Last Post 1148 days 6 hours ago
31 March 2010 21:35:01
Weather
The last couple of days have put a dint in my new Garden plans! should have got the first coat of paint on the renovated greenhouse on Monday, the second yesterday and it should have been fixed to the base today with the glass going in tomorrow! if it going to rain tomorrow i will erect 4 large posts around the greenhouse and cover them with plastic and paint under cover! the show must go on!!!
30 March 2010 00:28:58
Broad beans (Bunyards exhibition)
The Broad beans and peas are coming on well and should be heading to the Allotment in the next 2 weeks, had planned to take them out of the greenhouse during the day this week to start hardening them off but the weather has disrupted those plans! if the weather is OK on Friday we plan to get some cabbage and calabrese in these are well hardened off and have been outdoors for the past 2 weeks! the kale has yet to produce it first true leaves so it will be a while before they go out which is no worry as we had them earmarked to be planted at the end of April early May, also plan around the middle of April to sow the Rat tailed radish, the ordinary Radish, Beetroot, Spinach and Carrot seeds directly into the ground in the allotment, will towards the end of April start sowing the main crop potatoes (Maris Pipers x 45, Roosters x 40 and King Edwards x16) the French beans, Runner beans, Lima beans and Asparagus beans and a second sowing of Broad beans, peas and cabbage, will also get the Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Courgette into their final pots, in the Greenhouses! Need also to get the fruit bushes into the ground in the beds that have to dug planted and filled inside the fruit cage that still has to be bought! never mind erected!! and will have to erect the 2 greenhouses in the mean time!! April i think will be a busy month!! think I'll have an early night with a good book to prepare for it all!!
29 March 2010 18:14:15
Chili seedlings
It was definitely a day for indoor gardening! and after yesterday hard to believe! Well it gave me the opportunity to pot on the chili collection into their own pots! we are not growing as many of each variety this year as last but concentrated on a half dozen or so of a couple of varieties, this years collection consists of Elefanten russel x 8, Lemon Drop x 6, Sweet Ladies Finger x 5, Hungarian Hot Wax x 7, Scotch Bonnet x 10 and Bolivian Hairy x 2, we will only hold on to the 2 Bolivian and 1 of each of the rest with most of the remainder promised to friends, we didn't plant any Cayenne chillies this year as we had great success over wintering one of the plants from last year which now has about a half dozen 1" chillies!!
28 March 2010 21:32:49
Allotment
We got a good bit of work done today, got another 12ft x 4ft bed marked out and double dug, Maggie planted the last of the second Early's, Kestrel, marked out another bed 14ft x 4ft and will make a start on that the next day! and just tided around and done some more weeding! we spent 3 hrs on the allotment and got home about 3.30, we decided to sit down and relax with a cup of tea, and within minutes we were both out for the count!! we both slept for about an hour and a half! all that fresh air in Howth! Maggie woke like a women possessed and went out into the garden and dug one of the veg beds and planted more onions!!! i tided up the greenhouse and watered some of the plants and seedlings, thought about potting on the chillies and some of the tomatoes but that's as far as it went, ordered an Indian had a shower and will go out with Maggie for a few well earned pints!!! tomorrow is another day..............
28 March 2010 10:52:02
Glorious Morning
What a beautiful morning, great day for Belvedere, hope you all enjoy your day! Jacinta has kindly brought along some of our Heirlooms for Rachel, Bill and Alison, have sent a good mixture so enjoy them folks any questions just give us a shout! going out to the allotment for a couple of hours to get the rest of the second earlies in (Kestrel) and another 1 or 2 beds dug! later today will pot on the chili seedlings, plant some more bulbs in pots and wash out and plant up the Strawberry planter! great day for the garden, enjoy
28 March 2010 04:39:44
Old Greenhouse Renovation
Today we got the old greenhouse power washed, primed and ready for painting! hopefully painted first coat on Monday and up and running by the end of next week! follow the progress on the photo album, Greenhouse renovation......
27 March 2010 13:51:10
Garlic crop
The Garlic we sowed last November, and this January, are really coming on, we have 65 cloves planted and all are about 6" to 7" tall, we have 3 varieties, Cristo, Solent White, and another one that i have yet to identify that we bought a bulb of in a Supermarket in Lanzarote!!
26 March 2010 18:02:25
New Spuds on the way!!
Towards the end of January i planted up 2 potato bags with first earlies Home Guard, planted 3 tubers in each bag and placed the bags in the greenhouse, they were slow to take off but with the bit of heat we have had over the last week or so they have now taken off, the leaves now sit about 6" above the compost and are in need of earthing up! so upwards and onwards and with some luck a nice harvest of early early new potatoes!
25 March 2010 18:05:30
Belvedere
Just a short note to wish all those traveling to Belvedere on Sunday a safe trip and a great day, unfortunately we cant make it this time, we have just to much going on here at the moment, next time!! but we have a few heirloom toms making the trip on our behalf! Thanks again to Jacinta (PAGE 89 OF THE APRIL EDITION OF THE IRISH GARDEN) for looking after that for us, once again enjoy the day, we look forward to all the photos..........
24 March 2010 14:12:19
The €2 Amaryllis !
The Amaryllis i purchased from the good old €2 shop has opened this morning, came into the kitchen this morning to be greeted by this wonderful sight! all for the cost of a €2 coin! should have bought more! (next year!)
24 March 2010 03:03:27
Tomato Mansions
Have almost finished the potting on of the tomato crop, i have only 7 more varieties left to do out of the original amount of 41!!! had planned to do that tonight but i feel shattered! think i have allotment fatigue!!!! off tomorrow so i will get it done then, photo is of Tomato Mansions! about 180 plants! not to mention the other 70 or 80 plants waiting to join this group! will start the selection of 2 of each variety on Good Friday, so even with the lists i have for friends i will still have a good few spare plants if any of you feel up to growing a few heirloom toms, let me know!
23 March 2010 04:07:28
Kestrel is a smooth skinned with purple eyes, and winner of many prizes at exhibition. Kestrel has an old fashioned flavour, it makes good chips and roasts well because the soft flesh does not absorb much fat. Consistently shows good resistance to slugs and blackleg. Many Second Earlies are delicious as new potatoes - lift some a little sooner if your First Earlies have run out.
Second early for July lifting.
- Yield: High
- Shape: Oval
- Skin: White/Purple eye
- Flesh: Pale Yellow
- Cooking: Good chipped, roasts well and makes mouthwatering mash
22 March 2010 22:14:31
Greenhouse Foundations
Got the concrete foundations for the Greenhouses poured this afternoon, hope to get the old greenhouse cleaned, primed and painted by the weekend, and hopefully in place with the glass installed by the middle of next week! all in time for the tomato invasion!!!!!!!!
22 March 2010 17:42:19
Day on the Allotment
Got back about 5pm after spending about 4hrs on the allotment, its only when we stopped and sat down that i feel the aches and pains! i will need to soak in a hot bath tonight! we got plenty done, i dug out 2 more beds and removed weed and lots of stones! Maggie planted the remainder of the Stuttgarter onion sets and also the Red Baron sets, we also made a start on the spuds, Maggie planted the Home Guard tubers (20) and the Nicola tubers (12) that brings the total planted onion sets to 500, shallots 35 and potatoes to 32 tubers, hope to get back out on Wednesday and get the Kestrel tubers in (27) and get another one or two beds dug!
22 March 2010 02:27:54
Cayenne Chili update
Hello all, delighted to report that the chili plant we over-wintered is flying! it produced about a half dozen chillies over the winter which we picked last month, it has at the moment about 2 dozen flowers, two of which have started to fruit, so we will look forward to picking a harvest of chillies in early May, and if the good weather and sunshine continue even sooner!!
21 March 2010 14:09:40
Great Find!!!!
I must admit that over the years i have "rescued" various items for the garden from skips, i.e. a couple of Belfast sinks, many plastic pots and one or two ornate terracotta ones! yesterday will rank amongst my best ever finds!! while walking back to work i noticed that one of the local shops were having a clear out of its store room and there sitting on the top of the skip were these aluminium florists flower holders! they are old and quiet heavy, 20" tall with the top of them measuring 10" in diameter! there were 14 in total!! couldn't believe my luck!! i will drill a few drainage holes in them and i think they will be great for herbs or cherry toms tumbling over the side of them.......
20 March 2010 03:47:34
Chili seedlings
With all the talk about the tomato seedlings! i don't want our chili seedlings to miss out on the limelight, while the toms are flying, we have over 150 plants potted on and maybe about another 150 to pot on! they are well sorted! the chilies are slower to grow on but at this time of year what does that matter! We have about 10 different varieties between chillies and sweet peppers, the photo shows four of the chili peppers, Elefant Russell, Lemon Drop, Hungarian Hot Wax and Scotch Bonnet, while they may be slower to grow on at this time, we are looking forward to the rich harvest they will produce this year.................
19 March 2010 11:23:52
Waiting to be transported!
More onions waiting to be transported to the Allotment! have to work today, would be a great day to be on the allotment! will have to wait till Monday! hope to make a start on the spuds also next week.............
17 March 2010 21:52:44
Greenhouse Foundations
We got the builder to dig out the foundations for the 2 greenhouses, the one we are renovating which is 10ft x 8ft, and the new one which is 14ft x 8ft, hope to have the renovated one up and running by the 26th of this month and the new one in place by the middle of April...................
16 March 2010 19:25:45
Maggie getting stuck in!
We managed to make a start on the allotment at long last! we planed and marked out 4 of the beds, got 2 of them dug raked and planted up! we got 240 Onion sets planted (Stuttgarter Giant) and 30 Shallots planted (Red Sun) we still have another 250 sets to get in (Red Baron & Stuttgarter Giant) that will be done next week with the potatoes, Home Guard, Kestrel and Nicola, 58 tubers between the 3 varieties, get those in and we will have made a great start!
15 March 2010 18:33:45
Greenhouse Renovation
This is the old greenhouse from my Fathers garden, it is 10ft x 8ft and in sound structure, we have decided to hold on to it and renovate it! it has had all the glass taken out and will have a concrete floor poured, be power washed, primed and painted green to match the new one on order! have done a before Album and in the not to distant future will post one of the renovated model!!
15 March 2010 14:55:56
Onion sets
Hope the weather holds up for tomorrow as we need to get the onion sets in! we have about 600 sets to go into the Allotment and the space that would create in the greenhouse would be very welcome!
15 March 2010 01:47:14
Flower Seedlings March 2010
I had sown a selection of the flower seeds that we got from the secret seed site last month, and they are all starting to show now through the compost, the first to show were the Digitalis and the Campanulas about 10 days ago, but now every variety is starting to show, they are, Isoplexis Canariensis, Digitalis Grandiflora, Verbascum chaixii ex Album, Campanula Persilifolia, Gaillardia Aristata, Aquilegia William Guinness and Petronia, plan to grow these on in pots and plant in our new garden when we move.........
14 March 2010 14:33:51
Maggie up to her eyes in Tomatoes!
Maggie was up early this morning and decided to make a start on potting on the tomatoes, it is normally a big job for us any year but this year its a huge job!!! Thanks to Maggie's hard work this morning we now have 11 varieties potted on, 92 plants in total!! we only have another 30 varieties to do! about another 250 plants or so! that's all!! we will be keeping about 85 plants ourselves and another 60 plants or so promised to friends so far! still think we will have a couple of dozen plants spare! so if anyone thinks they would be up to growing some heirloom tomatoes give us a shout! the good weather we have had over the last few days has everything starting to take off! greenhouse has come alive! will post a journal about it later, off to town now for a ramble around, something to eat and a few pints! as a thank you for my hard working wife!
13 March 2010 03:12:08
Bolivian Hairy Chili
Got a lovely surprise tonight when i came home from work! One of the Bolivian Hairy Chili seeds had germinated! this is of great satisfaction to me, the BHC is a pubescent chili (hairy!) but also a chili that will not cross pollinate, which is rare for a chili! they are also rare to find, and you certainly wont come across them very often! i was lucky to obtain 5 seeds from a grower in the UK last year, i passed on 2 of the seeds to Madeline McKeever in Cork who had been looking to grow one of these for a while (best of luck with them Madeline) and kept 3 for ourselves! we sowed the 3 seeds on the 22nd of February with the rest of the chillies, the Scotch bonnet were sown a week earlier and were first to germinate, they were followed by the Hungarian Hot Wax (thanks Jacinta) and the Lemon Drops, and even the Elefantrussel appeared yesterday! to be honest I was a bit concerned! but tonight i am happy, very happy..........
12 March 2010 02:54:35
Potting on
Today Maggie started the potting on of the tomatoes, we have no room left anywhere! really hope the weather improves so we can free up some space in the greenhouse and then the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 March 2010 21:13:18
Second batch results!
These are the germination results for the second batch of tomatoes sown on the 17/2/10, the first number is the amount of seed sown, the second number the amount of seed germinated, Black from Tula 10/7, Black Krim 6/1, Black Russian 7/6Costoluto Fiorentino 7/7, Demidov 7/6, again happy enough with results, but once again as with the first batch one variety fails to deliver! Black Krim only one seedling from six seed!!!
09 March 2010 19:47:35
More Stock!
Had to go into town today to do a few bits and pieces, so i took the opportunity to have a browse around my favorite haunts! Only one i didn't get to was Chapters, didn't really mind as i don't really have any time for reading at the moment! had to go to Mr Middleton to pick up some Nemasys for Vine Weevils and some more name tags! tried Aldi, nothing of any interest, dropped into Lidl and picked up another pack of anti-bird netting, good value at €6.99, then on to one of my favorite shops, the Euro shop in Moore st! after measuring up the Allotment yesterday we found that we would have room for another 30 potato tubers! they sell potato tubers in there and while slightly smaller than other tubers you will come across they are fine none the less, and as it was mostly main crop spuds we were after i don't think their slightly smaller size will make a difference as they will have plenty of time to catch up! found out while we were there that they were selling 2 packs of tubers for €3! so i picked 2 packs of King Edwards (16 tubers) 1 pack of Maris pipers (8 tubers) and 1 pack of Nicola (6 tubers) to add to our spud collection! also great value in bamboo canes! 20 4ft canes in a pack for €2!! we picked up 2 packs, so all in all great value, 30 potato tubers and 40 4ft canes for €10!!! God Bless those €2 shops!!!!
09 March 2010 03:50:06
Peas and Beans!
Got some more seed sown tonight, Pea (Kelvedon Wonder) Broad Bean (Bunyards Exhibition) Brussels Sprout (Bedford) and Kale (Dwarf Green Curled) they all went into peat pots apart from the Sprouts which went into a 3" pot and will be pricked out and potted on when big enough, kitchen and greenhouse both full to capacity at this stage! we really need a change in the weather to get some of the veg outdoors and free up some space!
08 March 2010 19:21:23
Allotment
Spent the afternoon out in the allotment today, i was hoping to get the first earlies in this afternoon but my head over-ruled my heart and i have decided to wait another week or so! ground is still just to cold, really itching to get started on the planting but it will just have to wait, all the drills for the spuds are done and the 4 drills together add up to just under 85 meters in length! plenty of room for the 130 tubers we have to put in, the whole allotment comes in at about 140 square meters so there is plenty of room for a bumper harvest! if only the soil would heat up!!!!
08 March 2010 02:33:02
Spuds 2009
Hope to get out later today and plant the first veg in our new allotment! with the weather being as cold as it has nothing has gone into the ground in the allotment so far! i have been chitting our spuds since the middle of January and the first earlie's (Home Guard) are ready to go to ground, we have 20 tubers and the shoots are about one and a half inches in length and good and healthy, would really like the ground to be a bit warmer but will take a chance and get them in tomorrow! hopefully they will be followed soon by the second earlie's (Kestrel and Nicola) and then the main crop (Maris Piper and Roosters) Onion sets and shallots will also be going to ground soon, but will probably wait till the end of the month, will also be doing a bit of work indoors this week with the first batch of tomato seedlings, and the mammoth red cabbage needing to be potted on! and the bean, pea and leek seeds started! its all starting to come thick and fast now! love it!!!
05 March 2010 02:36:16
First batch germination results
I planted the first batch of tomato seeds on the 17/2/10, 15 varieties in total and tonight i compiled the seed sown / germination ratio for that first batch, it is interesting to see that some varieties had a near perfect ratio, while some varieties struggled! the first number is the amount of seed sown, the second number the amount germinated, Orange Giant 10/10, Polar 7/7, Snow Queen 7/5, lldi 15/15, Max 10/9, Mountain Gold 10/1, Siberian 8/8, Black Cherry 10/6, Black Prince 8/5, Rutgers 12/6, Large Cherry 10/10, Amish Paste 12/12, Azoychka 10/8 Nebraska Wedding 15/10 and New Yorker 12/12, the first seeds to show where Siberian and Large Red Cherry both on the 23/2, 6 days after sowing! over all i am happy with the returns, the only disappointment was Mountain Gold with only 1 return from 10! will sow another couple of them and see if there is a better return, but right now its the information that's important...........
04 March 2010 19:30:03
Aldi and Lidl Bargains
Had been looking forward to today since i got the emails from Lidl and Aldi regarding today's specials! had planned to be up in Lidl first thing this morning as i had my eye on a Garden Shredder and figured that at €79 they would sell out fast! well with one thing and another we didn't make Lidl (Coolock) till after 12 and i was right! they did sell out! still managed to pick up 2 of the large garden trugs for €9.98 will drill a few holes in these and use them for growing toms in! a pack of garden netting for €6.99 and 3 of the large plastic pots for €17.97 also for the toms but sadly no Shredder! next we headed up to Aldi where we picked up a Magnolia for €9.99 2 packs of Triteleia bulbs, 80 bulbs in total for €2.98 and 3 packs of plug plants for €8.97, Geranium x 15, Trailing Lobelia x 40 and Impatiens x 24, was getting into the car to head home when Maggie suggested we try Lidl in Baldoyle as we were not to far away, why not we might be lucky! Arrived in Lidl Baldoyle! same story sold out!! it was turning out like a Milk tray ad gone wrong! again about to head home when Maggie suggested Town, Lidl in Moore Street! well we had nothing planned for the day so why not! well our perseverance paid off! Arrived in Lidl in Moore St to find about a dozen shredders! delighted! picked one up for €79, didn't mind carrying it back at all to the car! or the fact that the lifts in the Ilac were out of order for an hour! gladly climbed the 6 flights of stairs!! but i wouldn't do it again! the stairs that is!!!
03 March 2010 20:00:59
Seeds so far!
We have 40 of the 41 varieties of tomato now showing and are delighted with the way things have gone so far! a bit puzzled by the variety that has not yet germinated! beginning to wonder did i sow any seed in the pot at all!! will start the notes tonight on the seed sown/germination ratio, but to be honest am quiet happy with the results, also sowed about a dozen varieties of flower seed that i got from Secret seeds last year in their sale, 2 of these have also germinated, Gaillardia aristata and Isoplexis canariensis, so the kitchen is quiet full of seedlings at the moment! a lovely sight!! hop to get up to lidle early tomorrow, great range of items for the garden on sale, hope to pick up a few bits but really have my eye on a shredder!
02 March 2010 19:02:49
Lanzarote Tree
When we were in lanzarote on holidays last September i took some seed of the tree in the photograph, we took the seed home dried it out and planted it in seed and cutting compost about 6 weeks ago, only yesterday i noticed that 3 of the seeds had germinated! we have sown about 20 seeds and so far 3 have shown, will keep you posted as to the progress of the seed! anyone with any info, it would be most welcome.................
02 March 2010 03:39:40
Mammoth Red
Have germinated the seeds of Mammoth red cabbage! i sowed 16 seed on the 22/2/10 and as of today i have 16 seedlings, look forward to growing this cabbage and picking up the prize at the end of the season, thanks in advance Mecky...........