Well it seems like I am a monthly blogger as it has been a month since my brother was here. I have been busy in the garden,just not here. I am more of a hands on person than writer obviously, even though I have great intentions to write, sometimes I even forget to jot down notes !

Anyway…..What a difference a month of good weather can make to seeds and plants. I have so many peas ready,I have had to start freezing them already…

Now, I have to say they are inside my tunnel. Actually I planted a lot of my veg in the tunnel this year because I was afraid we would have bad weather again and was taking no chances. But I will be able to sow my autumn veggies in modules sooner as I have free space on my potting table in the “Sheebeen” now.

Earlier, I had brought my strawberries inside the tunnel, under the home made bench, so with the latest sunny,hot weather they were big enough to ripen up faster…and I have had a nice few every day  now !  

The tomatoes did seem to be at a standstill for a while,but all of a sudden there were lovely yellow flowers and with the burst of  continuous sunshine for the last 4 days, the little baby toms seem to be growing daily, and I haven’t caught up with pictures for two days either….

My Dwarf French Beans, which I love, have even thrived and we have had a small crop already. I did read somewhere that if you pick some when they are small it encourages more crops. I have 2 rows of these and when they are going over I intend to sow more for autumn.

Himself wants Celery and I was reluctant to grow it this year as it got eaten inside the stems last year, but….I gave in and made him happy….I just noticed in this picture that there is a big darker “S” shape….I think it is just the extra compost from the module….I hope….:)

This was our sunset  a few evenings ago. I don’t know when I last saw such a beautiful sunset in a couple of years!!

The Swede Turnips have germinated in an outside home made type of cold frame and are doing ok…

I spotted a space between 2 rows of tomatoes and just could not let it go to waste, so I sowed a row of Carrots in there. I think I read that carrots were ok to companion with tomatoes. At least when all lower tomato leaves will be stripped, the carrots will have more room I do have another row of carrots in a raised bed.

Himself needed some more fresh soil to earth up the spuds, so he dug a hole down at the back of the “Sheebeen”. Now…..what does one do with a hole at the end of the garden…..?  You turn it into a little pond where you can hear the wildlife and birds chirping away in the trees, and sit on a home made log seat and listen to their evensong and watch them feeding their young!

I also  turned my old overgrown Rockery into a Fairy Garden….This is now a lot fuller as the plants have grown a lot since the photo was taken!

And last, but not least….a view up the veggie garden from behind the Gooseberries and Blackcurrant bushes, which are full of fruit this year

Thanks for stepping into my world and I hope you liked the tour….

Happy Gardening to All !

I cannot wait to see him,My Big Bro, he had his 60th Birthday last Tuesday with his 3 kids

So I cleaned up my garden today..in honour of his presence…

And my toms are doing good too, some in growbags due to lack of space…we never have enough space!!

I also re-did the writing in our “Sheebeen”…Murphy’s is the Cork stout drink that  my bro comes especially to taste the old taste…

And can anyone explain this…trees grow upwards, but this branch branched out horizontally!?

New pet named approprietly…Badger

Me in my “Sheebeen”, himself was in a good humour today…lol! Bro will be here til Thursday…Gonna have a good time catching up!

Love and hugs to all who come and visit my blog

The signs of growth are showing over the last few weeks. The temperatures have risen slightly outside,but in the tunnel the little red line has gone up to 25C or more. But with the risk of night time frosts still, I did not do much planting outside.

The tunnel is actually bursting at the moment as I even planted the peas inside, and as I found out last year that french beans don’t like frosts either,but I love french beans,so in they went too. A bed of early potatoes are a must in the tunnel too,as we did not sow the tubers outside until last week.

Most of my onion seeds were ready to go out ages ago,but ground was still cold and so they secured a bed inside too. The brassicas seem to be the only other plants that are a bit slow in wanting to outgrow their modules and have only recently been potted on to await their transfer outside. I think lettuces seem to be the hardiest of plants as a small row of iceberg were outside before a few frosty nights recently and seem to be doing well. 

I have 6 small Moneymaker tomato plants in the last available bed in the tunnel, but I have been covering them with newspaper by night as I lost many to frostbite last year.

But, basically, everything seems to be trying their best to keep me happy. Even my grapevine has shown some growth and I thought that had died.Most veggies are probably a month behind, but hopefully we will soon get a burst of warm sun and all will be rosy in my garden

To save space I also use hanging baskets for tomatoes and peas

Strawberries were kept inside because ants loved them last year and fattened up on my crop, not this year….I am getting wise to the little critters and am now sorry I did not buy a much bigger tunnel,even though I do like the outdoors a lot.

Himself is partial to a few radishes,so a small row of these found a little space too…

I can’t wait for the next few weeks to be able to taste all the new season’s veggies. Thanks for stopping by, Happy Gardening !

OK….the last post was in February…because I love to moan and didn’t want to put you all through all my disappointments about our weather. That’s my story and I’m sticking with that…lol.

I didn’t post in March because I was trying to just keep myself warm and try to forget about the heat this time last year.But as I am am a very avid gardener, I was cheating and sowing behind all your backs. Sorry…couldn’t help myself. 

On the 11th of March I wrote in my gardening diary that I sowed 20 French Beans, some different variety of Tomatoes,Radishes,Onions, Spuds,Carrots,Parsnips, etc…I love a challenge.!

Over the last few weeks,I have seen and realized that we have not had it as bad as the UK. So here is a few pictures of what I have growing now…!

Spuds in tunnel, best place for them, due to last year’s devastating blight! But loads more chitting in shed…

Loads of seedlings doing good under an incubator inside my tunnel. Not taking any chances this year

Strawberry fields forever…inside

I absolutely love French Beans,going to sow more later too! Seriously looking forward to a good growing season soon! Our German Shepherd,Prince , only 10 months old, is learning to respect our garden…lol

More to come …watch this space!

I know….I know….I’ve been off the radar since I got back from last autumn’s sun holiday. To come back to our horrible Irish weather was a bit of a “downer”. I dabbled, tipped around and weeded here and there, but my heart wasn’t in it enough to come and blog about the gloomy weather. So I decided to just read others and keep a low profile. We did get through the winter with some veggies like Leeks,soggy Onions, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and Perpetual spinach.

The depth of winter was so wet,windy and downright miserable and there were few days that I even ventured down the garden.It was so boggy I could have cut turf/peat….LOL!

Another thing lately was that my laptop crashed and I lost everything including hundreds of photos from way back, maybe 5 years worth of them But  I know someone, who knows someone, who knows a lot about fixing laptops, hard drives, etc….so I am back up and running with a new hard drive and almost like new laptop. Only thing is I will have to start taking photos of  all my garden as it renews this Spring. Let’s say……a New Year…..a New Beginning .

I am reluctant to start sowing too soon this year after the disastrous late frosts, another few weeks should get us going full speed again.

However…..I did sow some peas on the 8th of January under a mini cloche that Himself erected on a bench in the tunnel, and they are now quite healthy looking plants, fingers crossed

I have also sown some more garden peas and sugar snap peas and 2 trays of Onion seeds. This is my first attempt at sowing onions from seed…fingers crossed again.!

The tunnel is all washed down, inside and out, so all beds are ready for their little bed-fellows !

Our 2 “Girls”, Maisy and Daisy made it through the winter and moulting and are looking well and healthy and producing an egg each once more. 

Well, that’s basically all for now. I hope to take new, fresh photos as buds begin to flower and the ground dries up and more seeds are sown. Thank you for stopping by and reading my ramblings again.

Cheers for now and Roll On Planting Time,

Catherine.

Hello all. Since my last post we have had a spurt of growth with the rain and warmth over the last few weeks. The finer and warmer weather has also boosted my spirits and given me a renewed vigor for continuing to grow and sow. With the news that shop bought vegetables will be much dearer this winter and the impending harsh budget, I have decided to sow and plant winter veggies once again.

I already had a few leeks in earlier and they are nearly ready for harvesting…but have also planted a few more baby ones that were languishing in their old little toilet roll holders…

and I am really looking forward to making my home made Leek and Potato soup again, even though we lost most of our spuds to blight. But Himself  has planted a few red roosters that had started sprouting in the bag and if we get a frost we will cover them in fleece. They have already peeked above the ground.

A small row of parsnips that I only chanced growing this year in our fairly stony ground to which we added a fork’s depth of sand, has astonished us beyond belief as I thought they would have forked out not far below the ground, but look what we got….

Can you imagine our delight ! It took all our strength to try to gently tease these out of the ground. I will definitely try this again next year

Despite the frost way back,when I sowed tomato seeds too early and I thought they had died, but I gave them a fighting chance and they pulled through. It was a long haul during the bad summer weather, but I nurtured them with home made brews of nettle and comfrey liquid feeds and a nice few of them did me proud …….especially the beefsteaks,as this was my first year growing these….

Another big surprise was that just for fun I sowed and planted a few seeds from last Halloween’s shop bought pumpkin…..I now have 4 plants winding around the garden doing their own thing, BUT….one of them has produced an offspring so far …..This was taken on the 28th August, and I think it has even got a bit bigger since then. I am so delighted, even if it never gets any bigger

I have had a good crop of onions which are now drying out nicely and will soon be plaited and hung up to store. Another few rows of perpetual spinach have been sown and some are peeking through  and a few more dwarf french beans and we are all set to eat home grown for another few months. Empty beds in the tunnel have been replenished with horse manure and I have a barrel of seaweed liquid brewing up nicely. 

We have heard that the weather is suppose to warm up next week, typical, because the children start going back to school from tomorrow , always happens in Ireland!

I hope to post again before I go on a bit of a holiday with my daughter and 3 children at the end of September to see my son who happens to live in the south of Spain, where it is warm,dry and sunny still.

Thanks again for stopping by and reading my little ramblings,

Cheers and Happy Gardening,

Catherine.

Hello There to All my Followers. I wish to apologize to you all who have gone to the trouble of “Liking” or Following my Veggie Blog.I have not been able to find the time lately to let you know how my garden goes. Family circumstances over the last few months have intervened in my blogging ability and time. But I think we are coming to a conclusion in the next week or two. My daughter who had been staying with us temporarily with 2 young girls has found a house ,which should be available to move into soon.  In the meantime, I have a free night to catch up with you all !

This year here in Ireland has been the wettest and coldest as long as I can remember, and that has been a “few” years now…LOL! Everything has been late germinating or devastated with blight, virus or slugs. We might have got a good day here and there, but I think it was just Mother Nature teasing us into believing it actually was summertime!

But with all that doom and gloom, some veggie plants struggled with their meagre life and decided to put up a fight to live…..and lived to tell this tale of fruitfulness ….Here are some of my success pictures…………Kayley got her own little tools and I gave her a patch in the tunnel to plant a row of Perpetual Spinach and 2 Dwarf French Beans,a Basil plant and a sucker Tomato….

after 2 weeks her french beans are …..Bloomin’ Great

A few carrots,beetroots and turnips every day have kept my enthusiasm up and the first tastings before I blanche and freeze have kept my juices flowing……

Last year a gardening friend gave me some yellow cherry toms to taste…..I thought they would be bitter because I was only use to reds……wow, was I surprised…so surprised I managed to think of saving their seeds to try for myself this year.The other reds here are red cherry and garden hanging pearls. Ooops….note to self here…..save some more seeds for next year…:)

I am also looking ahead hopefully at these tiny Brussels Sprouts in the tunnel, dinner for the 25th Dec….not saying the “dreaded” word though…LOL!

I just knew I couldn’t resist a free packet of seeds from a garden magazine…..I DID try…but being a true gardener I had to….I sowed a few in case some would not germinate…..how silly of me to think that the one plant I really didn’t mind NOT to germinate would actually ALL germinate…..Please all feel free to call and empty my fridge so I can fit more food in..Courgettes (Zuchinni) galore !

I really..really hope that from 3 Aubergine plants that I have in a growbag will produce at least one fruit….I know they are difficult to set, but I am trying my best!

So despite the slow, bad start and middle and losing all our spuds to blight, there is always a light at the end of the “tunnel” and I hope it’s NOT the oncoming train….LOL!

To Autumn sowings and there is Always Next Year

Cheers, from a Gardening Addict

Since my last post I am feeling a bit better. Amongst all the happenings I developed a head cold and chest infection, so I really went down hill and did not do anything worth talking about down the veggie garden. Also a daughter and her two little girls have moved in temporarily while they look for another house to rent. Kayley, aged 4, has been a great help to me. She loves coming down and opening the tunnel doors in the mornings and closing them in the evening. She likes to do a bit of watering and checking plants out too…..

Dare I say this…..the last 3 days have been warm and sunny…so the humour is on me now. I got myself outside and down and dirty in the soil once more….what a lovely feeling to get my nails black again…LOL! There seems to have been a burst of growth firstly from all the heavy rain and then the heat that followed. The gladioli opened over the weekend….

Tomatoes have at last started to ripen, even though some are more bitter yet,needing more heat and sun for a little while longer…

The outside Brassica beds look a bit bedraggled from not weeding ,but that is on my agenda for this weekend. I actually found a big, ugly slug today sitting on the side of my little white cauliflower…..I’m sure the neighbours heard me cursing at him as he went on his fast, merry way !

The tunnel has been getting a bit “foresty” looking lately, what possessed me to grow 2 courgette/zuchinni plants in there??? I didn’t even want to sow any this year, but you know us gardeners….if the seeds are there…they get sown…!

I will not be planting brassicas in the tunnel anymore either. They get too tall and take over. They do well enough outside. Hubby has an idea on how to maybe out wit the slugs next year…..build raised beds on stilts….we DO have enough pallets and more to come next year.  

My parsley has been allowed to go to seed in the hope of saving my own for next year. I just don’t know when they will be ripe, or do they flower first?

Yesterday and today I planted purple top Milan Turnips in the old hothouse. They had been lingering in their modules for so long I hope they grow. I pulled more of my white and red onions today. The stalks had bent over and some have thick necks, so these will be used up each day and what’s left will be strung up and  stored . I had 3 nice strong looking sweet pepper plants in a growbag down in my “Sheebeen”……but when I went to check today one of them had been almost decapitated and I saw those slimy trails that give away the perpetrators …so disappointing !

Three aubergine/eggplants seem to be doing well in a growbag too. There are a few little buds nearly ready to flower and look stronger than last year. Last year the flowers just dropped off before setting fruit. So hopefully I may see a real one this year.

I did take some new photos today, but they will not load on my computer , I will try again tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and it is good to be feeling better again and getting outside to get “Down and Dirty”…..LOL!

Happy Gardening and hoping for more of this nice warmth and sun,

Catherine C.

I know the weather does not help…I could always use the  S.A.D. Syndrome too…probably most of Irish folk will soon too ! But we…Himself and I..proper grammar here…:)..have been through a few bad weeks of family related problems/issues.! We use to be able for them when we were a small bit younger, but the “aulder” we get the more it affects us!

Himself..as with all men…keeps things locked inside and lets it fester. Why do they do that when we women would love them to talk….cry..or just lean on our shoulders?? Just once would do and then we would know they really have feelings. !

Last year’s pic of Mary in between her 2 brothers..Rest Mary..you will be back in Carrigrohane soon

The garden has not seen me much lately, I remember being outside til at least 10.p.m. in years gone by…now we are inside at 7.p.m…What’s that all about?

I do have to admit that veggies outside do not have to be watered by hose this year, but there was a certain kind of calmness and special dreamyness about the hour spent watering…right?

My Tomatoes are growing and fruiting, but there is also this spotty,furry fungus stuff all over and I try to pick the affected leaves off as much as I can….!

I think we have to seriously think about next years planting assuming the weather is not going to improve much more than this year….Global Warming…how are Ya..!!

This time last year these would be so red…!

Let us just hope and pray we can still plant veggies, cause that is what I do!

Happy Future Gardening to Us All.