are safe in their run! Of course as soon as I opened
the door he was away, disappearing into the bushes.
Monday 7th December is the second meeting of GIY Clonakilty, O’Donovan’s
Hotel 8 o’clock. There will be a
talk on no dig gardening – see our home page for more information.
Week ending 21st November
There was no
garden diary written last week, nothing very cheerful to write about with the
weather so bad. This week no better! I am writing this on Thursday when there have been floods all over
Ireland and a river flowing down the main street of Clonakilty. Without doubt,
certainly in my mind, caused by Climate Change. Climate Change caused by the
rich countries of the West — us, but devastating the poorest. Floods are horrible enough here; what
must it be like in Bangladesh where the very land itself can be destroyed? However destructive and inconvenient
the floods are here, I hope they will wake people up to the seriousness of
Climate Change , and the need to do all we can to mitigate Global Warming and
prepare for it’s consequences.
Two cheerful
things. The first meeting of GIY ( Grow It Yourself) Clonakilty took place last
Monday. It was very well attended and much enjoyed. We were extremely fortunate
to have Joy Larkcom as the opening speaker, she is a delight to listen to,
inspiring and wonderfully knowledgeable. The next meeting of GIY Clonakilty
will take place on Monday 7th December. At each monthly meeting a calendar of what needs to be done
in the garden at that time will be given out, leading us through to the promise
of an abundant harvest.
The second
encouragement is that the Irish Catholic Bishops have produced a pastoral
letter on Climate Change, “The Cry of the Earth”, I hope this will waken the
Church from its lethargy at Parish Level.
Very little
has happened in my garden apart from firming in plants and making sure their
stakes and ties are secure after each gale. I would hate to lose my sprouting broccoli. I earthed up the
brave little broad bean plants, now about five inches tall to protect them from
wind damage. I also started cleaning debris from the pond.
Another
cheering thing, my seeds, ordered on line from the Organic Seed catalogue, have
arrived. There is such hope in a packet of seeds.
Week ending 7th November
A week of rain
when nothing has happened in garden, however, I am actually writing this on
Sunday 8th which has been a lovely dry day. I was able to put in another row of
aquadulce broad beans and do some tidying around black currant bushes in
preparation for pruning. Also finished spreading sea weed that I have been
given. I think (hope ) this will rot down during the winter.
I have often
thought I should be growing some cover crop over the winter to dig in in the
spring, but there never is space. With lots of leeks, chard and brassicas
growing, and now seaweed spread where I hope to grow potatoes, there is very
little bare ground.
Thinking ahead, if you live anywhere near, the very first Clonakilty GIY (Grow it Yourself) meeting is taking place in O’Donovan’s Hotel on Monday 16th November at 8 pm. This is a not for profit, national organisation and everyone interested in growing their own fruit and vegetables, whether just starting or experienced is very welcome to attend, share their experiences and learn from others. The plan is to meet monthly, listen to a speaker and exchange ideas, tips and maybe plants and produce. The first speaker will be author and gardening guru Joy Larkcom. Check out the GIY website: http://www.giyireland.com/
The beginning
and end of last week saw ferocious winds, which have played havoc in my garden.
My very tall (I wonder why so tall?) Brussels sprouts have been testing their
supporting stakes and even low growing kale and spring cabbages have suffered.
A lovely strong sprouting broccoli plant was completely uprooted, on inspection
I think its roots had been badly damaged by cabbage root fly. After each gale I
try to earth up and firm the soil around plants, give the supports a good
hammer in and tie up where strings are loose or broken.
Someone asked
me during week what to do with an asparagus bed at this time of year. After
consulting Hessayon’s vegetable book it seems to be a good idea to cut down the
ferns once they turn yellow 2 inches from ground and keep bed weed free. Further
consultation with a book found in a charity shop (first published in 1936 and
revised in the eighties)suggests cutting off close to soil and “ all rubbish
should be raked together and burned” Now, of course we are not allowed to burn
rubbish in our gardens, yet garden books are always telling us to “burn
diseased plants and branches”. I wonder if we burnt garden rubbish in our house
fires would we be commiting a crime?
“Spring forward Fall back” That’s how I remember which way
to change the clocks. They go back tonight, I don’t like this as I find evening
light more valuable in the winter rather than the summer. In dark mornings we
know it always will get light. But if there is any good weather in the winter
it is annoying to have to come in so early. When I came to live in Ireland,
so long ago, there were still a few Parishes that never changed the clocks,
sticking to God’s time!
Week
ending 17th October
This is a good time of year for
gardeners to be away as there is nothing crying out to be done and nothing that
needs immediate harvesting. I spent two days this week in Glenstal Abbey, the Benedictine
Monastery in Co. Limerick.
The old walled and terraced garden
there is one of my favourite places on earth and in the glorious autumn sunshine
I spent some happy time wandering in it. In a way it reminds me of my garden, despite the walls, the “jungle”
is trying hard to encroach, and there is more work to do than can ever be done. But it is beautiful and serene. Two
crab apple trees by the gates are covered with little yellow fruit but all the
rest of the fruit trees are bare, plums, pears, apples and figs growing against
the walls and plantings of currants and gooseberries.
Where glass houses once stood, on the
bottom terrace, there are now ponds with water plants including handsome bulrushes,
the grass is mown and the gravel paths weed free. There are autumn crocuses
flowering in beds dominated by montbretia. The higher terraces are wilder with a wonderful mixture of
flowers, shrubs and vegetables, sweet peas in clumps, parsley in a row, bay
trees, red cabbages, both kinds of artichokes - did Jerusalem artichokes flower
in Ireland before the climate started changing? I don’t think so.
How gracious the monks are to leave the
gates to the garden open.
When I came home, the ground being in great order, I sowed a row of Aquadulce
broad beans, may be a little early but they are delightful, hardy plants and,
if the winter is mild, a pleasure to see thriving and they should produce an
early crop. I do aim to have
something to eat all year round and with our mild climate it is possible. At
the moment, sprouts, parsnips, kale and chard are on the menu.
Community gardens were started this
year in Clonakilty with the encouragement of Sustainable Clonakilty Local Food
Group. On Saturday afternoon at a delightful occasion they received their
awards and we saw photos of their flourishing and productive gardens, children
especially delighted to see themselves in photos! And to eat a delicious tea! It was mostly schools this year and we hope they will
continue and will be joined by other groups in the town. Always, when I talk to
people who have got together to grow things they say how much they have enjoyed
the work, and fruits of same, but above all the pleasure of working and coming
together as a community.
Week
ending 11th October – apologies from Editor
for late posting.
Lovely Indian summer days to be enjoyed
this week and some downpours when life needs to move indoors. A delightful
occupation on wet days is reading seed catalogues and I have spent some happy
time with The Organic Gardening Catalogue 201, www.OrganicCatalogue.com As well as seeds
there are lots of other interesting products from biological pest control to books,
I will probably order on line and will need some self control! It would
be very easy to spend more than I will ever save by growing my own.
No urgent work in the garden but always
something to do. I have been looking at my neglected fruit trees and thinking I
need to do something about them; I got a book from the library on pruning which
said the useful life of an apple tree is about 30 years. I find this hard to
believe, when we lived in North Cork there were some very old neglected apple
trees in a walled garden that produced great crops.
I like to have an interesting view from
my kitchen window and at the moment I am watching five rows of spring cabbage.
Three rows are plants I bought from Hosfords, fine sturdy plants but their
roots were struggling to escape from their plastic containers. Two rows are
plants I grew myself in seed trays and which were planted out while quite
small. All are doing well but it will be interesting to see the final result
and how they weather the winter.
Have just started eating Rainbow Chard and Brussel Sprouts, both delicious.
