The Lush Gardener

[Kendra]

T H E  .  L U S H  .  G A R D E N E R

I wish I could tell you that I am an expert but I am not. My journey in gardening did start when I was very young, helping my grandfather with his tomato plants when we called to visit or selling trays of seedlings around our neighbourhood to earn a bit of pocket money. All my family were keen gardeners, and I thought that by default I would be too. It turned out for many years that my best skill in the garden, any garden was killing things. So naturally, I was put in charge of the weeds. Win-win really. We moved house a few years ago and have a bit of a decent-sized garden now, that is probably an understatement but with land comes responsibility as any of my Irish ancestors would inform me. You must look after the land! I can actually hear the voice of the Bull McCabe when I say that. But he is right and we do. To the extent that we do not use any sprays, everything is organically grown, we compost and grow our own fruit and vegetables. I am using the royal 'we' here mind you. Again, I was Super Weed Killer extraordinaire but I was also super busy, with University, work and getting to know my new family. When all of the college stuff got completed, I discovered I had quite a bit of time on my hands and wanted to be more helpful and so I took on the vegetables and herbs. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was up to, but I did what any other person who had just completed their Masters would do, I researched! I cringe now at the number of books I sourced and bought (thank you second-hand bookstores) most of which I will probably never actually use, but do look so very pretty on my coffee table and bookshelf! I watched videos on YouTube and have now whittled it down to 3 main sites which are ideal for me in Ireland but not for anyone living across the pond. My garden zone may be different to yours. What is a garden zone you may ask? Well, I will tell you, but I will tell you more than that. My journey last year was adventurous, and fun, with a lot of hard work, some absolutely horrific mistakes and other amazing successes I am hoping to learn more this year and achieve more. For Christmas, I got a pressure canner so that the produce I do grow and harvest won't simply get used or frozen but can be stored in other ways too. For many of you, it is still the depths of winter and for some of us it is spring and time to start sowing if you haven't already begun. Do join me on this year's journey, hopefully, we will both learn something new together and any tips that I have learned I will pass on. And why the Lush gardener you may ask? Well, every time my SO came home from a hard day's work - it was to find me standing admiring my hard work in the polytunnels with a glass of wine in hand.

To Begin or more importantly where to Begin

I mentioned a thing called garden zones which was a whole new concept to me but every time I tried to watch a video and learn something, I discovered that what can be grown in certain parts of the states at certain parts of the year might not actually be as viable here in the South coast of Ireland. Every gardener kept mentioning garden zones. I had no idea what mine was or what an actual garden zone meant. So here is the science part ... see we are learning already!

According to the Wikipedia - A garden zone or hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants.

Mine is 9b which allows for the amount of rain we get, that my area is coastal, and more warm than sunny - but this zone is the very same one for parts of Southern California! So what we can grow really does depend on your soil's hardness.

Of course if you have a polytunnel like I do, it does help with rainy conditions, sharp frosts and long winters.

This time of year ... if you have no snow to worry about - then get out and get weeding!
The soil for us is perfect this time of year, it is just soft enough that the weeds come up easily but not too soft that the ground or neighbouring plants gets damaged.

I have what I call my weeding friends; meet Ernie and Bert.

I would be lost without these. Having the right tools for your garden is very important. The long hoe is so I don't go straining my back when weeding, and the smaller one is when I really have to cut a weed out from around a paving slap that is proving otherwise difficult. They don't look great there because they were just used but you do have to take good care of your tools as well. It should go without saying but sadly, I know a few gardeners who just toss things back into the shed when done. Tools last a long time if they are properly treated. A good clean is sometimes very effective.

Besides weeding this time of year, because some areas will still have frost and snow - if you haven't had the opportunity before, do get out and prune while you still can.
My willow tree has gone beserk because I have forgotten it until the last minute and by the time February and now March comes along - it is too late.

This is just a snippet of the herb garden that desperately needed weeding and a bit of pruning  - before and after for my thyme and parsley

 

I will give you a look tomorrow at the seeds I have planted so far and the plan for the first polytunnel and how companion planting is not a trend but an actual thing and you should do it!

[persephone325]

*stalks the thread* I really like gardening. My grandmother had a super green thumb. She could basically make anything grow anywhere. ^^ (Miss her...)

I look forward to seeing your garden grow! :D Maybe this will inspire me to start my own garden? I've always wanted to. :-)

[Kendra]

I ended doing a 15 hour day instead of a 12, so no seed post today but it will come.
Hopefully tomorrow :)

Thank you Persephone - hopefully, it will be inspiring and not 'oh thank goodness I don't have a garden'!  ;D

[Kendra]

SEEDS

I really do need to reiterate and probably will continue to do so throughout the season, but I am not an expert and don't even pretend to be. I am very keen however and had so much fun from the garden last year that I was determined to do it all again, with improvements this year. I say improvements but that is wishful thinking on my part. I had a journal kept which had been amazing but that along with all my lovely seeds that I had saved, got gobbled up by mice over the winter. Was not best pleased when I discovered this of course, especially when seeds are not cheap. This year I am saving all the small herb jars I get and putting any leftover seeds into those, well labelled of course. The seeds I planted a few days ago were basically to fit my plan for Polytunnel 1 which I of course continually confuse with polytunnel 2 when talking about it. I need to give them real names instead of one and two, I don't do well with numbers. February and March are the best times to start growing your seeds especially for an early crop. I like having a good supply of vegetables right through to November before the first frosts, and then I usually start planting again for over winter. Last year I was very particular, I got modular trays and sowed directly into those - everything even my root vegetables and broad beans! Which I later learned I didn't have to, root veg always does better planted directly into the ground. So that is what I plan on doing this year. Last year I started really early, like the beginning of February early and everyone thought I was mental, especially my long time gardening friends who all told me I was nuts. BUT … there was method to my madness and when everyone else I knew had  little shoots coming through, I had plants that were well on their way. It did help that I had polytunnels to work with. My best friends last year were plastic and fleece sheaths that I used as protective layers - not only to stop caterpillars and aphids but to protect against the cold. For the stuff I planted outside, they protected the plants against the birds who decimated my squash patch. I make lists, lists are essential. For me at any rate. But they do come in handy. I have a new journal started (cheap old school copy) that now contains lists of what I want to sow, where I want to sow it and what I have sown. I also keep a list on when things need harvesting so that I can do succession sowing. That basically means that I get a continuous rotation of vegetables over the next few months. I have one plan drawn up for the first polytunnel and seriously must work on the drawing plan for the second polytunnel - but I don't worry about that one so much because it will be full of tomato plants and French beans like last year. Other things too  but mainly those.

.

Broad Beans x12 Tomato - Red Pear x 10 Saxa Dwarf Bean x 12 Tomato - Moneymaker x 10 Chard x 12 Spring onion x 12 for drills & 1 pot

Purple sprouting broccoli x 10 Beetroot x 6 Garlic x 12 from cloves Baby potatoes x 8 from chitting Fennel x 1 - from fennel cutting

I use an actual seeding compost when I sow, the mixed compost bags are cheaper but they have twigs and all sorts inside of them. So even though the bag will say they are suitable for seed sowing, you do have to be careful. Last year I did lose seeds to that very mistake as they couldn't push up through the soil. Seeding compost is finer and when mixed with vermiculite it makes for an even better soil mix so that your seeds get the nutrients and water they need early on. Otherwise they can get leggy or not grow well at all. You can get both of these in any good gardening centre. One very good tip I picked up last year which I intend to keep doing is watering the soil before putting it into the pots. When I mix my soil and vermiculite together, I pour water over it and mix it well. The soil should then be the right consistency for putting my seeds into. I just found that 'watering in' the seeds sometimes washed the seeds out of their spot more times than not. It was a nice tip to get last year and one I will keep.

And we are back to labelling again ... always label but be mindful of how you label.
Last year I used a pen on these plastic tag rods that my MIL had for years, all you had to do apparently was write the name on to them and hey presto. Don't use a biro / pen or water soluble marker - remember you water your plants and even though you should be watering from the base upwards, sometimes you might have very eager helpers who just hose everything from the top down! Biro, pen, water soluble marker all washes off in no time at all and then you are left guessing what it was you had in that particular pot or module tray. It was a very good job I had my journal with my lists.

What I found worked best, was pencil! It doesn't come off with water and can be rubbed off with your finger so that you can reuse the label tag again and again. But do label and date as you are sowing. Especially if you plan on sowing a lot and different varieties at the same time.

The plan has some blank areas the pathway around the plots for one but also inbetween the dahlias (which will be coming up) and the beetroot. I haven't completely decided on what will go there yet, it is a toss at the moment between courgettes or squash. I have left other spaces about because I need to be able to plant radishes, lettuces and herbs wherever I want. Fill all the spaces eventually is the idea and get the most out of the plots.

[Oniya]

You've used this word a lot, without explanation.  What is a 'polytunnel'?

[persephone325]

It's basically what a greenhouse is, if my memory serves me right. They can be small, like this one.

[Kendra]

What is a Polytunnel

https://youtu.be/GB9y-zoOILc

It's for all the world, a tunnel made from Polythene. Similar to a green house but there are differences.
Hope the video helps Oniya.
I had a lot of work to do in it this morning, so thought it might be good to get a wee video.
I must just remember next time to turn the phone landscape instead of profile.

I am currently preparing the first tunnel for when we have actual plants to go in to it.

BEFORE             AFTER


The before photo was taken from the back of the tunnel facing the front door || while the after photo was taken from the front door facing the back.

[Oniya]

Thanks!  The name makes sense now, in the 'of course that's what to call the thing' way.

[Flower]

*happily tunes in*

<333

Your gardening space is so beautiful, Kendra! I can't wait to see it full and bountiful.

[Wistful Dream]

~comes along for the journey~

[Kendra]

Thanks!  The name makes sense now, in the 'of course that's what to call the thing' way.

*grins* absolutely - to be honest though, a few years back you could have been saying the word to me too and I wouldn't have cottoned on to what it was either.
*makes a note*  that when I say something, I shouldn't automatically think everyone knows what I am talking about.

*happily tunes in*

<333

Your gardening space is so beautiful, Kendra! I can't wait to see it full and bountiful.

Thank you. My MIL and SO put a lot of work into it over the past few years while I was busy working and studying.
We are actually surrounded by farms on 3 sides, which is gorgeous usually except when it comes to those times of year when they spray slurry - manure slurry which is basically an organic fertiliser that gets sprayed on the freshly ploughed fields - more times than not it's pig slurry that is used, so the smell is terrible! would not want it to be a windy day.

~comes along for the journey~

Ah you are very welcome.

I just hope that the seeds do something this year now *smiles*

[Kendra]

Spring Preparations

This time of the year no one wants to be outside doing work in the garden when they could be nice and warm elsewhere. It was very cool this weekend and temperatures dropped even more at night time. So any seeds that I sowed this weekend, and those that I had done the weekend before - all had to be covered up and tucked in. Taking the time to protect and make a big fuss of your seeds will pay dividends in the weeks to come. Many just don't want to germinate when it is too cold. I tend to err on the side of caution so even though I didn't fleece my seeds last year that may have been because the weather was better or that I was so clueless and not protecting them was the reason that many didn't germinate last year! Quite a bit got done this weekend, from weeding the polytunnels, to hosing them down. This definitely is a job that requires doing at least once a year depending on your climate. The greenhouse should get done twice a year in my opinion. At the start of Spring to clean it up and prepare it for all the growing season and again when you are finished germinating any seeds or not growing veg in your greenhouse. This cleans out any blight or diseases that have come inside over the few months it has been in use and if it is a really warm and now clean greenhouse, it can be used to store some of your harvests such as hanging your herbs up to dry or drying out your onion sets. The outside of both of our tunnels was decidedly green, the insides were fairly grubby too. Out came the power hose and SO got stuck in. The difference is huge, the sun will be able to get in properly now and do the work we need it to do.

.

I promise you I was not sitting about watching him do all the work. No, besides weeding and raking in fresh compost. I was also repositioning some plants - Spearmint that I managed to get three separate plants from, so now I have one replanted in the herb garden and two for the polytunnels. It is supposed to be a natural deterrent for mice and rats but it should be fired as it didn't do its job at all! Some sage got repositioned as well, and I began laying out the different bamboo canes required for climbing plants. The most important job, however, was the watering in. I call it watering-in because I obviously heard a very knowledgeable gardener saying it at one time and it has stuck. All winter long the polytunnels probably got the odd watering, you don't need to do much when plants are 'overwintering' - you are effectively getting them to a certain stage and stalling further growth until after the first frost. Basically preserving them until you are ready to grow them. Doing this is supposed to help with the 'Hungry Gap' months when growing any vegetables in certain climates becomes almost non-existent. Because our polytunnels didn't get much in the way of watering, it means that now ... the soil is bone dry and no amount of anything will grow there. That means for the next two weeks, I get to go out early in the morning before the sun rises and soak the soil in each of the tunnels. I return when the sun has set, to rewater the soil again. The soil is so dry that it is barely soaking the top, that is why I have to be precious about doing it over the next few weeks. The timing for watering is crucial and it will be the same once vegetables have actually been planted. Before the sun rises because the soil gets the benefit before the sun heats up and absorbs it all. After the sun sets because the water will get a better chance of getting down deep into the soil - if you have plants in, evening watering helps because the water does not evaporate as quickly. And always remember when you are watering your plants - do so from the base and not on the leaves, or you run the risk of blight, mildew, or fungus on your plants.

After a really good watering!

And tucking them up for the Night!

From courgettes, to more tomotoes, chilli peppers to winter squash plants - the seeds got sown this weekend!
I have enough that if they don't take in the next week or two, then I still have enough time to get more in. I used the potting mix with vermiculite again, this time I watered the mixture
before putting any seeds in - with the water added it should be moist without it ever getting sludgy.
Fill up your pots or module trays - add your seeds and hey presto!
Or depending on your climate you can cover with plastic tray lids or with fleece.
For the next few evenings, I am leaving the fleece on mine, just to keep them as warm as I possibly can so they can do their magic.

Last year I tried growing oregano from seed but it never took very well, it could just be the Irish climate or me.
This year I found a plug ... a module of oregano in Lidl (Supermarket) - not in the gardening section but in the herb, fruit and veg section.
I just took it out of its small modular pot and potted it on to a bigger pot. I am hoping it will take and if it does, I will keep it in the polytunnel
as none of last years attempts succeeded in the herb garden.

The tall plant in the photograph is a bell pepper that I grew from seed over the winter in my kitchen. An ordinary shop bought bell pepper.
It needed potting on so that the roots would not become boxed in or 'root bound'. That too will eventually make its way to the polytunnel.

.

[Kendra]

The Waiting Game

You have prepared your soil. You have planted your seeds. What now? You wait. Seeds take anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks to germinate, depending on the seeds. Some may even take longer again. Water always from the base but do not overwater - you don't want your seeds becoming waterlogged and rotting but you also don't want the soil to become so dry that the seeds can't get the nutrition they need. Although there is always so much work to do in the garden, for your sown seeds it becomes simply a waiting game. The first batch of seeds that I planted are coming along nicely but the cold weather has stunted their timeline a bit. This simply means that they may take another week or so before the seeds really start growing. From left to right in this photo are Chard, beetroot, broad beans and Saxa Dwarf French Beans. All were planted the same day but you can see the difference in the growth quite clearly. The dwarf beans will take longer to germinate, they haven't even begun to push through the soil yet. Whereas the other seeds are well on their way. Over the next few days I will have to begin thinning the chard out and placing the seedlings into different modular trays. I will do another piece on the different tray sets that are available.

These spring onions were planted less than 2 weeks ago but they are germinating beautifully. I did two different batches, a pot shown above and a modular tray with seeds spread out to make it easier for sowing drills of onions. It was interesting that although they were all planted at the same time, they haven't grown equally. The seeds in the modular trays are taking a bit longer. They have begun to break through the soil but at a slower pace. The purple-sprouting broccoli is also doing really well. I planted these into a pot as well and will begin moving them into singular modules in the next few days, so they can grow bigger and better. It is still too soon to plant them into the ground, so they will stay in the greenhouse for another while yet. It really is a waiting game now, probably one of the most boring times in the gardening calendar in my opinion. Plenty of professional gardeners will tell you that there is always something to do in the garden, and they are right there is - but it also depends on the weather, your soil, your motivation, and your time. Professional gardeners do their amazing gardens and vegetables as a full-time job, the rest of us do it for joy, and to help as another food source, but we often do not have the time, patience or perhaps money to put the amount of effort that a professional would put in. Don't get discouraged when you see gardening programmes, and think that none of it is possible. Some things always are. So even if you don't have polytunnels, you may have an indoor space or patio, an outdoor plot that can be used for growing vegetables, herbs or flowers. Do what I did last year and make a start. Journal everything so you know what went well and what didn't. So next year, you will be more prepared.

[Kendra]

Germination

https://youtu.be/OnD-wPR2odw

I thought it would be easier to do a short video for you today, and safe me typing up a load of stuff for you all to read.
Seeds are germinating nicely now, the video shows quite a bit of those that have germinated so far.
The photographs below are all of the broad beans. Everything else today was potted on which means thinning out and
putting it into a bigger pot or modular tray. Planting out is when you move them from their pots or trays into the actual
last spot they will grow in, so either a bigger pot or the ground.

The polytunnel is the final home for the broad beans here, they have done really well. I took a photo of the root systems
which are fantastic but getting them out of their pots now is vital so they don't get pot-bound - which is when the roots
have nowhere left to grow but wrap themselves around each other. More times than not the plant cannot recover, but
there are exceptions. I already had an area set up for the broad beans, their own spikes/canes to grow up against and
which I can clip to, to help strengthen and support them as they grow.

I didn't take a photo of the group of them planted but I will in another week or two. Tomorrow I will be potting the
seeds for red lettuce, green lettuce and lambs lettuce. We do eat a lot of it during the summer. I plan to position quite
a few of the lettuce's in and around the broad beans, otherwise, there is just all that space going to waste, so ground plants
like lettuce, radishes and beetroot are perfect. Provided of course that you haven't planted your broad beans too close to
one another.

[Flower]

Look at your babies grow. I wish them continued success. ❣️

[Kendra]

Thanks Flower :)
Leg was too Grrrr today, so had to keep it elevated which meant no planting of my lettuce seeds as yet but I will get there.

[Envious]

I love this! It's such a satisfying process.

[Kendra]

It truly is Envious.
I was out in the greenhouse yesterday afternoon and got some great photos of the seedlings after germinating and /or coming on some more.
Even the broad beans in the polytunnel look bigger.

I really do love this time.

[Kendra]

Another Week in the Greenhouse

As grey, dull and overcast the start of the week was by the end of the week the sun was peeping out through the clouds and for brief moments throughout each day, it was even warm! So much so that the seedlings in the greenhouse, and the beans in the polytunnel required watering not just once a day but twice. Early morning before the sun really peaked through and evening when it was getting cool again. This is the time when you really have to watch your seedling. They can very easily dry out and then not grow at all. The waiting game does not mean you sit idly by and just wait - you have to make sure that they have enough heat, light and water. But always put the water into the trays so the soil takes it in gradually and not top down. Today I thinned out the tomato seedlings and put them into their own pots. More space to start spreading their roots out. But many more seeds got sown as well. Green salad bowl, red salad bowl, Corn salad, Onions, and some flowers too; Honesty, Icelandic Poppy's, Corn Poppy's and Corn flowers. It's good to start flowers that are good for propagation, that will bring in the bees and butterflies to help with the fertilising of the tomatoes, courgettes and other plants. The video is short but shows you how busy it is all getting now. https://youtu.be/a_RMQWjWwuc

[Kendra]

Budding Marvelous

Regardless of the bad weather or perhaps in spite of it, nature will thrive. Every morning and some evenings, everything got rehydrated. Whether it was with water or comfrey for extra nutrition, because seeds need every thing they can get at this stage. But with tender loving care ... your seedlings grow. It's always fun and exciting in my opinion to watch it all happening. Especially when you look back from a photo maybe the week before and then compare them. This weekend is going to be super busy, because more seedlings need to be thinned out, while others need to be planted on to make room in the greenhouse for succession sowing. That is basically when you want to have a steady supply of crop throughout the next few months. And when some of the seeds the first time didn't take, you are still giving yourself plenty of time to sow more. Last year I had a bountiful harvest of tomatoes, we barely knew what to do with them all. This year however, I have my canner so I will be preserving instead of freezing and I am all excited about it. Amazing how our goals in life shift perspective. Maybe it's an age thing, who knows! These are the tomato seedlings, having been thinned out recently. They are still way too small to go anywhere near the ground, but they are doing great. With the weather getting a bit warmer now, I will most likely use the hot box and put them into the sun-room to develop better. I did a few experiments last year, testing which tomatoes grew best. I had some started in the polytunnel, some in the green house. Some planted on in the sun-room to pots and later transferred. It was amazing just to see which grew before others did. The French beans are a big favourite in our house, but they are also so easy to grow. At least once the seeds have germinate. It is very easy however for the beans to either be planted the wrong way (not on their side) or get bogged down with water. Unfortunately, the trays I used have a warp in the base so the water ran to one side drowning some of the French beans and rotting them before they had a chance to develop at all. However, a few did. This is why I like doing early crops, so that you still have time to get more seeds in if something like this happens. Those adorable broad beans that got planted out a few weeks ago, are now growing nicely. We are currently shredding the conifers around the house, and with the larger pieces we are shredding them right down to create mulch for ground cover. It also works really well to stop the slugs from getting near the plants ... apparently. The broad beans were getting a bit of chewing, so placed some down and a few organic slug pellets. So far so good. Many gardening professionals will recommend putting out a saucer of beer for them. I still haven't even attempted that one. If they persist, then maybe I will. For years I have been growing sage and this is the first time I have ever seen buds on them. I checked the sage I have everywhere about the garden and polytunnels, and only two of which are budding. So I googled and the explanation I got from a reputable gardener was that sometimes the sage might feel settled and feel it is time to flower or it is under stress, believes it will die and start flowering as a means to protect itself. I had transplanted both of the sage plants that are now budding, so maybe they were under stress. Yet, they look the healthiest out of all my sage. So it is hard to tell, maybe they're under stress from my constantly playing the BeeGees to them. The tomatoes love them though! I will either do a video or get plenty of photos for you at the weekend as I replant and thin my way to gardening heaven. But I shall leave you with these two adorable photos of the tulips and daffodils that I couldn't get into the ground until very late Spring. I wasn't expecting them to do anything at all this year, so what a lovely surprise to get.   Happy Planting Everyone!

[Autumn52]

Your garden is beautiful. Do you have any tips for a person who can't stoop down much? I would love to grow somethings, but I have a bad back and getting down on my knees isn't doable. I had thought of getting a raised bed, but they are expensive.

[Kendra]

Thank you Autumn52,

currently one of my legs is bang-jacked so am using a crutch. I shouldn't be bending down with it at all but ... that's another story.

Raised beds are great and they can be expensive. We made all of ours.
If you can get your hands on a pallet - most DIY stores or garden centres given those things away for free.
At least here they do.

There are nifty ideas on instagram and youtube for affordable do-it-yourself raised beds.
This is one of my fav gardeners on Youtube

The trick is to make two - one on top of the other, to really raise it up so that bending is minimum at best.
Hope this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya7r420KQZs

[Oniya]

Depending on the crop in question, what about pots on a shelf?  I'm thinking like a window-box of herbs, only perhaps hung from a fence at a convenient level.

[persephone325]

The flowers look lovely, Kendra. :D

I think daffodils are really resilient. They seem to grow around here every year without really any care given to them.

[Autumn52]

Oh that is a great idea, both of your ideas are great. I will check into it and see what I can come up with. Maybe a little late this year but I can start on building for next year.




Thank you both. I am bookmarking that YouTube channel. 

[Kendra]

Depending on the crop in question, what about pots on a shelf?  I'm thinking like a window-box of herbs, only perhaps hung from a fence at a convenient level.

- Indoor pots on a shelf always work but you have to judge if there is enough sun. Also you have to be careful that they don't become pot bound which stifles the plant after a while.

- outdoor everything works really, again depending on wind direction too. We are open at all sides to the elements - but only certain plants work best at the front of the house which is north facing. I did do a pallet standing upright a few years back, with soda litre bottles cut down and holes made so that I could use those like a plant pot - I tied them to the pallet with long tie-bands. But I had to watch them like a hawk because the water either poured out through them or they got too wet. A fine balance.

Would love to see what you decide on :)

The flowers look lovely, Kendra. :D

I think daffodils are really resilient. They seem to grow around here every year without really any care given to them.

Thank you persephone :D

I do love daffodils, they are utterly resilient. We do get a lot in other parts of the garden but those now are sadly growing without flowering, so new bulbs will have to be planted.

Oh that is a great idea, both of your ideas are great. I will check into it and see what I can come up with. Maybe a little late this year but I can start on building for next year.




Thank you both. I am bookmarking that YouTube channel. 

Let me know how you get on.
That channel is brilliant.
I love watching the stuff he does.
He is Welch based I think so close enough to my own climate that his tips with soil and growing help immensely.

:) Enjoy

[Envious]

The daffodils may just need to be thinned out. If it's an established patch, the bulbs may now be crowding each other underground. You can dig them out, separate, and immediately replant.

[Kendra]

I didn't even think of that. Envious thank you.
I will definitely give it a go.

Always learning ... it's why I love gardening.

[Kendra]

End of April

The end of April in the garden, polytunnels and greenhouses look very different now. A lot of the seedlings have grown enough to be planted out. And other seedlings are just coming through so that we will hopefully have a nice crop of succession sowing. That means we should really have a nice rotation of crops when one is at say a middle stage of it's growth, another similar plant will be at the beginning stage. It helps when we want to have crops throughout the season but it also means that when it comes time to harvest, it's not back breaking work trying to get everything in. I had half an hour break between clients yesterday morning, so made a video clip to post here for you. So that you could see how plants in the polytunnel and the green house are doing. It's about seven o'clock in the morning so there is a beautiful coastal mist as well. I apologise if it seems I am being lazy with using videos instead of always taking photos. I do take some but by the time I get a chance to post them, life in the garden usually has changed drastically.

https://youtu.be/WE2zHwRZcms

[Autumn52]

beautiful

[Kendra]

Planting in ...

Remember those broad beans ... It's now early May and the broad beans are looking incredible. I've begun pinching off the top so that the plant stops growing upwards and puts all its energy into growing the beans. The amount of flowers that are growing on them is spectacular. You might have seen some in the last video because the photographs really don't do them justice at all. Unfortunately, what happened last year when the flowers went all black as they are supposed to, I did not know they were meant to do that, and ended up convinced my poor broad-beans had some nasty blight so chucked them out. This year, will thankfully be different. I am looking forward to a decent crop.

Planting in ... My beloved mother-in-law had to help with the planting in this weekend, as still a bit on the hard side bending the leg. We got a lot of the red and green lettuces in, but typical I didn't get a photo of those per se but I did take one of the polytunnel itself, to show the difference in just the past two months. The lettuces we can basically plant anywhere at all. I call them fillers. I still have another 6 in the greenhouse but we do go through quite a lot of lettuce during the summer months and sometimes by the time we get to the shop to buy any, they never look great. Growing your own is far better, in my opinion. We will use them as cut and come lettuce. Clipping some as we need from the different plants instead of taking an entire head. That way, the roots are still getting the nutrients the plant needs, it's all still growing and we get to continue to use them. But these wee looking stalks are the garlic bulbs. The aroma from these as we were planting them in was incredible. It was like cutting in to a fresh clove of garlic. We now have two rows of garlic. The onions will go in as soon as we find the time to do it.

The budding sage from the video ... I am still speechless about my sage. It has now flowered and just looks so beautiful. The other sage plants that I have in various parts of the garden are all flowering as well. I can't wait for them to open up, because the ones in the polytunnel did and they are glorious. M.i.L had to help me tie them up today as they were after getting long and floppy. One of my French bean plants was taking quite a shine to it and was sending out one of it's tendrils to hang on to. So we tied a string of twine around the sage. It also freed up a lot of area about both plants, which we can now use to plug up with anything from radishes, to beetroot or lettuces. You can make out the buds on the sage in this photo. And this is the sage now, after being tied up. But aren't they simply beautiful. The scent that just lingered every time we moved some of the stalks was delicious. If you aren't growing sage, you really should. So yum!!

And this is how incredible Polytunnel One is looking at the moment.

[Kendra]

Pinching Out

Once you start planting in, you invariably have to begin pinching out as well. The tomato plants that were put into the polytunnel last weekend have come on lovely but it also means that for them to grow, we have to slowly pinch off the true leaves at the very base - I usually do it before I plant in, but my mother-in-law leaves them. It just means a little more work but when the branches start forming you will always get those side shoots springing up inbetween. I recently watched a video where the gardener described it as the vertical growth of the main stem. You are basically trying to protect that and encourage that stem to grow. There will of course be branches that stem off of the main one, those are fine - it is the ones inbetween those branches and the vertical stem that need to be pinched out. Typical I did not bring my phone with me this morning when I was watering everything and pinching out where I saw it was necessary, but there will be others to do - plenty others and I will get photos then for you. By pinching these out, you are merely encouraging what is already there to do it's bit for the plant and stopping the nutrients and water going to unwanted areas. This means the flowers and subsequently the tomatoes will come on a lot quicker. A trick I learned last year that I know we had never done before was to start removing the lower branches of the tomato plants as soon as all the tomatoes of that plant are out. By doing this you are again diverting all the nutrients directly to the growing of the tomatoes and not into lower leaves that the sun can't even get to anymore. Some leaves are left, because photosynthesis (my biology teacher would be proud) has to happen! Of course this is that horrible time of year when everything is flourishing -- including aphids! And I hate aphids. We have what we call 'Spittle-bugs' here, I don't know what they are called elsewhere, but they leave what looks like a glob of spit on your plant. This glob however is not as harmless as it seems. It is in fact eggs and when they hatch, they start munching on your crop. Last summer I was out with a spray gun with a water/garlic and chilli pepper solution to spray the lavender which was destroyed in them every single morning. It was very much like a losing battle for two solid weeks but I was persistent and determined to get rid of them before the lavender began to flower and thankfully I did. This morning however, I discovered 5 globs of spit on my broad-bean plants. When they are that sparse you can hose them down vigorously to get rid of them, but I will make up the solution again later today to give the broad-beans a good spray. I was sceptical at first that the solution would work but it did the trick last year, hopefully it will this year. The broadbeans are at that crucial stage too where the flowers are dying back now to start the bean pod. I definitely don't want any aphids near those. Have a lovely week and I promise when I am pinching out any of the plants to get photos for you to see. Happy gardening.

[Oniya]

Capsaicin is one of several chemicals that evolved as an insect defense for plants - caffeine and nicotine are two others.  Don't know if the garlic adds anything to the mix, but the chili-pepper is definitely an active ingredient.

[Kendra]

I've been collecting coffee grounds so I might spread those about the base of the broad beans too.
Thanks for that Oniya.
I should have learned the science behind it.

[Oniya]

I'm not sure what coffee grounds would do to the soil pH (or if that matters with broad beans) - might need to look into that first.  I have heard that they'll keep outdoor cats from using your flower beds as litter boxes.

[Kendra]

I know they're good for keeping slugs away and the foxes around here don't like it much either.

Maybe if I made a spray bottle with cold coffee and chilli-pepper?
coffee doesn't get a chance to go cold in our house is the only thing XD

I will check that out, I didn't even think about the pH levels being affected by the coffee grounds.

[Flower]

I recall my mother in law using coffee grounds to influence the color of her hydrangeas. ☺️

[Kendra]

That is very interesting Flower, I didn't know you could do that.
Fascinating.
Isn't nature wonderful.

[Kendra]

Early Harvest

Parsnips

I suppose it all depends on how you look at it. I planted a few parsnips before winter in the polytunnel and decided it was time they came up. Some were great and very easy to pull up, while others made me recall that old story 'The Giant Turnip'. But none of mine were that big at all. I have been watching a wonderful English gardener Carol Klein, I have one of her growing vegetable books and so was delighted when I saw on Youtube that there are quite a few television shows with her in them. She has the most delightful cottage garden and throughout it, she has tables. Now at first I thought well, that's a nice idea if you wanted to sit with a cuppa - but it is more than that. She's been gardening for over 40 years and so has tables strategically placed throughout her garden so she can wash, cut, sow, plant from a decent height and close to where she is - instead of having to walk all the way back to the green house. Our garden isn't huge but it is big enough that I felt having two storage areas for gardening tools would be beneficial. In front of our polytunnels is a very old, almost rotten with the rain, round table. More times than not it will only get use when the sun is at its best but not any more.

After I pulled up the parsnips yesterday, I washed the worst of the dirt from them inside the polytunnel before
bringing them out to the table. There I snipped the greenery from them and gave them another wash.
Because quite frankly, it was so much easier and better to do it outside there than inside the kitchen.

I love how bizarre homegrown vegetables look. We get so used to the uniformity of a shop bought carrot or parsnip, that when we are faced with the funny Harry Potter mandrake looking vegetables - we often have no idea what to do with them. So first time vegetable gardeners do be aware that your vegetables might be ... ugly seems too strong a word, but no matter how they look - the difference is in the taste. They will or should, taste crisp, sweet and delicious. Doesn't that seriously look like a baby mandrake?

All the greenery gets cut and put into a nearby compost bin and at the end of an evening,
we bring all of these to the big compost patches we have to tip them in. We have two
different buckets, so it pays to pay attention. One is for weeds and the other is for the
compost. It would never do to get them mixed up. Certainly wouldn't want weeds coming
up all over the garden next year (more than they already do).

By the time I got them into the house, there was nothing really left to do but slice them up and cook them.
I made a delicious and very easy to make Chicken stew.
I've left the recipe down below if anyone was interested.
There is just something so rewarding about taking a vegetable from the garden and
having it with your dinner that night.

Chicken Stew

I use a casserole dish when putting it in the oven. Preheat your oven to 200C / 400F / gas mark 6 I often use the cheapest cuts of chicken like the thighs or drumsticks for this But again, you can use chicken breasts if you prefer. We use the corn fed free range chickens. Depending on the size of your family really. I use about 500g of chicken meat which does three adults. -Cut chicken into slices or chunks. (I prefer slices but not thin slivers - it just cooks faster). but I also use equal amounts of carrots and parsnips. So about 500g of each - sliced length ways 250g of baby / new potatoes - sliced (not thin) 2-3 medium white/yellow onions - cut very thinly Fresh thyme - ours was flowering beautifully, so cut some from my mother-in-laws closed garden instead. 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced. bit of salt & pepper I use about 420millilitres of chicken broth (had to go to google - I think that is  1 3/4 cups) give or take. 180 Mls of apple cider vinegar (3/4 cup) I brown off the chicken in a skillet or frying pan. When that is happening, boil your kettle to make your broth. Place your onions, carrots, and parsnips into your casserole dish. Once the chicken has been browned, place them on top. Toss in your sliced potatoes, season and then pour in your acv and broth. Put your lid on and bang it into your oven. Honestly, it only needs about 25 minutes but it is so delicious. The meat is tender and soft, the veg are slightly sweet but not overly so thanks to the acv and cooking apples. I know it sounds mad to have apple with chicken when most people put it with pork. Just give it a try. Hope you enjoy.

[Autumn52]

That sounds delicious. I will have to try that with my next menu planning. Thank you for all the great advice too. I never have considered putting apples with chicken, but it does sound delicious. Keep up the good work.


*hugs if that's okay*

[Kendra]

Thanks Autumn, honestly I was the exact same.
I think I must have actually refused to try this recipe out for a few months on the grounds that no one in their right mind would put chicken and apple together. But it does work.

Hugs are always ok.
*huggles returned* if that is ok too.
:)

[Kendra]

R & R
aka Rats & Rabbits

Every country garden like my own has to deal with bugs, vermin and critters coming in and stealing our vegetables. But it happens also in the city, I remember waking up to the noise of bins once upon a time clattering outside only to see a fox trying to forage for food there. Snails, slugs, caterpillars live in the cities and towns just as much as the country! As do rats although I am not quite so certain about the rabbits and hares. When I was young I remember reading the Beatrix Potter books and feeling so desperately sorry for the baby rabbits who couldn't get any of Mr. McGregor's cabbages or what Peter went through just to eat something. I'm most definitely not sorry for fictional bunnies any longer, especially when real ones are decimating my polytunnel crops. At first I thought it was a rat after getting in to the tunnel and deciding to have a taste of my chard. I should have known then to be honest, it was being far too picky whereas any rat previously has gone for root veg like the carrots, parsnips or even the fresh broad bean. One side of the polytunnel looked like it got wiped out, and at the top of the tunnel was a nibbled hole - right through the plastic and scattered around it were the remnants of my chard. I was devastated. Typical that I had no rat trap at the time, so I asked the SO to pick a few up on his way home from work. He didn't get back home till late so never got a chance and other things happened so that by the time I went down to the polytunnels again the following morning to water them, the 'critter' had gotten back inside - only this time it finished off all the beetroot on the other side of the polytunnel, and all the chard in the other polytunnel too. There was a lovely burrowed hole where it had gotten in. And I still believed it was a rat, although no rat before had ever left remnants behind. But at the escape routes again, were the remnants of the devastation the varmint had caused. That afternoon found me up at our local farmer / Co.Op store buying 4 large rat traps, and after getting my fingers all but snapped off me trying to set them - I let the SO do it instead. Our rats enjoy the delights of peanut butter. Adore it in fact, so the following morning when I went to water the polytunnels and discovered that my parsnips and carrots had been attacked and the rat traps were untouched, I knew it was something other than a rat. It had to be. My SO strimmed down the weeds that had grown up around the polytunnels - the warmth and humidity we've been having means they grow like crazy but which also means it becomes a nesting ground. Our dogs couldn't get back there as the nettles and other weeds were simply too high - but now they can. I plugged up the holes the varmint made with scraps of wood, filled in the burrowed holes and gathered up loose dog hair that my two border collies shed all over the house. I tied it up with bits of string and left it strategically near the old entrance points  - so that whatever beastie was getting in would now smell the dogs for sure and be afraid, very afraid. It's been two days since then and nothing else has been taken thank goodness, but what an absolute pain! All my lovely chard and beetroot completely gone! I've decided that when I get a chance to sow some more seeds that I will leave them grow instead in the green house, it might just be a little safer and wouldn't want to risk a sweet toothed pesky wabbit getting in again.

I didn't want to leave on such a devastating note, so thought it might be nice to show you a few of the lovelier images of the polytunnels now. The french beans are winding their way upwards and need to be trained now to move across the arch ways that I built. They are looking gorgeous. The broad beans on both sides of the polytunnels are doing very well. Every morning I return to wash the spittlebugs away until finally yesterday morning there was none left at all. Nor did any new ones return as yet. The flowers are dying off and the bean shoots are now growing strong. The lettuce is vibrant and such an easy thing to grow. The weather has been so warm the past few days that we've actually eaten outside and had lettuce with every meal. So delicious and fresh. And you will also see how one of the courgette plants had begun to flower. Nature is simply breath-taking.   An abundance of lettuce. A courgette in flower.  The French beans being trained to grow across the arch. Broad bean pods growing healthy and strong.

[Flower]

I definitely feel you about the animal issue. What was once adorable is now the enemy. The only problem is that the bunnies around my house know my dog is a lazy bum. I have seen them hopping about the backyard at the same time he's out there. 🙄

[Kendra]

That is so typical isn't it?!
Pets  ::)
You could ask a friend for some of their dog or cat hair. Mad request I know, but the hare/ rabbit hasn't been back since.
Now it could be a combination of strimming all the weeds around the polytunnels to stop nesting and so the dogs can get their scent there, blocking up entry points with wood And the dog hair but it could just as easily be ... he knows he took all the good stuff  ;D

[Kendra]

A Great Tip!

Well ... I thought it was a great tip and I wanted to try it out first before posting it here. Seeds can cost a pretty penny these days so we do all we can to save where we can. One of my favourite gardeners Carol Klein mentioned in one of her videos that she regens her pinched out plants. That is me paraphrasing and then some, mind you! The image is a piece I pinched out from my tomato plant. You can actually see that even the pinched out piece has a tiny growth that can also be pinched out. You are basically pinching off the growth between the main stem of the plant and a branch. This helps the plant to grow strong and healthy. If you leave in all those small growths, then the plant struggles eventually when they all grow and vie for sunlight and nutrients. Even by the time I got around to pinching this particular piece off the tomato plant it was a decent size but instead of chucking it on the compost bin as I have been doing all this time, I put it into some water. My SO says I hoard stuff but I prefer calling it Recycling / repurposing and definitely reusing! Any of the small glass vials I get for herbs or spices, I wash out and keep. You just never know when you might use them again. I put seeds into them or some of my own dried or fresh herbs. This time however, I used the jars I had collected to host the slips I got from pinching out! I was eager to see if it would work, and if it did ... then it would be a game changer. I would be able to sow less seeds each year and rely instead on the plants to create my succession sowing plants.

Did it work?
Within days ... I mean days these seven tomato slips had grown roots!

 

I'll be transplanting them over the next few days - I'm going to let the roots develop another bit first.
But what an amazing tip! That is 7 entirely new tomato plants. Can't believe I didn't think of this myself.

Hope you give it a try too.

[Oniya]

Science nerd here!

The plants that you get from pinching off are essentially clones of your existing plant.  As a result, the fruit is going to be more consistent, compared to saving seeds from your previous crop (which have had the opportunity of genetic recombination, even if the plant self-pollinates.)

[Flower]

I need to start pinching myself. I usually just let my tomatoes grow wild, which isn't the best. >.> I'm always terrified I will do it wrong, though.

[Kendra]

@Oniya - I love the 'Science bits'! Thank you.

@Flower - I did do an earlier post on pinching out if that helps any, but I will let a few more shoots grow and do a wee video to demonstrate it for you. I know I got it wrong at times too but at least with Tomato plants they are hardy and resilient, so will bounce back.

[Autumn52]

This thread is so cool. I am trying my hand at a fern plant. If I can keep it alive I might try some more herbs on my windowsill. It makes me sad that I use to have a huge garden and now with my limitations it is like learning how to do things all over again. Doing things differently, but mainly still doing. Thank you for this thread it really makes me feel

[Autumn52]

Well I hit the wrong button. LOL


Like I was saying it makes me feel like I can do this. Thank you for that.


*Hugs*

[Kendra]

@Autumn *offers big hugs!!* I am so sorry, I only read the profile bits around your avatar this morning and saw Xandi! What a lovely discovery.
It is so good to see you and I am so glad you are enjoying this thread. I'm not a perfect gardener by any stretch of the imagination, I am very much learning all the time. This morning was a prime example, I went out to water the polytunnels and saw we had courgettes coming through but our slugs love the flowers unfortunately so I never get to use them in salads or anything but I would love to. So that is something I want to do this summer, is get to the gorgeous flowers before the slugs but also to read up more on eating the courgette flowers. And somewhere between here and last year, I have forgotten when it is best to harvest the courgettes. I definitely don't want them to get as big as a marrow, so I will need to keep an eye on them.

I got one fern late last year, well around Autumn time and planted it in. It really doesn't look as if it is doing good at all. I'll get a photo of it for you, but I'll keep an eye on it. The dogs tend to race through the flower gardens when they hear a car so break and damage a lot of baby, new stuff. And trust me, you got this. I started with a herb garden in pots on my window sill, and succulents because I genuinely seemed to have 'death' fingers instead of green fingers. So much so that I was only put in charge of sorting the weeds in the garden for the longest time. I think believing you can and are ready is part of the battle but also have fun with it.

*HUGS*

[Kendra]

CABBAGE!!

Every year whatever kale, cabbage or broccoli we have attempted to grow - it inevitably becomes invested with caterpillars. Two years a go we actually counted 30 caterpillars on the leave of one broccoli plant. It is soul destroying to put so much effort and time in, only for garden pests to have a field day with your produce. So I decided last year after the caterpillars decimated my first solo attempt at growing brassicas and failing miserably, that I would grow brassicas instead slightly out of season. In Autumn, late September I planted two cabbages - they survived the winter only for one to be gobbled up by a local rat. The other, I protected it like it was one of my children. Nothing was getting at it. To be honest if the rabbit of the past few weeks had gotten at it, I would probably have thrown in the towel and given the reigns of the polytunnels back to my mother-in-law but thankfully, that didn't happen. It really is amazing how much you invest of yourself into your plants - or I do at least. I decided last weekend that it was time to cut the head, I never realised that cabbage actually has its own scent. Once it was cut, the smell from it was really lovely. It had that fresh green vegetable smell, I just knew it was going to be delicious. The leaves it left behind were huge! And I had been cutting these off every so often from the bottom but as you can see from the photo it still managed to reach mammoth proportions. All of it got shredded and put on to our compost heap. What an absolute beauty. So then it was trying to figure out what to cook with the head of cabbage. I normally shred it and stir fry but it honestly smelled way too good and when I started peeling off the leaves - my family were lucky I didn't start eating it raw. It just looked incredible. So I went through a few of my cookery books and when I wasn't impressed by anything there, I remembered a Polish dish I had many moons ago and decided I would google and see if I could do that. The dish is Golabki and it is seriously yum. Mine turned out really good but my memory of the first one I ever had was way better - mainly as it was cooked by a Polish lady who obviously knew what she was doing. My cabbage head leaves were also long compared to the more rounded version that was originally used in this recipe. I had also peeled the leaves off in my exuberance to smell the freshness *facepalms* so had to boil the leaves slightly differently as well. All the recipes I looked at said to use pork but all we had that day was turkey mince so I just used that. I also didn't use the rice - I was being severely lazy that day but it still worked out really nice. At least the family came back for seconds. The sauce was interesting and became a swift firm favourite, so I will definitely be using that again. I think I will make Golabki again for sure but will follow the recipe and make sure I have all the right ingredients in the house first. But for a carb-less version it was really good. The tweaked recipe that I used is what I am giving you below, but I am also giving you the link to the original recipe, just in case.

GOLABKI

FOR STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS: 1 head  cabbage 1.7 lb (800 g) turkey mince 2 medium onions yellow or white 2 tbsp neutral oil (the recipe says cranola, I used sunflower) 3 garlic cloves 1 tbsp dried oregano (actual recipe called for marjoram which I didn't have) 1 qt (1 litre) chicken stock Salt, to season Ground black pepper, to season Handful of chopped dill or parsley, to garnish (optional) FOR TOMATO SAUCE: (The actual recipe calls for butter but I omitted it) 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 1 cup (250 ml) stock - remaining from cooking Gołąbki / Gołąbki juices; or meat stock 2 cups (500 g) tomato passata / purée 1 tbsp tomato paste / concentrate A pinch of sugar Salt, to season Ground black pepper, to season Instructions FOR STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS: Wash the cabbage under running water. Even though the inside is usually clean (the outer leaves protect the inside), you might want to clean it anyway. Remove the tough outer leaves and discard them. Separate the inner leaves and wash them under running water. Cut out the stalk from the head. Grab a large cooking pot. Pour water in and bring it to boil. Add a solid pinch of salt and sugar and stir. Blanch the cabbage head in the boiling water, core side down. About 3-4 minutes is fine. Remove cabbage to a baking tray, but keep the water in the pot. Set ten best leaves (largest, unbroken) aside. Using a paring knife, cut the main ‘vein’ out from each cabbage leaf and trim from the bottom with a knife. Peel an onion and dice it finely. Finely chop the garlic with a knife. Heat up a tablespoon or two of oil, add in chopped onion. When it turns golden, add chopped garlic and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, a tablespoon oregano, and cooled down onion/garlic. Season with salt and pepper, mix thoroughly. This is the stuffing. Lay the cabbage leaf flat. Place about ¼-⅓  cup of meat mixture in the centre of a cabbage leaf. Gather the edges of the cabbage inwards and roll it tightly. Continue until you have 10 decent-sized rolls. The actual recipe does the cooking differently to how I did it. I used a steamer. Boiled the water first, then placed a layer of the cabbage rolls into the steamer, placed the second steamer tray on and layered more cabbage rolls inside. I steamed them for about 30 minutes until the cabbage was tender. When the cabbage rolls are nearly done, let’s make the tomato sauce. FOR TOMATO SAUCE: Pour a cup of the stock that got made from cooking the cabbage rolls into a small pot and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Pour in 2 cups of tomato passata/purée and add a tablespoon of tomato paste. Bring to a boil yet again, then reduce the heat to a minimum. Season with salt and ground pepper. If the tomatoes are too acidic, add a pinch of sugar to balance the flavours. Add a teaspoon of cornflour to water and form a paste, mix this into your sauce to help thicken. Continue cooking until you reach a desired thickness. Serve: These are immensely filling on their own, just serve them with the sauce on top and sprinkle some parsley or chopped dill as a garnish. We got eating before I even thought of photos, luckily there were three left which I had saved for lunch the following day so I got a photo of those. I do need to practice my rolls, I had to use small wooden toothpicks to hold the wraps together. Enjoy <3

[Kendra]

Busy in the Garden

We do have a have a big garden, which we are trying to make more manageable by dividing it into different areas. The fruit cage will be one when it is finally ready - we have the fruit just not the cage as yet. The polytunnels another, and then we have various flower beds too. We did have a small outdoor vegetable area that I was quite happy to let go this year, to help the soil for when we plant more fruit trees but then part of me felt it was a wasted space, small as it was. So myself and the SO got to pulling up the Clary sage that had gone to seed and began laying down some of the compost from the hot compost box. The worms that came out of this was simply amazing! So many and the soil was gorgeous too. I couldn't help but dig my fingers in to it repeatedly. Of course we only have a small hot box, which is plenty to get the worms we need to help the soil but it means we have to use bagged mixed compost too. It's not a bad alternative to be honest, once it is mixed with your own stuff it is really great for growing. So while the SO went off to mow the lawn, I got stuck into raking in the soil and planting on what I had in the greenhouse. We still have plenty in there that require space to plant, just not sure where is the best fit at the moment. But on this particular day, onions went in, tomato plants, carrot strip seeds, lettuce and pepper plants. It was hard work but so damn enjoyable too. The sun was beating down the entire time and when at last I was done, I roped in the SO to help me set up a bird deterrent. Poles at either end with twine between them and lovely shiney old CD discs to twinkle in the light. It's been a few weeks since the vegetable bed has been set now and the bird deterrent is working great, we just have to get a caterpillar and slug deterrent in now. Last year the birds destroyed all my outdoor pumpkins, squashes and courgettes so I really was aiming at them this year. What I have also noticed is the amount of tiny plants that started poking up through the soil. They didn't look like weeds to me, they looked very familiar but until their true leaves came on, I genuinely couldn't figure them out. It was tomato plants. Obviously we had been throwing the left over tomato pulp including seeds into the hot box so naturally when the soil was raked, and watered regularly all those seeds - and there must have been at least a hundred had nothing better to do than grow. I used some of the soil in one of the polytunnels too and hey presto ... there among all my lovely cucumber and dill seeds sprouting, was a multitude of tomato plants. The only good thing about them is that the slugs are aiming for those instead of the plants I want to keep. We have plenty of tomato plants already on the go, so more is literally more we don't need.

[Kendra]

Early Harvest Crop

Growing broadbeans ready for picking

The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy in the polytunnels, I've been taking photo's but then I forget to load them up in order to do a blog post. So I have managed to do just that today. I already mentioned what kind of a screw up I made last year in relation to the broad beans, well this year I was determined not to do the same. And thankfully, they've been growing and blooming left, right and centre. I looked up every book I had to give me some indication as to what to look for when it came time for harvesting because I also didn't want to let them stay on the plant too long. Some beans and peas, even courgettes just go from sweet young things to hardened prunes over night if not picked at the right time - a bit like myself :D. I've included a few photos for you again. The stalks grow big and strong and will flower but don't panic when these flowers go black and pull up all your plants, like I did last year - this is a natural state and not a virus. The blackened pieces end up looking more like tiny stalks and from these grow the beans. When they are first growing they are pointed upwards, water them well as they will need it. And remember to pinch off the very top set of leaves or the stalk will continue to grow and not put any effort in to making beans. When the beans are growing, the bean pod itself will slowly start sagging with the weight of the enlarged bean. So that by the time they are ready to harvest, the bean pod should be pointing downwards or at the very least in a southerly direction. I use a snips or knife to cut them off just above the stem of the bean pod but not directly on the actual stalk. You don't want to damage the rest of the plant as more beans are trying to grow. Gather them all up and bring them to your kitchen. I just crack the top of the bean pod open and pull down the centre of the pod, but you can open the pod any way you want to. Remove all your beans! Depending on when you want to eat them, you can either refrigerate them in an airtight container straight away or prepare them for the deep freeze which is what I do. I par-boil for three minutes, strain them off and then dunk them into ice cold water to instantly stop the cooking process. I let them chill for a minute or so and then drain them off again before bagging them up, marking the bag and freezing them. I've now had two large crops of broad beans so far in the past few weeks and by the looks of the plants, I might get at least one more crop. I will be pulling up the broad beans once the next crop is done, so I can plant the next crop - possibly chard and beetroot as those seedlings are growing nicely now.

par-boiling and blanching

[Flower]

@Oniya - I love the 'Science bits'! Thank you.

@Flower - I did do an earlier post on pinching out if that helps any, but I will let a few more shoots grow and do a wee video to demonstrate it for you. I know I got it wrong at times too but at least with Tomato plants they are hardy and resilient, so will bounce back.

I'm super late but I finally got the courage to get out there and punch the tomatoes. 🤣 Hopefully, I didn't massacre them.

Also, huzzah for the harvest. I swear, everything you cook looks amazing.

[Kendra]

Huzzah for pinching out the tomatoes!! :D

I am sure they will be fine, they're hardier than we believe them to be.

And thank you, though I wish I had gotten an image of the actual wraps on the plate instead of in the container for afters.

Yesterday's dinner was glorious, again another I should really have taken a photo of but our phones are banned from the table, so I always forget. The only thing on our table yesterday that was shop bought was the pork fillet from the butcher. We had french beans, baby potatoes, carrots and parsnips that looked like they got caught in a spiraliser XD and a gorgeous tomato sauce that I had made last year and had been in the deep freeze. We also had a glass each of our elderflower fizz which was super delicious.
Everyone cleared their plates and no one could go back for seconds - as often happens - because they were simply too stuffed.
The taste was define though, I love the sweetness of the homegrown produce, major yummage.

:D

[Kendra]

Herbs

Besides the usual harvesting of beans, and courgettes early this morning – the harvesting of some of my herbs had to be done as well. Not all of them thankfully went to seed over the latest crazy wave of humidity that we’ve had here. Chamomile, basil, sage, and mint were gathered up today. I’m often asked what I do with my herbs, often I just pick what I need to add to meals but there are also the times that I use my herbs for other things. I didn’t pick all our chamomile as the daisy like heads look gorgeous in the garden and anyone who knows me, know that daisies are my favourite flower. I did harvest some a week ago and had them shaken, and then drying out in the airing cupboard as I don’t have a dehydrator and drying out in the oven would have the oven on for a few hours. Seems just overkill for a tray of chamomile flowers. As it was though, those drying there still weren’t even close to what they should be, so as I decided that today’s batch and last weeks batch could do a stint in the oven for sure. Mainly as I had two trays of chamomile and two trays of sage to dry out today. The sage dries faster than the chamomile, so once those were done, I put the sage into my grinder, gave it a blast and hey presto … dried sage. I save a lot of the glass herb jars that I get from the store, so used a sterilised jar and filled it with my dried sage. The smell in the kitchen I can tell you was glorious. Add to that every time I opened the oven door to check on the chamomile, and it was heavenly. It only got better. When I harvested the mint and began picking it off the stalks that beautiful scent also added to the aroma that was now pervading my kitchen. I used a similar recipe to the one I use when making elderflower fizz but pared it back omitting the lemon and the white wine vinegar. My lot adore mint syrup to mix with their soda water or lemonade, so I made a few jars of mint syrup today as well. It doesn’t take long at all and besides the mint only needs water and sugar. While the chamomile continued to dry out, and the mint syrup was jarred, I began preparing the basil for making pesto. Another absolute favourite of my lot. Our chillies have started to come along very nicely, and one cayenne pepper was ready for picking. So, I did one batch of basil and pepper pesto and another of basil and coriander pesto. Unfortunately, the coriander was shop bought. I stopped attempting to grow it two years ago as it never amounted to anything. The pesto takes no time at all to put together. The only cooking at all is the toasting of the pine nuts, the rest is just measuring the ingredients, prepare them and blitz the lot together before jarring. By the time the pesto was finally in its jars, the chamomile was dried and ready as well. It was tipped into the grinder and ground down until I was happy with the result. They were then tipped into a sterilised jar, all labelled. It was definitely a busy day in the kitchen and tomorrow will be a busy one in the polytunnels as the humidity has caused my purple sprouting broccoli to seed, and the caterpillars have had a field day with my cabbages. I don’t want to pull them up however, because I’d rather the caterpillars stay where they are now instead of moving on to any of my other vegetables.

Mint Syrup: I had 5 cups of mint, so it’s just a case of keeping the same number for the water and sugar. A lot of sugar I know but it is simple syrup. 5 cups of mint. 5 cups of water. 5 cups of sugar – I used castor sugar. You can make a small jar with 1 cup of mint as well of course, just use 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. Put everything into a pot and bring it to a boil – making sure to stir until the sugar dissolves. Let it simmer for 1 minute, then take it off the heat and let it cool for about an hour. You can always be sterilising your jars at this point. Drain the syrup and jar it up. Label with the name and date – it should last for up to a month. If you have a canner – then it will last a few months instead. Pesto: Chilli and Basil Pesto 1 green chilli 80g of basil – I include the stalks as well, full of flavour and they just add another level to the pesto. 50g of pine nuts 50g of parmesan cheese 150mls of olive oil 2 garlic cloves Heat a pan without oil and toast the pine nuts until they are golden. Then take them off the heat. Grate the parmesan. Peel the garlic. Put everything into a food processor and blitz to the consistency of your choice. Some people I know like it smooth, but we like ours with a few lumpy bits still. Spoon it carefully into sterilised jars. Label and date. Keep in the fridge for up to a week, and once opened do use within three days. The basil and coriander pesto is the quite the same but omit the chilli and use 70g of Basil and 50g coriander. Enjoy!

[Kendra]

Life

Life is all about us, and the polytunnels are ridiculous in how much they are thriving. I've been missing from E for almost  a month which is a lot to catch up on in blog life but over the next few weeks I will try. As my vision hasn't been great, I didn't get many photos myself but thankfully I did ask the SO to take some for me. This post won't have any unfortunately, but it does have a video. Sadly the end just gets cut but for very good reason, our dog Polly came into the polytunnel to tell tales on her brother who had trapped a fledgling pigeon. Of course I had to go and help it, but I hadn't paused the record at the time, I had just stopped it. We have been experiencing a very strange summer for Ireland, the humidity is stifling, the sun continues to play cat and mouse games with the rain and wind. It's about even as to who is winning this year, but it is the humidity that is really getting to people, plants and animals. We are leaving more water bowls out than usual for our dogs and watering every day, late in the evening so the ground maintains the moisture for longer - isn't helping either. The plants are sucking it up and growing far too fast. It's like someone put a spell on everything, compared to the outdoor plants! The unfortunate thing about this is, that some things have gone to seed. Some plants become heavy with vegetables and fruit - such as our tomato plants and the stalks that have not had time to grow strong, begin to bend under the weight. I've lost several plants already but did not let anything go to waste. I used the unripened green tomatoes for Green Tomato Chutney, and a few other green tomato recipes. I've also frozen a few which I hadn't realised I could do, so a new learning curve for me this year. I think the winter will be spent trying to figure out how to grow things in the event that our summers become as humid as this one. For now I will spend the next few weeks trying to catch up on blog posts for you all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96i_CwprIg&feature=youtu.be

[catface]

totally stalking this thread !! <3 your posts look so lovely !!

[Kendra]

totally stalking this thread !! <3 your posts look so lovely !!

Thanks so much Catface - glad you're enjoying the blog :D

[Kendra]

Review of August

I know it's another cheat by doing a video but do forgive me.
I had photos taken throughout August but between one thing and another, life got in the way.
A video ended up being far easier.

The weekend this was taken, I ended up pretty rough with Covid - actually within hours of taking this and am only able
to post it up now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrS-mWui3wk

[Envious]

I love following along with this. Gardening makes me happy!

My tomatoes didn't do anything productive this year. Peppers and strawberries went wild. Cucumbers are in heavy production mode right now. My berries decided to do another fruiting which is strange, but I'll take it. Not sure what they'll taste like. We've had some pretty unusual weather which has messed with the pumpkins.

[Kendra]

I love following along with this. Gardening makes me happy!

My tomatoes didn't do anything productive this year. Peppers and strawberries went wild. Cucumbers are in heavy production mode right now. My berries decided to do another fruiting which is strange, but I'll take it. Not sure what they'll taste like. We've had some pretty unusual weather which has messed with the pumpkins.

The same Envious, glad to have you here.

With the tomatoes we usually try anywhere between two or three different varieties. The outdoor and greenhouse batches didn't do so good, they got eaten alive or blighted. But the tomatoes in the polytunnels did much better. Except of course for coming on too soon and not having the stalk strength to bear the weight of their own fruit.

Our chillies did alright, but our single pepper plant grew a single rather stunted pepper, while our strawberry plants dried up (the greenhouse) or just went wild (outside the polytunnel) or seemed to be doing something just not growing any fruit (polytunnel). I unpotted the plants in the polytunnel and planted them in instead, so hopefully we'll have a late crop of them. The wild ones outside of the PT were fodder basically for the dogs and birds.

I only planted pickled cucumbers this year, so that I could do a lot of gherkin jars which I already have far too many of and still they are coming! The courgettes did ok but not the usual mass we are used to. I blame it all on the weather as well this year, it has been very strange. Far too hot for the south of Ireland. I planted out a few different winter squashes as well but so far only 1 has taken, the others are being very slow - these are all planted outside as well. Last year I thought we were in for a bumper crop but the pigeons demolished them, just as they did with the plums this year.

What do you do with your veggies? Do you freeze, can or just cook on the day?

[Kendra]

Polytunnels and Storm Agnes

Storm Agnes wasn't a huge storm by any stretch of the imagination but it was one of the few storms we've had
that has left lasting damage - to the house and the polytunnels. The past few weeks just have been crazy and
seriously blah that I haven't uploaded any photos or been near the polytunnels much either. Two reasons being
that 1 - I have no motivation or interest at the moment, my ADHD has me numbed to it and 2 - until we've caught
the rat, I genuinely hate going near them. I know, I live in the country and furries like that are common. That doesn't
make me hate rats any less.

I do have another video for you and hopefully in the next two weeks or so, I will upload the barrage of images I have
been taking over the past summer and never got to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_TyGLdlbI&feature=youtu.be


The alarm going off at the end was my reminder to get a blackberry and apple crumble out of the oven.
I got a gift of the Recipes based on the world of Tolkein. I used blackberry's that I had picked and frozen,
as well as cooking apples that a friend gave me from her trees. I gave her plenty of tomatoes in return.
I love being able to do that, trading with friends and neighbours. So, this isn't a pie ... it is actually a cake.
And extremely delicious.