Monthly Archives: April 2012

How to Make Comfrey & Nettle Fertiliser

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Used for centuries before chemical fertilisers became popular, home-made Comfrey or Nettle fertilisers are easy to make and will save you precious coins.

When do you use fertilisers?

If you keep the soil fertile by adding lots of bulky organic matter (well-rotted manure, compost, leaf mould) you shouldn’t have to worry about adding fertilisers.  However, there are certain circumstances when it’s helpful:

  • To raise nutrient levels in a poor or new soil.
  • To get higher yields from hungry crops such as potatoes, cabbages & squashes.
  • In containers where the nutrients in compost are used up quickly.
  • Top dressings of fertiliser can be added once the plants have established.
  • As an instant plant ‘pick-me-up’ sprayed on as foliar feeds.

Comfrey ‘Tea’

Rich in potash (potassium or K – great for flowering), comfrey also contains high levels of Nitrogen (N) for leaves and Phosphorous (P) for roots.  The variety Bocking 14 is the best one to plant as a fertiliser as it’s less invasive. Comfrey can be difficult to get hold of in Ireland and is usually obtained by asking fellow gardeners, though you may find it in local markets (I’ve been reliably informed there’s a market stall in Kilkenny Farmers Market that often sells it). The Organic Centre sometimes stock root cuttings and in the UK it’s available online from The Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Wilted Comfrey leaves can be placed around plants as a mulch or used as a liner in potato and tomato trenches. They can also be added to compost heaps (but only in small batches as they can go slimy). Be careful not to add any roots or flower heads or you may have comfrey popping up where you don’t want it.

A rich Comfrey brew is made by packing leaves into an old dustbin, about half way up, then placing a board on top, weighed down and a lid added. A hole can be drilled in the bottom of the bin and a jar placed under to catch the drips or a tap added. The resulting liquid should be diluted 10 – 20 times with water before use.  Avoid getting it on your skin.

Nettle ‘Tea’

Nettles are high in nitrogen (so great for anything in the cabbage family). Young nettle leaves are cut in the spring (wearing a thick pair of gloves!) and made the same way as Comfrey tea. An easier method is to half fill a bucket with compacted nettles and cover with water.  Use the liquid when it starts to smell.

Alternatively wrap some nettles up in a sheet of muslin or old net curtain, tie and hang in your water-butt.  Change the bag frequently as the leaves break down so that the feed doesn’t become too strong.

 

Product Review: Wheelbarrow Booster

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Sometimes you see an ‘invention’ that is such a simple idea you wonder why nobody has thought of it before. This week I tried out a product sent to me by Joe Smith from Greanbase Ltd, a UK company who have come up with the idea of one such item.

The Wheelbarrow Booster does exactly what it says on the box (or slim packet in this case) – it boosts the available space in a wheelbarrow. More suitable for light barrow loads such as leaves, grass clippings, hay or weeds, it increases the wheelbarrow space by at least three times as much, saving journeys to and from the compost heap. It’s a simple design – a sturdy elastic ‘skirt’ slips over the sides of the barrow, whilst the heavy-duty plastic sides sit above the rim giving the additional capacity.

I took the Booster to a community garden project, several members of whom are involved in Tidy Towns (lots of leaf picking going on there!) Their immediate response was “where can we get one?” followed by “how much?” (potential stockists note the order of the questions…) They were impressed!

I then tried it out at home after a day of weeding my scutch grassy fruit beds. I had several piles of weeds waiting to be tidied up at the end of the day and they ALL fitted into one wheelbarrow load (and in case you’re wondering, because of the light load I could easily push the barrow). The community gardeners weren’t alone in their admiration, I was impressed too.

I hope that garden centres in Ireland pick up on the idea of this great little gardeners accessory. It saves time, effort and lots of bending and retails in the UK at £14.99. I got the impression that it was well made and would last if cared for too.

Although more readily available in the UK, us Irish consumers will have to wait to find the Wheelbarrow Booster for sale in shops here (though Joe tells me he’s talking to potential suppliers). If you’d like to get ahead of your neighbours however, you can order by mail order from Greenbase directly or from Amazon and to cater for different tastes it’s available in green and pink (now had I known that Joe ;) …)

What do you think? Would it save you time in the garden?

Interview with Sile Nic Chonaonaigh, presenter of Garraí Glas

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I’ve been watching the wonderful gardening series Garrai Glas on TG4 since series one. Recorded in the Irish language, it’s subtitled for those of us who don’t speak this old language fluently and the cinematography is beautiful.

What makes Garraí Glas particularly special however is that it’s all about growing your own food.

Síle Nic Chonaonaigh travels around Ireland in her little green Datsun talking to all manner of people about how they grow their food and eat it using traditional and organic methods.  I’ve been twitter friends with Síle for some time now and was delighted when she agreed to chat to me about her experiences.

How did you become involved in Garrai Glas, were you a keen gardener beforehand?

“Well it was a series of happy coincidences really. I work for Abú Media, the company that makes Garraí Glas, and my colleague Ali had the idea to make a programme that would show people how to grow their own food. I loved chatting to him about the idea and the people they hoped to visit, and was fascinated by the subject – but I knew nothing about it and had no gardening experience bar planting a few nasturtiums in summer! It was supposed to be a show about a gardener going to visit people and teach them how to grow, but they hadn’t found the right presenter. The producer, Bríd Seoighe, chatted to me about screen testing for the job. My background was acting, I’d worked in theatre and on TV for a few years, but I really had no desire to be on camera again. However I find it very hard to resist a challenge (i.e. I’m terrible at saying no!) and a snowy March morning found me out in a garden shaking with nerves at the idea of being on tv again.” 

The sun always seems to be shining during filming, is that just a fluke?

“A total fluke! The shoot dates are all booked far in advance as there’s a crew of five people on the road for 40 days, so every detail has to be organised. We were incredibly lucky in years one and two – last year was more difficult as it seemed to be cloudy all the time.”

We’ve met some fascinating people on your travels; do any stand out for you in particular?

“Wow, that’s a hard question, there are so many! In year one we went to Inis Oirr and one of the guests there was Pádraic Póil. In the final segment of that programme he brought out his mother’s old butter churn and gallons of cream and we stood outside in the sunshine making butter, looking out over the Atlantic. It was magic. Marcus Thornton in Galway was an inspiration; he is an incredibly passionate man who makes the gardening journey seem easy. This year there’s a lady called Nancy Murray in Cúil Aodha. She’s just lovely and though in her eighties is out working every day.  Her attitude was an absolute tonic.”

What was the most unusual method of growing food you’ve come across?

“To be honest most methods of growing that I’ve seen have been the old fashioned kind; good soil and seaweed or manure! John Dolan’s garden in this series is amazing because he more or less carved it out of a wetland. He dug the wet areas deeper and used any soil he took out to raise the surrounding space. He uses a permaculture model and has made his corner of the world very beautiful indeed. Trevor Sargent was an inspiration too; he has such a small space in his Balbriggan back garden but manages to nurture it and use every inch productively.”

What was the tastiest recipe you’ve tried?

“Well I’m so lucky to have visited experts like Gaby Wieland over the years – I’ve been introduced to incredible foods! A few stand out – the Gorse Flower Wine we made with Gaby last summer was absolutely divine and I’ve bought a bell jar to make my own batch at home. It was like drinking nectar. The apple and onion chutney we made with Enda Ó Conghaile on Inis Oirr was fabulous. The thing I loved about this, apart from the fabulous taste, was that I got to use up apples from the tree that would normally go to waste, and my own onions went into it as well.”

The latest series has included you creating your own vegetable garden in the garden of your new home. Was this a bit nerve wracking?

“It was! I have a full time job and anyone who gardens knows how long it takes to get it into a condition you’re proud of. I started from scratch with no topsoil, no shelter from the wind and a cameraman recording it all! It’s a true Connamara garden, lots of rocks and not a lot of soil. We began filming two weeks after I moved into the house, which was crazy really. It became embarrassing as the summer went on because, of course, I was away so often filming the show that I didn’t spend as much time as I’d have liked in the garden. All’s well that ends well though. I won’t win any prizes but it provides me with enough food to be able to share with others. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in three years of Garraí Glas its patience; the garden will grow and develop over the years and I’m happy with that. “

What have you learnt from your travels?

“Well, I suppose the wrong way, if there is one, is to ignore the soil. The thing I’ve taken from every single gardener is to feed the soil, not the plant. What have I learned? I’ve learned how to sow a seed, how to use seaweed and manure to increase fertility, how to rotate crops, how to create shelter to protect plants, how to avoid pests and diseases, how to use the produce I grow. That all sounds very simple but those are skills I didn’t have at all three years ago. I can now feed myself from a patch of ground – and that is an incredible thing.”

What have you enjoyed the most about being involved with a gardening series about growing your own food?

“I’ve really enjoyed finding a bit of myself I’d lost. I loved the garden when I was a child but had moved to a city for university and hadn’t touched soil since. Now I find it hard to resist being outside and resent all the things that keep me from it! It’s also been really lovely to meet so many people and be inspired by them. Without exception people have welcomed us into their homes and made us feel like our crew of five people wasn’t intruding at all. And let’s be honest – what a gig! I’ve spent three summers in other peoples’ back gardens, asking them questions about anything that interests me – and that’s called work. I feel very lucky.”

A massive thanks to Síle for sharing her delightful story about being involved with Garraí Glas and for providing the lovely photos for this post. The third series is currently being aired on TG4 on Tuesdays at 8pm. If you’ve missed any (or want to watch some over again), all the programmes from the current series are available on the TG4 player. You can follow Sile on Twitter @Garrai_Sile, Facebook at www.facebook.com/garraiglas or You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/garraiglas.

How to Make Dandelion Honey

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Dandelion Clock

I adore dandelion clocks but have had a love/hate relationship with the plants themselves for years due to their pesky roots.

However, as ‘weeds’ go, they are beneficial as they attract pollinating insects (and in particular bees), they can be eaten, made into drinks of all descriptions and are loaded with vitamins and minerals, namely A, C and K as well as iron, potassium, calcium and manganese. They’ve also been around for over 30 million years – it’s no wonder their roots are so deep and strong!

Almost every child I know has heard the tale that they make you wet the bed (indeed I was taught the very same) which stems from the plant’s use as a strong diuretic, though it’s the roots that are used for this purpose, not the flowers.

It wasn’t until @zwartblesIE mentioned Dandelion Honey on twitter that I’d seriously considered using the flowers in the kitchen. Suzanna generously shared her recipe and if you’d like to try this intriguing sounding dish, here it is:

4 cups dandelion flowers
3 cups water
3 whole thick cut lemons
2 1/8 cups sugar

Place the flowers, water and lemons into a saucepan and simmer for 30 mins, leave to cool and stew overnight. In the morning strain through cheesecloth (or coffee filter paper) then bring the liquid to a slow boil, stirring in the sugar until dissolved, then slowly simmer for about one and a half hours and you have your honey.

dandelion honeyIf you start to notice the mixture turn darker, whip it off the heat quickly or it can develop a burnt caramel flavour.

If you’re feeling adventurous you could  try adding a few drops of vanilla essence as @NiamhMaher on twitter did or a few drops of alcohol as @Justcallmelet suggested!

Honey is perhaps a misleading name as the resulting flavour is more like marmalade – guess it got it’s name from the gorgeous colour.

Have you ever tried food or drink made from dandelions? Did you enjoy it?

Image courtesy of www.foxglovelane.com

 

Bee Cause – How we can help

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Image courtesy of Friends of the Earth

Last week Friends of the Earth (UK) launched a campaign “Bee Cause”, calling on the British government to commit to a “bee action plan to save bees and save the country billions of pounds in the future.”

If you’ve been listening to the news over the past couple of years you’ll have no doubt heard that the decline in bee populations isn’t just a UK problem, it’s worldwide. A combination of issues from colony collapse disorder, parasites and shortages in habitats are being blamed but whatever the cause, it’s serious.

Bees aren’t just about honey – they help to pollinate strawberries, nuts, herbs, coffee and cotton to name just a fraction of items we use daily.

According to research released this *week it would cost the UK £1.8 billion every year to hand-pollinate crops without bees – 20% more than previously thought. That’s just one country, imagine that on a global basis. Finances apart, can you image a world without bees? I don’t even want to…

In recent years Britain has lost over half the honey bees kept in managed hives and wild honey bees are nearly extinct.  Solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas they’ve been studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. These figures are replicated around the world.

One reason for the bee decline is a shortage of natural habitats, so Friends of the Earth have outlined simple steps people can take in their gardens to help provide it:

  • Sow bee-friendly seeds and plant bee-friendly flowers in your garden such as mixed wildflowers packets, single-flowering roses, open and flat-headed flowers like verbena and yarrow and tubular-shaped flowers such as foxgloves.

    Image courtesy of Gardeners World

  • Create a place to nest for solitary bees by piling together hollow stems and creating a ‘bee hotel’.
  • Try to provide a small amount of rainwater in a shallow bird bath or tray which honeybees need to keep their hive at the right temperature.

So please “bee aware” and encourage these very special insects into your gardens – they really do need all the help we can give them.

Have you come across bees in trouble? Last year we spotted a large bumblebee covered in parasites and clearly in trouble. It was distressing to observe but by providing flowers with pollen that haven’t been sprayed with chemicals, perhaps it will help to keep the bees strong and more able for pests and diseases. It might be a small step, but it’s something.

 

* conducted by The University of Reading on behalf of Friends of the Earth (Reference: Breeze et al, 2012 – Chapter 4.)