Another pick

Finally got to pick something other than my lettuce and radishes at the weekend. There was the broccoli which I had a post on  (click here), but also got to pick my second batch of rhubarb at the weekend. This was a pleasant change - I can't wait to pick more veg - patience is a virtue that I need more of !

As I wasn't planning on using the rhubarb straight away ( which would be what I would normally do), I tried freezing it. I had never done this before ( I followed advice from Piers Warren book "How to store your garden produce"), but it was so simple that I think I will try again later on in the year.

The difference compared to freezing the broccoli, is that there is no blanching needed ( it can be preformed if you wish to keep the vibrant colour) - all you need to do is chop into usable sized pieces and freeze (similar to the broccoli - I stacked mine individually initially and then bagged them up when frozen).

Also below is a photo of the potatoes that had the blight (just started on the leaves) in the pot - very small, but after boiling for about 10 mins, they were delicious! So tender.

My failures so far

Every gardener loves to talk about their successes and what worked so well, but I believe we can also learn even more from our failures. And with gardening, sometimes our failures happen due to circumstances out of our control (weather, pests to name but a few).

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Ginger
This was my second time trying to grow ginger and again it was a total failure. I bought the bulb from B&Q and tried it on a hot windowsill - but absolutely nothing happened. May take some more advice from the link below before trying it again with some suitable store bought ginger - but if it fails again, I will just have to resign myself to buying it!
Growing ginger

Garlic
Approximately 50% failure on my garlic this year due to rust. I had some store bought garlic and this is still growing strong - but the old garlic that I used from last years bulbs that I grew myself all got heavily infected with rust. In future I will be buying new supplies of garlic for sowing each year. 


Pumpkin
This was my most annoying failure - all was going so well - it germinated well, grew quickly on a windowsill, adapted well to life outdoors after hardening off. And then came the storms last week - and the two pumpkins I had sown were snapped off near their bases. If I had known they were at risk, I would have covered them with a cloche ( I will be doing this next year for sure until they are too big for the cloche). The most annoying part was that it happened too late in the season for me to germinate more. I was so looking forward to having my own grown pumpkin soup for Christmas dinner starter as I had last year.

Potatoes
I forgot my potatoes that were in the pot when spraying for blight (thankfully remembered all the rest, and they are doing well) just before the last batch of wet weather and sure enough - they were covered in blight this weekend. I immediatedly emptied the pot - the potatoes were still usable, but tiny - still nice addition to the salad that evening for dinner. Blight will mean that the potatoes won't store. The leaves etc have been removed off site. Photos below.

Click on the images to see them in full size.  

These are just my failures so far - I am sure that by the end of the season that more will come along with a lot more success (hopefully!!).


"Expect the worst, hope for the best, and take what comes"

Spuds

 

Earthed up the spuds that were sown out about a month ago. Also gave them their first spray for prevention of Blight - next year I am going to give the potatoes that are know to be most resistant to Blight a try as I would prefer not to have to spray.

 There were a lot of stones and rocks still in the soil so decided to use them as paths for around the raised beds. Hadn't been sure what I was going to use for around the raised beds whether to go with membrane or bark or fancy stones. This will do as a temporary measure and also gives me somewhere to keep the stones I keep finding! So far I have just put them down loosely - will sort them properly later on in the season - to do it right, I should clear off the stones, level it, put down membrane, clean the stones and then place them back - just so much done (and still to do) so far this year, I can't face it right now.  So far I have 3 of the beds surrounded and at least the same again of stones/rocks to pick. When weeds grow in the gaps between the stones, I am going to control them with vinegar (really only effective on young weeds or else you have to re-apply frequently).

 

As you can see from the above photo we are still waiting on delivery of our stone circle - would you believe Indian Sandstone has to come from India :-) On a ship somewhere in the ocean with no docking date - we have tried other types of stone, but no other style does a 5m circle. If we had known we would be waiting so long ( over 2 months now), we could have designed it for a 4m circle of which there are a lot of different stone types available(and in stock!).

The onions that were planted out later on are doing well - as they are directly in the soil there are a lot of weeds that keep popping their heads up so constant vigilance is needed to keep them under control.  I grew onions in slits cut in membrane before which was great as only a minimum of weeds managed to poke their heads out (at the slits). Might be something to try for next year. My hoe has taken over a life of its own at times and sent one or two of the poor onions flying!

Normal service resumed

The wet weather is back here in Ireland - was too good to last. Ah well, that was our summer - nice while it lasted I suppose :-) Still at least now the garden had a good soaking last night (and its still continuing!).

The warmth and the rain are making it ideal for Blight on both Potatoes and Tomatoes.

Great article on potato blight
http://www.killarneygardencentre.com/potato-blight

Watch out for this ( image from the above site which was credited to Wikipedia) on the leaves of your potato and tomato plants ( as tomatoes are part of the potato family which makes them also susceptible).

On the good news front - Met Eireann ( The Irish Meteorological Service) have produced average temperatures for Ireland over the past 30 years and where I am based is up at the top of the chart!

Source - Irish Average Temp 1981-2010



Was down in Cork Tuesday evening and took a walk in by UCC. Saw these lovely trees hanging over the offshoot of the River Lee and I thought I would share them with you. They aren't great quality as taken from my phone but it was just so peaceful there watching the water go by.