Gravity defying carrots !!

A ha !! I can grow carrots after all ! Call it egotism, call it swagger, even call it vaunting. But here I am shamelessly showing off my carrots after my pride was badly injured as a consequence to the previous post. These lads were swiftly dispatched to the dinner plate accompanied by an unsuspecting chicken ( dead of course ! ) Duke of york potatoes and shallots ( which I still maintain give me excessive wind ! ) However regardless of the smell the taste is second to none .... the shallots that is. The smell of the wind .... not so good and thankfully I haven't been unfortunate enough to be caught in a back draft so therefore have yet to do the taste test !!

Now I won't be boastful and say I'm becoming green fingered but LOOK !!

Back in the saddle !! ......

........ Well sort of anyway, life has taken a turn for the hectic and the last few weeks have zipped by almost unnoticed. Illness and weariness have taken their toll, accident proneness has brought new injuries to add to my almost broken body and at the age of thirty three I could put any arthritic pensioner to shame with my list of complaints !! Add to all this the GAA championship, the World Cup and Wimbledon and it's no wonder there's no blogging being done around here !! But with the aid of some sticky tape and a good squirt of WD40 I shall soldier on and quit the whingeing, nobody likes a whinger, are you listening Brian ? ..... Brian ?

So here's a quick update to get back on track. The veggies are flying out of the ground with impressive growth rates in all beds. Summer cabbage, spring onions, lettuce, Swiss chard, baby carrots and shallots are all being eaten and enjoyed at the moment. The only downside to life at the moment is the wind ..... herself reckons it's the shallots and I think she might be right. Not being a previous eater of these little volcano makers I can't be quite sure. Anyone out there experienced this ? Or are ye all too polite to comment ?



The onion bed in all it's glory !



The carrots were a little slow up until last week, they seem to have copped themselves on a bit. There's some unruly parsnips trying to muscle in on the foreground of this shot !



The leeks, I thought they would be bigger by now. A common complaint round here !



My monster sprouts !! I don't even like sprouts ....



" January King " A bit of a show off if you ask me.



And the nicest cabbage I've tasted in a long while " Golden Acres "



That's it for the moment, sleep beckons, take care now.................

The onion experiment.

This year as a little experiment I have planted onions in a number of different ways. The first method is the old reliable of planting from sets, the variety used is the stalwart " Sturon ", secondly I have sown seeds singularly in modules and thirdly I used a method known as multi-blocking where a number of seeds are placed in each module and let to grow on with the bulbs gently pushing each other out of the way as they swell. For these last two methods I used the old favourite "Ailsa craig " and all onions have now been planted, with the last few going in a little later than expected this weekend. The only thing to do now is keep watered and concentrate on weed control as these guys hate competition. A happy onion will become a big onion.

There are pros and cons for each method, onion sets are very easy to grow and relatively foolproof ( something which always seems to attract me !! ) however they are relatively expensive, I paid eight euro for around three hundred and fifty this year. The seed by comparison is much cheaper, it cost me one euro twenty cent for approximately two hundred and fifty seeds ! If germination rates are high that will provide a significant saving. The multi-blocking technique is a fantastic labour saving method because when planting time comes you are essentially planting up to five onions at a time, five times faster. This method can be used for : Beet, broccoli, cabbage, corn, cucumber, leek, melon, bulbing onion, spring onion, peas, spinach and turnip. I'm growing some of my spring onions in this manner and also some in the traditional straight line method, I shall keep you updated on the results.



I planted out some of the Autumn leeks also this weekend, this variety " Autumn mammoth 2, Hannibal " promises an excellent yield from August onwards. You know what they say about promises though ! I sowed the winter variety " Musselborough " in some toilet roll inserts and am hoping to plant them in the bed the early potatoes are now occupying. An amazing thing about leeks is that even after digging them up they continue to grow albeit very slowly. This slow growth diminishes the quality of the stems so fresh is best.



All this talk of onions reminds me of a funny incident that happened way back in the days of the boom. I was slating the roof of a new house which overlooked the next door neighbours fairly substantial cottage garden. I had no knowledge then of vegetables or what it took to grow them so the value of all that lay before my eyes was entirely lost on me. However the wizened old gardener responsible for this creation took it upon himself to educate us .... whether we liked it or not. Every morning we were greeted to shouts of " Look at my onions lads " or " Come down here and I'll show you this " as he pointed at something that really didn't interest us. The man was a persistent old character though and one day partly through curiosity and mostly because the opportunity to evade work had presented itself my slating partner decided to go down for a nose.

The look of glee on his face when he returned with a carrier bag crammed full of the finest of veg that money simply cannot buy .... sickened me. What sickened me more was when he came in the morning after and regaled me with tales of the gourmet dinner his wife had cooked, while simultaneously trying to articulate the wholesome goodness of the prize veggies he had blagged the previous day. The bag of chips I called dinner that night were still repeating on me. The day wore on. My nerves were becoming frayed.

Like clockwork the gardener appeared and the banter began again, they were now friends having shared food, although not at the same table it was somewhat of a shared experience. An experience that was about to take a turn for the humorous, well from my point of view anyway.

The old man headed up through his garden with a large bucket and a rope in his hand. Suddenly he stopped and heaved on a huge iron lid, with a groan of old age he straightened his back, cast the lid to one side and immediately began lowering the bucket into the void. With a manly tug on the rope the bucket flew upwards and landed at his feet with a splosh, the deftness of his movement confirmed a well rehearsed routine. " Jesus is that toilet paper ?" The mysterious contents of the bucket had now been revealed. " Looks like someones septic tank is a bit full " I smirked as the horror of what was happening unveiled in front of my full bellied friends eyes. A casual glance in our direction and the old man set to work .... watering his veggies with the content of the second chamber of his septic tank !! My once boastful friend now looked to be in need of medical attention as he fished for the mobile phone to cancel that nights much anticipated stew.

If there were a moral to be applied to this story, I wonder what could it be ? Something about not rubbing peoples noses in it, or not accepting gifts from strangers. Na ah for me it's " You are what you eat "

Shallot update.

A quick update on the shallot bed, The current spell of fine weather has caused an explosion of growth in the garden with the shallots being no slouch in this department. Having lost quite a few bulbs to the slug I was a little worried as to whether we would have any left, not to worry now anyway as all the remaining bulbs seem to be tootling along at a fine pace.

Early cabbage.

Today I was able to plant out some " Golden acre " early cabbage in one of the brassica beds. Unfortunately the slugs have been gorging themselves on some of the previously planted cabbages, so much for my crushed egg shell mulch, but I shall persist.



I have some more in reserve that are not yet hardened off, but they should be ready in the next couple of weeks. I also potted on the " January king " winter cabbage, they seem to be coming along nicely but won't be going out for some time yet. In other brassica news, the brussels sprouts that I took a chance and planted out early are doing just fine, the swede seedlings are thinned and growing good but the slugs have nearly wiped out the turnip seedlings so I must sow again this week. You win, you lose, I guess !!



I also net these beds as there is an amorous couple of wood pigeons about at the moment and they only seem interested in courting and raiding my garden........... Ahhh, reminds me of my youth !!

A day of planting.

I had to send these guys to the beds this week end as things were getting a bit crowded in the cold frames. There was a bit of pushing and shoving going on between the marigolds and the lettuce, the brussels sprouts were lording it over the others because of their height.The competition to have the most colourdy leaves between the chard and the beetroot was frankly becoming ridiculous and the spring onions said they could take no more taunts about being skinny. Round table talks failed so nothing for it but a spot of early planting.

Out went the swiss chard, beetroot, brussels sprouts, two trays of carrots, three trays of lettuce and two trays of spring onions. Things are much more relaxed around here now !! Phew......

Coldframe crowding.

Space is becoming a much sought after luxury in my coldframes at the moment, a few over enthusiastic bursts of seed sowing have produced a bit of a pile up. Oooooh the pressure, how will we cope ? The temptation is to lob a few of the bigger lads into the garden and see how they manage. Does gardening sometimes feel like playing God ? Albeit on a much smaller scale, I have the power to decide who lives and who dies. Actually it's more like who dies and who lingers in the world between life and death before finally succumbing to the inevitable ! But I digress.....



Back to the seedlings, the cabbage " Golden Acre " and the Brussels sprouts " Bedford Darkmar 21 " are doing quite well. The " Ailsa craig " onions and " White Lisbon " spring onions are proving to be a worthwhile sowing. Don't you just love spring onion sandwiches ? The Swiss chard is flying up as is the beetroot " Boltardy ". I grew this last year as the wife loves beetroot, but somehow she was unimpressed by my crop so I gave it away to more appreciative folk who showered me with compliments, saying that the pre-boiling of the beetroot really brought out the flavour. I tried to hide my ignorance, as idiots that we are we ate it raw !! I have three varieties of lettuce this year " Little gem ", " Cos parris island " and " Red oak leaf " What can I say ? ... wifey likes lettuce ! " Bambino " and " Nantes 2 " are the carrots although sowing in modules may prove a pointless exercise as they don't like to be transplanted.



The over spill has landed in the front porch, not ideal as temperatures are difficult to control but will have to suffice for the moment. There's more cabbage " January king " and some leeks " Autumn mammoth " lurking about, I sure hope the leeks live up to their name ! This year I vowed only to grow what we will eat, the radish incident of last year reinforces this mantra. Something I may share on a later post perhaps.

A sneaky peek.

I couldn't resist checking on the progress of the rhubarb I've been forcing. It's only under cover since paddy's day so I must say that's an impressive growth rate.



The visible green leaves are the unforced plants beside, they will be harvested at a later date.



I just might have some rhubarb a bit sooner than expected, although this plant is in the ground since last summer !! I'll keep it covered for a few more weeks.

A game of chance.

I was itching to get planting the last few weeks and once again I threw caution to the wind. Well I awoke this morning to an all out assault by the wind and rain ........ my poor seeds ! The bit of sunshine we've been enjoying the last few days lulled me into a false sense of security and I took a chance with some planting. I'm not too worried about the parsnip or the shallot sets that went in a couple of weeks ago, but I do have concerns for the seed I have sown in the raised beds. Here's what went in : 1 row of swede, 1 row of turnip " purple top milan ", 3 rows of carrot " nantes 2 ", 3 rows of spring onion " white lisbon " and 1 row of a welsh red bunching onion. There's a deluge of water hitting the garden at the moment and I do hope my optimistic sowing doesn't prove to have been foolhardy. I have another twenty or so trays hiding out in coldframes at the moment with various veggies, so at least I have a good subs bench ! Apparently this weather is to get worse and a cold snap will then follow. Oh well that's Ireland, a lovely country if only we could roof it !!

Power to the parsnip.

I think the parsnip is a hugely underrated winter veg. When exposed to a little hard weather the flavour actually improves and the humble parsnip can become one of the tastiest ingredients in any winter dish. Some guide books bring to our attention the erratic germinating habit of the parsnip while recommending a February sowing. Now I wouldn't be inclined to come out of hibernation myself in the frozen miserable ground of an Irish vegetable plot. Sow in March and watch those germination rates skyrocket !

Parsnips grow best in deep friable soil. Hitting a stone can cause the root to fork with many an interesting parsnip resulting. But truth be told they will grow successfully in most soil types. Pest and disease management is the same as for carrots, with the " divils " of rabbits and carrot root fly being the biggest culprits, while at seedling stage the slime ball slug brigade need constant attention. With Russell Crowe as this years inspiration I planted " Gladiator F1 " So I'm expecting big things from these guys.



I used two methods of sowing, just for the sheer hell of it ! Method one was started about five weeks ago indoors. I put three seeds into a toilet roll insert filled with compost covered with plastic and waited impatiently. I thinned out to one seedling per insert and removed the plastic allowing it to grow on. I then planted them out in raised beds at the weekend. Method two was the traditional sowing in rows an inch deep with about an inch between seeds to be thinned later. I warmed the ground with fleece for both methods and the seeds will be kept under fleece until germination at least. I deliberately kept the rows close together partly due to lack of space partly as an experiment. Most guide books recommend anything from a foot to two feet between rows , I went at nine inches, maybe I'll have smaller parsnips who knows ?



So that's it parsnips in, I will go with a single sowing this year and take the gamble of leaving them in the ground. It worked last year although one must watch them in case they try to regrow as this destroys the flavour. The battle lines are drawn, fresh ground to be conquered ...... " On my mark unleash hell !"

Forcing the rhubarb

I grew this rhubarb " Victoria " from seed last year and was delighted to see it peeping above the soil around December. Although it tolerates severe cold very well I buried it under a thick layer of homemade compost as a precautionary measure. It's now ready for forcing.



To force rhubarb simply exclude the light from a number of stalks. Purpose made forcing pots are available but to be honest any pot will do, even a large bucket will get it started. I used an old bin held in place with a large stone. The petiole ( thats the stalk to you and me ) should grow about an inch a week for the first eight weeks and increase significantly in vigour thereafter.



The crowns will need dividing every four to five years or when the stalks get small and spindly. Cutting out overcrowded crowns will encourage nice thick stems to grow. Flowering will steal the vigour of the plant so cut the flower and seed stalks as soon as they're noticed. Also one must not forget the leaves are always poisonous so remove from the stalk after harvesting. Rhubarb and custard ....... here we come ..!

Lots and lots of shallots !

A close relation to the onion, possibly a first cousin depending on uncle Alberts lineage. The shallot is easy to grow and gives good return ( between 4 and 8 bulbs per set planted ) It's also a little milder than the onion which can sometimes take over a dish if left unsupervised.



I planted these guys in a raised bed, There is eight inches between rows and six inches between each set. I simply made a hole in the earth with my finger as the sets are small and popped them in covering them over so as to leave a little of the growing tip visible above ground.



Keeping the sets in straight lines is an aid to weeding, I have an uncle that prefers to scatter the sets, you should see the torment when it comes time to weed !! What I like about these guys is they are relatively trouble free apart from the risk of white rot that is, even the the voracious slug will not bother too much with them.




So with fifty sets planted I look forward to a decent harvest in five to six months time, when they can be pulled, dried and stored providing tasty shallots until next spring. Well hopefully !