End of May

Started lifting the potatatoes in the greenhouse yesterday. Plenty to eat this week.

Planting out rocket, Mizuna and Pak choi in the gaps with other longer maturing brassica crops and a yacon.

Starting to clear out some broadbeans at the moment ,we got a very good crop this year when undersown with a green manure. The green manure seemed to stop the broadbeans from blowing over and staking wasnt needed.  Here I’m using a board to avoid walking on the beds.

The bed now ready for sowing or transplanting. The rotation says brassicas but Im thinking squash mmm.

Bright Lights leaf beet for a bit of colour and gap filling.

The first strawberry of the year at home.

Beautiful flowers on the Brandwine Tomatos..

The support string for the tomatoes needed replacing with canes as the natural fibers seemed to rot at ground level. Lesson learned. The beetroot is doing well.

The Borage seems to have shot up recently with all the rain.

Borage in the tunnel

We opened up this bed on Tueday to starting planting up. So easy to manage when its mulched and covered.

Planting up the square foot demo area. Parsley, Marjoram, turnip , etc. Might chance a few climbing french beans at the back.

Some climbing french beans awaiting planting in the tunnel. 4 planted around a 10 foot bamboo cane @300x 600 c-c

Straw to keep the berries of the ground. Need a few bales.

Elmer Koomans from fruithill farm will be visiting the college today to give a talk on Organics and some products they supply,

 

 

Potato Harvest .

Just 12 weeks since the first earlies “Homeguard” went into the tunnel and today we started to harvest some little salad potatoes. But whats the point in growing food if  there is no follow through . Would it be possible to russel up a bit of lunch from the pickings at this time of year and limited cooking facilites ( microwave oven).

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A quick wip round the garden to collect some eggs, lettuce, rocket, nasturtiam , potatoes, broadbeans, chives, fennel and strawberries and we had the makings of a passable lunch.

Cheese potatoes with scrambled egg and salad. This was a lot nicer than bread and cheese.

There is a great satisfaction in growing food, it is  empowering ,connecting and real. It’s amazing to see the excitement and interest in others when you show someone what is possible with what seems at first to be very little but is infact a bounty undiscovered or unrecognised. It’s so important to harvest eat and enjoy the food we grow.

In the garden this week the planting out and direct sowing is still underway and the next wave of modular sowing will begin next week. These things seem to flow in waves , full benches then empty and then quickly full again.

On the weekend Laura and I visited Maurice Castle Strand in Wexford. There is quite a lot of Juniper  Juniperus communis in this area. Some spray drift has caused damage to many of the trees and plants where we stayed. Would,nt edging look better with greenery anyway?

 

 

On the way home we visited the Botanical gardens at Kilmacurra which we very much enjoyed.

This Lichen at Kilmacurra  is Oakmoss, Evernia prinastri one of 9 common species of lichen used as indicators of air quality, in this case good air as one might expect.

 

 

 

 

Sean Walsh Park Tallaght

With a few hours to spare while the cars windscreen was being replaced I took a look around Sean Walsh park opposite the Tallaght shoping centre. The park surrounds a large man made pond and has a small wooded area with some Oak, Ash, Birch , Sycamore, elder and plenty of hogweed and cowparsley, There is also an abundance of Geranium robertanium, cleavers, and neddles. I crossed the pedestrian bridge  (with the design flair of an abattoir) over the N81 into a sloping field with views to the wicklow mountains. For a brief moment  visually one might be forgiven for thinking these rolling hills continued unimpeded all the way south into Wicklow.

Along the sothern edge of the field Common Vetch Vicia sativa was plentyful as well as a rather strong looking Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

In the wood a common Lime was host to Eriophyes tiliae a mite that forms the lime nail gall. These little mites overwinter in cracks in the bark and about now start to feed on the sap in the leaves. The galls are tubular and grow to 5mm A new mite emerges repeating the cycle again next year. Had,nt seen this before!

A little way from the lime on a a damp incline was a Cowslip Primula veris  which can be easily identified by an orange marking at the base of each petal..

The planting immediately around the lake,, playground and sensory garden is in stark contrast to the more natural feel of the woodland and by the river. Below Gunnera by the lake.  .

A coot paddled toward the dog giving an alarm call. My father visited this lake a few times recently trying to get a decent picture of a rare caspian gull that comes here. There is definately something quite nice about the place even if it is a man made park..

By the lake this appears to be a Bay Willow  Salix pentandra . Collins flower guide

Meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris by the river

By the entrance to the playground some Pineapple weed Matricaria discoidea .Its flower heads smell very strongly of pineapple when crushed and as Miles Irvine in The foragers handbook suggests use in salads raw or made into a jelly. Yum

 

The sensory garden was unexpected and is quite interesting. Enclosed to the north by Peaches traIned on Espalier buffering the views and sounds of the nearby road and brick buildings.

Reading through the plans and species  I saw Ginkgo biloba the memory tree and most ancient of species.I  collected some leaves for making tea. Biloba meaning two lobes  just like the brain refering to its use as brain food.

The plans

 

Some Mahonia ‘charity’ whose berries are edible, rich in vitamin c, but a little sharp.

Plenty of ripe berries available.

Some of the gardens herbs included fennel,sage and chives.

A bay tree Laurus nobilis whose leaves are used in flavouring dishes, freely available for use by the community.

A very much enjoyable way to spend a few hours in Tallaght that avoids that shoping centre. The only hesitations one might have in using the edible plants found in a park like this is the proximity to the road (N81) and the  widespread use of chemicals used in landscape maintenance. For urban dwellers this is potential forage so further investigations into the councils use of chemicals in parks will be needed.

 

 

Mid May

This week we have been direct sowing many vegetables outside including carrots , Parsnips, beets, lettuce, peas, runner beans. Most of the courgettes and squash are now “hardened off” and  have been planted out into the raised beds both at work and in the home garden. In an attempt to stretch the seed packets  particularly carrots a little further we are carefully spacing them a few every inch  using folded paper and a pencil.

Below is an example of the three sisters planting a courgette as ground cover with sweet corn growing above this at 300-400mm spacings. When the corn is a little taller the peas will be sown. 

Here we have prepared an area and planted out pumpkins and courgettes at 1 metre spacings approx as ground cover with runner beans trained up the 10 foot poles overhead. In the foreground the overwintering garlic

A strip of environet used to protect a range of brassicas.This is held down with timber for easy removal and weeding.

The runner beans scarlet emperor planted one to a cane at 6-9 inch spacings. Other bean varieties planted such as lazy housewife and Siberian pole from brown envelope.

The onions sets

The onion patch

The potted strawberries in the green house are now in full production.

The peas in the tunnel are on their way.

Tomatoes and Aubergine planted with support wires  and cane using sunken pots for deep watering.

Some squash in the tunnel

With the daytime temperatures starting to rise to nearly 20 degrees the trays in the tunnel can get a little dry. Here I’m using news paper to conserve moisture removing once germinated. The strawberries provide a little shade also.

 

Grapes on the vine. 

Courgette with calendula, borage, lettuce and sunflower

Strawberries

The main wave of transplanting is now finished but there is still a steady flow of seedlings

An Elder overstory with rasberry , comfrey and strawberry

Finally got the leaky hose installed, held down with coat hangers. The hose is connected to an I.b.c. for drip irrigation. Where it crosses the path some strawberries in pots will catch the drips.

The tunnel is now planted up.

A jerusalem Artichoke against the fence.

The hazel is starting to take off this year.

Some snap dragons

The broad beans are now almost big enough to start harvesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rotation, Pea supports, etc

This week we have been working out the rotation plans for all the individual raised beds. We made these last year and are a great help in teaching the vegetable module. Everyone has personal responsibility for 2 raised beds approximately 4 feet by 12 feet and these are further divided into front and back giving 4 rotational areas. These are allium ( shallots, scallions, garlic, onion spring onion), Legume ( peas, beans, french beans, runnerbeans), Umbels ( Carrots, parsnips, celery) and cucurbita( pumpkins, courgette etc). . Within this where spaces is available some of the compositae such a lettuce and Goosefoots beetroot can fill gaps untill the spaces is filled by the main crop as they don’t need a strict rotation plan. We have cheated a little by sowing direct the odd line of  quick growing oriental brassica beneath the pea supports but these can rotate as the pea family rotate in the beds.In general the brassicaceae (cabbage family) and Solanaceae( potatoe family) are growing in a bigger area on a completely separate rotation plan. The four large rotational areas are, Brassica, Allium,  Solanaceae ( spuds) and Legume. Just to confuse matters the tunnel is now on a separate rotational plan also.

In some books the word “roots” is used when dividing up a veg patch but this has no place in a good rotation plan as it covers vegetables from a variety of families such as turnips which are brassicas and carrots which are Umbels so there goes the rotation plan out the window. Another point  worth remembering is that in the case of garlic for example both the summer and autumn sown garlic must be allocated space within their rotation area for that year so there is no point doing loads in the autumn and having no spaces for the spring sowing.

The diagram below shows some of the ways to support memebers of the pea family. There are infinite ways to do this but in all cases their must be an understanding of how the plant grows and what height it grows too.

This structure had to be modified ( chicken wire added) as peas were planted instead of runnerbeans. The tendrils of the peas holding onto the horizontal (string ,brash etc)  not wraping themselves around bamboo as runner beans do. I,m not convinced its going to be sucessful as the rows are 2 foot apart leaving no room for harvesting and airflow.  Interesting to see what happens.

This structure is designed to suit any height of pea and the width between the posts is less than 1220mm the standard with of chicken wire. The  wire is a little high from te ground but a few pieces of willow will bridge the gap.

This bamboo support frame has 6 to 8 inch spacing and runner beans are being planted at the base of each cane. Just hope the runner beans are hardened off sufficiently!

This architectural cone shape structure is supporting sweet pea ( not edible) . looks a bit like the shard.

Another version of the cone shape using twine to provide the horizontal supports for the pea.

I really like the 10 foot cone shape.

A simple method to deter the carrt root fly (Chamaepsila rosae) laying its eggs at the base of ones carrots is to put a physical barrier in its way. They dont fly above 2 feet. Hopefully the fleece is tucked in properly. Any thinning should be done on a windy day with all thinnings removed and buried in the compost pile.

At the moment there are lots of plants being prepared for the outdoors. In the picture some outdoor tolerant tomatoes. In general the crates are kept close to the doors and trolleys are used to bring lots of trays and pots out during the day and back under cover  in the evening for a period up to a week,

Cosmea and other summer bedding, Courgettes etc all moving towards the doors.

The early potatoes homeguard doing well no flowers just yet.

The tunnel is undergoing a transformation with Tomatoes, chillies, Courgettes, Butternut Squash, Cucumber, Melon,Sweetcorn, basil, tagetes, nasturtiams, rocket , beetroot, summer salads etc as many crops are harvested and the heat lovers are planted.

Outside the onions are starting to swell should have a great crop.

Outside near the compost area the comfrey is in flower with some borage and salads. When the plants have establised we can make a comfrey liquid tea to promote fruiting.

At home it wont be long till the broadbeans are ready. The beans are starting to swell inside the pods now.

The fruits are forming on the outside strawberries

The jerusalem artichokes are up and growing

The growth rate is taking off now in the tunnel.  The brassica salad area with rocket , turnips, and some kale

Plenty of lettuce for eating and the 3 sisters courgette , sweetcorn and bean to the rear. Will sow the beans when and if the corn gets a bit taller. May not have the light levels to get this to work here.  The idea is that the courgette covers the ground and the corn growns up tall above this with the beans climb the corn while fixing nitrogen feeding the corn. Tis a bit of fun I suppose.

A bed of brassica and a yacon all planted up and covered with environet by agralan. Its available in garden centres etc and protects against a number of pests including the cabbage white butterflys, (large white, small white and green veined white). Can also be used for carrots etc. The plants push up the netting . The standard size fits over an 8 by 4 foor bed allowing for growth etc. The net can be removed from the yacon once it gets going as it will grow quite tall. Using it more for hardening off purposes.

The borage is looking well in this bed of peas, beets etc.

The squash graduating to bigger pots before planting out.

The epicure potatoes starting to poke through the mulch.

Spring onions ready for planting

A wonderful patch of cleavers and nettles.

There is a great joy in growing some of your own food and combining this with foraging etc. Will have to replace that orhange and bananna for an apple and pear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The secret garden

Even in the city there are wild places that nature is busy re-wilding. This one is 500 metres long and just under 200m at its widest point ,located along the Dodder river valley a few kilometers from Dublins city centre. Few venture in here past the beer cans but it’s a wonderful space to be in. All three levels of tree, shrub and herbage layers are well established in a series of coups that let the light in and create a wonderful sense of exploration.

Within its labrinthine depths a stand of sycamore provide shelter for a simple galvanised resting place.

In here there were few droplets fom the heavy rain outside

No one has designed this space yet it feels like it could be a forest garden. Perhaps the only thing needed is to clear routes through patches of bramble and maintain some of the clearings ensuring continued light and edge.

The remains of a structure, perhaps this was once someones garden.

Some of the plants , shrubs and trees include Buddleia, Hawthorn, Sycamore, Apple, Elder, Cow parsley, Ground elder, nettles, snowberry…

To me this space holds more mystery,interest and fascination than any formal garden could possibly hope to achieve. Its infinite complexity that none shall ever know, caught up in the constant seed and root battle for light moisture and nutrients and in the lives of the insects and creatures that live here. Places like this support the idea that as a species we have yet to discover our true purpose and for all our knowledge and theory we have lost our sense of reality, our sense of place and our sense of what being a human was supposed to be.

How fortunate are those who can appreciate places like this. ..