The allotment tradition in England is seriously impressive. I decided to indulge myself with a ferry, train from Holyhead to Liverpool and a visit to City Hall there. Rob the porter was very helpful in sourcing a full list of the few dozen allotment sites around the city. Too many allotments to visit in one [...]
Posts Tagged ‘August’
18 Aug
TG 4 ‘GARRAí GLAS’ CREW RETURN TO JUICE APPLES – THIRD WEEK IN AUGUST 2010
The excellent ‘Garraí Glas’ with Síle touring kitchen gardeners around Ireland in her nifty red sports car is due to return to our screens. My little patch is to get a look in in the new series. Local organic advisor and the woman who started The Herb Garden (great website), Denise Dunne from the Naul was asked along [...]
17 Aug
PREPARING TO GET SMALL GREENHOUSE SO TIME TO VISIT FRIEND’S POLYTUNNEL – SECOND WEEK IN AUGUST 2010
About those lettuce seeds I mentioned sowing recently, they did germinate fine. It is a good thing I was not dissuaded from sowing by the message on the seed packet, ‘will not germinate when temperatures are above 18c’. I remind myself again that seeds WANT to grow, given a reasonable start and half a chance. [...]
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 [...]
30 Aug
FIRST APPLE JUICE OF THE HARVEST – FOURTH WEEK OF AUGUST 2009
Harvesting continues throughout the garden. Onions, peas, beans, cabbage, kale and courgettes all need regular picking. The biggest job this week is setting up the apple juicer, retrieving empty bottles from the attic and containers to keep juice in the freezer for the months ahead. Someone with a larger kitchen garden would be thinking at [...]
17 Aug
CUTTING BACK ON RASPBERRY CANES AND BLACKBERRY BUSHES – THIRD WEEK IN AUGUST 2009
This is now the week to look towards the jobs that come around each autumn. Cutting back of raspberry canes and blackcurrant bushes marks the beginning of autumn. I’m glad to report another good year for the blackcurrant bushes. The raspberry canes were new so I did not expect a bumper crop but hope for [...]
10 Aug
AFTER THE HARVEST, MULCHING – SECOND WEEK IN AUGUST 2009
Mulching space where crops have been harvested and cleared. Sowing green manure. As I remove plants following a harvest, for example, of broad beans and peas, I am left with very good bare soil. Nature does not do bare soil, so it is good to cover it with a mulch of grass clippings or even [...]
3 Aug
TIME TO TAKE CUTTINGS – FIRST WEEK IN AUGUST 2009
This is a good week for taking cuttings of any herbs in your own garden or the garden of someone else, provided they don’t mind having cuttings taken! Ask first! Taking cuttings is a very economical way of increasing your plant stock. Rosemary or sage, or indeed ivy in my case, are easily propogated from [...]