Straw/Netting Sat.18 Feb.2012

Myself,Dot,Bernard

Gavin,Dot,Bernard

Netting peg over the straw.

Hi all,

We are busy preparing the main 4 plots ready for the start of the growing season,lots of our own compost put into these plots and covered with barley straw then covered with old football/tennis netting to keep it from blowing away if it is very windy and also keeps weeds from germinating and will not have to water as much during the summer months.I enclose some photo's of Dot,Bernard,Gaven and myself with the netting in place.

Enjoy

Willie

Month of February gardening

Hi all,
Please see monthly list of things to do in the garden in Feb.Also we have been getting our community garden ready by putting in our own compost from all the green waste which was produced in the garden and by some of the local residents who have permission to use one of our 3 compost bins.This was dug into the 4 main growing beds and then covered with straw to keep the weeds from growing and also to let moisture and air circulate and helps warm up the soil,then covered with netting to prevent the straw from blowing away.We can plant through the netting when we start growing our vegetables.

Happy Gardening
Willie

Allotment & Vegetable Gardening in February

February is often the coldest winter month although spring is just around the corner. More than any other month, what to do in February will depend on your local conditions. It's usually better to hold off than try to sow in cold waterlogged ground that will rot seeds rather than germinate them.

Harvest

Leeks may well be standing ready but if a long freeze seems likely you can dig some up and heel them in to dug ground for easy access – unless we have deep snow!

Parsnips, turnips and swedes in the ground can come up when you are ready, cover with fleece or straw to stop them freezing solid into the ground.

The cabbage family should be providing some sustenance with early purple sprouting, kale and Brussels sprouts being available. Beet leaves (perpetual spinach) and chards will be available.

Other crops you may have: salsify, scorzonera, chicory, endive, celeriac, celery and Jerusalem artichokes.

General Jobs in the Garden

If you have finished all the major tasks, such as digging over, creating leafmould heaps etc you will not have a lot to do in February but if like most of us you are scrambling to keep up, this is your last chance before spring.

Double check the greenhouse, ensure the glass is firmly secured and replace any cracked panes etc. If you've not managed to give it a thorough clean, now is the time before it is pressed into service.

Check last year's potato bed for any volunteers (left over small potatoes) and remove them to avoid passing on disease problems and blight.

You're going to be using your pots and seed trays next, so this is a good opportunity to wash out and sterilise them so you seedlings will get off to the best possible start.

This years potato bed will benefit from a good application of compost or rotted manure that can be forked in or rotovated in to get them away.

You can cover soil with dark plastic sheeting, fleece or cloches to warm it up for a couple of weeks before you start to sow and plant.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

As stated above, what you sow outdoors will depend on local conditions. If suitable you can sow your broad beans in February along with early peas such as Feltham First and Meteor for a May / June harvest.

Conventional advice is to sow parsnips now but I believe their reputation for poor germination is due to being placed in cold wet soil and I have had much better germination by sowing in March.

Jerusalem artichokes and shallots can be planted now, although shallots will benefit from covering with a cloche.

Under Cover

If you have a greenhouse, you can get an early crop of lettuce, rocket and radish away in there. You can utilise cloches outdoors but success will be more dependent on the weather.

Time to sow your summer cabbages such as Greyhound and Primo, as well as turnips and spinach.

Onions from seed should be started now. They need about 15 degrees to get them going so you may be best using the windowsill in a cool room to start them off.

With a heated propagator or using windowsills you can start off aubergine and peppers. Once again, I have found better results by waiting until March, which I put down to day length but many people feel this is the right time.

Chitting Potatoes

There has been talk about whether it is necessary to chit potatoes but it is too early to plant them and if left in their bags, seed potatoes will produce long sprouts that will break off at planting time anyway.

Chitting is simply placing the potatoes in a frost free place with indirect light and will produce short strong shoots, getting them away to a faster start. You can use egg cartons or seed trays to keep them in. Don't forget to label them so you don't get confused as to variety come planting time.

I read that spraying with seaweed solution at fortnightly intervals while chitting will improve the crop but I didn't notice any benefit myself.

With main crop potatoes, I reduce the number of shoots to three, or four on larger seed potatoes, so that they produce larger potatoes rather than masses of smaller ones.

Fruit

Planting & Pruning

There is still time to finish planting fruit trees and bushes, especially raspberries and other cane fruits.

Early this month you can prune apple and pear trees while they are still dormant. It's also time to prune gooseberries and currants. With currants shorten the sideshoots to just one bud and remove old stems from the centre of the bushes.

Protection & Forcing

If you are in a sheltered area and grow early flowering fruit trees like nectarines, peaches and apricots, protect the flowers with horticultural fleece against frost. You can also use old net curtains for this job.

Forcing Rhubarb

Rhubarb can be forced for an early crop of the sweetest stalks. Just cover a crown or two with buckets or even an upturned large pot and insulate the outside with straw or compost for added heat. The stalks will grow in the dark.

The drawback is that this takes a lot out of the crown and it won't recover for a couple of years. The professional growers in the famous Rhubarb Triangle dig up their crowns and take them into huge dark warm sheds to produce forced rhubarb. Once the season ends these exhausted crowns are discarded as it will take them longer to recover than to grow new crowns.

Janurary in the Community Garden

Hi all,
A very welcome back to our blog at the start of 2012.The new public transport bus numbers which take you near or pass by the community garden on the South Circular road are as follows:27,56,77A,121,122,150,151,155.
As we start to get back into the new year gardening I enclose some information for you to read and get motivated in the comminng months.

Ten Tools Every Community Gardener & Garden Needs

Gardeners may not agree on the best mulch or the perfect fertilizer, but there's one thing that every gardener agrees on: when it comes time to purchase tools, buy the best. Quality garden tools are an investment that yields dividends over time. Here are the top 10 gardening tools every community garden should own.

1. Trowel A well-made trowel is your most important tool. From container gardening to large beds, a trowel will help you get your plants into the soil. Essential for everyone.

2. Hand Fork or Claw or Cultivator A hand fork helps cultivate soil, chop up clumps, and work amendments into the soil. A hand fork is necessary for cultivating in closely planted beds.

3. Hoe A long- handled hoe is a gardener's best friend. Keeping weeds at bay is the purpose of this useful tool. Hoe heads come in all different shapes and sizes and every gardener swears by a different one.

4. Secateurs (aka Hand pruners) invest in a pair of quality pruners, such as Felco, which is clearly a cut above. There are different types and sizes depending upon the type and size of the job. Secateurs are for cutting small diameters, up to the thickness of your little finger ;-). Anything larger and you need loppers.

5. Watering can A watering can creates a fine even stream of water that delivers with a gentleness that won't wash seedlings or sprouting seeds out of their soil.

6. Fork You can't dig and divide perennials without a heavy-duty fork (and some dividing methods even suggest you own two!).

7. Shovels & Spades

There are several different types and shapes of shovels and spades, each with their own purpose. There are

also different types of hand holds for either—a “D” shape, a “T” shape, or none at all. They are a requisite

tool for planting large perennials, shrubs, and trees, breaking ground, moving soil, leaves, just about

anything. The sharper the blade, the better.

8. Wheelbarrow Wheelbarrows come in all different sizes (and prices). They are indispensable for hauling soil, compost, plants, mulch, hoses, tools...everything you’ll need to garden.

9. Gloves unless you want to wear your favourite hobby under your nails, use gloves. Leather gloves hold up best. If you have roses, get a pair that resist thorn pricks..

10. Hose. This is the fastest way to transport lots of water. Consider using drip irrigation hoses or tape.

Mulches: weed prevention and control

Why use mulches?

Mulching is an excellent way of controlling weeds and clearing ground. It works because mulches stop light from reaching the weeds. Without light they cannot grow, because they can’t photosynthesise (the process by which plants make food).

Mulches are coverings placed on the surface of the soil. They can be made from a number of materials, from light-excluding membranes (covers) to loose shredded prunings. To make sure the mulch works, it is important to choose the right one.

How do you use mulches?

In planted areas

Dig garden compost or organic fertilisers into the soil before putting the mulch on the soil.Put the mulch on to a moist, warm, weed free soil. Membranes look more attractive and last longer if they are covered in a 5cm layer of loose mulch such as ornamental bark.When using a loose mulch and no membrane,a top up is needed to keep a 10cm thick layer (every year or two).

When clearing ground

Cut down long grass and weeds with a strimmer.Lay the membrane over the area to be cleared, and hold

down with pegs or stones. If weeds break through the membrane, patch it as necessary.It can be held down with planks, bricks or straw.

Pros: Free. It is useful for clearing ground and can be replaced when the weeds start to grow through. Vigorous growing vegetables can be planted through it. Biodegradable (rots down).

Cons: Degrades quickly.

Newspaper Newspapers are excellent as a short term mulch. They will last one growing season.Use a whole, opened out newspaper at least eight pages thick. Hold down with a degradable mulch such as grass mowings, hay or straw.

Pros: Free. A thick layer will keep down perennial (grow back every year) weeds.Use round the base of fruit bushes and raspberries (remember to remove in autumn and replace in spring). They also makes good tree mats and can be used as a mulch in the vegetable garden. Biodegradable.

Cons: Degrades quickly. Can make soil more acidic.

Loose mulch

Woodchips

Woodchips come in many different varieties of wood. They are cheaper but less attractive than ornamental bark.

Pros: Excellent for informal paths.

Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Although it will stop some weeds growing the soil must be clear of all weeds before the woodchips are put down.

Clearing weeds using this method can take between six months to two or three years. However,the area doesn’t have to be bare. You can grow some vigorous plants through the mulch.

Mulch membranes

Geotextiles

Geotextiles are man-made membranes that are permeable (water and air can get through).They will last about 15 years, when covered with a loose mulch such as wood chips. Fasten the edges with wire pegs.

Pros: Excellent long-term weed control. You can plant through geotextile membranes.

Cons: Expensive. You can’t feed plants through it; worms can’t work in organic matter covering the membrane. A non-renewable resource (can’t be used again).

Black plastic film (400-600 gauge – thickness)

Black plastic will last for one to three years. To hold it down, bury the edges along all sides of the beds.

Pros: Useful for clearing weedy ground before planting. It can be covered with loose mulch.Vigorous vegetables, such as potatoes and courgettes, can be planted through the membrane.Warms up the soil.

Cons: As it is not air or water permeable it is not recommended for long term use. Will degrade (rot) quickly if exposed to the sun. A non-renewable resource.

Cardboard

Flattened cardboard makes an excellent mulch which will last for one growing season.

Ornamental bark

Ornamental bark is composted conifer bark. It is more expensive than woodchips but more attractive.

Pros: Excellent for decorative beds.It conditions the soil. Biodegradable. Good way of recycling waste material.

Cons: Although it will stop some perennial weeds growing soil must be clear of all weeds before it is put down.

Shredded prunings

Woody prunings and other woody material produced in the school grounds can be chipped or shredded to use as a mulch.

Heap them in a pile to compost for a few months before using on planted areas. Composting will darken the colour of the mulch,giving it a more natural appearance. Add nitrogen—in the form of grass mowings, nettle liquid or nitrogen-rich manures to speed up composting.

Pros: Can be used fresh for paths.

Biodegradable. Good use of waste materials.

Cons: Home made mulches, may degrade more quickly.

Straw/hay

Straw and hay will make a good mulch for one season. For the most effective weed control put straw over a membrane such as newspaper. It is better to use semi-rotted straw/hay.

Pros: Hay contains potash and nitrogen.Straw also supplies some potash. This mulch is good for fruit bushes. Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Hay can contain some weed seeds.

Sawdust

Best used as a mulch in ‘wild’ areas or to cover tree mats. Do not use sawdust from treated wood.

Pros: Biodegradable. Good use of waste material.

Cons: Sawdust takes nitrogen from the soil

and so should not be dug in.

Tree mats

It is important to keep 1m² area at the base of a tree free of other plants and weeds for three to five years after planting. If the area isn’t clear,the tree has competition for water and nutrients.Tree mats are made of wool, geotextile or black plastic. It is also possible to make your own using newspaper (see newspaper section).Fasten the mats down by burying the edges or pegging down.

Pros: Wool mats and geotextiles are air and water permeable. Tree mats can also be used around large shrubs.

Cons: Wool mats can be destroyed by birds using them for nesting material. Black plastic is not air and water permeable. Synthetic (man made) membranes are a non-renewable resource.

Ten Tips on Gardening with Kids

1. Kid gardens must be kid-based. This means that kids help generate the ideas for what will be there, help with construction and planting, and are responsible for maintenance. Grown-up’s need to facilitate and show how, but not do everything. Focus on the process of involving them, and they will then take ownership.

2. Develop the garden to be appropriate for the site and regional conditions. Involve the kids in the site analysis process so they understand how important the light, soil, drainage and other environmental factors are to having a garden. Develop the garden so the features and plant choices are adapted to local conditions, so you are not “working against nature.”

3. Focus on functional garden design, not how it will look. Start the design process by determining what the children want to be doing and learning in the garden. Base the features on the practical functions they will serve, and don’t worry too much about aesthetics. Gardens that serve as hands-on learning laboratories for kids will be beautiful because they are well-used and well-loved spaces. Also remember that the children’s sense of what is pretty may not be yours; that’s ok because the garden is their space.

4. Be comfortable with dirt. All kids are washable, so as long as parents have been notified about the gardening activity in advance and haven’t sent them in fancy clothing, let them get dirty. If mud is a concern once the kids are going back inside the building, try plastic grocery sacks over their shoes, or set up and hand-washing and shoe-scraping station before they go back inside.

5. Bugs and crawly things are cool. Children aren’t inherently afraid of things that crawl and creep. They learn that these things are bad or scary or icky from adults. When you pass on an aversion to something because of how it looks, that’s called “Prejudice.” Worms, caterpillars, grubs, insects, spiders and all sorts of wondrous creatures are out in your garden as part of the ecosystem. Please see them as integral parts of the system, and the kids will be amazed and curious, not afraid. Check out Worms Eat My Garbage and other great teaching resources on garden bugs.

6. No chemicals. Given that you are gardening with children, this really should not need any explanation. Also in urban areas, it is advisable to have a basic soil assessment for lead and other urban contaminants to make sure your site is safe for children before the garden is developed.

7. Grow some things to eat. Children are much more willing to try and consume fresh fruits and vegetables that they have grown. In fact, they likely will try things they never have eaten before because they have tended the plants through harvest. Since 60% of kids today don’t eat enough fruits and veggies. Have a harvest celebration and encourage the kids to share their bounty with others, whether informally or through other community gardens.

8. Reinforce the lessons from the garden while indoors. Prepare the kids for their gardening experience by asking questions like, “What will we see today?” or “How much do you think things have grown since last week?” Engage kids in keeping journals and/or scrapbooks of their garden to monitor its progress through the season and over the years. If working with a school garden, integrate the garden across disciplines beyond science.

9. Keep it fun. Have enough equipment, whether trowels or watering cans, to allow small teams of 4-8 kids to work together on a task. Many children do better in small group situations, and it’s also easier to guide the kids when each team has a specific assignment. Try partnering older grades and younger children to provide younger kids with a helper, and help older children to be more responsible. Have a plan for how the kids’ time in the garden will be organized so they aren’t left idle for long, but also be open to the “teachable moments” that come along.

10. Gardening is powerful experiences for children.Children have fewer and fewer chances to interact with the natural world, and the connection to nature is important for their development. Children who develop regard and concern for the natural world come to be good stewards of the land and its resources. Being responsible for tending a garden also fosters their sense of “nurturing” and helps them learn to care for other living things. Kids don’t often hear much positive feedback from adults, and creating and tending a garden also empowers kids because they hear that they have “done a good job” from other adults.

Enjoy
Willie

Planets like Earth are very rare,let`s not blow it.

September in the Community Garden

Hi all,
Please see some photo`s from the community garden taken this month of September 2011.

Some wild flowers enjoying the sunny day in the garden.

This is the way good compost should look,when fully decomposed

This is the way green waste it starts out,and ends up as above.

One of our Crab apple trees,showing very good crop of small but excellent fruit.



We have started to plant our Spring bulbs for next years flowering.

September is the end of summer although we're often lucky to have a bit more summer and sunshine, nothing is certain with the weather. The bulk of the harvest comes home now and as crops come out the plot begins to empty

Harvest

The main crop potatoes should be ready now. To repeat August's advice regarding harvesting potatoes:

When you harvest your potatoes take care to remove all the tubers. Any left will not only sprout next year and becomes a weed but will also be a reservoir for disease and potato blight spores. It's often worth forking over a few days after harvesting potatoes because more seem to miraculously appear.

If blight has struck your potatoes the best method to preserve the crop is to remove the haulm and dispose of it then leave the potatoes in the ground for a fortnight or longer to stop the spores getting onto the tubers.

It's best to harvest potatoes fairly early in the day, rinse them off as they come from the ground and then leave in the sunlight for a day to thoroughly dry off and harden the skins before storing.

Sort carefully and place perfect specimens into hessian or paper sacks in a cool dark but frost free place. Damaged tubers should be used first before they have a chance to rot and spread their rot to the rest of the sack.

It's worthwhile to empty the sacks after a few weeks or a month and check that there are no potatoes going off. Discard these before they rot the sack. You might like to pop a few slug pellets into the sacks as well. It's amazing how the slugs can appear no matter how careful you are. If you are concerned about slug pellets, remember these are in store and present no risk to wildlife.

You may well have reasonably sized parsnips now but they will stay perfectly happy in the ground and do taste better after they have had a frost on them.

The runner beans and French beans will be continuing to produce and the last of the peas should be coming in. Compost the foliage of the peas but leave the roots in the ground as the nodules on them contain nitrogen.

The harvest will be in full swing and in addition to the above you should have:

Beetroot Cabbage Carrots Cauliflowers Courgettes Cucumbers Globe Artichokes Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce

Leeks Marrows Onions Pumpkins Radishes Spring Onions Spinach Sweetcorn Tomatoes Turnips

From the greenhouse you should be picking aubergines, chilli and sweet peppers as well as cucumbers and tomatoes.If you grow fruit then the picking should be in full swing there as well:

Apples, pears, plums, peaches from the trees, blackberries and raspberries from the canes and strawberries from the bed.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Sowing

There's not a great deal to sow now but surprisingly it's the right time to sow winter lettuces such as Arctic King for spring harvests.

The other salad crop is the winter hardy spring onion. I'd suggest White Lisbon but ensure it is the winter hardy version.

Green Manure

Early September is the time to sow green manures. If you do not need to dig over your plot as you do with heavy soils or intend to spread manure on a patch then following on the last of a crop with a green manure is a great idea.

The first benefit is that the green manure will hold onto soil fertility that would otherwise be washed out by the winter rains. In fact, sowing a legume such as Winter Tares will fix nitrogen from the air.

Secondly, they will prevent weed growth so you will have less work to do.

Finally they help improve the soil structure. In the spring you just need to dig over and allow them to rot down for a few weeks.

One of the best green manures for winter growth is Hungarian grazing rye. It continues to grow, albeit slowly, in cold weather and should be around 15" tall come the spring from an early September sowing. Not only will you have a lush mass of foliage but it also produces a mass of roots that will provide humus for bacterial breakdown.

Planting Out

Your spring cabbage plants can be planted out now and over wintering (Japanese) onion sets can go in for an early onion harvest.

You can plant out garlic as well although I prefer to plant it out later in the year.

Cultivating

Keep feeding your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. It's not really worthwhile feeding other plants at this time of year as they are nearly finished and the nutrients are best saved for the spring. Keep the side shoots in check on the tomatoes.

Fruit

Tidy up the summer fruiting raspberries, cutting off the canes that have fruited and tying in the new shoots that will bear next year.

The summer fruiting strawberries can be attended to now as well. Cut off the foliage about 1" from the ground, clearing and weeding as you go. Any runners can be planted up to replace 3 year old plants that are best replaced now.

General Tasks

Keep an eye on your brassicas for butterfly eggs and caterpillars, these will most probably be under the leaves. The greenhouse pests should be declining but keep an eye out if the weather is good.

Making Compost

If you've not already done so, empty your compost bins. The compost that is ready can be spread on the ground and the compost only partially rotted returned to the bin to finish off.

You will probably have quite a bit of foliage ready to compost and building a heap properly will help the transformation from green waste to valuable compost. At the base of the heap place woody material, sweetcorn stalks etc to allow some airflow up into the heap. Next place a six inch layer of green material and add some sulphate of ammonia or dried blood to add nitrogen. Just a small sprinkling is sufficient, about 50g per square metre (2oz per square yard) is about right.

Another layer of green material but this time lightly sprinkle with lime to keep the pH up. Repeat the process and top off with a piece of old carpet or some plastic sheeting to stop it getting too wet in the rain and to keep the heat in.

The heap should heat up after a few days and be ready to turn in four or six weeks. The smaller the particles the more surface area they have relative to weight and the faster they will decompose. If you have a shredder, this will be ideal but otherwise cut things up with shears, crush things like brassica stems and they will go down much faster.

If you don't have a shredder but do have a hover mower you can lay foliage on the lawn and run over it with the mower to shred it.

Regards and Happy Gardening where ever you may be.

Willie

A film on our community garden

Short Irish Documentary to Premiere at Mecal Pro in Barcelona this April 2011


Film Title: Car Park Cultivation
Tagline: Turning tarmac into dinner!


About the film:
The plot on the busy South Circular Road in Dublin city was an abandoned car parking lot. It was covered in old, scrubby tarmac and, like countless other sites in Ireland in 2007, it was in the queue for planning permission to develop it into a 3-story apartment block. Then the
landowner gave permission for a group of residents to use the site as a temporary community garden...
This short, site-specific documentary is a film about the people who have transformed this abandoned car park in the city into a thriving oasis of biodiversity. They acknowledge some of the challenges that come from working communally, and they gently disclose some of the quiet joys they reap from getting their hands dirty each week with other folk from their neighbourhood.

Directed, Filmed and Edited by:
Nigel Heather & Aoibheann O'Sullivan (Tuned In, 8 Things to Remember, Forty Foot)

* Date of screening: Sunday the 17th April at 16h00.

* Venue: CINES MALDÀ, C/ Pi (Ciutat Vella) 5, 08002 Barcelona



Longer Analysis:
The charming simplicity of this community garden belies deeper, less obvious, socio-political complexities. In growing their own food these neighbours casually turn their back on the global food market with it’s escalating prices and carbon emissions; by growing organic food and seed saving they resist the genetic ownership and the copyrighting of nature; and by growing food communally in a voluntary, not-for-profit way in a small plot in Dublin earmarked for development since 2007 one could nearly believe that the corpse of the property-focused Celtic tiger just might make excellent compost. This is more than vegetables, it is spores of resistance, germinating action and blossoming community.

Due to Ireland’s economic downturn it is unlikely the apartment development on this piece of land will go ahead any time in the near future, and this garden is now part of a budding network of community gardens that are flourishing in disused plots and abandoned sites around the country.

Spring 2011

Hi all fellow community gardens,
We have been doing some tidying up now that the new year is here in the community garden.I took some photo`s of some of the plots been readied for the year ahead.Applied our own compost from our compost bins onto two of the vegetable sections only at this time,we will be
getting the other two section as soon as we can weather permitting, lightly dug in and covered with straw to stop soil from drying out and keep weed seeds taken a hold and having to weed again in some areas.Please see photo`s enclosed.

Regards
Willie B.


Some section were covered with old carpet over the winter,will cover completely with straw,and will plant through the straw.


The joy of Spring.
Local wild bird "Robin"keeping an eye on proceedings. The Rhubarb showing the first leaf on the year,one hardy plant.

Snow Scene

View from the wooden tool shed

Water that was dripping down from roof and was frozen in this scene

View looking at the common area in the garden.

We had some very heavy snow and cold weather here lately,and we are not finished with it yet??I have been in the community garden putting out wild bird seeds and fat balls to help our local wild birds over the snowy period in the garden.I took some photo`s of the garden in its white covering.

Regards
Willie B.