The Right Gloves

Gloves to suit most jobs in the garden

There are work gloves to suit most manual situations. It took me a long time to realise this and for years I tried to work with potting compost using porous orange builders’ gloves. The result was always a total waterlogging of the fabric backing and the lime in the bag eating the skin away on my hands.  I would actually have been better off not wearing any gloves at all.

Rubber work gloves like the red cotton lined pvc ones weren’t much better either, especially when using a hose pipe as they would fill up with water and my hands would slosh around like feet in oversized wellingtons.  I have tried the leather and suede rigger gloves, pvc dotted gloves, fabric types and sometimes even resorted to ski gloves. One time I even used a pair of glow in the dark ones . I’m not sure why but I’m guessing I was doing something at night.

The Right Gloves

Now my favourite glove of choice is a heavy duty rubber pair. They don’t give the same level of protection as the leather type but they are perfect for washing the roots of my chamomile prior to selling and most other weeding jobs. I do tend to leave the bright yellow gloves on a bit too often but as yet I haven’t been to the local shop in them. I did go out in my “washing up pinny” once to the shop so I can’t rule it out altogether.

Regardless of which type of glove I am wearing I have also got into the habit of wearing a pair of nitrile powder free disposable gloves underneath. I’m sure they were around in the years when I was using the lime based potting compost and if I knew of their existence would have saved me years of uncomfortable cracks in my skin.  I do meet people who would never wear work gloves in any situation as they take away the tactile connection to what you are doing but I like clean finger nails so have an array of gloves at my disposal.  

I was going to do a review on the best gloves on the market but as I mentioned, it all depends on what you are doing and how much you are willing to spend.  So I’ll narrow it down to this if you are looking to wear a bit of hand protection. If you are doing things that get your hands wet, use waterproof types, heavy dry work, use thick types and the nitrile disposable gloves come in packs of 100 which last for ages.

New Mower

I’ve bought a new lawnmower. I just couldn’t face the disruption of the strimmer so got online to read some reviews of the lower priced electric type which suit my small patch of lawn. I settled for a small rotary type with a metal blade and I must say I am impressed with the cutting power helped on by a 1200 watt motor. It cut through the foot long grass with no bother.  It’s far better than the Flymo and the only negative comments on the reviews were about the grass storage not being large enough and having to take too many trips to the compost bin. As I am never more than 10 paces from one of my bins I didn’t think that was too much of an issue and most of the time I wouldn’t even bother with the grass collector as I like to keep the cuttings on the lawn for a mulch. 

Bargains.

When I was down at the DIY shop buying the mower I noticed they had loads of bedding plants for sale at reduced prices. Some of the trays were beyond reviving but a lot of plants were still in great condition. I got a car full of petunias, geraniums, begonias, marigolds and daisies for under twenty euro. I must confess that I am a bit naughty when it comes to picking the trays; I will take a few of the good plants from one tray and swap them for the dead ones in another. I justify this by thinking that none of them would sell if it wasn’t for me taking the initiative to make one good (ish) tray out of two. I would have done that myself when I was selling plants. I’m not really sure if it’s illegal but I do feel like I am doing something positive so I am sure I could talk the sales staff around if they catch me in the act.

Time to take some Softwood Cuttings

I pulled up the old broccoli plants this week. I was going to give them to some deserving horses after the bees finished with the flowers. Greenfly had other ideas.  I first noticed a small clump of the little green suckers about three weeks ago and thought nothing of it. Over the following days their reproduction rate grew exponentially, so much so that every stem was covered in the offspring. The whole plants seemed to be moving as they sucked the sap out of the plants, you could hear them dehydrating the stems. 

I chopped the plants up on the lawn which in hindsight appears to be a pretty silly idea. I think most of the greenfly jumped ship before I stuffed the stumps and stalks into coal bag to take to the recycling centre. I would normally compost most plants but these take a few years to rot down because they are so ‘woody’. 

The greenfly that didn’t make the car journey to the skip have happily taken refuge on more young stems in the garden. They are mainly going for the new broccoli and kale as well as any other juicy stem from the bedding plants we have. I’ve never really had a problem with these sap suckers but this year I have taken action. My bottle of neem oil which has been hiding in a dark cupboard for three years has come out. It doesn’t seem to work but at least I feel proactive and the greenfly are happy.

My fabulous Deutzia X hybrida 'Mont Rose’ shrub performed well again. At the end of every year I consider pulling the whole shrub up as it’s far too big for its spot, but every spring it rewards us with the most beautiful flowers bursting with nectar for the bees and I let it stay for another year. I was thinking that I might even take a few cuttings now the flowers have gone to pass on the beauty to other people who probably have more room for one. 

After flowering is the optimum time to trim back these types of shrubs so it’s an ideal time to keep a few of the stems from this year’s growth to increase the stock by taking softwood cuttings.

Softwood cuttings.

This techniques ideal for a lot of shrubs from buddleia, lavender, euonymus, pelargoniums and salvia to name just a few.

• Cut one of the softer stems and make it a bit longer than the finished cutting, just above a leaf on the parent plant.
• Use a sharp knife to cut just below a leaf joint and remove the leaves
• Aim to make a cutting not more than 10cm long. Use a sharp knife to cut just below a leaf joint and remove the leaves from the bottom half of the cutting.
• Reduce leaf area by half to minimise water loss from the cutting.
• Some people recommend a rooting hormone powder and you might want to dip the stems in that. Willow water works too helping to promote faster roots but personally I don’t bother and most cuttings are successful.
• Insert cuttings into 7cm pots of moist cuttings compost, keeping lower leaves just above compost level.

For the really tidy ones amongst us, push in thin canes around the pot and cover with a clear polythene bag held in place with an elastic band. Place cuttings in a warm position, out of direct sun, to root. I sometimes edge my bets and push some of the cuttings into the ground as I tend to forget to water pots in hot weather. Finding a shady spot outside or even a large container where weeds are controlled seems to work fine for me.

Elderflower Cordial

My mother in law was knocking on the door this week looking for someone tall to go and give her a   On the menu this year will be the cordial and also she will be making some fritters. Anything deep fried is OK with me, I’ve even tried the deep fried chocolate bar. I did have to clean out the fryer afterwards though so it was far too much bother.

hand collecting elderflowers from the branches.

Elderflower cordial is a delicious summer tonic that you can make yourself.

Her recipe is best made with fresh flowers, which have been picked on a sunny day when they are still creamy in colour and before they fade to white. At this time they have the highest amount of pollen, which contains the yeast. The recipe is water, sugar, lemons, citric acid and of course the elderflower. Like most recipes it’s open to interpretation. Maybe some of us might add a touch of vodka in there too.

What to do with Grass Clippings

Strimmers can be so messy

My lawnmower stopped working last year and I am only now missing it. It was one of those plastic Flymo types and did an OK job in the three years it was working.  Yes the cable frayed a couple of times and the blades were so flimsy they buckled on a tuft of couch grass. But it was quiet, light and could get into tight corners.

 My grass cutting this year is by a petrol strimmer and you wouldn’t believe the mess you can make with these things. I don’t think there’s a piece of wall or window where small muddy tufts of grass are clinging to. It’s very reminiscent of cutting a hedge with a power blade. It takes ten minutes to cut and three hours to clean up afterwards. With all of the sweeping and brushing down of pots you can see why I’m only reluctantly using the strimmer about once every three weeks. 

One thing is the same regardless of what machine I use to cut the grass and that’s a huge pile of clippings.  How do we cope with all of the cut grass throughout the year?  If you don’t bag them up and take them to the recycling centre then what are the options?

The simplest way to deal with them is to just leave them on the lawn, or the wall in my case. There is even a phrase known as "grass cycling" to make us feel less lazy when it comes to dealing with the problem. The grass clippings soon rot down and are a natural feed. This saves money buying fertilizer and saves time bagging up. 

I don’t think this is very practical for me with the strimmer grass though as it’s too long, maybe it’s be good for weekly cut grass and a mulching mower. I like the idea of not having a lawn at all; just a small meadow with wild flowers and growing cover plants but nothing seems as robust and up to the job of putting up with two frisky dogs playing.  

Compost Them

Grass clippings are approximately 85 percent water and 4 percent nitrogen, which means if composted correctly they will rapidly reduce to one tenth of their volume. A bag of grass clippings would reduce to handful or two of compost and I think they can be classed as both a wet and dry compost material depending on how much water they contain.  A compost heap usually includes other wet waste such as vegetable peelings and fruit. To balance this out, dry matter or carbon material could be added. This will help to keep the air circulating and stop it from smelling. Other dry matter includes paper, wood chips, leaves and broken sticks.

Add equal amounts of wet and dry matter to keep the fruit flies at bay and stop the smells. Another way to let the oxygen circulate in your pile is to aerate it. This means turning the grass clippings and other materials to loosen up the piles. 

Let them bake

Put grass clippings in the sun for up to a day before adding them to the compost pile. I tend to strim my grass then go and do other jobs for a few hours, the grass that spreads and flies all over the concrete path is soon dry in the sun. This reduces the volume considerably.

If you have recently applied pesticides or herbicides to your lawn, do not add the grass clippings to your compost piles until the rain has wash off these chemicals completely. 

Under the hedge

Grass clippings can be used for weed control at the base of your hedges. This helps to retain moisture and adds organic matter and nutrients to the soil. For best results spread about an inch or two of weed free clippings at the base of the hedge avoiding its main stems. Add more clippings when the previous batch has broken down.

Over the hedge

A pile of grass clippings is very attractive to hungry horses, ponies, donkeys, cows and sheep. I have a pile of broccoli plants to give to some local horses soon when the flowers die back to mix their diet up a bit

Buying New

I’m on the lookout for another lawnmower. I quite fancy one of those push types. It’ll keep the grass down long enough for me to come up with a “grassless lawn” made from wild flowers and my growing number of chamomile plants.

Longan Fruit

 Longan and Lychee

We’ve finally got around to planting out the summer bedding and small cells of vegetables this week. 

Sweet peas, sunflowers, pansies, geraniums and fuchsias have all gone into pots for a bit of summer colour and the broccoli, courgettes and kale have gone into their growing positions. We still have a few places to plant up but the old broccoli plants from last year are still both producing tiny florets and the yellow flowers are a magnet for the local bee population. I’ve promised the spent plants to a horse owner in a couple of weeks when the flowers have died down which will save me having to chop them up to fit into the compost bin.  

It was a great idea to plant out the peas, beans, coriander, lettuce and chives straight into the garden as they are all thriving and haven’t been kept in check or neglected by being in small potting cells.  We might have lost one or two seeds to the mice and plants to the slugs and snails but you would never notice unless you were counting stems.

Longan Fruit

Hands up who has heard of a fruit called ‘Longans’?  Up until this week my hand would be flailing in the air too.  

A pack of them caught my attention in the local supermarket and although they have travelled all the way from Vietnam and not grown locally, I thought I would buy a pack to see what they were like. You can put your hands down now.

The longan tree is actually one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), to which the lychee also belongs which has been a popular dessert for years in restaurants. 

Longan fruits are similar in structure to lychee but more aromatic in taste. It is native to Southern Asia. The translation from Cantonese literally means "dragon eye" which is so named because it resembles an eyeball when its fruit is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris). I tried not to let the fact it feels like you would expect an eyball to feel put me off trying them. Dried longan fruit are often used in Chinese cuisine and Chinese sweet dessert soups. In Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine, it is believed to have an effect on relaxation.

They go back a long time, its earliest record of existence draws back to the Han Dynasty in 200 BC and are now grown all over the world but I doubt they will do well in Ireland because of both the weather and labour needed to pick the fruit.  During harvest, pickers must climb ladders to carefully remove branches of fruit. It has been found that longan fruit remain fresher when still attached to the branch, so efforts are made to prevent the fruit from detaching too early. Mechanical picking would damage the delicate skin so the preferred method is to harvest by hand. Knives and scissors are the most commonly used tools.

Apart from being eaten fresh and raw, longan fruit is also often used in Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods, either fresh or dried, and sometimes preserved and canned in syrup. 

Folk medicine

Longan is commonly found in traditional Eastern folk medicine as opposed to modern Western medicine. In ancient Vietnamese medicine, the "eye" of the longan seed is pressed against snakebites to absorb the venom; this method was ineffective but it is still commonly used today.

Saving the Seeds

I decided to plant up the large seeds along with a few lychee seeds I have. It’ll be interesting to see if they germinate and grow under protection in the tunnel. I thought well drained, sandy soil would be ideal to replicate their natural conditions. I don’t think there’s much else to do to get them growing other than keeping the post watered. 

Carn Show 2017

The 105th Inishowen Agricultural Show in Carndonagh is all set for the 15^th of July. The last date for all entrants is this Saturday 17^th June so if you haven’t filled in the entry forms for your category it’s time to get the pen out.  It’s a few years ago since our dog won the “Best Large Dog” category but we still have the rosette.  There are loads of categories to enter ranging from Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Donkeys, Dogs, Butter, Eggs, Honey, Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers, Pot Plants, Cake Making and Scones. Homes Industries Exhibition, Photography, Amateur Painting, Carriage Driving and many more. Something for everyone!