All of the tomato seedlings were ready to prickout from the seed trays into larger pots\u00a0and the remaining nasturtiums went into the\u00a0bin.\u00a0\u00a0I’d moved lots into the tunnel and they all keeled over – shock of the night time temperature I think.\u00a0 I’d started another tray off and did exactly what I told everyone at GIY Kilkenny not to do last week – put them in a room\u00a0I barely go in.\u00a0 Needless to say they\u00a0hadn’t been watered and those that\u00a0had germinated were as crisp as, well a crisp I guess!<\/div>\n
My helper really enjoyed the pricking\u00a0out and her fingers were small enough to do it well.\u00a0 We then went on to sow lots more: Basil, aubergines, marigolds, chilli’s, sweet peppers, squashes\u00a0and courgettes – I’ll be growing all of these in the polytunnel later this year.<\/p>\n
I’m still getting the hang of my tunnel.\u00a0 Last year I grew summer crops that wouldn’t be hardy enough to grow well outside here – aubergine, peppers, chillis, tomatoes, melon\u00a0and cucumber.\u00a0 Following the one day workshop I went on at Irish Seedsavers last November I now realise\u00a0tunnels have SO much more potential.\u00a0 This year I’ll try and keep crops growing all year round – it makes sense\u00a0that it should pay it’s way in the vegetable garden. However, it’s keeping me on my toes when it comes to planning the crop rotation in there.\u00a0 After a few days of sunny weather the shallots, garlic (both taken from crops harvested last year), \u00a0mangetout and broad beans have all had a growth spurt and I’ve tucked in a row of shallots behind the legumes.\u00a0 The central bed has been raked, fertilised\u00a0and prepared in readiness for its new crops, and another patch of early carrots have been sown.<\/p>\n
Then on to the outside.\u00a0 Ian’s done a fantastic job widening\u00a0and digging over the beds over the past week and after lunch we got to work on the onion patch.\u00a0 I finally managed to plant\u00a0some organic shallots (Red Sun I think – must check with Highbank), garlic (Arno) and onions (Setton), with some corriander (Santos) at the end of the row to encourage the hoverflies into the garden.<\/p>\n
The big surprise of the day was how dry everything is.\u00a0 We had to water the onion patch prior to sowing and we’re struggling to remember when it last rained.\u00a0 I think the forecast is for rain all day on Thursday…typical –\u00a0the day my mum and dad arrive for their first visit in three years. We think they’ll notice a few changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Out in the vegetable garden on Mother’s Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1797],"tags":[557,11,496,537],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Out in the vegetable garden on Mother's Day<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n