12th October Blog


As the autumn rolls on I am lucky enough to be overwhelmed with produce from the garden and tunnels. Apples, tomatoes, beans and courgettes, these are the basis of the chutneys and preserves that we make and sell. I just can’t make them quickly enough. So I am preparing and freezing as much as I can.
I am nervous about depending too much on the freezer with the possibility of another cold winter and potential electricity cuts, so I am also experimenting with bottling. Apples and tomatoes are the obvious fruits to start with. I already have a few kilner jars and noticed that Thornhills, our local hardware store, are selling replacement rubber rings. So, on Sunday afternoon, with a good play on the radio, I got to work. I have many, too many, cookery books and I read about the process in about three of them. My favourite book on preserving is The River Cottage Handbook No 2 by Pam Corbin. Instructions and recipes are clearly laid out and easy to follow. It’s the book I keep going back to.
What with sterilizing the jars, peeling, coring and slicing the apples, making the syrup and finally packing and sealing, the whole afternoon was taken up to produce three jars of apples. If anyone has any doubts, self sufficiency is a full time job.
Having said that, the warm glow of satisfaction as a result of producing a meal from our wonderful plot is hard to beat. The knowledge that, through most of the year, I can rustle up a lunch with little help from ‘big business’ is very comforting.
So with those thoughts still in my mind I am off to collect seaweed from the strand below the garden. I’m starting to put the garden to bed with its duvet of mulches, which will be turned into fertility over the winter, by the millions of workers that we nurture under the soil. More of this next time.



Green Tomato Curry – based on a recipe from the New Urban Farmer by Celia Brooks Brown – with a little tweaking



1 tsp fresh or dried coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic
Pinch of coarse sea salt

4 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
50 grams hazelnuts
1 tsp brown or yellow mustard seeds
2 large onions finely chopped
4 shallots quartered
600 grams green tomatoes roughly chopped
2cm fresh ginger finely chopped or grated
400 ml tin coconut milk
3-4 fresh red chillies

Crush coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and salt with a pestle and mortar or whiz in a food processor. Set aside
Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the oil then the hazelnuts and stir until golden. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
Return the pan to the heat and add the mustard seeds, as soon as they start to pop, add the onions and shallots, fry until soft and golden.
Add the green tomatoes and fry till soft and lightly coloured. Add ginger, turmeric, coconut milk, chillies, salt and pepper and finally the garlic mixture. Cook for a few more minutes, until it is soft and fragrant.
Serve over rice and decorate with the hazelnuts and coriander leaves if you still have any.

New Beginnings

I’m just starting to feel that spring is here. The daffodils are finally beginning to open, at least a month later than usual, and both the conservatory and the smaller tunnel are bursting with small plants. I still find this time of the year really exciting and I inspect every pot and tray of seedlings daily, checking to see what, if anything, has germinated overnight.
For many years I have planned my propagation campaign with the help of a moon diary. The one I use is Gardening and Planting by the Moon by Nick Kollerstrom. I don’t pretend to understand the finer details, I leave all that to Nick, but it works for me. I also know that the mere mention of the moon sends some growers crazy, insisting that it is all a load of rubbish and pointing out that the vast majority of growers have nothing to do with it and still produce good crops. The way I look at it is that it at the very least does no harm, and once, years ago I did a trial in my tunnel, which proved to me, in that instance, that it did work.
I sowed radish, (as it germinates and matures very quickly) in my tunnel, in the same bed, during the same week. One sowing on a root day, and one sowing on a leaf day. This wasn’t scientific in that I didn’t have a control bed, but after about five weeks the difference was unmistakable. The radish sown on the root day had very little leaf and fine swollen roots and the radish sown on the leaf day had lots of leaf and tiny roots. I‘m sure the leaf day sowing would have caught up but obviously something was different.
I was talking the other day to a scientist, who had for many years studied seaweed. She confirmed my instincts about this as she said that seaweed growth is definitely dictated by the moon. So, I am going to try some more experiments this year. Meanwhile it is a great discipline. Knowing that today is a fruit day, I will do my utmost to sow the last of my tomato seed, cucumbers and a few early courgettes to plant in the tunnel. My first trial will be with tomatoes. Using the same variety sowing on different days just to see what difference, if any, it makes.
Now I am off outside to inspect the seed trays in the tunnel, worrying the seeds into germinating quickly in the hope of making up those lost cold weeks.

I Love Tomatoes!

We are now in full flow with plant propagation and hoping that by the time the plants are ready to go out the weather will have warmed up. Normally we don’t get many frosts here by the sea, but this winter, since Christmas we have had frost practically every night. Sometimes just light, but even this morning at 8.30am there is still a hard rime of frost around. Still, the clear days are glorious and we’ve been able to get lots done outside.
We are trying to give the garden in the front of the house a facelift. We would really like to do a major job, changing the layout and drive but that isn’t possible at the moment. So we’ve compromised, and are going for a more structured, minimalist look within the boundaries that already exist. We have grassed over a flowerbed, which has never been successful and added some more Box hedging. A few large terracotta pots, full of colour, will add interest throughout the summer months.
Recently, at a talk I gave to a local Garden Club, several people were very worried about the defoliation of Escallonia hedging. This is potentially very serious as Escallonia is a front line protection against salt laden winds on the coast. It seems to be caused by an airborne fungus, with the added problem of the spores splashing back in a similar fashion to black spot in Roses. I was feeling quite smug at the time, as I hadn’t noticed any signs on our own hedging. Well, all that has changed. When I walked round the following day I could see the signs, in some places just a few black spots but in others quite serious defoliation. One huge old hedge affected, is sheltering our tunnels, both in a visual way but mainly from the wind that can roar straight down the drive. I’m hoping that if we cut it right back, clear away all the debris and mulch heavily to stop splash back, we may be able to restore it to its former glory.
The polytunnels are taking up most of my time. They have been neglected for a while and the winds over the winter have left them a bit sad and damaged. Peter has repaired the ends and now we can at least we can keep out the stray hens. We have a wedding booked for the end of May and I’m growing sweet peas in the tunnel for bouquets. I have planted them in rows about a foot in from the edge, with canes to support them. They are heavily mulched with garden compost. As an experiment I have planted strawberries along the edge of the bed. As sweet peas are legumes and therefore nitrogen fixers, my theory is that they will help feed the strawberries. The sweet peas shouldn’t shade them as they grow straight up and strawberries were originally from woodland stock so love lots of humus and mulch. I haven’t lost much if it doesn’t work, as these strawberry plants have been in pots outside the tunnel looking for a home for months and would have been thrown away anyway.
Last week I had lunch with a lovely friend, Maggie. She is a passionate and generous gardener. After cooking me a delicious lunch she brought out her boxes of seeds. We share a love of tomatoes and she has gathered from around the world lots of varieties that I hadn’t grown before. We spent the afternoon dividing packets of seeds and I came away with 22 varieties to add to the 30 I already have. So I am sowing and pricking out tomatoes. Very carefully labeling them and worrying where I am going to put them all. I love tomatoes!!

Me V's the Frost!

Another fierce frost followed by another glorious day. We could do so much in the garden if only the ground wasn’t so cold. It does seem churlish to complain, and I know there will be many awful rainy and overcast days ahead but I am so desperate to get on. The small bit of salad we have in the tunnels is just sitting there, we haven’t one daffodil in flower and as our garden is north facing the frost hangs around until mid day.
Meanwhile, we are cleaning up the place. We’ve cut down a diseased flowering cherry this morning. A few more logs for the fire next winter. I was helping Peter clearing up the debris when the plumber arrived to sort out a problem with the solar panels. It is always amazes me how easy it is to be distracted. So I thought I’d come in and start this. Now I’m about to be distracted from this to get some lunch. Sometimes I yearn for a day that I can go out into the garden and work all day without having to think about anything else.
I’m back, back to the hedges. This is one job that has to be done in the next couple of weeks, before the birds start nesting in earnest. We have Grisilinia sheltering our vegetable garden and vast amounts of Escallonia elsewhere. I wish now that we hadn’t used Grisilinia but at the time I thought the fresh green of its leaves contrasted well with the Escallonia we had everywhere else. It grew so fast and did the job required very quickly, but it is so vigorous that it’s major job every spring to keep it under control. Originally we clipped it into a pretty wavy edged hedge but that is long gone. Escallonia also grows very fast but can be really hacked back if it gets out of control and, amazingly it will come back from just stumps. Of course, if we took out the hedge trimmers more often during the summer we wouldn’t have so much work to do each spring, but in a large garden with limited labour, hedges are the last thing on my mind.
I feel a little panic setting in when I think of all the work to be done before Easter when we open. The weeks are flying by and each day I seem to be slipping back a little bit more. I have even brought the propagator and trays of seedlings into the conservatory to speed things up a bit, but we couldn’t put anything out anyway.
So patience is the order of the day.

After such a hard winter, yesterday seemed to me like the beginning of spring. There was a little frost, but I soon started to shed layers of clothing as the day warmed up. The question now is where do I start? There is a lot of general tidying up to do, huge gaps to fill, seeds to sow hedges to cut…. The list goes on. What I need is a plan.
So, I have made a plan of the vegetable garden and at least know where everything will fit in. I have to do the same thing for the flower borders as we will have to completely rethink them after the winter. I have lots of ideas mulling around in my head and the most interesting one for me at the moment is to mix things up a bit more.
I’m going to try to grow more flowers and herbs in the vegetable plots and herbs and vegetables in the borders.
The things I have in mind are lots of purple sage, ruby chard and Redbor kale amongst the flowers and wigwams of Blauhilde French beans amongst the sweetpeas.
But the sun is streaming through the window and it’s too good a day to miss. So I’m off outside to get started.

Good Food Thoughts

Last night we traveled to The English Market in Cork to support Good Food Ireland Cork Week. We have been Members of Good Food Ireland for a couple of years and last year were lucky enough to win an award for our Café.
We took along some baskets of cup cakes made from our popular beetroot cake recipe, to add to the fantastic range of food and food products supplied by other members. It was great to meet so many like minded people who work to provide seasonal, local, artisan food on a daily basis, supported and encouraged by Good Food Ireland.
The event was very successful with a huge crowd of people coming to taste everything on offer. Congratulations to everyone involved.
This morning we’ve woken up to a promising spring day, so it’s back to the garden. The vegetable garden needs a lot of attention. After a wet autumn and a crisp frosty winter I haven’t given the garden much time and now I need to catch up. We have practiced a no dig system for many years with great success, maintaining fertility by mulching with our own compost, seaweed, lawn mowings and sometimes manures. Normally all our raised beds would have been heavily mulched for the winter, but it didn’t happen this year, which is worrying. So now we have to catch up.
We have lots of compost and an easy source of seaweed but I’m worried that the soil is still too cold to mulch. A heavy mulch will hold the cold in the soil, slowing down the potential for growth. There are plenty of other jobs to do. I’m going to clean up the border that edges the south and west side of the garden. In this mixed border we grow flowers, herbs, rhubarb and ornamental vegetables such as ruby chard and decorative kales. A varied mixture which encourages beneficial insects, butterflies and birds to our garden as well as looking really beautiful.

Below is the recipe for the beetroot cake:

250g light muscovado sugar

200g sunflower oil

3 eggs separated

150g beetroot (grated)

150g raisins

1/2 a lemon

250g self raising flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1. Beat the sugar and oil together (about 1 minute)

2. Add the egg yolks, beat

3. Add the beetroot, raisins and the juice of half a lemon, mix

4. Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt and bicarb and add to the mixture with the cinnamon. Fold in with a metal spoon.

5. Whisk the egg whites and fold in.

6. For the cupcakes it takes about 20 minutes at 170*C.

For the Icing ::

150g icing sugar

250g mascarpone

200g philadelphia

Zest of 1 orange

Mix them all together.

Fresh Ideas

After such a grueling spell of weather over Christmas and the New Year I wonder how much of my garden will survive.
Living in West Cork for twenty years I have grown used to a relatively benign climate. I have ignored reminders to wrap up vulnerable plants and lift my dahlia tubers, I’ve left pots of pelargoniums on the terrace and seen no harm come to them for many years. Well, I’ve certainly learned my lesson this winter.
Of course, I won’t give up yet and I’ll wait anxiously for signs of new growth, but if all else fails this will be the perfect opportunity to try some new ideas and even better, new plants.
I want to change the herbaceous borders, to try out different colours and heights. Large spaces can now be found as huge clumps of dahlias will have been destroyed by frost or severely depleted. If I do replant dahlias, I will choose those with smaller heads and more compact growth to cut down on the staking required. But I think I’d like to try Dierama, or “Angels fishing rods”. I have just one in the border at the moment and it really is beautiful. Dainty and delicate with grass like leaves and nodding funnel shaped flowers in shades of pink and violet.
Our huge old Hydrangeas have been badly frosted and will probably have lost next years buds, so I will not hesitate to cut them back. In the spring after the worst of the frost is over I will give them all a good trim. The flowers will therefore be really late, but by cutting them back I can open up space for other interesting shrubs that will spread the flowering season, or maybe an evergreen to give more structure in the winter.
We’ve had fabulous Echiums for the last couple of years, they really have that wow factor. It is so tempting to just leave them to self seed and continue to impress, but having lost them in the cold weather, I will have at least one years gap as I have to resow (they are biennial) and I already have new ideas for change. I’m thinking of Verbascum olympicum, it grows 1.5 to 2 metres from large grey basal leaves with numerous golden yellow flowers. Luckily it is easily grown from seed so I can be generous with the planting.
So although I know I will have pangs of sadness when much loved plants fail to pop up this spring, it will force me to move on and enjoy choosing new plants and planning new combinations. We have seen some extreme weather patterns recently and nature has given us an unexpected push to look with fresh eyes. It’s going to be a challenge but gardeners thrive on challenges.

Day One

Miserable wet day in West Cork but have started my blog so things are looking better already! Hope to add more interesting posts soon ...