Phew!

Busy weekend - but beautiful weather. Got loads done. Lots of credit to the undergardener.

Flower Seeds planted.
Some veg seeds planted.
Allotment course taught.
Loads planted at the allotment - it's coming together...
Soapmaking course taught.
Signs made for school garden. (with help from the undergardener)
Cars washed.
Path laid in the mucky area using recycled bricks(thanks to undergardener)
And lots more basic household humdrum stuff.

And now onto preparation for next weekend - Getting ready for the Belvedere Self Sufficiency Show - more to follow on that...

Busy weekend

Yesterday was a frenzy of seed planting - mostly flowers. Calendula, sunflowers, french marigold, foxgloves, poppies...

The tomatoes are needing to be repotted, so that was done, and got a lot of runner beans started.

At the allotment yesterday - planted the rest of the spuds, and onions and shallots. All the flowers are in too - so the cutting garden should be producing in a month or so - fingers crossed.

Today was back with the class, we put in loads of autumn fruiting raspberries - probably need a few summer ones, strawberries and blackcurrants. Sowed some carrots seeds on top of the sheet mulch, and put some sticks round the broad beans to support them. It's starting to look like something - must take some photos for here..

Guest post and arrival of seeds

I'm delighted that Peggy from Organic Growing Pains has agreed to do a guest post here in the upcoming weeks. As an experienced allotment grower, I'm looking forward to hearing some tips from her to help me in my first season on the allotment.

Peggy is in the finals of the Irish Blog awards - I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for her on Saturday night.


And speaking of community, the photo above is the embarrassment of riches recieved from Patrick at Bifurcated Carrots as part of the Blogger Seed Network.

One of the best things about networking with other gardeners is knowledge and bounty that you share - without having to spend much, and without spending too much time in Garden Centers.

Expanding horizon

While my current garden in Mullingar is way bigger than what I had in Dublin, and there's still lots of room for slides, a willow house, and a wild corner, I struggled with producing enough veg to feed us, and always had too many seedlings to put in the existing space.

This year, that's all changed. I have an allotment on Joe's farm - and I now have the opposite (and excellent) problem - how to fill it! The morning of Paddy's day was our first extended stint out there - luckily Granny was on hand to feed us, and the weather was dry and mild.

We started digging one of the beds - we will sow a green manure there in advance of planting Squash, and the rest we'll cover with a sheet mulch of cardboard, mushroom compost and straw.

The undergardener was on digging duty - he reckons he'll be like the Bull McCabe when we're done - and the boys were picking rocks, spreading Mushroom compost, and breaking up lumps of clay. And adding nitrogen to the beautiful compost bin which resides at the bottom of the allotment. Photos to follow, and no doubt several posts on the compost bin.

In the meantime, it's time to rest up for a weekend of allotmenteering....

Getting an allotment

I'm very excited about this spring - normally I'm restricted as to what and how much I can plant, as we have a suburban garden. But this year I'll be getting an allotment at Lough Owel Organic Farm - It's just out the road from us, and it's where I grew up, so we spend a lot of time out there anyhow with my mother.

The ground has been beautifully prepared by my brothers pigs - see below - and we'll be getting things planted just as soon at the ground warms up. So I can go crazy with Brassicas, potaotes, beans - the things I normally hold back on for want of space. Yippee!

Check out his site and tell me what you think - I created it!