Update 1 - short - but more to follow

Sorry I have been away the past few weeks - I finished up work and thought I would have more time on my hands home with the kids, but turns out I have a lot less :-) Trips to the beach, Bunratty Castle and catching up with friends has been dominating my time. I will get some more proper updates up later this week. These are some photos from a few weeks ago - will have more up to date ones uploaded then.

The weather also hasn't helped - think it has been a record July for rainfall so far in Ireland - and thats saying something!!

Onions are starting to swell

First carrot and beetroot picked at start of July

Potatoes and peas growing nicely start of July

Strawberry plant producing runners since start of July

Update around the site

This is an update of photos from around the site this morning. I have been away from it the past few days so was good to get back to it - back achingly good! :-)

Tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing well - plenty of flowers - waiting on the fruit to start forming next.

Chilli plant in the greenhouse - flowering nicely too - probably needs potting up soon

Spuds are growing well - some damage from the rain last week, but coming back nicely

Leeks closest and onions growing well

Spuds in raised bed - growing well - had a look at some of the earlies, but only pebbles yet but they were planted late

Lettuce on the left, bush tomato and basil under the cloche and strawberry plants with plenty of fruit that just needs to ripen

 

4 rows of carrots - all planted at different times. The ones in the toilet rolls are looking a lot healthier now

Beetroot - 2 rows

Onions in bed with leeks on the right

Parsnips - looking very healthy

Broccoli nearly ready to pick, Brussels sprouts and cabbage/cauliflower on the left

Rock garden - flowering nicely

Strawberry pot - again waiting to ripen!

Bed beside the rock garden - various shrubs and bedding plants in there, Also a family sunflower competition!

Potatoes in pot - very small

View back looking towards the house from the beds

Fruit trees and wildflower garden which has been a bit of a disappointment this year compared to last year - grass has taken over

Peas - mangetout to the front of the row and then petit pois - seem to be a bit behind most peoples

Our gift to the kids arrived today - bought a wooden playhouse - will update with photos once we get it together, hopefully over the weekend if its dry! Its a thanks to them for losing their parents most evenings to the garden.

Picked my first head of Broccoli this evening - couldn't wait - on the menu for dinner tomorrow!

Glorious sunshine

 What fabulous weather we are having now this week in Ireland. Yesterday was just a joy to be out in the garden. I love this time where first harvests are starting to take place and you can see the rest of the plants starting to grow - makes all the time bringing them on worthwhile!

Planted out my bush tomatoes into the bed with the strawberries and salad leaves - will be interesting to see how it does with the irish summer. I have 2 other bush tomato plants kept in the greenhouse to see how they do in comparison.

Some plums on the tree - first harvest - tree was planted last year. Very exciting!! I love plums straight from the tree - I grew up with one in an orchard behind my house and spent many a summer covered in hives from eating as much as I could (before the birds and bees got to them!).

Blossoms on the apple trees as well - I can see the buds on the cooking apple trees, so hopefully these will follow shortly.

The spuds (potatoes) in the raised bed are doing so much better than the spuds in the pot, but that would be expected. The ones in the ground have finally shown their heads above soil and look good so far - these will have to be monitored closely for blight as those planted later are at a higher risk according to all my research.

My tomatoes in the greenhouse - there is a bush tomato plant in the pot over the roses tin. Rest are growing nicely and started to produce flowers now so time to get feeding. It is recommended to start feeding (every second watering) once the flower buds have set.

Salad leaves - picked a few of these shortly after the photo was taken for part of my salad last night. So fresh and tangy!

Loads of yummy strawberries growing - only 2 didn't like the move from previous place to the raised bed, but they weren't the strongest plants either.

My brassica bed is just magnificent at the moment. Everything looking so healthy - brocoli on the right and brussels sprouts and cauliflower from the left.

Parsnips are growing well - those planted almost a month later have caught up with the early planted ones - definitely not worth planting out too early  - one lesson learned.

The first radishes were picked yesterday - Jolly variety. These were added to the salad last night - lovely fresh crunch and peppery taste from them.

Beetroot growing well.

Planted the carrots from the toilet roll holders out into the garden yesterday. I did find some small stones when digging them in, so there would have been a risk of them forking if I had planted them direct.

The carrots below are the ones sown out - the ones in the closest row were planted about the same time as the ones in the toilet rolls and look healthier. The proof will be in the harvesting/eating as they say!

Blue bed

The blue bed is my root vegetable bed for this year. For me this will include carrots, parsnips, beetroot and radishes.

The parsnips are closest. I currently have 3 rows of succession sowing. I mistakenly planted on the advice of the back of the packet which I think was too early. The ones planted a month later have almost caught up. The last sowing germinated so much faster than the previous sowings.

The radishes are the next you see - two sowings - the first are growing really well - looking forward to them in the salads - must look up other recipes for them as they are such an easy to grow veg.

Next there is 2 lines of beetroot ( only one visible so far). Again I think I planted this a bit too early as April and May haven't been the best this year and are quiet cold. But still a row of healthy plants is nice to see.

At the top then I have 3 rows of carrots planted with the oldest against the top of the box. Nearly ready to start spacing them out. Good tip from the GIY website is to remove any thinned plants away from the box as you may attract the dreaded pest - the carrot root fly.

I had most of the top portion of soil sieved in this bed - not sure if I went deep enough - time will tell - I reckon I will have some forked carrots and parsnips. For next year I will have to do a lot more work prior to putting down the seeds. All of the above have been sown directly into soil.

I am doing an experiment with some extra carrot seeds. I am growing them in old toilet roll inserts filled with compost. This is supposed to help you get a better formed carrot as there are no rocks etc for them to hit while growing. Then when its planted out - the cardboard will disintegrate leaving lovely carrots - in theory anyhow - will wait and see.

Return to you about garden finally - been busy!!

Ok - been away from this far too long - but trust me, I never left the garden. Will update tomorrow with a load of photos from different stages. We got "distracted" by landscaping our garden, putting in a path, getting groundwork done for patio, moving loads of soil around, rock picking and still more rock picking.
The bed order changed slightly from my initial plans.
Bed 1 - garlics, onions, scallions, leeks

Bed 2 - bok choi, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, calebrese (brocolli)

Bed 3 - carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radishes

Bed 4 - potatoes

Bed 5 - took this out of rotation - just growing strawberries, lettuce - plan to also put in some bush tomatoes too as a trial.

Also, directly in the soil - peas, potatoes, onions, leeks

Growing horseradish in a pot. Never seen it grown before! Interesting times - not sure as yet when to harvest and will be on the lookout for recipes.

My apple, plum trees and berry bushes planted last year are also showing flowers so we are hopefully looking at a first crop this year,

Rhubarb isn't looking so healthy - who would have known slugs love rhubarb.

Also have tomatoes growing indoors in preparation for my greenhouse ( aldi/lidl special), some chillies (cheated with them, bought them from B&Q as a small plant), basil, corriander (first batch nearly ready to eat!!).

Okay- decided to upload one of the finished photos - will have to wait till tomorrow for the rest of the stages. Hopefully I plan to upload sections on different vegetables/herbs and other plants with tips/tricks I come across. I will also upload some recipes of interest that link in with the food I am growing. Always tastes so much fresher when its homegrown.

The path (new) leads down to the multi coloured beds - there will also be a patio down there shortly(as soon as roadstone get around to delivering it!). This way we will be able sit down of an evening and if you get the munchies, you can just pick from the beds directly,