The garden at home is bursting with produce right now. The peas and beans, kale and cabbage, chard Swiss and Rainbow are all featuring in the kitchen. Courgettes and pumpkins are in flowers. The raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants often don’t make it as far as the kitchen. The tomatoes are ripening and the sunflowers are reaching for the [...]
Archive for the ‘Beans’ Category
2 Dec
SEEDS SPROUTING AND CUTTINGS GROWING EVEN IN THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER 2009
Before I began kitchen gardening, I was very clear that seeds were sown in Spring, grew in Summer, were harvested in Autumn and during Winter was the time to oogle seed catalogues and plan for the next round of seasons. This week I’ve been forced to realise life is not that straightforward. Out I went [...]
3 Nov
SOWING BROAD BEANS – FOURTH WEEK IN OCTOBER 2009
The recently sown Radar onion sets are growing well now in the cleared patch from which beetroot was harvested about a month ago. Nearby, last season’s onion patch has now been cleared, some compost mixed in and the soil levelled. This patch will now become the legume patch between now and next autumn. Broad beans [...]
9 Sep
ORDERING SEEDS FOR AUTUMN PLANTING – SECOND WEEK IN SEPTEMBER 2009
The ‘Indian summer’ has arrived and high pressure from mid-week on is good news for harvesting and sowing. I open up the seed catalogues therefore and order seeds for autumn sowing such as: 1. Radar – autumn onion sets, 2. autumn shallots, 3. garlic, 4. Aquadulce – broad beans, 5. cress, 6. mustard. Seeing these sets and seeds [...]
23 Jun
Mid-June review.
The garden is full of lif right now. It’s fantastic to see how much growth there has been in the last month. The weather has been almost ideal, with lots of bright sunny days and the occassional shower to keep things moist. The video gives a quick tour of the garden and it’s interesting to [...]
2 Jun
FIRST WEEK IN JUNE – GOODBYE BLACKFLY ON BROAD BEANS
What a scorcher of a holiday weekend with temperatures in the mid twenties! Thanks to Bord Bia and their key sponsors, Bloom in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, did a great service in encouraging armchair gardeners to have a go at growing some of their own food. I had the honour of opening the Michelle Obama [...]
6 May
RUNNER BEANS – FIRST WEEK OF MAY
Cloudy weather in Balbriggan but average temperature. Taking a chance to plant out runner beans. Seeds were sown 14 April and germinated on sunny windowsill. The variety is ‘Enorma’ bought by mail-order from The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim. As the name suggests, these beans grow tall. Before planting, I therefore constructed a support wigwam using [...]
