HIDDEN PLACES IN THE GARDEN

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 | gaiainaction

After emptying some organic matter into the compost bin at the end of the garden, I discovered some blackberries there and decided to pick them, might make some jam tomorrow adding them to apples. I also discovered some hidden gems while there, even though the garden is small, there is a definite wild part to it at the back, behind the compost heap and fence. There is an old Christmas tree growing there in its own pot, and an hydrangea bush. The whole area is wild and disorganised. I found a lettuce plant growing there in the middle of twigs. There are some old stumps of trees there too and wood that is going to be used for winter fuel. I found lovely flowering bright orange montbretia, and some Fuchsia over the gate, immediately beside a very healthy looking elderberry shrub which I planted there in spring, and another lovely little shrub growing there is a quince which some years ago gave me fruit, but not the past year. An old hidden water pump is hidden between ferns. I like to sometimes go there and discover what is going on, apparently there are a lot of hedgehogs in the neighbourhood and I guess I’m hoping to see one some day.

GOATS CHEESE TARTLETS AND MORE HERBAL HARVESTING

September 24, 2015September 24, 2015 | gaiainaction

Almost coming to the end of September now, and there is already a colourful display of autumn shades to be seen in trees and shrubbery. My grandchildren were collecting some of these bright red and yellow leaves from the front garden yesterday.
And the harvesting in the garden is never ending, it is just amazing what keeps turning up. The leek and scallion seed heads were finally ready for picking and drying, as was the coriander. Also the seeds of the sweet pea, and poppy, all of them are hanging around the place, what an abundance it is.
This morning, after some years of inactivity, I attended my new yoga class, we did a chakra balancing, lovely stretches and relaxation, as well as some meditation, afterward we met up for soups or coffee, I met new people, was warmly welcomed by a group of nice women. Already looking forward to next weeks session. And I felt energised enough to cook up some goats cheese tartlets this evening which is a bit of a miracle in my kitchen! 🙂

Goats cheese tartlets, and fresh coriander seeds

A variety of seeds to be dried, and a close up of the leek seeds.

“WHILE I AM SHAPING MY GARDEN, MY GARDEN IS SHAPING ME”

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 | gaiainaction

Yes, while I am shaping my garden, my garden is shaping me. Yesterday morning I started to realise that this is true for me in my life right now. Next Sunday I will be 66, a mile-stone in Ireland at the moment because it is when you retire. Well as it happens I already had to retire two years ago due to ill health, and while I got used to not working with books every day, it has taken me a while longer to get used to not having the energy that I used to have.

My garden has helped me to return to balance. I have been out there even if I had to drag myself, and it has worked. In the beginning I could barely do 10 minutes after which I would be floored for the rest of the day, but slowly I worked up the length of time. I still need frequent rest periods but it is better than it was. My enthusiasm for growing herbs and vegetables, drying some of them, collecting seeds, infusing oils, propagating from cuttings, planning layout, and improving soils, making compost, and much more is so satisfying and interesting. I’ve gone from working with people and books, to working with plants, soils, and compost, and it’s all good. I find it inspiring the more so as I am learning every single day, reading up a lot on it, attending workshops, online courses on herbs and permaculture, and meeting other vegetable growers.

And now my partner and I are deep into discussions and making plans to turn his 3 acre land into a viable off grid Eco farm, hoping to invite some serious permaculture practitioners to take part in this model of sustainable living in rural West Cork.
So in some way all my permaculture shaping of my garden has opened my eyes and senses to be able to take on larger challenges, though we ourselves will not be living on the farm, we will be very involved and it’s this inspiration, the inspiration that I get from my garden that can be a good motivating and inspiring energy for the project we are embarking upon. In a small way that is what I am hoping to contribute to this endeavour.

And so, yes, while I engage day after day in shaping my garden, it is true that my garden is also shaping me, opening me to new ventures and a different form of happiness and contentment in my life.
What an adventure!

Chives flowers drying

A variety of herbs drying for adding to teas and soups, and jars full of dried herbs

Seeds of plantain for winter storage, and seeds of shallots

Flowers of the feverfew plant, and self heal flowers already dried

My fragrant geranium cuttings, and some produce for soup today.

BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE GARDEN

September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 | gaiainaction

Today, a most beautiful, sunny, and warm autumn day, generously watered by a few heavy showers saw me getting a lot done, and also saw me discovering yet again the abundance and beauty of nature. To my delight I was able to capture some of this once again on camera in order to share. So enjoy and take delight. Tomorrow more on what is happening garden work wise, and on the propagation that I was doing today.

A house fly on the dandelion

A hoover fly on a poppy

Lady’s mantel, lavender and rain drops and the sun playing with it all.

AUTUMN JOBS IN THE GARDEN

September 8, 2015September 8, 2015 | gaiainaction

Today was tidy up day in the garden, among other things. I finished planting out the salad leaves, and beetroot. Then I sowed, also in the cold frame, curled parsley, and some winter lettuce, seeds that I had over from last year, we shall see what comes up. I followed this with tidying the garden, putting away a lot of summer things into the potting shed, also took measurements as need to get a light tar paper to attach to some of the outside of the shed. It is one of the jobs that I have had on the list for over a year but did not get around to. I finished outside with putting some stray pots of herbs like basil into the cold frame to overwinter. The table and chairs which we only used once or twice during the bad summer remain on the patio for the moment, not that I expect to use them to eat outside, but because there is a container of sweet peas on top and some other plants.

I am reading this brilliant memoir by Joy Larkcom, it’s a large work, so interesting. She fills the pages with so much information about the history of vegetable growing in Europe. She also talks about the year she and her young family spent travelling around Europe in the seventies, exploring what vegetables were being grown and used and writing about this, also collecting seeds and much more. I have now nearly read half of the book and am still enthralled and learning some bits. It is also interesting to see how the author discovered growing organically. At the moment, every night I go to sleep with my head full of these stories, it is a great ‘down to earth’ sort of thing to read after the long discussions with my partner about the current state of the world.

Soup being cooked, vegetables copped and heaped up with dandelion, nettles, garlic, cumin and other herbs and spices. Next the resulting goodness, very tasty, this is food I really like.

A calm moment after work outside. The poppies have almost all finished flowering and the seed heads are very decorative inside the house.

PRODUCTIVE DAY IN MY GARDEN

September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 | gaiainaction

What a most beautiful day here in West Cork, glorious sunshine and 20C, so excellent weather to work in. And a project was waiting to be done, so no better day than right now. Bought two cold frames early last spring, and they needed some repairs (storm damage) and also they needed to be fastened better (for the next storm). I got a loan of Ian’s electric saw, and cut some lengths of timber, and I had to screw these in so as to stop the plastic flying around at the bottom. I love using this little screwdriver, love the feeling of the screw going into the wood, as if the wood was butter, so easy. Anyway after a few hours of work, with rest periods in between, the work was done and the two cold frames are now ready for planting out young vegetables to harvest during the winter months. I have salad leaves ready to go in, also will probably plant in some of my young beetroots, and the black radish, it is about time I make up my mind about it, but what I really want from these cold frames are good honest down to earth vegetables to cook meals from, not fancy experiments like the bitter gourd that I tried to grow during the summer. Ok I will be trying out new vegetables again next spring, I cannot resist the temptation, but as for this winter I just want to fill the cold frames with food, it will be my first time growing stuff in a sort of greenhouse (which is what these cold frames are really). I shall be reading up on suggestions.

Meanwhile, though wrecked, I am really happy this evening about the work I was able to do, so satisfying to get it done.

My greatest tool, the screwdriver! And inside the cold frame sides all secured and closed off.

Ready for planting stuff in now, another job done to prepare for winter.

Teaching one of my grandchildren about ‘soil’ and it’s importance. And a super great caterpillar found and distributed to the wild fields.

One of the poppy’s a single one this time, still quite a few flowers in bloom this autumn.

YOUNG ROBIN AND PLANTING OUT FOR WINTER

August 31, 2015 | gaiainaction

For some weeks now we have a new friend, and she is becoming more and more familiar with us, coming inside and exploring, hovering up any crumbs under the table. When I am in the garden she comes very close. Nice to see wildlife in the garden, it’s such a joy.

This morning it was already 20C in the sun and the day has not disappointed, if we get an Indian summer this will be very much appreciated by both humans and plants!

In between some showers during the afternoon I found some energy to plant out 10 salad plants for the winter months, and some rocket also. Hopefully the slugs will only take one or two. The garden is very full up with all sorts of vegetables and it is a pleasure to see it all grow so well. Ireland is never sort of rain water and even while we get much less sunshine than everywhere else, there is still good enough growth. The winters are mild also. Several vegetables, herbs or flowers will give a second crop during the long growing season. For example, my lemon balm, nettles, dandelions and comfrey plants are on to there second show of lush leaves. Flowering broccoli also is giving a second show, and the marigolds are flowering fully again too. I put lots of my dried leaves into jars today and labelled them with name and date. Used up last years dried nettle in the soup too today.

It is reassuring to see the profuse harvest of all sorts of foods coming in from such a small garden.

EARLY AUTUMN PLANTING AND GARDEN JOBS

August 29, 2015August 29, 2015 | gaiainaction

What a beautiful sunny day it was here in West Cork. A great day for the market and for buying some more plants for the winter plot. I have found that reddish salad leaves are less prone to slug attack, and they are hardy too, so got some of these, together with beet leaf and rocket. Realising that it was high time that I made the cold frames ready to withstand high winds, I purchased twine and screws and made a start at securing the frames, the plastic is to follow.

I also bought some seeds of the round black radish. I have never grown these black radishes before. I do remember making hutsepot long time ago in Belgium, but in that stew we would have used round white radishes with a slightly sharp taste. While checking out the black radish I read that they need a well manured soil and should not go short of water (never a problem in Ireland), they are fast growing and should be used while young and tender. I just checked Pinterest for more uses and recipes of these radishes, and there are many, they can be used raw or cooked. One recipe talks of a creamy black radish soup with rice cream, sounds good enough to me. It is a good vegetable to explore as it can be grown here right through the winter, and that is my main interest at the moment with my garden, how to fill it with food for the winter months. It will be another one of my experiments.

A FEELING OF AUTUMN

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 | gaiainaction

These last few days have been very autumn-like around here, high winds, rain, cool evenings, but also quite a bit of sunshine in-between, a real feeling of autumn in the air.
While checking over the garden there is a lot to be seen that is going well. I even found a French bean plant in flower that I had all forgotten about, it has been growing in-between the profusely flowering sweet peas. The winter vegetables I planted out weeks ago are growing fast with all the rain they are getting, good to see this happening as I take the supplying of vegetables during the winter very seriously (and it’s fun).

And in-between the leeks there is yet another crop of young dandelions growing, the third crop this year so far!

The courgettes though, have not been doing so well, finally I will be able to harvest one, all the others rotted while still small. Then there is the rhubarb, this is a young plant, started off during the summer, and now being covered with the leaves of the silver birch tree that is towering above it. It promises to be a good rhubarb producer for next year, so the making of rhubarb jam will be on the agenda. During this summer there was very little fruit for sale at the market, probably due to the lack of sunshine there was little fruit around, but having said that, my sister-in-law had kilos upon kilos of strawberries in her garden, so I could be wrong. I do not have enough space to grow a lot of fruit that is why I like to buy it from organic local producers. Last year I made a lot of jam, we are still eating from it, this summer I made none.

The few flowering broccoli plants that were left over, once I got a handle on my slug control, did rather well, we ate some already. Today I found some caterpillars on one of the plants and removed them. No harm done.

The sprouts are starting to get too large to grow under the netting so I will have to remove that this week. I will also be harvesting beans and peas to dry for seeds. Then to mulch the soil with the leaves and branches that are left over as good for the soil.

There is other work to do too before the weather really gets bad (but I am actually expecting an Indian summer soon). I need to tie down the cold frame before I put the plastic back on, wind can get very high here and I don’t want to lose the frame. On Saturday market I will buy some more plants to go in there for the winter. I have plants ready, beetroots, to plant out too in another week or two.

And so the early autumn time is still busy, much is happening, love this time of the year too. Schools starting next week, my grandchildren are all getting ready for that. Almost unused garden furniture is about to be stored for another winter. A few checks have to be made to secure and maintain other things in the garden, and birdhouses have to come out.

And I have a project inside the house to do and am slowly but surely getting ready for that (next real rainy day). Trying my hand on a bit of DIY. I like to be really self sufficient, but I have a good adviser in my partner, thank goodness for that.

Round courgette doing well first one after many flowers rotted from the rain.

Discovery of a French bean plant I thought had died, and seeds of the sweet peas appearing

Kale and more kale for this winter, and the rhubarb plant covered in birch leaves already falling.

Flowering broccoli and little visitors which I caught today, before too much damage was done.

Sprouts and leeks for the winter months doing well.

More kale growing fast at this stage, and the garden how it is beginning of autumn 2015

agoyvaerts

To observe, to be enchanted, and to enjoy the simple stuff in life, is truly a delight.

My Garden