On the Telly - again :-)

This time just the blog featured, on TV3 am this morning. Here's the link if you'd like to see it.


And welcome to anyone here as a result of the TV3 plug!

Upcoming Gardening Course

The course on Sat 18th July is now full, and I have only 2 places left in the Wed 22nd class. So I'm happy that there is plenty of demand, and I'll be running lots more courses over the coming months.

Upside down tomatoes

 

Last year the upside down tomatoes were the only ones to grow, so this year I decided to put in a few more (8!) I have used most of the 4 sides of the uprights on our lean-to shed to hold them. (You can see the laundry behind.) You can also see two little red tomatoes in the tub to the left. We have already had two or three from it - it's a tumbler, bought from Kevin Harmon. And possibly put out a bit early - the later ones are thriving better.

 

In this one, between the plants on top growing down, and the tomatoes growing up, the plastic bucket is almost hidden.

 

While I was planting them, I decided to put some companion plants in the tops, so I planted nasturtium, calendula, basil, french marigold, night-scented stock, chamomile. And for the same reason that the tomatoes do well, they did well too. There's a volunteer tomato in one of the tops too!

Slugs just can't make it up that far. If it wasn't so damp, I'd worry that there wouldn't be enough compost to hold water for all these plants, but this hasn't been a problem yet. And if it is, I'll thin out the top plants. I put a lot of compost, manure, worm castings, and fish bones & guts into the tubs, and I have been watering with Comfrey tea, and worm tea, so they are all thriving.

Purple podded peas - a picture

 

These are the flowers...

 

...and these are the pods .The flowers are beautiful - all pinks and purples, and smell wonderful. I had never noticed peas being scented before, but I guess they are related to sweet peas.
As I've mentioned the pods are good as mange tout, or you can let them fill out and eat the peas. They are easier to harvest, because the purple stands out against the green.

Purple podded peas

Big harvest today of Purple podded peas. They are really beautiful - I'll have to upload a photo - and delicious, of course. But the peas are not themselves purple, which is a little disappointing in a purple loving household.

However, I made a vegetable stock from the pods, added some garlic tops a bit of thyme and an onion - all fresh from the garden, and little detour for some before the compost bin. Now I have purple vegetable stock!

If you'd like to grow some yourself the Brown Envelope Seeds.

I will be entering my purple podded peas, and some other interesting looking veg in this weekends Mullingar Agricultural show (July 12th, Cullion)- I don't expect to win or even place, but my mother thinks it's important to participate to keep such institutions alive, and I am starting to see her point of view. The fact that her jams, breads, and cakes clear the board, and are fought over at the end is beside the point :-)

July Gardening course

As requested by my Spring students, I'm runnning a mid -summer course to get people thinking about how to continue the garden abundance through the year. There are 2 times of the year for planting seed - March to May is the first (here in Ireland), and we are in the throes of the second.

If you're interested in learning about this second phase, course details are below - email me at "annambrowne at gmail dot com " if you'd like to attend.



Grow Your Own Food – get ready for Winter!
This one-day course will include:

'Succession' planting – keeping the garden going.

What to plant now – the best crops to see you through the colder months.

How to make space – ensure a smooth transition between summer and winter crops.

Review of successes and challenges so far this year.

Some suitable seedlings and seeds may be available to participants.

Dates:

July 22nd 7:30 pm to 10:30pm

OR

July 18th 10:00am to 1:00pm

Cost: €30

Locally-sourced refreshments will be provided.

Location - Mullingar Educate Together National School (Opposite the 'Rathgowan' housing development on the 'C-Link' road - 3rd roundabout after the hospital from the Castlepollard side, 2nd roundabout from the Ballymahon side).

Numbers are STRICTLY limited, so book your place, stating your preferred date, by email as soon as possible, or call Anna on (087) 2222562 or (044) 9390430.

Payment in cash on the day please – or in advance if by cheque.

Garlic scape pesto

We are just back from visiting a friend in London, and I wanted to bring her something unique as a hostess gift. So right before we left, I headed out to the garden, and harvested all the garlic scapes that were there. They are funny spiral things, so I had to cut them up a bit to fit in the plastic bag, with a damp kitchen towel. I also packed a little pot of gooseberry jam, that had been flavoured with elderflower, made by my mother, which I was really looking forward to trying. Both items went in my carry on bag.

Surprisingly (or maybe not) the security scanner detected both, and they confiscated the jam! I was almost in tears. So let that be a lesson to all - put any jams in your checked bags - they qualify as a liquid. The scapes however, could in no way be construed as a danger to passengers, so they made it through.

On arrival we made up a pesto with the scapes, some parmesan, pine nuts, olive oil, salt and pepper. It was green and fragrant, and wonderful on bread, in a yoghurt salad dressing, with Tuna salad - definitely a success, and pretty unique. We didn't try it with pasta, but I'll bet it would be good with that too. Or on new potatoes. I didn't measure - worked to taste - there are lots of recipes online. Maybe I'll make a recipe next year...

The stalk works better than the flower part - the flower is inclined to be stringy - and when harvesting, you should cut as close to the ground as possible. I have made some more of the pesto now that I'm home, and am freezing it in an ice cube tray so as to have small portions. Not sure how long it will last, though :-)

Broad beans finished

This year I planted 2 kinds of broad beads - The Sutton and Aquadulce Caludia. Planted them in January (1st) - inside - and then at the end of January the Aquadulce went into a tent greenhouse. The Sutton were planted out without cover a bit later. Both did well- the ones in the greenhouse produced a bit earlier.

The Sutton have short fat pods, with the beans close together, so a surprisingly good yield per pod. The Aquadulce have bigger pods, but about the same amount of beans. So they are both good choices in my opinion. Not sure if growing them inside or the greenhouse is necessary - will try just planting them out directly next year.

I'm taking the last harvest from them today, and I'll plant leeks in one of the beds. The other I'll re-cover with the tent greenhouse, and use it for winter greens.

Upcoming courses

Here's my proposed schedule - dates and time to be firmed up over the coming week.

July 2009:
• Succession planting – year round food from your garden. It’s not just for summer!
• Creating unique seasonal preserves – Strawberry


August 2009:
• From the garden to the Larder - Pickling, freezing, & preserving your crops.
• Creating unique seasonal preserves – Plum.


September 2009:
• Adult and child pizza making. A fun activity you can share – and eat the results!
• Sourdough and artisan breads. Photogenic & delicious loaves that you can make in your own home.
• Free food – recognising, collecting, & using Nature’s wild bounty.

October 2009:
• Making Chutney. The perfect winter preserve.
• Adult and child pizza making.
• Preparing your garden for the winter. Get everything in shape for the next growing season.

January 2010
• Grow your own food – 6 week course to prepare for a bountiful harvest.

Self Sufficiency at Belvedere

It's all over - and what a whirlwind it was! Seems like the exhibitors and presenters were well recieved, and the visitors seems interested and engaged. In our little Freecycle/Artisan Breadmaking Sheebeen, we talked to loads of people, baked countless 'Rubbish' flatbreads with the help of lots of volunteers, young and old. I woudl have loved to have seen more of what was going on, but we were flat out the whole time.

Lots of interest in all of my courses, and in freecycle. So now we need to put dates and locations to the proposed courses, and make them happen. This should be a lot easier for me now, as I got laid off last week. Great timing - it would have been difficult to pull off the Belvedere show, while working :-)

Readers of this blog will know that my passions lie in these (gardening, breadmaking, teaching) areas, and while I loved my IT work, it will be no harm to have a little break from it. I was in that job for nearly nine years, which is a lifetime in the software business.

Anyhow, expect to see a lot more frequent posts!

Program of events at Belvedere

Saturday Seminars

11.00 Composting and Care of the Soil Making with Will Sutherland, Seymour School.

12.00 Starting your own Fruit and Vegetables Garden with
Will Sutherland, Seymour School

13.00 Brewing your Own Wine and Beer Completing the Cycle with Shane Conroy, Home Brew Company.

14.00 Preserving and Storing Fruit and Vegetables with Will Sutherland, Seymour School.

15.00 Traditional Bread Making with
Anna Browne, Organic Teacher.

16.00 Bee Keeping Techniques with
Jim Donohoe, BBG



Sunday Seminars

12.00 Traditional Bread Making with Anna Browne; Organic Teacher.

13.00 Brewing your own Wine and Beer with Shane Conroy, Home Brew Company

14.00 Saving Seed - Completing the Cycle with Jo Ann Newton, Irish Seed Savers.

15.00 Poultry Keeping and Breeding, with Joe Payne, Poultry Breeder.

16.00 Brewing your own Wine and Beer with Shane Conroy, Home Brew Company.

17.00 Bee Keeping Techniques with
Jim Donohoe, BBG




Saturday Demonstrations

13.00 Split Rail Fencing with
Paddy Murray, Deerpark
Lakeside Arena

14.00 Bee Keeping Demonstration. Midlands Bee Keepers
Lakeside Arena


15.00 Scything and Grass Management with Will Sutherland, Seymour School.
Lakeside Meadow











Sunday Demonstrations

13.00 Split Rail Fencing with Paddy Murray, Deerpark Sawmills Lakeside

14.00 Bee Keeping Demonstration with Midlands Bee Keepers; Lake Side Arena

15.00 Companion Planting & Medicinal Herbs with John Smyth, Belvedere House Garden Market in Lakeside Meadow

Self sufficiency show at Belvedere

I'm very excited about this - I'm the breadmaker below, and Brian is hoping to organise a Freecycle Live meeting!


Belvedere Self-Sufficiency Show takes place this weekend Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June. The show is based on John Seymours famous book The Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency and also will have in attendance co-author Will Sutherland from the Seymour School in Wexford. A new area on the estate has been specially created for the show, Lake Cottage Model Farm will have poultry, pigs, goats, donkeys, vegetable and fruit plots, craft demonstrators including basketry, pottery and wood turning. The lakeside arena will have BeeKeeping, Split Rail Fencing and Grass Management demonstrations.


Seminars on Home Brewing and Wine Making , Bread Baking and Poultry Breeding will take place daily. Contributors include Irish Seed Savers, Crann, Midlands Beekeepers and The Home Brew company. Exhibitors include, handmade Ark chicken coops, Freecycle a new web based method of recycling and organic food stalls with nettle potato breads and wild roasted salmon. Belvedere master gardener John Smyth will give a seminar on companion planting and medicinal herbs in the GardenMarket on Sunday. The aim of the show is to reinvigorate people in the ways of Self Sufficiency and is an ideal opportunity to come along and learn the old skills. For a full list of seminars and demonstrations log onto www.belvedere-house.ie


The Minister for Food Trevor Sargent TD will perform the official opening at 2pm on Saturday 27th June. Belvedere normal admission rates apply and there is no extra charge for the show.