Ice Cream

BRAIN FREEZE

I’m sat on a bench in town eating an ice cream in the glorious sunshine. I used to go for the ones that were specifically advertised for grown ups with plain chocolate and a sense of forbidden pleasure. I have gone away from that silly notion and now take great pleasure in the the ice cream cones you get out of those noisy machines in the shops that drive the staff mad. I tend to go for the 99’s with sauce too. And that’s just what I have today.

I’m getting to be quite a connoisseur of them too, I can tell if the machine is at the optimum temperature so when I get delivery of the cone the sugar filled swirl on the top won’t drop to the ground when I get my first lick. Anyway, I’m sat on the Main Street in Buncrana and a stranger greets me.

“Nice looking ice cream you have there.”

“Thanks.” I say in mid lick “It’s my only vice.” I add as the elderly woman, sporting two full Super Valu carrier bags, sits next to me. Just a little bit too close for comfort. I’m convinced she’s after my cornet, so I eat the flake in one go. She’s not having that.

“You’re that gardening bloke aren’t you?” Before I can digest the chocolate she continues. “My Dwarf French bean plants appear to be going a bit yellow. Is this some kind of mineral or trace element deficiency?”

She pauses for a moment to look at me still trying to swallow the chocolate and then continues. “They seem to be growing well, just getting a bit of a yellowish tinge to them. I gave them a top dressing of fish blood and bone about 2 weeks ago. It might be a nitrogen or magnesium deficiency…what do you think?” I nod in agreement, my brain has frozen with the ice cream…brain freeze…...

The carrier bag woman continues. “I’ll just leave them for a bit, maybe a drop of rain will bring them on a bit.” She gets up off of the bench and picks up the bags and as she walks away thanks me for the advice. I get the tissue from around the cornet and wipe around my mouth. “Mo pwoblem.”


GROWING ORGANICS….IE

Last week I was a plonker…plonking plants in any available space in the veggie patch. This week I am a plugger….plugging a new website venture….Organics.ie.

I am celebrating a hugely successful year with the gardening.ie website. It now gets a constant stream of people interested in all things horticultural and I am getting some very good feedback from the site. To date I am getting up to 1000 hits a week. To celebrate I thought I would set up a sister site called Organics.ie.

NEW WEB DIRECTORY
Organics.ie is a new web directory site for anyone wanting to access the ever growing number of people and companies who are producing organic products….or nearly organic produce (I like to call these companies Organics in Waiting) and services. The site will include ethical fair trade products and include micro businesses.

Organic products can range from home baking, gardening, cooking, clothing, jewellery, beauty care products and natural cleaning for the home.

Organic services can range from green building to Irish holiday and ethical investments.

I will also be adding articles, fun stuff and news stories of the day to make the site more accessible.


GROWING ORGANICALLY
I like the idea of the site growing organically like the products and thought that I could start local and add anyone from Inishowen onto the site that is in the trade…all free of course. There are a lot of small businesses in the North West and the present economic climate is ideal for small companies to get together and gain support from one another, the hugely successful Simple Living Fair that was held in Carndonagh at the weekend is confirmation of this growing band of traders who are riding the economic downturn. Companies like Chic-Hens, Glendowen Crafts, Inishowen Bogwood and Inishowen Home Baking to mention a few, are all doing their bit.

Contact me through the website or e-mail me on info@organics.ie if you would like to add yourself to the growing list of companies that are taking advantage of the introductory offer, and if you would like to add an article, you can do that too….

Am I a plonker?

I’m definitely a plonker…. it’s official.

In the vegetable patch there is something called crop rotation, this is where you rotate your heavy and light feeding plants to avoid getting any nasty pests and diseases in the beds. I do try to adhere to the rules and try to be organised with the planting but invariably I end up plonking plants in any available space I can to get them out of their seed trays instead of being methodical and planning where they should go.

Julie tends to put labels on the seed rows and organises herself and then I come along with my petrol powered strimmer and shred them into tiny pieces. This means that the courgettes are mixed with pumpkins and cabbages mixed in with the broccoli. It doesn’t matter though as we won’t get them mixed up when they deliver their crops.

PEAS IN A POD
There is one exception here though, peas and mange tout. They look so similar that you can’t really tell them apart. Every year we try to chew our way through pea pods instead of the soft flesh of the mange tout, whose pods are grown to be eaten. So we did take the precautions of planting both of them at each end of the garden, surely even I can’t get them mixed up now….

The peas and beans are starting to come on now and I should think so after all of the sunshine we have had over the last three weeks. We did plant out more seeds straight into the beds to come on with a second flush but none of them have appeared. We think that the mice got them.

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES
Julie wanted some alpine strawberries in the garden this year and sowed some of their tiny seeds. Most of them have all come up and have been transplanted into containers. They are very tasty and you get loads of them over the growing season. I also like the crunchiness of the seeds. I’m not sure if we will get any fruit this year but it matters not as we cut back an old hebe on the driveway and found a small family of about ten alpine strawberry plants hiding underneath. They have flowers already.
SUCCESSIVE SOWINGS
Another aspect of gardening that needs a bit of planning is successive sowings. I mentioned the peas and there are loads of others you can plant to extend the growing season, especially salad crops. Salad crops are ideal for sowing every three weeks or so to get fresh tasty produce all summer. It’s not too late to plant pick and come again lettuce, rocket, radishes and chives. Plant bedding plants and annuals in succession too. Julie has just planted out some more last minute night scented stock seeds for later on in the summer.
WEEDING
Weeding has been very easy this month because the ground is so dry. If you do a bit every week this will stop the plants from seeding and reduce the amount you will get next year. Julie has her favourite tool for weeding the vegetable beds, a small hand held hoe, and enjoys the close contact with the ground. I on the other hand, prefer to be standing upright with one hand on the hoe and the other holding a cup of tea….. I’m waiting for the long handled hoe from John and Mary Fruit hill farm delivery.

SOIL QUALITY
There is a big difference between the soil in our veggie patches. Some was heavily fed with well rotted horse muck and other beds had only garden compost. It’s our first year in the garden so it’s interesting to see the difference. Other factors might be light and water. One of the beds is in more shade and near to some trees so that might take away nutrients needed for healthy growing.
NO PRESSURE
We have low water pressure here, I can’t fathom out if it’s the water pipes leading to the house or if there is a blockage in the pipe. Either way by the time it comes out of the hose it hasn’t enough power to initiate a spray, it just sort of flops out and has a wetting range of about a foot so it’s more of an irritation than an irrigation system. We have utilised the big blue recycling bin, moved it next to the raised beds and filled that with water.
Now it’s just a question of pushing in the watering can and filling it up then walking the short distance to where we need to water. Although we have had a dry spell, there isn’t really much need to water a lot unless you have just transplanted some young plants and they are in the sun. Rain water would be the best system so if you can fit a butt to the down pipe of the house and collect it then all the better. This is a good point to note if you are on a meter. The council in Buncrana have a great system in place on their polythene tunnels. All of the water is collected from the roof and goes into a massive storage tank underground so it can be used when needed to water their bedding plants. The only drawback is the fact that they have to wait 2 months until the ESB fits a pump to get the water above ground and under pressure to work…. Hopefully the plants will be brightening up the Buncrana streets by then… In the mean time let’s hope they have more water pressure than I do………

Composting made easy

MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF

I’m outside fighting with an electric hedge cutter. It’s battery has spent the weekend being charged up, but for some reason can’t summon up enough power to get the blades to cut through anything thicker than a leaf before it moans and grinds to a stuttering halt. I thought I was buying a good one when I passed my money over the counter in the shop a couple of years ago, but I was wrong.



Tools sometimes don’t live up to their expectations, or maybe I expect too much. I am therefore resorting to the trusty pair of hand shears; until the co-op opens tomorrow when I can invest in a petrol-powered hedge.


Tools that last a lifetime

As I am on the subject of good tools, John and Mary from Greenhill farm in Malin are taking tool orders from Chillinton and Fruit Hill Farm. You can choose between a wide range of hand held devices from hoes to spades and cutting tools, that will last a lifetime and don’t rely on electricity to power them. You can contact Mary on 086 327 3315 for more information




Easily distracted

One job that can be done without any tools other than a fork is composting. I have just cut a few metres of hedge using the shears and have lost both the interest and the ability to hold the blades up, so, it’s time to check the compost bin to see how the hot weather is helping to speed up the rotting process.


COMPOSTING

The sunny weather recently will speed things up very nicely and if a compost is healthy and well managed, it will only be a matter of weeks before you have a lovely, sweet smelling addition to the veggie beds. Klaus from the organic course gave us a 1 minute guide to making good compost:


1-MINUTE GUIDE TO COMPOSTING


Three sections

If you have the space to create a compost bin with three compartments then all the better. Old pallets will do, John used concrete blocks that were lying around to make his. If you can have sections to remove in between the compartments then this will save you time when the compost needs to be turned.

Turn it.

Every time the heap is turned, micro organisms get a new blast of energy to break the products down. If you have the three sections then turn the first one into the second compartment, the second one can be put into the third and the first compartment can be for starting again. Compost should be ready as it goes into the third compartment.

Balanced ingredients.

Getting the correct mix of ingredients in the bin is vital for everything to rot down and not end up as a gunky mess. (If there is a yukkie residue coming from the base of the compost, this is nitrate pollution, so if we can avoid that, then all the better). Use any organic material but avoid meats if the bin is open (cooked foods and meat attract rats).
Layering.

Layer the compost heap with both green and brown materials. This will dry out the wet bits and wet the dry bits as well as allowing a good air circulation to speed the process up.
Shred the pieces

Smaller material will rot down faster so break things up as well as you can. Tear and scrunch up paper instead of putting the whole lot in together and shred woody materials
Keep moist

It needs to be moist, but not too wet. There will probably be no need to water your bin here in Ireland.


Getting the balance right

If the compost bin has a load of fruit flies or omits an unpleasant smell then the balance is not quite right. Play around with the ingredients to get the balance right. Fruit flies means that things are too wet and the small means that there isn’t enough anaerobic digestion going on. If you have worms in the bin, these will do most of the work for you so try and encourage them by ensuring the compost is touching the ground or introduce some to breed. Pop over to someone with en established heap and get a cup full to start you off. It’s the horticultural equivalent of the friendship cake mix…..


WHAT ARE GREEN AND BROWN LAYERS?

You might have heard mention of green and brown layers in the compost bin (if you read the bit earlier anyway). You split the materials up and if you know what is classed as green and brown you are nearly all the way there to creating the perfect compost. The more variety the better as these are just a few examples….



Green Materials

Grass clippings

Vegetable and fruit waste

Comfrey or nettles

Manure (without bedding)


Brown Materials

Cardboard and paper

Eggshells

Fibrous herbaceous plants

Straw

Shredded hedge clippings

Leaves in autumn

Manure (with bedding)



Remember… Alternate the layers to let the air in…. It’s trial and error so …Good Luck…

Don't get stressed in the garden

KEEP THE GARDEN HEALTHY……
“What keeps humans healthy?”

I’m at the organic vegetable growing course at Greenhill farm and Klaus Laitengerger is asking us the question.

“Good healthy, balanced food, light, water, exercise and rest, ” he tells us. “The same principles apply to plants. When they are starved of these elements viruses and bacteria get in and break down the immune system. When a plant is stressed, pests and diseases aren’t too far away. To get healthy vegetables they need the right conditions and a healthy balanced soil to flourish, this will eliminate the need for chemicals.”

NPK fertilizer is junk food for plants…The plants might look happy and full, but they are starved of a lot of goodness. A well-balanced compost gives plants the right balances, and importantly it is released slowly. If the plants get too much nitrogen the leaves look lush, but they are soft and prone to infestation for all kinds of pests. Just like us, plants can get stressed…..

What can stress a plant?

There are a few common reasons why your vegetable plants might not be performing as well as they could be.

Spacing of the plants might be too close. This will mean the plants are fighting for the limited nutrients on the soil. It can also lead to a poor air flow and fungal infections will thrive in the damp stale air surrounding the plants. The plants will also grow leggy as they fight for light, again leaving them vulnerable to pests and disease.

Planting in the wrong place. Most plants need good light and some direct sunshine to thrive. Even if the packet says semi shade, here in Ireland the plants will need as much sun as possible.

Malnutrition. Most plants need a balanced diet and if they don’t get it they will perform badly. Add nutrient rich compost and manure to the soil in late winter when it’s dry and cover up with black polythene until you are ready to plant out the young vegetables.

Overfeeding. Plants will look healthy if overfed with the three main elements found in fertilizers but are far more prone to infestation from pests such as aphids and micro-organisms that can easily penetrate the soft flashy walls of the leaves. Most contact weed killers work on the principle of overfeeding the leaves to increase their size so much that they die off.

Planting at the wrong time of year. Ignore the sowing dates on the packets. Here in Ireland it is always better to wait a bit longer that the recommended times as cold wet weather can have a very detrimental effect on the initial growth of the plants. Plants have the ability to catch up with the season so if you plant them a bit later than recommended they stand more of a chance of becoming health mature vegetables.
Not hardening young plants off. Growing plants on the windowsill or in the greenhouse gives the plants a head start but they are not used to the elements such as wind. Put the young plants outside on good days to harden them off. It might take a week of moving them in and out but the results will be worth it, as they will cope much better when planted out into the beds.
Leaving the plants in tray modules. A few plants will survive being pot bound in the modules, the brassica family, leeks and cabbage, seem to do all right if they are left to long in the trays, but other plants will never recover from the shock of having no room to grow and develop. Dill ,coriander and rocket will bolt straight away and try to produce seeds to survive.

No crop rotation. Some soil borne disease can affect the vegetables if a clear sock rotation isn’t applied the beds. Some vegetables, like the cabbage, that can get club root, can’t be planted for up to ten years on a spot that has affected them.
Too much water. If your patch is too wet, most plants will have yellow lower leaves as they are getting starved of air at the roots. Growing plants in bags or containers can lead to over watering too so keep an eye on the leaves and check the drainage holes are clear. Let plants like tomatoes dry out before re- watering. Raised beds can help in a wet garden.

Too little water. Check containers often and if you have dry soil add loads of compost; this helps to retain the moisture.
Compacting the soil. Treading on the soil around the plants breaks down all of the hard work that the worms have done. Try to either avoid walking on it by using narrow beds and paths, or walk on a plank to distribute your weight.

Wind. Create effective windbreaks around the vegetable beds, as most plants will reduce their size to compensate when being battered by sudden gusts. Taller plants can also be knocked over. Willow is a fast grower if you need something quickly and it can be coppiced every year to keep it manageable.
Non appropriate planting. There are just some plants that will not grow in your area. Check with your neighbours to see what they have. You can also condition plants to acclimatise themselves to your area by saving the seeds and growing the same variety year after year. Like humans, plants are very adaptable……

“As an organic gardener, you do not have, or need the means to kill anything……It’s about getting the right balance.” Klaus Laitenberger.