Selfie

I see that the word “Selfie” is the Oxford Dictionaries word of the year. It’s been around a good few years but has increased a lot in the last few months.  Helped by the Pope amongst other people, allowing himself to be photographed with a group of youngsters which later went viral on the web. It might be a bit of a shock to you to hear that I myself have been taking “selfies” for this gardening column for longer than the word has been used. It might be something to do with not having a photographer to hand when I take my pictures. I stopped having those the same time as I gave up the chauffeur.  I have found that having the camera at arm’s length and taking an image of me staring into a sunflower or similar, works really well on this page. I have the added bonus of the image automatically downloading to my computer and facebook at the same time, saving me valuable time and allowing me to write in peace without having to bother about cables and memory cards. Last year’s buzz word was “Showrooming” which means going out and looking for things you would like to buy, then going home and getting them cheaper on the internet. Probably missing out on both this year and next year’s prize is “Twerking” and although I would claim never to have done this dance move, my lad’s mobile phone video camera begs to differ. I just hope my small ‘dance’ in front of the cooker doesn’t end up on youtube.

Bonsai

I was looking after a few bonsai trees meant for presents over the last couple of weeks. The new owner was given them as a Christmas present and these small trees are quite hard to hide. You can’t really push them into the bottom of the wardrobe and cover them with clothes. So I got the parcel delivered to my house and unpacked it as soon as it arrived. The few days in transit didn’t seem to do the trees any harm and after a touch of rainwater were looking great.  The trees I looked after are Chinese Elm delivered to me from a company  called Willowbog Bonsai over on the mainland. There are a lot of types to choose from oak, maple, privet, hawthorn, olive hornbeam, crab apple and acer, but the Elm is probably the one that will do the best indoors. If you are lucky enough to have had one of these fabulous plants in your stocking then here are a few tips on how to care for them. Done right they could last a lifetime!

Care

Location

Bonsai requires a bright position; if you’re going to keep one in the house please avoid dark corners. You can keep them on a really bright windowsill but the tree will require large amounts of watering and the leave can be scorched in summer sun. Therefore somewhere near a window is good but not in full sun all day is ideal. Correct position of the tree in the home is a major factor in the success of failure of the bonsai. As will all indoor bonsai stay away from sources of heat like TVs, ovens and especially radiators.

The trees are less fussy outside. They are happy outside in full sun, partially sun and full shade as long as you keep an eye on the watering. The trees don’ts like frost which can damage the fleshy roots.

Watering

Aim to maintain an even level of moisture. The species I looked after is quite thirsty especially in hot or sunny conditions. Pot emersion watering can be done or the tree can be watered from above. It largely depending on when the tree was last repotted and what mixture of organic or inorganic soil medium was used.

Pruning

If you just want to simply to maintain the existing shape of a pre-made bonsai, cut the shoots back to the first set of new leaves after the shoot has got an inch or two in length. The also respond well to finger pinching of small shoots on an ongoing basis. Training bonsai can get very technical and require copper wire and a lot of patience.

Feeding

Feeding can be done all year round with a tree kept indoors. Use either a low strength liquid feed or slow release granular feed. If you've just received a bonsai and are looking into how to keep it, don't feed it for the first few weeks. Give it chance to settle into its new environment before starting to feed.

Repotting

Chinese Elms as well as most other bonsai grow quickly and should be regularly repotted. Small bonsai will want repotting every year to keep them in the best of health. 

There is a lot more to read up on bonsai care and this tree came with a very thick book, so hopefully the new owner will be a budding professional in the New Year, especially as the pack also came with a pair of pruning scissors. 

If you do have a plant, don’t forget to take pictures regularly to watch the development.

Lumiere

We don’t really need much of an excuse to go out and last week’s Lumiere event in Derry proved this. Of course living up here in Inishowen we have  a fantastic light show every clear evening with the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, and the Camera Club make sure that even if we don’t venture out at night to see it there are lots of images for us to look at. 

Lumiere

The Lumiere transformed the familiar Derry city landmarks, buildings, hidden spaces, parks and waterways into a magical nocturnal landscape of artworks made from light that set out to amaze, delight, and stop people in their tracks.  The festival featured a mix of high profile artist commissions, international and local artists and designers, as well as community initiatives. As part of its lasting legacy, the wider ambition of the festival was to use the temporary transformation of the public space to enable people to see the city in new ways and I think it worked. The buildings took on another deeper dimension you wouldn’t normally see in the daytime and the light show on Austin’s department store was a work of art. Just to give you an idea of the turnout if you weren’t there it took 40 minutes to queue and cross the Peace Bridge to get into Ebrington Barracks. 

A success all around I think.

Lit up Leaves

I particularly liked the small installation in the craft village of leaves made from small neon light strips and titled The Grove of Oaks.  The leaves were made from thin plastic tubing stretching up to about eight or ten feet then looped around the top. Inside the loop thin green garden mesh was stretched tightly and then the thin neon light strips were woven into the mesh. The effect was very relaxing as it flashed slowly on and off and when it was dark you didn’t see the mesh making the neon float in the air.

I think it’d be a great addition to the garden at any time of year and would make a change from seeing the small solar lights popping up in everyone’s garden; you’d have to plug it into the mains though which puts a lot of people off as an outside plug socket is needed.  After saying that there must be a lot of people with electricity outside as Inishowen is lighting up, not because of the Northern Lights though... Its Christmas lights time.  I think we could do with setting up an annual competition like the Gardening Competition to brighten the darkest time of the year, if Supervalu  do put a bit of funding aside for someone to travel around the peninsula in the dark looking at peoples gardens lit up in a myriad of colours then put me down to be the first judge. 

Wildlife

For untidy gardeners, here’s an RSPB tip for the winter...Leave old dead and decaying wood where it is.

Standing and fallen decaying wood and old plants are very important for wildlife. Even just one or two bushes, if kept beyond their natural life, are of great value to insects, fungi, mosses and lichens.

Birds feed on insects that make their home in old wood. In large gardens, a decaying tree with a snagged bough or a small cavity might provide a nest site for a bird or bat.

Dead branches also make excellent perches for birds.

Keep decaying wood on trees and shrubs

Leave dead trees and shrubs standing (as long as they are not in a dangerous place) to decompose naturally.

Unwanted plants or trees can be killed by ring-barking and left to provide a source of decaying wood. Make two thick cuts, about 20 cm apart, around the trunk and deep enough to cut through the bark and into the wood. The bark between the two cuts should also be stripped from the tree.

Ring -barking individual shrub stems also produces standing decaying wood without killing the whole plant.

 Ring-barked plants will sprout from below any wounds and may need continual cutting of growth to completely kill the plant.

Leave old stumps to decay naturally and only remove them if necessary. Not only are they a great place for wildlife in the garden, they will make the perfect place to stick on the fairly lights ready for me for when I come to visit with my clipboard and give you marks out of ten.

Worm Facts - Picking up Cans and why are Brussles Sprouts Smelly?

My friend Paul has a new mission this winter. He had a few years worth of fun with his seed bombs, bringing colour to dull neglected corners. His latest thing is collecting discarded cans and bottles from under the hedges and path sides in his town. He’s yet to find a full bottle of beer but when he picks them up, but lives in hope. What he does do though is plant a daffodil bulb where the empty can or bottle was. He says there will be loads of daffodils in Pleasley Vale this year. Only he will know what the flowers mean, which for Paul is enough.

Why oh Why?

Someone came up to me this week and asked me why Brussels Sprouts were called Brussel Sprouts. I’m sure I knew at one time but at that moment I forgot so said the first thing that came into my head, which was because they came from Brussels. It turns out that in a way I was right, so my reputation is intact. 

I have found out a bit more just in case I am asked again. Early versions of the vegetable are said to date back to ancient Rome, they were bred from wild cabbages found in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Chinese medicine, they are prescribed to improve digestive health. Modern-day Brussels sprouts were embraced and widely cultivated in Belgium as early as the 16th century.  They excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C vitamin K, as well as beta carotene, folic acid, iron, magnesium and fibre. They’re also high in selenium, which is associated with reduced risks of certain cancers, as well as increased male virility. That should keep anyone happy should they ask over the dinner table.

Smelly

If someone asks you why the Brussels are smelly when cooked it’s because of two things. Firstly they tend to only get really stinky when overcooked, especially when boiled with the lids on. And also the smell is associated with glucosinolate sinigrin, an organic compound that contains sulphur: hence the odour.  

Worms

I was poking around in the compost bin this week and was amazed at the amount of worms in there.  Hopefully they will spread to other parts of the garden and to do that they need a bit of incentive. You won’t find worms in soil where there isn’t any food so it’ll give me a good reason to collect the horse muck and seaweed.  Dee Sewell from the website and training centre Greenside Up (greensideup.ie) has a passion for growing vegetables and knows the virtues of worms. Here she tells us ten earthworm facts, some of which you might not know!

Ten earthworm facts from Dee

1.  “Invertebrates make up 97% of species on earth without backbones and Earthworms are just one of them.

2. There are around 3,000 species of earthworms around the globe that range in size and colour from 1cm to 3m and from green to brown, blue to pink.

3. Earthworms are most definitely a gardener’s friend and are vital to soil health. As they burrow beneath the ground, they consume soil, feeding on decomposing organic matter such as roots and leaves, sand grains and microorganisms. As the organic matter passes through their digestive systems, vital minerals and nutrients are transported and it’s been shown that not only is worm digested soil healthier, it also has more phosphorous.

4. Earthworms are a sign of healthy soil. If there’s no food they’ll go elsewhere. The more worms in your soil, the more nutritious it is, not only for them but for your plants! If you don’t see many signs or worms, simply add more organic matter and they will find it.

5. The burrows that earthworms create act as ducts that water and oxygen can pass through, helping to keep soil moist and aerated, vital for good plant growth allowing roots to grow and develop.

6. Earthworms are hermaphroditic (they have both male and female reproductive organs) but they need to mate with other worms to produce offspring. After they’ve mated, earthworms form tiny, rice sized cocoons that are buried. They can produce two cocoons a week, each containing 1-7 hatchlings. After a two to four-week gestation period, the baby worms emerge.

7. Amongst other creatures, birds, toads and hedgehogs love to eat earthworms but there’s enough for them all in a healthy garden – there could be as many as 1,000,000 earthworms living in a one acre field.

8. Earthworms don’t have lungs, they breathe through their skin. If there’s too much rain, earthworms will rise to the surface to breathe as they may become starved of oxygen in water drenched soil. However, light paralyses earthworms so if they’re out in it for more than an hour, they can’t retreat back into the safety of darkness and will die.

During darkness earthworms often feed on the soil surface. If you head outside with a torch you’ll spot them all diving back under cover when they see the light, just like a pool full of synchronised swimmers.

9. Worms have no eyes, ears or teeth but do have five hearts.

10. Contradictory to popular belief, if you chop a worm in half it won’t grow again!”

Time for Reflexion - and looking at seeds, with Klaus Laitenberger

The new website makes for an interesting read

It’s been a while since we have heard from the pioneering gardener Klaus Laitenberger from County Leitrim. You might remember Klaus has written two bestselling books on getting the best from our Irish gardens and has spent the last fifteen years learning the art and craft of vegetable growing and experimenting with different plants and techniques. Klaus has mastered the vagaries of boggy soils, high rainfall and the most common pests and diseases.  This research has now been put into his new website specializing in seeds that will flourish in the Irish garden.  The new greenvegetableseeds.com website is now stocking over 100 varieties of vegetable seed varieties. 

I spoke to Klaus this week who was hard at work preparing his own garden for the winter months. 

“I only stock the highest quality seeds of the best varieties of vegetables.  All of the seeds are particularly suited to Irish growing conditions and have the best flavour and the best resistance to pests and diseases.” He tells me.

Klaus feels that if we put so much effort into growing our own food, we may as well grow the most reliable varieties with the best flavour possible.  He continues “Having spent the last 15 years in Ireland I have experimented and trialled thousands of varieties and these seeds on the website are my favourites!”

Random Selection

I’ve picked these plants at random from Klauses collection of seeds he has in stock and are beautifully presented on the website.  I’ll definitely be choosing the tomato varieties Sungold F1  Sweet Aperitif  next year as these will be perfect for the tunnel. 

Klaus loves his beans and has a great selection of broad, runner and dwarf varieties. Most of the beans can be planted now in late autumn for an early crop Klaus also likes his cabbage and has 5 types of those too  and as well as bean planting at this time of year he stocks a great range of  oriental brassica salad  which can also be planted out now.

Most of the seed varieties are very reasonably priced at just €1.80 up to €2.80 for the more expensive to produce F1's . 

Time for reflection

I couldn’t leave Klaus without getting a few pearls of wisdom, so I asked him what he is doing in his garden this week.  “I’m reflecting on the current gardening year and to make plans for next year.  The more I plan, the easier it will be.  Some vegetable varieties do better than others; there is quite a difference between varieties in terms of taste, reliability, disease resistance and yield.  Some varieties also seem more suited to different gardens and growing conditions. I’ll start making my choices now.”

Klaus is also busy composting and covering problem areas with old compost and black plastic to kill the weeds and retain the nutrients.  I asked him if he had any advice for us about the issue of feeding the soil, it’s a fine balance between under and overfeeding and wondered if he could give me a few tips.  

“How well did your vegetables grow overall?” he asks me.   “Was there lots of leaf growth and small roots?  That means that too much nitrogen was added (probably in the form of farmyard manure).  Were your plants stunted?  The reason could be a lack of fertility or alternatively waterlogged soil.” Klaus wisely says that “We should always try to learn from bad years.”

He continues “Vegetables are certainly hungrier plants compared to flowers.  The reason is simple: you want to eat a cabbage or tomato for example and thus remove nutrients from the soil as we take vegetables into the kitchen.  So we need to replace these nutrients back into the soil and the best form is compost, composted manure and seaweed.  One of these will provide the mainstay of your soil fertility.  The advantage of these bulky organic fertilisers is that they do not only add nutrients to the soil but they also improve the soil structure.  They improve drainage, water holding capacity, prevent erosion and compaction.  The nutrients are also released in a slow release form.  You couldn’t wish for more!”

I ask Klaus when is the best time to do this “Now is a good time to get some manure and either compost it with your own compost or separately.  I would strongly recommend that you cover the heap to prevent leaching of nutrients.  Alternatively you can spread it straight onto the vegetable beds, cover it up with soil which has washed onto the paths and then make sure that you cover it all up with black plastic for the winter.” 

Claus concludes “You can also start planning next year’s cropping plan.” Which brings me back nicely to Klaus’s seed website greenvegetableseeds.com.  All the seeds you need for next year in one handy place.

Bulb Planting and Buying in the Sales

Harvesting the veggies will hopefully go on all winter

I’m still enjoying drinking the liquid feeds through the blender. So much so it’s inspired a whole new planting plan for the polythene tunnel. I have delved into the seeds that didn’t get planted this summer and sown very late crops of peas, spinach, cress, mange tout, lettuce  and ....  I’ve also been planting up chard, which certainly brightens up the place when the sun shines through the stems.  The idea is to grow the crops as a pick and come again variety. When the peas get to about 3 inches I’ll nip them off and use them as the base for the nutriblends. I’ve had them in for two weeks now and they have shot up to about two inches so they are nearly ready. If I’m lucky we’ll have fresh veggies to use for a while yet, even after the frosts if I’m lucky.

I found some carrots planted in pots that I forgot I had this week. They are small and a bit scabby but once they are put into the blended you wouldn’t notice. I have found another vegetable to put into the machine.

Still Sprouting

Just before the end of the summer I cut off a sunflower head to use as decoration. It’s been sitting on the wall on the patio for ages and I noticed that even these seeds have started to germinate. They are still in place and sprouting happily. I’m throwing those into the blender too.

The hanging baskets are looking a bit dishevelled at the moment so I decided to give those trim and tidy.  There are a few perennials that are still sitting there quite happily but the sweet peas have had their day.  I noticed that even these seeds are sprouting whilst still inside the pods so they have gone into modules in the propagator for growing on and putting outside in late spring. These are not edible so won’t be blended in the machine!

Seed Collecting

I have other seeds collected too. We had a good run on nasturtiums and marigolds this year and I have collected a couple of bags of seeds from the spent flower heads. I really should have saved some of the peas and beans but it looks like we have eaten them all, if I can find a few pods when I clear them up later I shall keep them. I like to leave the pea and bean plants in until they die down as they fix nitrogen into the soil keeping it balanced. I do have some tomatoes still hanging on the plants outside but I’m undecided whether to save the seeds of those as they weren’t the most “flavoursome” variety. I might save a few.

In The Sales

It’s full steam ahead for winter and spring planting and I have been busy in the sales.  Most winter/spring plants are half price in the shops and bulbs have been reduced in price. It’s my favourite time to shop.   

For the pot grown plants I chose primroses, biennial cineraria and dianthus combined, with a few variegated ivy thrown in. I actually only bought one ivy plant but managed to get four plants out of it.  Growers tend to put a few smaller plants into a pot than one large one.It gives the growers bigger looking plants faster, which benefits their cash flow and gives us the opportunity to do a bit of division. 

I have cleared out the geraniums from the baskets to make room for the new stock, potted them up in my terracotta pots and put them into the tunnel. They will keep flowering all through the winter if I can keep the frost off them. I might have to bring them indoors for a spell if it gets really cold. I didn’t change the soil in the baskets, but did add more compost and put in a bit of slow release feed. 

Bulbs

I bought a few bags of miniature daffodils and mixed regular varieties to plant as well as some other interesting types to interplant in clumps around the front garden. I have purple Allium, blue Muscari, white Brodiaea (like Alliums) and some pretty chionodaxa called snowglobe. Planted together they should give an attractive display in early spring. Bulbs too are something that wouldn’t be good in the blender as a majority of them are poisonous, apart from onions of course, I might try one in the machine.