potato harvest

I decided to dig out the British Queens and see what the crop was like. I was quite happy with the yield and nature of the crop. There were some greenish potatoes; the weed block did allow some light through. There may have been a bigger crop if I could have earthed up the plants, but they were weed free and very clean. Next will be the Sarpo Mira in a few weeks time.

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tunnel in early august

Just a glimpse of the tunnel in early august.

pumpkins

pumpkins and butternut squash

peppers

tunnel

tomato gardeners delight

aubergines doing better than expected

courgette

potatoes in flower

The potatoes are really going well, especially the British Queens. The mulch matting has worked well to keep the weeds down and conserve some moisture. The Sarpo Mira are not doing as well, although their beds was better prepared. They both could do with some water at the moment.

British Queens

Sarpo Mira

hot & dry

This has been the warmest week for a long while. The temperature has been in the high twenties and it's been continuously sunny. The tunnel has been really scorching with a maximum recorded temperature of 51.2C on wednesday... lots of late evening watering so.

it says max 51.2, min 6.6.

hot

dry

growing starts in the tunnel

 The tunnel, while not complete (the doors need to go on), is starting to fill up with plants. Already some tomatoes and cucumbers were planted, and now some more plants have gone in. From now on it's just watering, a bit of weeding and waiting for that first harvest...

The tunnel from the orchard side, the apples have all shown nice growth.

A bit messy, but the plants are growing...

Butternut Squash Waltham

Aubergine Moneymaker

Pepper Elfo

Courgette Alexander or Atena (seeds got mixed up)

Courgette Femspot

Some Mushroom Compost (I shouldn't really put it in now...)

The onions and potatoes are doing well so far...

 

polytunnel

One of my aims this year was to get a tunnel up so I could grow a few tomatoes and the like. Although I got the kit about a month ago, I just managed to get it covered at the weekend, which is not bad going and just in time to maybe get a bit of a crop in it this summer.

Thanks to Pat for helping me set out the hoops level and in line.

The trench on the stream side was full of stones and compacted subsoil,
while the other side was as soft as cheese.

I had the door frames already.

A family effort was needed to get the polythene up and over, held in place
while the trenches were filled and the cover kept taut. Lots of family fun...

All in all it came out pretty well. 

 I have to finish the door frames, make doors and hang them and then maybe plant something...

onions and potatoes

Today I planted some onion sets(Setton and Red Baron)  and some potatoes (Sarpo Mira and British Queens).
The location is the driest in the garden, and had some mushroom compost spread over it last year. Re-digging and cleaning of the adjacent stream over the years has left some subsoil mixed through this area, something not quite ideal. The mushroom compost certainly did seem to improve the soil noticeably.
The onion variety Setton has a reputation for being a good storer. The Red Baron sets were quite strong so I'm hopeful of a good performance. By covering with weedblock fabric, I hope to warm the soil a bit and keep down the weeds.
The Sparo Mira potato is fairly blight resistant while British Queens are at the other end of the scale. Sarpo Mira are robust, vigorous and high yielding, but a bit on the waxy side. The Queens are an early variety (although being sowed late) and are the most popular early potato in these parts. I decided to weedblock the Queens just to see how that would work out.
Good to get a start, a few more beds to prepare now over the next two weeks..

this bed was roughly dug over and covered with light weedblock

I've planted onions through small holes in the weedblock

red baron and setton were the varieties planted

the soil was enriched with chicken manure pellets and calcified seaweed

the sarpo mira were left unmulched while I weedblocked the british queens

vegetable garden february

I've selected a spot for the vegetable garden. It's not the wettest patch of the garden, but not particularly dry either. The soil is quite hard and shallow, but maybe I can improve it. I aim now to grow mainly potatoes, onions, leeks and parsnips. Just the hardier veg to start with.

germination

These are the first seedlings of 2013, sown in mid January. They will be hopefully ready for sale around April & May.

flat leaf parsley

swiss chard

greyhound cabbage

wild rocket

irish seed savers open day

I recently attended an open day at the Irish Seed Savers garden near Scariff, County Clare.(http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/) They specialize in collecting and propagating a range of traditional apple varieties. They also grow and save seed from a large range of heritage vegetable varieties. They have a green and organic outlook and a big emphasis on sharing information. 

apple varieties

cob house with green roof 

some of the potato varieties

tunnel with onions setting seed