A Bit of Hacking

This is me last autumn deciding to cut a largish pine tree, grown from a tiny fledging pine I found on a mountain walk, a number of years ago, 

Why would I want to cut down such a tree, you might ask? We're living in a world that asks us to plant trees, not cut them down. Yes indeed.

The problem I was having with this largish tree was, that it was casting a dark shadow on the vegetable beds behind it.

But don't worry. the tree is very much alive. I just cut a large portion of its top, so now the light can get to the beds behind and the tree is still alive.

It does look odd, however, with its top off and cut. I'm not sure if it will produce a small shoot upwards to give its top a bit of balance.

I have included a photo of this injured tree. I'm not hiding my rough treatment.

Yes I do admit it must have suffered a kind of shock. It has survived the winter and is not showing any signs of weakness, so far.

It does provide a great windbreak to the plants behind it and absorbs the winds blowing from either side.

And yes I did make my apology to it before I put the first cut into it.

It was hard going with a bow saw, which got stuck halfway, because the angle of cutting was too high for my reach.

Fortunately sometime after, a very windy storm blew the rest of the uncut top down. Thanks Nature.

I used a lopper to cut up the larger branches into neat piles, allowing them to rot naturally over the winter. Some of these piles have provided ground cover to weeds growing underneath.

Pine needles, I understand are good for the soil, but can introduce a bit too much acid.

Sweet Scent

Narcissus  Scent

What a delightful scent, so sweet, almost heady. On these spring days when the weather is still like winter and the rain doesn't let up, this sweet scent is a great spirit uplifted. It's no wonder poets write in raving style about this flower.

I should plant more of these bulbs, but honestly, I just forget to do it in the autumn time. Oh dear!

Sweet Pine

Here's a little pine tree, rescued from the Christmas buying frenzy last year, on sale after the great festive day. I bought four in all as an idea of celebrating each of my grandchildren. I'm thinking some day they might come and claim their own. 

This is a fairly slow growing variety, nice bright green shoots appearing this spring.

I'll eventually have to move them from their spot if they get too big...a few years before that needs to happen though!

Pop-Ups in the Garden...Nature's Abundance

Raspberry pop-up.

They're everywhere. This little plant is probably a runner frim an Autumn fruiting variety, which originally cane frim a friend's left-over planting. These plants grow quite tall throughout  the summer. In the autumn, dark red fruits are in abundance. Very eady to grow and the plant in fruit lasts well into November, despite the cold weather.

A great example of easy growing fruit. 

Potato pop-up. 

There are many of these pop-ups around the garden. They have increased over the years. I used to dig them out, thinking they were in the way, until I realised Nature is helping me for free. Generally the pop-ups grow without much help. I will cover the growing plant, so the developing potatoes won't  be green when exposed to the air. Last year I had quite a good crop, in one spot, with some very large potatoes, as I forgot to dig them up. Quite tasty too.

And believe it or not, I'm not a great potato eater, maybe roast or oven baked being the best way I like to eat them.

Seeds on Standby

 Who’d have thought seeds can keep their potency.

I was surprised to use these ‘home-grown’ seeds...since 2019...this Spring(2021), and find out that they germinated without any problems. In fact they seem to germinate better than some shop-bought squash seeds, expensive and all!

I harvested the seeds from a mature courgette in 2019. Figuring when the courgette is mature enough to extract the seeds is a guess on my part.

Can’t wait to grow these on and see the mature plants and harvest great courgette. Thank you Nature!

Picking Parsnips Too Early

This year for the first time in a very long time I've managed to coax parsnip seeds into life. I'm not sure exactly, why parsnips haven't germinated before but I took the advice of Charles Dowding's you tube video on germinating all seeds in a modular tray. Sure enough and with moisture from a capillary mat, they germinated very well and so we're planted out and we'll watered and fed. In August I noticed the white body perming through the earth and couldn't resist pulling up...just one. This one was big...though you can see that the root part is quite narrow and needed more filling out. Tasted delicious,though, baked in the oven, sliced and oiled into mouth sized chunks. Extremely filling as a vegetable. I know this vegetable is best appreciated when left to be pulled after the first frosts or even later, when some of starch turns into sugar. I've left the rest, hoping for feast in November. ..if I can wait that long!

Insect Defense against Cabbage Moth

Each year I plan to keep brocolli and other members of the Brassicae family whole and safe from the devouring insects who love their fresh and crunchy green leaves. The biggest offender, to my mind, is the Cabbage Moth, or what might be commonly called the white butterfly. It starts it's attraction to these green veg sometime in July and remains vigilant till September. After many attempts to deter the insect with organic sprays and such like, I finally came across the idea of a finely knit transparent net. At first I found the purchase of said netting quite expensive, though very effective. As I grow lots of cabbages, broccoli, brussel sprouts and kohl rabbi for the winter, the purchase of said netting seemed too expensive for my purse. Further research from gardening articles showed the usefulness of builders netting. This year I purchased around 50m x 1m for about €35 including postage. It has UV resistence, so should last for a period of years. It has worked very well. Where I have to double up or treble up on a row of broccoli, I use pegs to join the edges. The brocolli are looking great...barely a hole in the leaves. The cabbage have many holes...due my carelessness in not tightening the joined up rows of netting. Although the netting is black and looks...maybe...a bit weird...it has provided some shade for the young seedlings. I've the netting on other young seedlings when planted out to prevent birds pecking at the ground looking for snails and worms. It has served a purpose as a bird deterrent for the strawberries. I ran out of netting for some of the brassicae ...which I deem a ''sacrifice'' row. The affected plants look so pathetic and I feel guilty for not buying more netting. That will be next spring's duty. The affected plants are still alive, though.

Battle with the Cabbage Moth

The Harvest Cometh

It's that time of year...everything grows! Abundance manifests itself and the eating has begun!

Bean Brave

Bean there...done that!

Yep, making a start in braving the cold weather of May (barely 12°C)...most unsuitable conditions for bean growing...20°C is much more favorable. However these baby plants are covered with three covers...black netting to keep rabbits etc out...white fleece for warmth...and transparent plastic cloche covering against heavy rain and chilly winds.

Roasted Beetroot Soup

This tastes as good as it looks.
A recipe can be obtained online. The one I chose said to roast the beetroot in their flesh with onions and garlic.
The roasted effect brings out the earthy flavours...in other words the flavour of beetroot, onion and garlic, all homegrown of course, are much stronger than if just boiled.
The recipe I was followed said to blend all the roasted veg together and thin out with stock to the preferred consistency.
I chose to simmer the roasted veg together with a veg stock for about 30 minutes before blending.
A swirl of cream and a topping of chopped basil leaves enticed the taste buds no end!
A second serving...and I was full.
Such lovely flavour...earthy and sweet!

Figgy Brandy

For the festive season and beyond...here's hoping this version of fig preservation makes it through the next few months.
It's a simple recipe of cutting fresh figs... proudly from the veg plot...into quarters and immersing in brandy in a container glass jar. This one is 1500ml. 

I ran out of brandy, so a little top up will be needed soon. Though I do believe if there's an additional top up of sugar and water, or maybe honey and water syrup, could provide the environment for a liqueur of some sorts. Here's hoping it will be edible for the festive season ahead. A serving with icecream or some other simple creamy concoction would be inviting.

Courgette Collection

Large courgettes develop frequently, almost overnight it would seem.
The effect is due, of course, to water and heat.

Therefore it is easy to end up with a glut and I am always on the lookout for those who will take them to use for soups, stir fries or baking cakes. ..a nice ingredient to use in a recipe called Courgette/Zucchini Bread. It's more of a cake than bread and quite delicious.

A recipe can be found easily online. It's possible to make a kind of spread also with the extra courgette.
Nature's bounty knows no limit

!

Pop Ups in the Garden

Pop up spinach 'going to seed' in the beetroot bed.
I will probably have to wait about 6 months for the seed harvest...but worth it if the seeds are viable.

Last year's  (2017) seed harvest had too many to count and the really interesting thing I discovered recently was, that a number of seeds had fallen from last yeast's plant and germinated after the rainfall last week.
The seeds were well buried and trodden on and still managed to germinate. I couldn't have planned it better.

Now the problem is...where to plant all these spinach seedlings. I've run out of room!. Still, its nice to get an abundant gift like that! That's the beauty and generosity pf the natural process. We're just a part of it and the abundance is always close at hand.

The spinach bed has been growing since May, though prolonged drought conditions have kept the plants on the small size.
Still, seed from last year's pop up harvest has allowed me to be very generous in the sowing of a profuse lot.
I expect rain over the next few weeks to increase the size of the leaves and i can then freeze some for the long winter months when growth will stop and the leaves become scarce.

Basil Outdoors

This is the first time I can truly say there's been a success growing basil outdoors. ..3 varieties...lemon, purple licorice and genovese. This last one has the usual strong flavour that's expected in this variety.  The other 2 have a milder flavour. They grow in pots, next to the Black cherry variety tomatoes. Not sure how basil acts as companion plant etc, but the colours look good against the dark green of the tomato leaves.
All tomato plants had their first organic commercial feed 4 weeks ago.  Before this I just watered in some Epsom salts for fruit setting. That seemed to work as the small cherry tomatoes are loaded on the Totem variety, but not so much on the tall black cherry. Here's hoping the ripening process begins soon. Don't fancy too many green tomatoes...though I understand they are quite edible when cooked. Anybody got any experience cooking with green tomatoes?

Garden Cat

Diego - Garden Cat - Garden Mascot - Garden Guardian 
My little furry friend arrived one day in early July into my veg plot purring gently and then miaowing quietly. He stopped long enough for me to rub him briefly while he moved just a few feet away so I could capture him on camera,,,thus the photos.
Ever since, he seems to know when I'm in my plot and appears suddenly, padding softly and brushing briefly against my legs,before he crosses beds and veggies to access his hunting ground - the raspberry forest ... my term for the tall canes which grow profusely during the summer months.
He hunts for shrews and small birds which hide in the undergrowth and pick at the ripe berries.of 2018.
He belongs to a resident of a very pretty stonecottage built by the owners of the allotments.

    His ginger presence is in stark contrast to the greenery of my plot.
    He doesn't know the difference between a veg bed and a pathway and I have to
   shoo him off netted areas, which are under constant attack from rabbits and           other roaming animals.
   The allotment, which I have rented for the last six years, is situated about a           from the edge of the city and is therefore situated in pastoral surroundings             where fresh air and bird sounds abound,.
   There is never any silence, as nature provides its own noisy background pf           birds, tree movement, wind sounds and the ever encroaching traffic sounds.
   There is relief in the natural sound of birds, though the flapping of pigeon
   wings on the nearby trees can cause a slight confusion as to the nature of  the
   flapping, especially when two birds seem to be duelling for space on the
branches, which swing dangerously up and down.
If you;re looking for the therapy, there is great amusement in watching their antics on the branches.
And of course the,cat, Diego  finds this a great source of fascination and probably wonders if they, the pigeons, would ever drop to earth.

They do drop down from time to time, when my back is turned. Big fat birds they are. I've watched them land dangerously close to the vulnerable veggies, then shooed them off theveg beds as they hopped around eyeing tasty treats for themselves.
The various creatures, over the years have taught me well to be protective of my growing items and so this year, every veg bed has been well netted, with wire hoops holding up the black nets, which seem to be the best colour to deter the rabbits and the white cabbage moth.
In previous years, I have tried different nettings and slowly learnt that green, though a colour that fitted in with the surrounding greenery, was
not the best colour. It would seem the rabbits and various creatures may not know the colour black and they certainly do not like the close weave of this years netting...success at last in protection of my hard work.

People often ask me why I bother with the organic approach and the hard work attached to growing a variety of items for eating during the summer and winter months.
My answer could be a long one, but here it is briefly:I enjoy and need the contact with the earth. The earth doesn't need me, but I need the earth in a very basic way as a creature of this planet does.
I have found the kind of therapy I need and which I have searched for years in other situations and there is nothing like the comfort and joy I receive from mother earth in this veg plot.
The therapy is silent, non-intrusive and free. and I come out of that allotment every single time feeling great. What more could I ask for?