Monthly Archives: March 2012

Reaching a Milestone…

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When I first started blogging back in June 2009 I was busy posting away to what I thought were just two followers. I didn’t mind, I was new to it, tentatively learning about this new blogging world and enjoying  being able to write about my own gardening experiences.

Initially the idea was to share with my customers my own gardening experiences to help to give my fledgling business some credibility. As time went by I started to include tips and advice, recipes and anything else that popped into my head.

It was a few months before I found my stats page and delightedly discovered that more than two people were actually reading my posts. Whoopee – what a lovely surprise!

In 2010 I joined the KLCK Bloggers Network Group and my approach to social media took a new turn. The speakers at the group shared their vast experience and knowledge with us all, made us think differently about our content, encouraged us to plan our posts and have goals. Goals? Strategy? Yikes! All I wanted to do was write. Something must have been sinking in though as my page views steadily grew. As I realised that people were actually looking at my blog, my confidence in writing it began to grow too.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve watched the page views get closer to that magic milestone number of 50,000, helped along considerably by the unashamed pimping for the latest competition (thanks to everyone who’s helped there too). I found myself asking why I blog and where is it heading, what would you like to see, do stats matter, are they important? I was happy to write when I thought there was nobody looking, is it any different now that I’ve had 50,000 + page views? The answer is yes and no. No in that I still write because I enjoy it but the fact that you are reading the blog makes me think a lot more about what I’d like to include in it. The stats help me to see what interests you, where my writing came be of more help.

So for any newbie bloggers who are reading this now, or for anyone else who’s interested, as I pass my magic milestone I’m sharing the top five reasons why I blog…

1. Top of the list is because I enjoy writing. I find it therapeutic and like to lose myself  here (for too long my husband might say…)

2. It’s a source of information for ‘my’ gardeners as well as for anyone else who likes to grow or eat vegetables or cares about the environment. It enhances my aftercare service as customers aren’t just left alone once the workshops or advice has finished.

3. I can share recipe ideas that we’ve tried and tested at home. Lots of people new to growing their own haven’t eaten or cooked many of the vegetables they’re growing.

4. Blogging helps to keep me focussed and continue with my own education. Some of the articles I’ve written I’ve had to seriously research, for instance the GM post. If I wasn’t blogging I’m not sure I’d be keeping quite so up-to-date about current and topical issues.

5. Because my blog’s a mixture of personal and business, it shows there’s a real person behind the business name who has as many successes, failures, angst and elation as the rest of you.

And to share the top five most popular blog posts  since I began writing it….

1    Yummy Courgette Cake
2     World Naked Gardening Day
3      Mealy Cabbage Aphids on my Brussels Sprouts
4      Pesticides & Fungicides Using Kitchen Ingredients
5      Potatoes – all you need to know

So a massive thanks to everyone who’s dropped by – I hope you’ll be visiting again. There’s still lots of posts bubbling around in my head that I hope to spill out over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, if there’s any topic you’d like me to write about, please leave a comment here or on any of the other social media sites I frequent (and for anyone who knows me, that’s most of them by now) and I’ll try and include them.

Dee x

It’s a celebration weekend! So it’s competition time for a gardeners goodie bag…

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As we’re having a double celebration here in Ireland with St Patrick’s Day today and Mothering Sunday tomorrow, what better time to share the happy mood than to have a  prize giveaway!

The lovely Eoin Flaherty of  Sow Easy Grow has kindly donated the fabulous prize for one lucky reader of the Greenside Up blog. This is one of four kits available to buy on their website or at garden centres and would make a great starter kit for anyone interested in growing vegetables (or for someone like me who’s tools are wearing out!).

With our environment in mind, this Gardeners Delight Kit contains the newly launched GrowGrid, Seaweed Fertiliser, Biodegradable 3″ pots, organic seeds and aloe vera gloves, all contained within a handy jute bag.

Eoin has a passion for fresh, seasonal vegetables that have been grown without using chemicals and like many of us, knows from personal experience how labour intensive weeding can be. As a result he came up with the idea of the GrowGrid, a product manufactured in Ireland.

The GrowGrid is a weed membrane that lies directly onto a prepared seed bed and is pegged down with the biodegradable pegs. Vegetables are sown or transplanted into the ready made holes that are punched at intervals to suite a wide variety of vegetable crops. There are four different mats available for different vegetable requirements and you can choose from 4m or 8m lengths by 1.5m wide.

So whether you’re into gardening or you have a friend or relative who might enjoy this fabulous prize, it’s very easy to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment in the box below that contains the words Sow Easy Grow or sign up for the monthly newsletter (scroll down the column on the right until you arrive at  the Newsletter box – which will ensure you’re in the draw if Blogger’s playing up and you’re unable to leave a comment.)

Apologies to all my further afield readers, but on this occasion the prize giveaway can only be mailed to addresses in Ireland and the UK (though if you have a relative or friend living there who might like to receive this lovely gift…..)

So why not give it a go … and as it’s a weekend of celebration and giving, please help to spread the word to everyone you know. The lucky winner will be chosen by a random generator next Saturday 24th March at 6.00pm.

Good Luck

Dee x

AND THE WINNER IS……………………. JENNY DOYLE! Congratulations Jenny. Hope this starts you on  a new journey to grow your own! I’ll be in touch regarding delivery.

Tell me and I forget…

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March – a month where gardeners everywhere start to get excited about the growing season ahead. For me that means I’m back doing what I love – helping communities set up gardens and teaching people how to grow vegetables.

Amongst other commitments I’m helping three gardens a week in different towns and villages in Carlow and Kilkenny, with another due to start up in a few weeks time. I’ve written a few posts on how and why community gardens are so great (see the tab at the top of the page for links) but today’s post isn’t about that. Today’s post is about why I enjoy working with them…

Benjamin Franklin’s quote sums up precisely why community gardens can be so good – practical, hands on, community involvement where people can learn.

I heard another quote today which also captures the essence of community gardening. As I can’t find the original author, I’ll credit it to Peter Donegan who mentioned it:

“gardens are for people and not just the plants”

If you’re involved in community gardening a group of us are in the process of establishing The Community Garden Network (supporting community gardening in Ireland and Northern Ireland). We have an active  facebook group and a dedicated website is on it’s way giving us a permanent home to connect.

If you want to learn more about gardening and growing vegetables, perhaps there’s a community garden somewhere near you…

How to get rid of pernicious weeds without chemicals

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Rhubarb, strawberries (honestly), creeping buttercup & scutch grass

A few people have asked me recently what they should be doing in the veg garden right now.

It’s still too early to sow most vegetables outside but we’ve had a few mild days over the past week, making ideal conditions to get out and prepare the beds for the growing season to come. Part of soil preparation is weeding and knowing how to weed effectively is essential if you want to keep on top of them.

It seems obvious now I’m used to getting down and dirty in my garden, but it’s not that many years ago that I looked out at the wilderness and asked myself how on earth I was going to tackle all of those weeds.

When you’re gardening without chemicals, and in particular trying to rid the garden of the weeds, there’s no getting away from the fact that it takes a bit more effort and hard work. Long term however it’s well worth the effort.  Sandro Cafolla of Wildflowers.ie explains it very well here why Roundup isn’t the long term solution to weeds.

Dandelion

So without reaching for the chemicals what are the options to us smaller scale gardeners? Some people like to pour distilled vinegar onto their weeds, or burning them off with a garden flame gun. If you have animals that graze they’re great for clearing weeds in orchards or relatively new to the market here is Irish Organic Weed killer, but in the vegetable patch where we’re growing food to eat, my preferred method is settling down with my favourite tool and hand weeding.

I find the hardest part of weeding is getting over the psychological block of actually starting the job – once started it can be very therapeutic. Listening to the birds, being outside in the fresh air, stopping for a cup of tea now and again, relaxing and admiring the handiwork can be a peaceful and immensely rewarding time.

Now an essential part of my gardening kit – a pink kneeling mat!

This particular bed had been overrun with creeping buttercup as can be seen above, and as pretty as buttercups are when in flower, they’ve been competing with space and nutrients in my strawberry patch so their days were numbered.

A good hand tool is essential for this kind of weeding and having survived for a few years with my cheap double headed hoe, I’ve managed to break two in the last couple of weeks so will shortly be investing in a new one like this Chillington Double Headed Hoe I spotted recently.

I’ve also been using old compost bags to keep the knees from getting cold but this year treated myself to a Burgon & Ball Kneelo Kneeling Pad that I adore – it’s warm, comfy and moulds to the knees (showing my age). So with those couple of items and a pair of leather gloves (nettles, blackthorn suckers and creeping thistle also hang out in this bed so are essential), that’s all the equipment needed, well that and a bucket or a wheelbarrow to collect the weeds in.

Docks

Most of the weeds I’ve mentioned are known as *pernicious perennials – meaning plants that are destructive to other plants. They should be eliminated completely if possible and the only way to do that without chemicals is to dig out all the roots, or cover the area with black plastic for a year or more, or if you have a large area (like the four hectares mentioned in Sandro’s clip) bring them up, harrow them off, dry them out and repeat if necessary. It’s essential to keep on top of the weeds though and not allow them to flower and produce seeds.

Pernicious weeds shouldn’t be added to the compost heap either as unless you have a very hot heap the weeds wont die off. They can however, be placed into a black plastic sack, tied up and left for a year to die, then added to the heap (yet to try this).

The double headed hand hoe works for most smaller weeds (pernicious or not), a garden fork may be needed for deeper rooted weeds such as dock or dandelion and a garden hoe is handy for tipping off the not nearly so bad annual weeds.

Garden Hoe

So best of luck. Try and think of your weeding as a pleasure rather than a chore, and if you have any other tips for ridding gardens of weeds without using artificial chemicals please share!

*Some common pernicious weeds include dock, creeping thistle, nettles, creeping buttercup, horsetail, bindweed, ground elder, plantain, comfrey and daisies

 

Guest Post: Organic Mulching ~ What’s that all about?

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When I first started gardening I often heard the terms mulching, soil conditioning, manuring, composting to name but a few and hadn’t got a clue what people were talking about. Were they different or all the same? Did they come in bags or did you make them? 


My questions were endless and so I was delighted when Jerry Day offered to clarify mulching for everyone with a guest blog. Jerry has loved gardening and landscaping since he was very young. He loves to write about gardening topics and currently works for 1-800-Mulch-Pro in the U.S. helping others improve the exterior of their homes.

Types Of OrganicMulch That Can Be Used In Vegetable Gardens
Organicgardening is the process of growing flowers, ornamental plants, herbs, fruit,and vegetables without toxic chemicals or harmful pesticides. Some primaryconcerns for organic gardeners include pest control, soil preparation, weedcontrol, and the preservation of garden plants. Applying an organic mulch as a layer that sits on the top of the soil isthe best way to ensure a bountiful harvest throughout the season. A layer oforganic mulch will adjust the temperature of garden soil as needed, eliminatefruit rot, and provide overall soil improvement. Organic mulch properlyinsulates the ground against cold or heat, and the spread of plant disease willbe reduced.
Straw Mulch

There areseveral different types of organic mulch that can be used in vegetable gardens.Organic mulch is made from previously living material produced by nature.Straw, wood chips, dried leaves, and pine needles are some examples of organicmulch. The amount of mulch used in the garden will depend on the type oforganic material used. If you are using stringy or coarse material like pineneedles, applying several inches of mulch will bring the best results. When thegrowing season has come to an end, simply mix the mulch into the garden soil.This process increases the soil’s organic matter in preparation for the nextseason.

Gardeners canuse different types of natural material for organic mulch. Dried grass clippings areideal for many root vegetables such as radishes, carrots, and beets. Mulch made from bark orwood chips are often used in shrubs, ornamental gardens, and garden borders.This type of mulch is not recommended for vegetable gardens. Materials likeshredded leaves, hay, and straw are other types of organic mulch that can beused in vegetable gardens. For best results, only use dry materials for organicmulch. Organic mulch can be made from sawdust or shredded newspaper, thesematerials should also be dry before adding to garden soil.
Home made compost

One of the mostwell known types of mulch is home made compost made from organic material. Organiccompost is made from natural material and discarded food items. Gardeners canuse potato peels, lobster shells, vegetable leaves, citrus peels, and eggshells for organic compost. Natural products such as pea pods, feathers, seedhulls, and peanut shells are also used. If you will be using compost as mulch,it must stay moist to encourage root growth. Cover the soil with a thin layerof compost and top it with mulch made from dried grass or shredded leaves. Anextra layer of mulch will allow thecompost to stay moist, and plant roots will thrive.

Just about anykind of organic mulch can be used in a vegetable garden. After two or threeplanting seasons, you will know which type of organic mulch you prefer.

Do you use mulch in your garden? I liked the tip about covering the soil with home made compost then a layer of dried grass. What do you use?