Cabbage beds

Deep beds for brassicas etc. These are at the Goresbridge Community Garden and are shown protected by mini cloches made from cutoff plastic bottles.

Fruit Trees & bushes

As our building plot ("site" in the local parlance) was long and relatively thin, we set about dividing it across it's width early on. I had seeded the whole lot with lawn seed and we maintain the near end as soccer pitch, trampoline arena and more conventional garden. However, erect a structure such as a fence and you have a new planting opportunity. We have fruit trees on the side nearest the house and fruit bushes on the far side (the wild area and vegetable growing & pond area.

Here's a photo of blossom from last week. It might be cherry or apple or pear.

Smooth Newt

Me and the kids discovered a female Smooth Newt in the garden, under a pile of large stones which were not used for a wall I built. These are the only type to occur in Ireland. We have put the newt into the wildlife (fish-free) pond, where I hope she will start a colony. Haven't seen a newt since I was a kid and we used to get them in our garden & pond in Hornchurch, Essex so I was very excited. Create the environment in a garden and nature will do the rest.

Growing Vegetables from seed

2 fantastic books to get: Joy Larkcom's comprehensive "Grow your own vegetables" and Chris Beardshaw's "How does your garden grow". The latter is almost philosophy and is beautifully produced. Not currently in print so source it from Amazon and immerse yourself in the science and wonder of plant reproduction plus anecdotes from Chris's grandfather and other soil-encrusted mentors.

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Updates: end April 2010. Spuds doing well under black plastic. Runner beans planted out and growing. Had to put nets around them both to keep chickens off. Coldframe is now bursting with veg, waiting to go in. Bought a heated propagator in LIDL for 20 euro and have a batch of tomatoes growing. The constant heat from below is the key to starting seedlings, according to numerous books I've read. The toms took only a week to sprout. Good for cuttings too, I've read, as heat from below is the key to success. Also tepid water is better than the shock of cold water.

I discovered that some growers pump CO2 into their commercial greenhouses or burn propane to give off ethylene. Both methods vastly increase growth, despite the official eco-worriers preaching the contrary.

Gardening course going well at the Goresbridge Poly(tunnel). Seriously considering getting a polytunnel from a guy in Clonmel called John Manning. As he is an engineer, they seem to be better built than most. He also uses commercial grade plastic, sourced from the factory in Crete so I'm talking myself into it. (Having seen the tunnels, I'm definitely getting one from him): http://www.gardenpolytunnels.ie/

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As the raised beds are well prepared, I have converted our small shed into a Potting Shed. I have ALDI propagators full of seedlings and white reflectors behind and above them to make use of what light there is through the one window. It faces North, so no direct sun. Temperatures still a bit cold for germination, so have moved my Prince Charles' Estate "Heritage" carrots (sown in toilet roll inners) to a polytunnel which I have the use of as part of a course I'm doing. Will then re-pot most of the seedlings and put them in the DIY coldframe to get used to the cold reality of Irish weather before sowing in the raised beds. The carrots can go straight in when the soil warms up a bit.

Note to self: Will have to fence the veg beds off from the marauding chickens which are drawn to the bare soil of the beds.

Got some "Home Guard" first early spuds going in a black plastic-covered bed and a metal drum I found. My dad was in the Home Guard so couldn't resist it. Drilled drainage holes in the drum and painted it green with ALDI water-based paint. Put a clear plastic cover over the top to help warm them up. No sign of any shoots though. You are meant to heap up soils as they grow in the drum to stop them turning green and poisonous. Not necessary for the beds under plastic. First earlies are meant to survive any blight as you eat them before blight appears in humid warm weather. We'll see...

Update: July 2010.

Spuds came up luverly! The greenery collapsed but the spuds themselves are fine.

NEW: Photo gallery of Goresbridge Community Garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goresbridge_gardening/

Traditional Irish hedge

When we moved here and built the house the Council specified that we demolish the original Estate hedge & stone wall and plant an "indiginous, deciduous" Irish hedge. Needless to say we didn't heed them but retained the 150 year old one intact. At the back of the site there was nothing but sheep wire, erected by the farmer. I set about planting a traditional hedge with hawthorn 'slips' which like the clay soil we have here.

Interspersed with those are now several oaks and as many saplings as I could find, including hazel, elder, larch, beech (not strictly native) ash, alder, holly etc. This hedge is now about 10 years old and acts as a safe route for birds between the adjacent hedges. It also acts as a windbreak against the winter gales. I also planted multiple rows of alders (shown on right) to help mop up excess surface water and as a further windbreak. (Naturalist Dick Warner told me that alders have host organisms on their roots which "fix" nitrogen into the soil. He planted lots in his own garden in Kildare). I keep the alders lopped off at head height so they don't spoil the view. They have certainly helped drain the excess water off the site. Our chickens like to root around under the trees and they help keep down the weeds.

The original 'big house' estate fields had hedgerows with 'standards' or large trees. Remnants of these remain, mostly beech. Modern-day farmers prefer to use the less than picturesque old pallet or electric fence method to bridge any gaps. Whilst our garden is full of insects (and therefore the birds which feed on them), the surrounding fields are monoculture crops which have to be sprayed with pesticides and seeded with fertilizer. Our own soil was part of the field next to it and has just about recovered from the dubious care of these methods. The farmers blame the EC or supermakets for making them produce stuff cheaply. The old system of crop rotation which had worked well for around 5,000 years has been abandoned. The old hedgerows supported insects & birds which preyed on pests, but chemicals do that now.

A UK-based company has an excellent guide on their website: http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Store.html

1st April 2010

Today and yesterday I planted 10 hazel, 5 Holm Oak (evergreen) and 5 Birch into my native hedge. They come as slips about 18" high in peat plugs which are kept in a refrigerated container at Coilte Nurseries, Ballintemple. €20 the lot. Great place to source native trees for hedging:

Coilte Nurseries supplies bare root plants in the dormant season. They mail them out to you if you can't collect. Here is their link: http://www.coilltenurseries.ie/



May 2010: The hedge is doing well and is now home to loads of insects. Apart from being an attractive windbreak, the hedge attracts insects & birds. (A few feet behind the hedge is a 30 acre monoculture field where you won't find an insect, bird or anything else living apart from the crop).