Make your bed (but you don't have to lie in it)

The evenings are starting to draw in. I really love this time of the year, a time for contemplating what was good in the garden this year, what didn’t work and what you would like to do next year.  The seed catalogues will be coming out soon and we can sit by the heat of a crackling fire choosing the varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetables we would like to grow next season.

There is still much to do in the garden.  This week I have been tidying up the vegetable garden and making space for my autumn sown onion sets and garlic, I like to have them all in by the end of this month, but you can still plant garlic depending on variety up to the end of February.

I am basically very lazy, so like to make my life as easy as possible. I don’t enjoy weeding so there are methods I use to keep weeds to an absolute minimum in the garden, it may seem like a bit of work in the beginning, but it really does pay off in the long run.  I have my vegetable garden put down to beds, so it makes life a lot simpler.

I start by clearing the area of any weeds. There aren’t usually many so it doesn’t take long do this part. If the soil is a bit compacted, I stick the fork in and just loosen the soil, I don’t dig it or turn it.  Two or three wheelbarrows of my home made compost are then applied and spread out on the surface. 

Next get some newspapers or paper feed sacks (cut off the ends and flatten them out), you will need to dunk them in the water butt for about 30 seconds, this helps to stop them blowing away and makes it easier to dib through.  Put a layer of newspaper (2 sheets thick) or a single sheet of feed sack down until the area is neatly covered, then cover the paper with a layer of  either grass mowings, spoiled hay or silage or a bit more compost, it just keeps the paper in place so it doesn’t need to be too thick.

You are now ready to plant through the ‘mulch’ you have created.  Using a dibber or stick, you can make planting holes through the damp paper.  Autumn sown onions are very useful, they can be pulled next year when they have bulked up a bit and used in cooking or you could leave them to mature and they will be ready a good six or eight weeks before the main crop ones.  You can find onion sets in the shops now; look out for Radar, senshyu yellow and electric red. 

When planting onion sets, they only need to be put in a very shallow hole, you need to plant them with the blunt end downward otherwise they will grow upside down.  The correct depth is that you should be able to see the pointed top sticking out of the ground.  You may need to cover them with a net or fleece if you find birds are pulling them out, I have to cover everything up as the rooks destroy whatever I put in the ground.  Plant 3-4 inches (7-10cm) apart in all directions, when using beds there is no need to plant in rows so use equidistant spacing.

You can buy garlic now for planting.  Separate the bulb into cloves and plant them nice and deep, I try and put mine in at least 3-4” (7-10cm) deep again, I use equidistant spacing of 4 inches (10cm) in all directions.

Autumn leaves are falling and are a great resource for the garden.  Bang four posts into the ground and put wire round to make a container or you could collect them and put into the big bags you get stone and other aggregate delivered in.  If you can break the leaves up a bit all the better, pick them up with the lawn mower or get the children to jump around on them, this helps to make more edges for fungi to get going on.  Do not be tempted to put autumn leaves into the compost bin as they will not break down in this environment, compost is broken down by bacteria and dead leaves by the action of wet and fungi.  It is worth knowing that burning autumn leaves is very toxic to human health and can be tens of times more carcinogenic (cancer causing) than smoking.  When the leaves have broken down, they are a great addition to potting compost and a good source of humus for the soil.

You can contact me, Nelly Dean on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com if you have any tips questions or comments

Know your Onions

Onions, garlic and leeks are all members of the allium family.   I can’t imagine life without onions or indeed any of the other alliums.  Soups, stews, dips, salads, the list of their uses is endless.  There are also health benefits which include being good sources of Vitamins B6 and C and sulphur which is good for the liver.  They are cited as being useful in reducing blood pressure, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antiviral and they are thought to be effective in reducing the size of cancer tumours.

It is possible to have your own onions growing or in storage all year round.  I tend to buy onion sets, which are small onion bulbs, as they are very reliable; but you can also start from seed and there is a lot more variety to choose from if you go down this route; but it is more fiddly.

 I plant autumn onion sets around the end of September to the middle of October, there is a variety called Radar which I have used for many years.  The advantage with these is you can start pulling the onions as soon as they are of a reasonable size around March if you need them, or you can leave them to bulk up and they are usually ready a good six weeks earlier than the main crop.  If you like red onions, there are sets for these available for autumn planting too, look out for Electric Red. 

You can sow White Lisbon Winter Hardy until October, with the later sowings you can extend the cropping period with the use of cloches or the protection of a polytunnel or greenhouse.  There is no reason why scallions or salad onions cannot replace regular onions in most recipes. 

Purplette onion bulbs

This year I found a real little gem, a dual purpose salad onion called Purplette.  They start off as a normal salad onion, but the stems are a nice purple/red colour, as they mature, they form mini red onions and get to quite a nice size, handy if you have a small family or just want a smaller onion for your recipe.  Red onions are normally milder and sweeter than the white ones and are lovely used in quiches and pizzas or they would make an interesting pickled onion.

Onion sets for storing are planted as soon as conditions allow around February or March.  They are ready for harvest in late July to mid August when the tops start going over.  Lift the bulbs and put them somewhere to dry out, they can be plaited or stored in nets and hung up in an airy, dry, frost free place.  If your onions start to form a flower spike, cut it off and then use them as soon as possible, if you allow the flowers to form the middle of the onion will eventually become hard and useless, so better to use it up even if it is small than have to throw it in the compost. Do not attempt to store any onions with thick necks, they won’t keep.  Onions usually respond to stress by flowering, so periods of unusually hot weather like we had back in May can trigger this, you can help prevent it happening by covering with some shading/windbreak material which will keep them a bit cooler.

If you like something a bit unusual, look out for Egyptian or walking onions.  The bulbs are planted and grow like normal, then they start forming more onions on the top of the stalk and then bend over which plants the small bulbs into the ground, they also can produce flowers that turn into tiny bulblets which can also be planted, no two plants seem to do the same thing, they are fascinating. You can eat the small bulbs in salads and the larger parts can be cooked like any other onion.  Of interest to permaculture and forest gardeners as they are self perpetuating.

My main crop onions this year have been a complete disaster.  The weather conditions have not been great, the wind and rain have battered them, a great crowd of rooks came down and pecked lots of holes in them and then they succumbed to mildew.  I am going to harvest what is left and get them dried off in the tunnel, if they don’t look as if they will store, I will peel and slice and put in the freezer for using in soups and pasta sauces.

If you want to contact me with questions or your tips, email me, Nelly Dean on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com

Cabbages and Kings

Cabbage is the great stalwart of the vegetable garden, standing through rain, wind and frost; it is indeed a hardy staple food.  The different varieties are staggering too, red, savoy, drumhead, loose, pointed; there really is a cabbage for all seasons and recipes. 

Leaves starting to grow on the stalk

Did you know that with a little coaxing, your cabbage could keep on giving; once you have cut the head that is not the end of your cabbage.  When you cut your cabbage head, leave a few inches of stalk above the ground, remove any leaves that can attract slugs, and then cut a cross in the top of the stalk.  Within a few weeks, new leaves will start to grow and given time, four new little cabbages will have been produced.  These are really useful and you can cut one at a time for use in stir fries.  In fact, I have had the same cabbages producing leaves and heads for most of the year.  When they finally run out of steam and start to produce flower stalks, if you pick those young enough they are edible too.

The new minature cabbage heads

You can elevate your humble cabbage to gourmet status by slicing thinly and gently braising in a good knob of butter or oil if you prefer, then grate some nutmeg on top. 

Basket of Sweet Genovese Basil

Basil is often described as the king of the herbs and it certainly lifts an ordinary dish of grilled tomatoes on toast to something very special.  I have been very lucky and had a bumper crop of basil, but what can you do with a glut?

I like to make basil infused oil; it captures the very essence of the herb.  I take my basil leaves and stalks, and break them into a screw top or kilner type jar.  Cover the leaves with some good extra virgin olive oil and put in a cool dark place.  Shake every day for about two weeks and then sieve out the leaves; you may have to let them drain for a few hours to make sure no precious oil gets left behind.  Decant into a bottle.  If you wanted to make a super concentrated oil, just put in some more fresh basil leaves and do the same again.  You now have delicious basil flavoured oil for winter use to drizzle over pizza, bruschetta or to perk up pasta sauces with all the taste of your summer basil.  There are many different sorts of basil, one of my favourites is lettuce leaved with its lovely big crinkled leaves.  Sow seeds in a pot and put into a warm place to germinate, if you put on a bottle cloche, it will hasten germination (plastic pop bottle with the bottom cut off).  It will grow well on a sunny windowsill or conservatory; make sure you give it a good sized pot to grow in.

How are things going in your garden?  What is growing well for you or what is doing badly, let me know.

You can contact me, Nelly Dean, on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com with any tips or questions

Midsummer Sowings

It’s hard to believe we are half way through July, where does the time go?  My thoughts at this time are, surprisingly; my garden next year and what I plan we will be eating from January through to May.  That’s the tricky thing sometimes about growing your own, the forward planning that needs to be done, someone once asked me how I knew when to sow all these different seeds and I suppose it’s just habit now. I prefer not to sow straight into the ground for most things.  I find growing in pots, trays and modules a far more reliable way to raise plants.  You can keep an eye on them more easily, especially if you set up a table or some shelves near the back door. You can re-pot seedlings and grow on, once plants are of a reasonable size, they are more resistant to attack by slugs.

Don’t be tempted to sow a whole packet of seed in one go, you will end up overwhelmed with seedlings.  Apart from carrot and parsnip seeds which you should purchase every year, most seeds will keep quite well for several years if stored correctly.  One of the best places is in a plastic container in the fridge or somewhere dark, cool and dry, so sow your expensive seed frugally.

You often find seed packets will tell you to sow seed into a prepared seed bed.  This is fine if you have a seed bed or can be bothered to go to the trouble to make one.  Maybe you have already put the seed packet down because it is already too complicated, but please, pick it back up, there is another way.  Seeds want to grow and I have developed a mini seed bed mainly from sheer laziness.

For my mini seed bed, I use a seed tray which I fill with compost and then press down well by putting another seed tray on the top and pushing down, this stops the compost ‘slumping’.  Take a thick pen or stick about the thickness of your finger and make five seed drills by pressing the stick into the soil to make a little trench.  You are now ready to plant up to five different sorts of seeds.  Give each little trench a good watering, this helps the seeds to stick and stops them rolling down one end when you water them again.  Sow about 10 - 15 seeds in each drill, spacing out evenly, label, sieve a little compost over the seeds, and then give another good watering.  Pop a plastic propagator cover over if you have one, don’t worry if you don’t, a piece of glass or plastic sheet would work as well. You could try cobbling something together from the 5lt plastic water containers.  Water if the soil surface gets dry, as you have sown the seeds in little drills, you can water the soil between the seedlings to avoid flattening them, as they are in slight depressions, the water gets down to the roots a bit better.  A clean washing up liquid bottle is perfect for this job, directing the water and controlling the flow.  When the seeds start germinating, you can remove the lid, the seedlings can get very leggy if they get too much heat.

There are plenty of things you can sow now, these are some of the varieties I have been sowing this week:

Cabbage

April – A pointed variety for planting out finally in September for use in April and May

Pixie  - Similar to above

January King  -    Hardy for December to March use.  Seed packet says sow April to June, the guides on the back are optimum sowing times, as we are in the North West sowing can be delayed here, we are lucky to have good light levels so late in the year. I am giving these a go as I have never grown them before.

Tuscan Kale

Cavolo de  Nero   - A really useful kale.  Can be grown nearly all year round.   A really attractive plant that would not look out of place in a flower border.  The young leaves can be eaten with salad and the larger leaves are good in stir fries.  Will tolerate cold weather.     

Spinach            

Reddy – An interesting spinach, the leaves have red veins and are quite pretty. Sow seeds thinly into a large pot or directly into the ground. Keep well watered and make frequent sowings as spinach bolts (goes to seed) quickly in hotter weather. Use young leaves in salads, larger leaves are good in curries.                            

Scallions         

White Lisbon (Winter Hardy) Sow this from now until October, two or three seeds to a module.  Plant out when large enough to handle. Later sowings will provide onions for next year.  Use in place of large onions for stir fries, soups, stuffing etc.

Deep Purple  - Large bulbed variety, with an interesting pink/purple colour.  Sow now for pulling from September onwards.  Cultivation as above.

Carrot

Early Nantes 5   Sow now in a large pot or box for pulling from September. Other  varieties suitable for sowing in containers are Paris Market and Chantenay.  There do not seem to be quite so many slugs at the moment so a sowing directly into the ground may be worthwhile.

If you are quick, you could make a sowing of Dwarf French beans, Speedy is a good variety if you can find them.  Sow 2 seeds per 4” (10cm) pots.  Cover over with glass or plastic sheet to hasten germination, again keep an eye and remove the cover when they have come up to avoid them getting leggy.  Plant out before the roots start to come out of the bottom of the pot.  These are suitable to grow in large pots or boxes as well. 

We’ll check the progress of the mini seed bed in a few weeks time and then go onto the next stage.  

Something I cobbled up from a 5lt water container

If you have any questions or comments, tips and advice, contact me, Nelly Dean, by email at cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com

Tickle your Tubers

Those of you who planted early potatoes will be looking forward to harvesting them any time now.  Instead of putting in your fork and lifting the whole plant, why not try and give them a little tickle.  So many of the smaller potatoes get wasted, but they could be given the chance to reach an edible size if you master an age old technique called tickling. 

If you have grown your spuds, as I do, in the no dig way, mulching up with grass mowings or straw, it is very easy.  Just move your mulch over a bit and start feeling into the ground with two fingers, very gently so as not to detach any small ones.  If you can feel a smooth spud of reasonable size, get your fingers underneath it and pop it out, you can often get 2 or 3 off the same plant.  Replace the mulch and move to the next plant until you have enough for your requirements.  This method leaves the smaller potatoes to keep growing away, thus maximising your crops.  I often get a good two to two and half months worth of cropping from my earlies in this way.  If you grow on a ridge, you will have to go into the side of the ridge in the same way, tidying it up and making sure you cover any small potatoes back over again.

Raised bed in foreground showing grass mowing mulch

I plant my early potatoes in the polytunnel late January or very early February, I harvested my first Home Guard on 25^th April.  I finally lifted them all out just over a week ago as the foliage was starting to die off.  I have stored them in a large pot which I have covered to stop the light getting to them.  I also planted a variety called Anja which I started growing last year and we like them a lot.  They are a long thin variety and remind me of Pink Fir Apple but early.  They are a more waxy potato and are really lovely with salads, with that new potato taste sadly lacking these days.  The joy of growing your own is that you can experiment with different varieties that you can’t find in the shops.  Some of my favourites are Nicola, a lovely waxy gourmet variety and Arran Victory, a purple skinned beauty that makes the best roast potatoes, floury inside and crispy outside.  I have eight different varieties growing this year.

If you find that after your potatoes have flowered they have started to form things that look like tomatoes, take them off.  These are seeds and they will take energy from the plant that should be going into tuber production. I like to foliar feed (spray dilute feed onto the leaves) with seaweed solution after flowering to keep the plants strong and healthy, but you could use a comfrey and nettle feed if you choose. 

Should we get a dry spell, the plants will need watering.  It is of more benefit to a give a really good watering from the time of flower production than at any other time.  Get the hose or watering can down to the ground level and drench the soil really well.  If you give frequent, light waterings, it will result in the production of more foliage rather than tubers. 

 Lastly, if blight does strike try not to panic.  The blight will usually start on the top leaves and work its way down.  The leaves will have large brown blotches and you will know if you have it.  Remove any affected leaves and take away from the area.  Keep an eye on the progress.  If it moves down the stalk towards the tubers, chop off all foliage at ground level and get rid of it along with any leaves that fall off, clean up all diseased plant material on the ground.  Leave the potatoes in the ground for two weeks.  After this time, lift as normal.  Check any tubers in storage from time to time and remove anything that looks suspect before it infects any healthy ones.

You can message me cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions.

Weed and Feed

By now, your containers and hanging baskets should be coming along nicely.  To keep them looking their best you need to make sure they are kept watered and fed.  Hanging baskets need extra help.  A lot is expected from them, suspended in a basket, battered by wind and rain and fried by the sun.  Even if it has been raining, make sure you water baskets and containers thoroughly, the rain does not always get down past the foliage.  They need extra nutrients in the form of liquid feeds to keep them in tip top condition, but what cost do your liquid feeds come at?  By using vast amounts of fossil fuels and using something called the Haber-Bosch process, liquid nitrogen is produced.  This is not really very sustainable and is it worth using something so wasteful of precious resources on flowers?  There is a solution; you can easily make your own liquid feed from a special plant and garden weeds.

There is a plant that you can grow in the garden that will provide you with liquid feed for life.  It is called comfrey.  It loves damp, rich soil; you often find it growing near rivers and streams.  A note of caution though, do not be tempted to plant wild comfrey or other types of Russian Comfrey, it will quickly seed around and become very invasive.  There is a cultivar of Russian Comfrey called Bocking 14; it’s very well behaved as it doesn’t make seed.  The only way to propagate it is by dividing and replanting pieces of root.  This would be the only form I would advise to plant.  You can check on the internet for stockists.  If you decide to plant some, prepare a site and dig in plenty of organic matter as it this will help it to establish well and produce lots of leaves.  This is quite a permanent planting, if you need to move it you should be aware that any pieces left in the ground can re-grow, but it is an attractive plant.  An established clump can be cut up to five times a year.

Comfrey in flower

To make a liquid feed manufacturing plant you will need a bucket with a good sized hole drilled into it, or you could use a large flower pot.  Stand the pot on top of some bricks and pop a container underneath that is large enough to catch the black liquid that is going to drip out.  You are going to need something to press the leaves down and I use a bucket or pot filled with rocks and stones that will fit inside the large pot.  You are now ready to start making your own liquid feed.

Simple comfrey manufacturing plant

It is best to use young leaves: once plants start flowering, all the energy is lost from the leaves. Stuff harvested leaves into your bucket, chopping them up a bit will speed the process, put the weight on top and wait.  As the leaves start to wilt and compress down, you can add more to the bucket.  I like to add other sorts of plant material that I feel are of benefit.  Young stinging nettles are good; they contain silica which is ideal for plant strength.  Dock leaves, chickweed and the tops of horsetail can all be used, so even if you have no comfrey you can utilise any weeds, particularly young ones.  Every now and again, I scrape out the broken down plant material and start again.  The resultant goo can be added to your compost heap if you have one.  You can bottle your liquid feed until you need to use it and then dilute it 1 part feed to 20 parts water. So there you have it, a useful way to deal with weeds and a by product that doesn’t cost the earth.

If you have any questions or tips and advice you can contact me on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com

Food for the Soul

Happiness is found in some very humble places.  I feel a sense of enormous happiness walking through my wild flower meadow full of Ragged Robin, wild forget me not, pink, red and white clover and all the grasses that add a different texture and move gently in the wind, changing the mood of the meadow.  Not only are these flowers good for our spiritual wellbeing, they are essential for other species too. 

Flowers growing in my garden this month

I manage my plot without chemicals by using nature to my advantage. I plant a range of flowers, mainly perennial plants, to encourage flying insects and bees.  A friend had an allotment.  All around her were what looked to me, lifeless, unhappy plots with regimented rows of vegetables.   I had just split a lot of my cottage garden plants and we set to work making a nectar bar round her allotment, the idea being it would look like an oasis in a desert to the passing flying insect.  Within a few weeks, the flowers had come out and her plot was buzzing and alive with bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and other parasitic wasps.  People came over to see the spectacle, it was truly amazing.

So what can all these insects do for us?  Hoverflies feed on nectar and will lay their eggs near nectar sources, their young will then feed first on aphids. Ladybirds eat all aphids as do their offspring which look a bit like  multi-legged armadillos. The tiny parasitic wasps lay their eggs directly in the bodies of aphids which parasitises them, turning them into a golden or bronze coloured ball from which the new wasp bursts forth.  The bees pollinate almost everything, without them there would not be much happening.

Bumble bees are such an important part of our ecosystem.  They are pollinators of fruit trees and other plants.  They can fly in colder weather conditions than other bees and without them the world would be a very different place.  Can you imagine having to hand pollinate all the plants in the vegetable patch, the orchard and flower garden?  It would take forever.  We take all our garden friends for granted and the role they play in our lives. 

The bumble bee can sometimes be starved of food by honey bees who feed on simple flowers. Complex flowers such as lavender and snapdragon type flowers offer exclusive dining to bumble bees as they are the only ones able to get their long tongues down to the nectar.

Lastly, flowers are indeed food for the soul.  They cheer up bleak spaces and fill baskets and pots with colour for your eyes to feast on.  So go out and plant flowers.  Plant them between your vegetables for a natural solution to black, green and whitefly. You men, flowers are not just for women, you can enjoy them too. Plant them in your front garden for others to see too, pass on the good feeling to your neighbours and strangers.

Don't forget you can email me on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com with any comments or questions

Grow your own Gourmet Salads

We’ve all bought them, those expensive, commercial salad bags.  They promise a lot but in reality, it’s all a bit of a disappointment.  The truth is, those salads have been picked (mostly in far off lands), washed in a sort of bleach to kill off any germs and then gas flushed in the bag to stop them oxidising on their long journey to the shops.  Of course, once opened and exposed to the air, they quickly start to break down, going limp and then browning on the ends.  After just a few days, your expensive bag of salad is now only fit for the bin and you only managed to eat half of it. 

Why not grow your own gourmet salad, right outside your back door.  Fresh, convenient and you only pick what you need at that moment. 

Lettuce does not need to ‘head up’ before it can be used.  Once it has started to produce five or six leaves, you can start picking, ok they may be small, but you can be on trend with your micro salad.  Take a few leaves off each lettuce plant, using scissors if you want or just pinch them off at the base taking care not to pull out the young plant.  You will not harm the plant and it will keep on producing leaves for you to harvest for a good number of weeks. 

You can grow in a large pot or box.  I always find it is best to grow in a good sized container for the best results.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money on your container.  The local shops often have polystyrene boxes they just throw away which are very good or the sort of plastic boxes for storing toys etc. are perfect.  If you want something a bit more decorative you could use old galvanised buckets or wash tubs.  The only limit is your imagination.  Make sure you put drainage holes in the bottom of your container and then a layer of stones or broken clay pots, this helps to stop your container from becoming waterlogged.  You could also stand your container on bricks or feet of some kind to keep it off the ground completely.

You will need some soil, multi purpose compost or a mixture of compost and garden soil would be fine.  Now you can either directly sow some seeds into the container or into a small pot of compost for transplanting when large enough.  If you choose to directly sow, before doing so, give the pot a really good watering until the water is running out of the pot, then thinly sow your seeds onto the surface, give another light watering and then cover with a very thin layer of compost.  If you sow into a little pot, do the same thing, water the soil first then sow the seeds and cover.  I usually do this method and in hot weather, I pop the pot into the fridge overnight as a cold spell helps with germination as lettuce don’t germinate well in hot weather.  If you sow seeds every two to three weeks, you will have a constant supply of delicious fresh leaves.   Try wild rocket, coriander and oriental leaves for an interesting and zingy addition.

Don’t forget, you can contact me on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com with any questions or information.

The Cottage Gardener

At this time of the year, our thoughts turn to the garden.  Many people are now coming back to the garden and in particular vegetable growing.  Years ago, people grew most of what they needed.  The older people (and some younger ones too) can still remember planting spuds and cabbages, carrots and turnips.  The ground was fertilised by the manure from the pigs, chickens and cows kept by the cottage dwellers.

The interest in home grown vegetables has soared.  The reasons are many, the importance of fresh produce inspired by cookery programmes, mistrust of producers in their reliance on harmful chemicals, rising fuel costs which will cause food costs to spiral, and the need to make that connection back with the soil, nature and the feeling of security that having your own food production in your patch brings. When you pick and eat something from the garden, not only do you get that feel good factor, you can taste the vital energy within the plant that is missing from produce that has been shipped from all around the world, refrigerated, loaded and unloaded and arriving in the shops looking like a botoxed Dublin housewife.

Thyme, chives and sage all in flower, edible and beautiful

If you are tired of the perfectly formed, tasteless offerings from round the world or want to fill your life with natures beauty in the form of ornamental plants and flower, or like me you want both, then this column is for you.   I am not an expert, more an enthusiastic amateur.  I have been growing vegetables for twenty years.

 When I started out as an organic gardener, I was treated as a bit of a weirdo.  I offered myself free of charge for talks to gardening groups and hardly had any offers. Suddenly there was a turn around and my phone rang often with requests for talks, courses and composting workshops, I have now made it to the mainstream and am no longer looked on as a curiosity.

 I now like to think of what I do as traditional gardening, before there was an army of pesticides, artificial fertilisers and other chemical sprays on offer.  That is not to say I do not embrace modern gardening methods.  It is possible with protection and the right varieties, to have something growing all year round.

I can't do this without you. Let me know your thoughts, questions and experiences, especially how things were done in the 'old days'.  You can email me at cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com  with any questions and I will do my best to answer.


The Cottage Gardener

Leonie takes Gold!

Congratulations to Leonie Cornelius of Blume Design House, who this weekend added a Gold Medal and a Best in Category Award at Bloom 2012 to her recent triumph in RTE's Super Garden competition.
We'll be hearing from Leonie soon as she has agreed  to give the Diary an interview.

Blume Design House,
The Stables, Fivemilebourne, Co. Leitrim.

087-7552159       
www.blume.ie


And for all you green-fingered types out there we'll soon be bringing you a gardening column, courtesy of The Cottage Gardener who can be contacted at cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com