Made a start on clearing the spent pea and bean stalks and haulms. I did not dig them out, just chopped them at ground level so their roots remained in the soil. These legume roots have nodules of nitrogen fixed from the air during their growing season. I’m told this is valuable for the cabbage [...]
Archive for the ‘Bees’ Category
6 Oct
BALBRIGGAN FOOD FESTIVAL STRESSES LOCAL FOOD CULTURE GOOD FOR JOBS AND BIODIVERSITY – FIRST WEEK IN OCTOBER 2010
Ar an chéad lá de Dheireadh Fómhair, d’fhreastail a lán daoine ar Fhéile Bia Bhaile Brigín a bhí urraithe as Bridgestone. Deireadh Fómhair or October literally means ‘end of Harvest’ so the first of October was a good day for the first ever Balbriggan Food Festival. The sponsorship of Bridgestone was a big help and linked the Bridgestone Food Guide with the town where Bridgestone in Ireland is based and [...]
4 Aug
THANKS TO ST TERESA’S SCHOOL VISIT, THE KITCHEN GARDEN GETS A SLOT ON TV3 – FIRST WEEK IN AUGUST 2010.
Got a call from TV3 to come on the Morning Show programme on Tuesday 3rd August to discuss this website. The spark of interest was lit by the impromptu visit by pupils from St Teresa’s National School and the al fresco recording of ‘The Garden Song’, I think. So a big thank you again to [...]
25 May
APPRECIATING THE ROLE WEEDS PLAY AND TRYING TO SEE WEEDING AS A SORT OF THERAPY – FOURTH WEEK IN MAY 2010
I have just finished making a DVD (with friends from Glasnevin, Balbriggan and Lusk Tidy Towns Association,) called ‘The Wildflowers of Fingal’. As a result I have a new perspective on what we gardeners call ‘weeds’. The dandelion flower for example is an important food source for bees. Humans need bees not just for honey but more critically to [...]
15 Mar
PLAN TO BOOST YIELDS OF FRUIT, VEG AND FLOWERS BY TAKING UP BEEKEEPING, AND THE HONEY WILL BE A BONUS – SECOND WEEK IN MARCH 2010.
The infectious enthusiasm of beekeepers for their craft has rubbed off on me. One of my jobs in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (and Forestry indeed) was to be ‘Minister for Beekeeping’. Reading around the subject, I was amazed to learn that a third of the human diet depends on bee pollination and [...]
