FUNGI IN THE GARDEN

BACK TO SCHOOL

I can’t help noticing that there are a lot of berries hanging from trees and bushes. The rowan trees are fit to burst and although there are plenty to go at, the starlings are still fighting over the small red fruit. Blackberries are filling the hedgerows and the chestnut trees are bowing with the weight of their conkers….well apart from the tree in Swan Park. I didn’t see any there this morning, maybe there have been too many sticks thrown at the tree over the years and it’s decided to have a rest for a bit.

I used to enjoy this time of year when it was time to go back to school after the long summer holiday (well, after the initial shock of having to get up in the mornings). It wasn’t that I loved going to school or anything like that, it was more to see my friends again and find out what everyone was doing. I spent most of my early years thinking that everyone was having more fun than I was and I didn’t want to miss any craic…

LONG WALK
From the age of four I walked the three miles to get to school. It sounds a bit historic now but all of us kids walked, the school run in the car wasn’t so common. We always managed to form into small groups for company as we walked along. I’m just grateful we had shoes for the journey and didn’t have to walk for ten miles over fields like all of the adults used to tell me that they had to do. Of course I’m carrying on this irritating tradition of telling children how good they have it now, albeit slightly toned down, although I do tell my lads that I wore potato sacking on my feet (in good old Monty Python tradition). They just roll their eyes and give me withering looks.
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
There were plenty of distractions along the route to school. One of my favourite places to visit was the scrap yard that we passed half way to school. I would pop into there to get my weekly supply of ball bearings that came off of the scrap cars and machinery. I just loved the smoothness and feel of the solid balls of steel and used to trade them at school for coloured marbles and answers to homework questions. They weren’t the most practical things to collect, if you put too many of them in your pockets, your trousers tended to drop around your ankles.

CONKERS
Conkers were also a favourite. There was a great old tree on the way to school, and I would often be late to class as I had a good old scrummage amongst the leaves to find a casing that still had its shiny copper prize inside. Of course so did a lot of the other kids and the competition for them was as fierce as the tournaments we had in the playground. I confess to occasionally cheating though. There were times that I used a conker from the previous year, there was a name for them, (dobber, perhaps, but maybe that was something to do with marbles…..) These were supposed to be tougher in combat, but in my experience it just made them more brittle. I also baked them, pickled them in vinegar and occasionally chopped them in half and filled them up with plaster of paris and then stuck them back together again. Nothing really worked though. A two’er was as far as I went with any of my competitions; maybe it’s all in the wrist action. I didn’t ever get to defeat more than one other conker player until mine broke off its shoelace causing the shrapnel to fly off into someone’s face, ah those heady days before health and safety (and computer games).
ABUNDANCE
Blackberries were always in big supply starting back to school too, they could be a bit messy though. One time I put a load of them into a plastic bag and left them too long in my schoolbag, the following day (well maybe it was a week or so), I got them out and the resulting mush was moving…..full of maggots. It put me off for a couple of days but learnt that you should either eat them straight away or not put them in plastic bags. It wasn’t as bad as the time someone intentionally left a tub of maggots and a bit of meat in someone’s school locker over the summer holiday. By the time the unsuspecting pupil went to put his books away after the summer break, he was greeted with a swarm of bluebottles flying into his face, they were flying around the school for weeks….such fun.




IN ONE EAR
There is one insect that I am still not fond of though, maybe it stems from sleeping in a friends garden shed when I was ten. The shed had just been put up and the smell of creosote was strong, but that didn’t put up us off wanting to camp out on the splintery wooden floor.

All went well until I woke up in the night itching. I was covered in earwigs…Apparently if you are unfortunate enough to crunch one in your mouth, it’s a taste you will never forget. I had them all in my sleeping bag but thankfully not in my mouth or ears….They don’t actually go in your ears (I didn’t know that at the time though) as they get their name from hiding in the ears of corn.
There seems to be a lot of them around this year though. The ones we have in the house though are hiding everywhere. If you open the back door, they come scurrying into the kitchen, pick up a towel in the bathroom and there are a couple of them having a party. Most of the lettuce and shallots from the garden have some hiding in the nooks and crannies too. It’s bad enough squishing a slug in the lettuce but when I get an earwig popping out of my perpetual spinach, I’m taken back to the night in the shed.

I should admire the way that the “wiggies” put up their pincers to scare you away, or thinking that they could tackle me into submission by looking aggressive. I don’t though and must confess that they are the only things I will intentionally tread on. It’s mainly due to shock though as they do tend to surprise me.

Check your clothes before you put them on in the morning…….

A bit like Autumn

EASILY DISTRACTED
Autumn is moving in quickly. The temperature has dropped and fallen leaves are starting to build up in the corners of the garden. I was in Swan Park today and noticed that the elderberries are ripe and the sycamore helicopter seed pods are ready to drop. There’s still plenty of growth left though, so it’s not time to pack the mower away into the shed just yet. Grass, contrary to popular belief, never really stops growing, it just slows down a bit to allow you to conduct a few indoor jobs like tidying the garage.

So I am rummaging around our garage looking for something as the rain is stubborn and won’t go away. I can’t quite remember what it is I’m looking for as I’m very easily distracted. I have just unearthed an old Daily Diary from my college days back in 1991.


DAILY DIARY
The particular course I did at college was Amenity Horticulture, which meant that 80% of the time was spent being practical out of doors with a spade, notepad and piece of twine, leaving just 20% of the time for me to fall asleep in the classrooms. I was never that good at sitting so it was an ideal ratio. Throughout the course we were asked to log our work and observations throughout the year and compile a diary. At the time is seemed like a bit of a chore, but it’s the same as photographs, they become more historically valuable as the years pass.

PUT THE KETTLE ON
This needs a bit more attention so I tuck the diary under my arm and put the kettle on. Sitting comfortably in my armchair, I flick the diary open to the index page. I was very organised back then and everything is laid out in alphabetical order. It’s amazing what topics we covered. From alpine display beds through potting geraniums as well as day trips to nurseries to see how F1 seeds were produced, we packed everything in. Bizarrely, one of the most interesting and memorable trips for me was a visit to the local Tesco car park to assess the effectiveness of their low maintenance planting schemes around the car parking spaces…. How sad is that?

The diary also has my day-to-day interactions with the rest of the students throughout the year. The age group of the class members ranges from sixteen to sixty so there was always plenty of banter going on. I just started writing about everything that we did and thinking about it I have never stopped, it’s just that my location and circumstances have changed and I now write for the local newspaper instead of a college course…

REFERENCE
The idea of the diary was to use as a reference for when we were in the big wide world of work. It makes for a more animated read than a stuffy textbook and you have a giggle at the same time.

I’m on my second cuppa now and delve deeper. I remember we were also asked to do a monthly observation to witness the changing season. I found this invaluable at the time, as before the course I worked in a sand quarry and stared at large mountains of silica sand every day. It could have been any time of year as it looked like the Sahara Desert no matter what season it was (We sold sand to the Arab countries as a matter of interest, it was mixed in with nylon fibres to use on racecourses). I had never noticed the trees changing colour or seed heads appearing. The only time the quarry looked different was when it was covered in snow.

I started the observations with a visit to Westonbirt Arboretum (in Gloucestershire) to see the fabulous autumn leaves of their trees; acers, euonymus, oaks and cherry to name but a few. I then took to noting all of the plants around my own area that were radiant at different times of the year. I would recommend anyone who has an interest in gardening to do this as it really makes you realise just how quickly things change.

Another thing that the course taught me is that the more you learn about gardening, the more you realise just how much you don’t know…..

TRAINING COURSES
That’s why training courses can be a vital part of the journey to horticultural enlightenment. I was looking at the Greenmount courses up near Antrim. They have loads of courses on offer including amenity, organic and greenkeeping. If you are interested in a career in horticulture (and after all it is a growing industry ha ha) check out the courses on the website www.cafre.ac.uk

If you garden just for fun than a day or weekend course may be more feasible. The Organic Centre in Rossinver have loads of interesting courses running all year round. It’s getting to the mushroom season, so why not sign up for their Foraging For Free course or the Mushroom Hunting day? You can also choose a “Polytunnel” Course, A “Natural Remedies For Winter” weekend, “Alternative Energy”, “Growing Trees from Seed,” “Planning a Garden”, “Make Reedbeds” or “Organic Gardening Made Easy”. That’s just a small selection of what’s on offer, check out their website
www. theorganiccentre.ie for more information. If you get enough of your friends and family interested, you could hire a bus and have a fantastic, educational day out…

I had a tutor who told me that if I could remember three Latin names of plants and occasionally bring them out in conversation, then people would think you know what you are talking about and be impressed. It’s worked well for me for years…..or so I like to believe.

FULL OF BEANS

It’s been a while since we were down at the supermarket. It’s not something that we have consciously decided to do, it just happened.

In winter when the nights are long and the mountain madness sets in, it’s always very entertaining and sociable to venture to the supermarket to get a fix of dazzling fluorescent lighting, warmth from the cookers and wee chats with friends and neighbours. According to Steven Fry there were people in France at the turn of the century that used to hibernate all winter. Maybe they were onto something. Mind you, he said the same community used to walk about on stilts in the summer because their land was so boggy. I wouldn’t fancy that – how would I get into the car?

SHORT NIGHTS
This time of year though it’s different. The nights are short, the children keep you occupied and we are not short of a visitor or three. So the real reason for not having to do any shopping or go into town is that our homegrown vegetables are maturing at a fast rate of knots. We are coming up with more and more inventive ways of eating and cooking them up into delicious meals for the family. Freezing them is a possibility but that’s an art form in itself and I tend to get a bit confused with the blanching process...It doesn’t take much to confuse me at the best of times.




FREE RUNNERS
I’m outside picking the runner beans today and it’s getting to be a great way of doing stretching exercises to reach the fresh ones at the top. I used hazel rods for them to grow up at the beginning of the season and didn’t bother cutting back either the rods or nipping the tops off of the beans. Its suggested that you cut the runner bean plants so they only grow to about seven feet, to keep the plant producing more beans lower down which would save stretching your back too much (or worse still wobbling about on a kitchen chair) trying to reach the top. I thought I would give them a free run and they have reached over ten feet now and are going strong, and still producing. It’s amazing how many beans can mature over night. The broad beans are a straightforward crop to grow, as they are extremely hardy. They can be grown in borders without high supports so they are very versatile and I just love the softness of the inside of the pod. They have a lovely bed to lie in. After I’ve harvested ours I will pull out the plants and fill the space with something else. Maybe some late-flowering perennials or more than likely the leeks that desperately need to be thinned and given a new home with more space..

YOUNG AND TENDER
One of the benefits of the “Grow your own vegetables” is that you can pick the crop far earlier than shop bought ones. You get them at their tastiest and when the nutrition value is the highest, especially if they are cooked straight after picking. Some onions you buy from the shops can be up to two years old. I have picked our onions for tea and the white crispy flesh is so different from supermarket bought ones.

BIG TEA
I’ve picked enough for tea and everything barring the left over party burgers is out of the garden. We are having runner beans, broad beans, potatoes, courgettes fried with onion and raw carrots, There’s a side salad too, minus the tomatoes as again they have failed to fruit outside. There are a few small green ones on a couple of the plants which will get cooked up in a bolognaise sauce. I look back at my polytunnel days with some nostalgia when the family and friends alike were able to pick and eat their fill of these home grown sweeties. The salad is made up of lettuce, spring onions, coriander, chives, radishes, rocket and baby grated beetroot. We seem to be having a lot of earwigs this year and the lettuce and spring onions have had to be checked carefully. It has been common enough this year for earwigs to crawl out of the green leafy part of the spring onions or hide amidst the layers of lettuce. I have heard they taste disgusting and don’t want to inflict the experience on family or guests.


TEMPTING
By avoiding the supermarkets we are also avoiding unnecessary impulse buys and wasteful packaging. Smaller outlets like John and Mary Reilly’s organic farm in Malin will be the retail success stories of the future as we move more and more to buying locally produced products that are of high value, fresh and full of nutrition. Community gardens are springing up everywhere around the country too as families realise that growing your own food is important for mental and physical health. I like the idea of being close enough to your veggie patch to collect your crop with a wheelbarrow, so small community allotments are ideal.

In our own little way, us veggie gardeners are voting with our feet and showing that self sufficiency can work….well partial self sufficiency in our case….. We still need milk and cheese though as we don’t keep cows….yet.