Pear and melon salad

We're lucky to have our very own pear tree out in the back garden.  I was greeted to the kitchen today by my beaming husband and a pile of pears he'd collected.  Had you asked him a few years ago would collecting pears from his own tree have made him so happy, he'd have probably scoffed at you for talking rubbish and hotfooted it to the pub or some other manly hubspot. In fact, even today when I asked him that very question he was quick to remind me that he still remains committed to his love of football, beer and golf!

So, I've an abundance of fresh pears and a mission to use them well. But what to make?

First up is a super simple - amazingly tasty recipe I discovered last pear season (seriously, I can't stress enough just how brilliant this recipe is!).



Juice of 1 lemon
2 large pears
Melon - as much and what ever type you like
3 teaspoons of sugar
Same amount of water as you have lemon juice

Bring the water, lemon juice and sugar to the boil together to make a syrup (should be as tart as you like). Leave to one side to cool completely.

Cut the pear and melon up whichever way you like.

Mix the syrup and fruit and serve whichever way you like.

Suggestions are:

• As a fruit salad
• With home cooked ham, rocket, toasted sunflowers, feta and roasted Mediterranean vegetables - we had this for dinner tonight.
• With pancakes
• With ice cream 

Let there BEE sun!

Call in an Indian Summer, call it a cruel world for making the sun shine when the kids are back in school, call it what you like but the point remains the same.  The sun is out and it's more than making up for a pretty dull Summer.

So, as I have a free weekend for the first time in months I decided to take advantage and get out in the garden for a bit of a tidy up.  It was a short lived attempt! Within minutes I was being chased away from the Sedum's by a feisty Honey Bee and on closer inspection (from a safe distance) I realised it was one of many little bees busily tucking in to the Sedum flower heads. I've resolved to wait until later today, when it's cooler, to tidy up that particular section as the bees will be lest active.

Now, I've never been stung by a bee or a wasp and I hope to elude this painful experience and to never find out if I'm allergic to either.  To continue gardening and avoid getting stung I'll have to take some precautions.

Tips for avoiding the sting whilst gardening:

• Don't wear bright colours that will attract bees.  This includes your gloves.  Wear neutral earth based colours.
• Move slowly if you are near bees so not to aggravate them.
• Don't wear perfume
• Wear shoes, this should be a given anyway as it's never safe to garden barefoot.
• Don't flap around if one lands on you, it'll move on peacefully as long as it doesn't feel threatened.
• If there seems to be a lot of bees think about waiting a while until they've moved on.  Also, have a look around and see if there is a bee nest on your property somewhere.  If there is, do not disturb it and call a professional if you want it removed.

Happy safe gardening.

Beware of snail eggs - always wash your pots

What a glorious day! I popped outside to re-pot the Succulents and ended up staying out there for hours.  How could I not with an actual summer day on offer!

Succulents in their new pots.

I've let the garden do it's thing over the last year or so, whilst I dealt with all manner of distractions. Now that I'm back to lend a hand/interfere, I can happily report that there seems to be an all round agreement between the plants to have a growth spurt.  Unfortunately this includes the grass, creeping butter cup and dandelions.  Dorris, the resident rabbit, is delighted with our dandelion cultivation skills though. 

Whilst having a tidy up I came across a couple of my saplings that were in need of bigger pots.  When I took them out to upgrade them I spotted what, I first thought where eggs but then realised where snail hatchlings [pictures below].  This is a new one on me.  I've seen the eggs before, small white balls that are often described as 'looking like polystyrene balls' but I've never seen them at this stage.


My instinct is the same though - get rid of them!  Now, I do feel bad about this - as a child I wanted a pet giant snail and I honestly feel like a a traitor!  But, when it comes down to it these little creatures will reek havoc in the veg plot. So, go they must!


My advise to you is this: When re-potting plants have a poke around the root ball for the a fore mentioned 'polystyrene balls'.  If you spot them, gently scrape them into the bin with a twig, be careful not to damage the roots.


And, always always wash your pots in warm soapy water before reusing them.


Happy gardening.

Snail/Slug eggs || 2 sizes

Snail Hatchlings

Snail/Slug eggs || 2 sizes

Foraging for Wild food

I have a soft spot for foraging as it reminds me, as I'm sure it does many other people, of childhood trips to hedgerows laden with berries and abandoned orchards creaking with the weight of apples, pears and plums. As a child I spent many a day up a tree dropping the best apples to the less agile of the scrumping party below. These days it's me catching the fruit as common sense has, unfortunately, set in and has me firmly rooted to the ground.

Since coming to Ireland, and with the exception of a one off trip to Howth for mushroom collecting with the Slow Food society (highly recommended), I've cautiously stuck to picking wild blackberries and strawberries. This year though I've branched out (excuse the pun) to elder flower, elder berry, plums and this weekend, weather permitting, I'm off to the wicklow hills with The Irish Raw Living Food Meetup Group led by Geraldine Rothwell - a naturopath and nutritionist. I found this trip on a great site called Meetup.com and would encourage everyone to come along.

Elder flower cordial - full recipe

Pick the whitest, freshest looking flowers you can find and don't forget to leave a good few on each plant otherwise you'll have no berries later in the year.

When picking try to avoid those at dog height and pick as little greenery as possible.

Zest of 4 lemons etc

2lbs sugar and 3 pints of boiling water into something large enough to safely hold that amount of hot syrup.

Stir and leave until cool.

Grate and slice 4 lemons.

Pick the big bits of stalk off the flowers and give the flower heads a rinse in cold water.

Add the zest and slices plus 50g of citric acid (which you can buy in any good chemist) stir and then add the elderflower heads.

Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to brew for 48 hours.

Then strain through a muslin cloth into a clean bowl.

Pour into sterilised bottles and enjoy.

You have to love this guy!

GIY Blanchardstown - launch success

Thank you to each and every one of you who came to the launch meeting of GIY Blanchardstown last Wednesday; we were delighted to have such a turn out.

A special thank you to Michael Kelly for his presentation and to him and David for coming up from Waterford especially for the launch; also to David Skelly for providing technical support.

We were delighted to find so many people with an interest in gardening and growing vegetables and look forward to getting to know all of you.

Going forward Ger will be contacting all those who showed interest in becoming involved in the steering group. Following which we will release details of the next meeting and of events coming up in the near future.

There are many events in the pipe line such as GIY week at the end of February and Green Fingal Week in March, which is being organised by Fingal County council. As more details are released about these and other events we will pass them on to you.

If anyone is currently looking for an allotment in the Dublin 15 area here are two contacts, and some information, that might be useful:

· The Fingal Parks Department will be officially launching the new allotments in Blanchardstown on Wednesday 10^th and in Turvey on Saturday 13^th. Anyone interested in these allotments should contact Fingal Coco: info@fingalcoco.ie or 01 8905000.

And...

· Beechpark allotments in Clonsilla have extra allotment plots coming available. They have very generously offered a 10% discount to anyone looking to get an allotment with them that mention GIY Blanchardstown...in the next 2 weeks only. Contact is Ray: beechparkallotments@gmail.com

Don’t forget to plant you garlic and not to plant it too deep!

From Ger and Rebecca.

GIY Blanchardstown.

GIYBlanch@gmail.com
February Grower’s Calender

My first Irish garden; a balcony above Howth.

I grew lettuce and potatoes, tomatoes, beans and attempted broccoli.

Just goes to show - you don't need a big patch of land to grow your own.

Allotment #146 continued

As planned today was a day of digging as Chris, Sharon and I started to prepare our allotment plot for planting season.

Here's how I left the plot last week:

Shocking isn't it! The worst thing is that, weed growth wise, this is an improvement!

Thankfully Casey the dog was onsite to lend a paw with the digging. Here he is with his bounty of weeds.

Chris, Sharon and I got stuck in with some digging too.

Here's Sharon

Here's Chris

As a result of today's hard work section 1 is completely dug over and ready for the manure to go on. Section 2 is dug over and weed free, except for 1 patch of 2009 spinach which will be cleared another day. In section 2 Chris planted some onion sets (red and white*).

Sections 3 & 4 will be revisited soon.

Here's Chris's onion patch, the long strip on the right.

All in all today was a productive today setting on the path to allotment victory.

The dug over section in this picture is section 1 before section 2 got dug over and the onions went in.

Won't make it to the allotment until Feb 6th so lets hope the snow stays away until we cover up the patch!

Chris and Sharon bought the onion sets in Mr Middleton's store on Mary Street but you can also buy from their online shop. (For €4 you get apx 100)

Allotment#146 in 2010 - The Plan

Just 7 days ago my allotment, an indeed most of the country was covered in snow.  Now that it's gone we are left with mud, flood and (thankfully) brighter days.

10/01/2010

17/01/2010 (Before I tidied up!)

I am determined to get the allotment into better shape ready for when the real good weather comes.  As I'm convinced that there is more snow and most definitely more rain to come I and my allotment friends, Sharon and Chris, will be working hard to get the weeds out, manure in and ground covered.  Here's the plan:

As you can see the plan for 2010 has ambitions of growing a wide variety of vegetables including pak choi and pumpkin; neither of which I've grown before.  Sharon and Chris hope to grow rhubarb too, although Sharon is a little dismayed that she'll have to wait until it's 2nd year before reaping her rewards.

Before we can start sowing seeds we have to do the ground work, literally!  Today I started by clearing away any rubbish, spreading manure on the designated pumpkin patch, which I started preparing in November.  I have started to dig in manure around the front left quarter of the plot, which will be lettuce and pak choi according to the plan.  Once it was dug in I covered the ground and will continue in this fashion until the whole thing is covered.  The idea is that it will A - keep down the weeds and B - keep the soil warmer.  Fingers crossed.

There is a lot more digging and weeding to be done so Chris has inlisted his brother to help us next Sunday and Sharon will be baking biscuits for us to munch as we work hard!  Sharon is designated as 'Creative Director' and will be making the allotment 'aesthetically pleasing' whilst Chris and I get on with the hard graft! We have a plan to win 'Best Allotment' this year - it's just for fun and run by the allotment managers but we're as competitive as Olympic gymnasts* and will be doing what we can to win.

I'll let you know how we get on next week.

*but not as flexible or able to do backflips.

Nana Jean says...

In a nut shell: My Nana Jean is older and wiser than me and for as long as I can remember I've taken her word as gospel. So, from now on, whatever gardening nugget Nan shares with me I'll share with you.

This week spuds:

Ever find that one or two potatoes in your kitchen veg rack have started sprouting and gone a bit wrinkly? Fear not there is no need to throw them out!

For years I have let spuds in my veg rack sprout a bit rather than by the expensive seed potatoes from the garden centres. Then I would chit them [take off the smaller sprouts and leave one or two stronger ones on the same side] and plant them out. This has worked perfectly well and I've never failed to get a crop from them.

However...Nana Jean says...

Put the potatoes that you want to use as seed potatoes under the sink/or in another cool dark cupboard. Leave them until the sprouts are between half an inch and a inch long. Then chit them and plant out.

Nana Jean says that giving them more of a chance to sprout will give me a better sized crop and I believe her.

Spotted in Dublin...

Redwing

Interested in growing your own food?

First Meeting of GIY Blanchardstown

GIY (Grow it Yourself) Ireland is a new not-for-profit initiative that is literally sweeping the nation. It aims to get people interested in growing their own food and provide them with the practical skills they need to do so successfully. The organisation gets growers together (in the community and online) on a regular basis to talk, learn from each other and exchange tips, produce and war stories. GIY activities include monthly meetings, talks and demos; garden visits, seed and seedling swaps; produce bartering, mentor panels and grower’s meitheals.

GIY Ireland aims to establish a GIY group in every community in Ireland. There are currently 40 GIY groups in 20 counties nationwide and over 50 other groups in development. Meetings are free and open to people who are growing at all levels – from those who grow a few herbs in a window box to those who are completely self-sufficient, from absolute beginners to old hands. The organisation was founded by journalist and author Michael Kelly and patrons include Diarmuid Gavin, Darina Allen, Clodagh McKenna and Joy Larkcom. Your local GIY group needs a mix of interests, abilities and experience to make this a success – so don’t be shy. Come along and bring any family, friends or neighbours who might be interested too.

GIY Blanchardstown will be based in Blanchardstown Library. The first meeting takes place on Wednesday the 3rd of February at 7pm. For more information visit www.giyireland.com or email GIYblanch@gmail.com.

As you can see in the photo (left)....winter has completely taken over at the allotment. In some ways this is an improvement as, pre-snow, we were awash with weeds. The snow certainly makes the plot

I had, naively, hoped that the snow would kill off the evil creeping buttercup and dock plants but it would seem that they are just waiting beneath the snow looking as lively as they ever did!

The plan is as soon as we get enough of a thaw I will start to cover the allotment with a layer of cardboard, newspaper and carpet (I should have done this pre-Christmas but as they say 'hindsight is 20:20'). The idea of covering the ground being that A: it will suffocate/weaken the weed colony and B:help the ground warm up a bit quicker...fingers crossed.

On a happier note my mini tunnel is still standing, a little battered by the snow but standing all the same. I had a peek inside and the ground is frozen solid as you'd expect and wouldn't you know there's a fresh generation of creeping buttercup looking very cosy indeed!

Well, it is most certainly weather for planning so I'm off to write up a wish list of what to grow this year.

A very exciting week indeed...

On Thursday this week I met up with Ger Skelly for a coffee and a chat about setting up a GIY group in our area.

Turns out Ger is incredibley organised, thankfully, and by the time we parted ways we had already applied to Blanchardstown Library to book a room, selected a first meeting date, drafted a marketing plan (of sorts) and got to know a little about each other. Not bad for two people who had never met before!

We are just fine tuning the first meeting date now as we're hoping that one of the GIY Representatives can attend. It'll either be Jan 26th or Feb 3rd - I'll let you know.

Blog posts on behalf of ChristmasFM.ie
Christmas FM is a deadly radio station that gets everyone in the mood for Christmas. Better still it's all for charity! I am delighted that I was able to contribute to their blog this year and hope it goes some way to helping them reach their fund-raising target.

Liven up your Christmas!
Shake off the Festive Blues
Your very own Christmas elves


Check out all the fun on www.christmasfm.ie

Bex
Merry Christmas x

The Good Life meets the future

Irish Property Blog | MyHome.ie

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Philosophy of a weeds

Today was my first visit to allotment #146 in over 2 months. I was expecting weeds but not the unrecognisable weed jungle that was waiting where my lovely allotment used to be. Had it not been for my trusty beanstalks waving desperately from the center of the plot I think I would have turned on my heel and run off home to hide.

I tentatively entered the plot the smell of lavender drew my attention to the two plants that I had put in months ago. I have never, until now that is, grown lavender successfully it always seems to give up on me no matter how hard I try. Maybe that was where I go wrong, maybe I try to hard. These two lavender plants were certainly proof that they are not high maintenance or indeed delicate plants, going forward I shall just leave them to it.

I waded further into the plot familiar stalks catching my eye off to the right, Leeks! I was surprised to see that the stalks were green not withered and brown with suffocation. I cleared the weeds from around them; they're small but healthy. I'll leave them to carry on for a while yet. I did vow to them (yes I talk to plants) that I would keep the weeds at bay from now on, after all they are the National Emblem of my home land.

Off to the left were the most enormous cauliflowers. It's quite a site seeing something like this growing in the plot. Sadly most of them had succumb to rot, possibly caused by recent weather conditions (and neglect). I took up all of them for the compost heap, saving the one good one to take home as my bounty and the leaves for Dorris and Daisy my pet bunnies.

Next to be checked were the beans, they looked so healthy and as they were growing up the cane frame I had put in for them they had not yet been drowned by weeds. The beans were mostly ready for harvesting and were absolutely massive. So far dinner is cauliflower and beans.

I spent 6 hours clearing weeds and eight trips to the compost heap with a wheel barrow full of dock leaves and creeping buttercup (do not be fooled by it's name this is an evil weed). All that and I've only managed to clear this much...

Before I left I spied the remains of potato plants in the debris of weeds which could mean one of two things. Either the spuds had got blight and dies a nasty death or they had done what they could and there were brand new spuds waiting to be unearthed. I was lucky, there were spuds, not many and not massive but spuds all the same. One last chore before I called it quits for the day and that was to tackle the weeds that stood tall where the tomato plants used to be. There were small yellow tomato flowers peeking out through the weeds - they were alive? Yes, there was one tomato plant strong, with fruit but sadly also with blight - it had to go. Good news though, there is still an aubergine plant that I had completely forgotten about - Happy days.

So, having come away with quite an unexpected bounty I have reached the following conclusion:

Sometimes we can't always give a garden the attention that is needed. Then when we realise that it has become neglected we sometimes choose to bury our heads in the sand and hope that it will right itself. Generally it won't. It's best to take the bull by the horns. Sure the garden will be overgrown but don't dwell on this; dig in, clear away the weeds and rubbish and take a look at what you have left. Then start again. You live and learn.

"Je Suis un Petit chou-fleur" - That's about all I can say in French. That and "Merci Beaucoup" which is what I'd like to say to the lovely people at Mondadori who were kind enough to include my Bloom entry in their magazine l'Ami des Jardins et de la maison.

Merci

Voice of a community

The lovely people over in the Community Voice were kind enough to write a follow up after their original article about Bloom. Click here to read the follow up.
Click here to read the original.