VegTastic Display

Leek dressed to impress!

The temperature may be dropping but there's still lots of harvesting to be done... 

apples are ripening, 
leeks are fat and ready, 
lettuces are still hearting, 
fennel is going to seed, 
onions are being dried, 
and there's still beetroot, kale and lots of other goodies to bring to the table. 

Over the weekend I visited the City of Belfast Autumn Flower (and Veg) Show.  It was quite a small show but lots of effort had noticeably gone into it. Of course it was pouring rain the day I attended, but I still really enjoyed viewing all the fantastic displays. 

Here are some of my favourite photos, from the Northern Ireland Vegetable Association (NIVA) display - and what a lovely display it was!

Lots of herbs, veg, and fruit displayed very carefully by the NIVA team!

One of the NIVA members made a 'market cart' to display their prize fruit and veg, costing £50 in wood (excluding the wheels) and excluding labour provided in-kind. It looked lovely! 

Eye catching preserves, edible flowers and herbs decorated the top of the display cart. 

Congrats to the Northern Ireland Vegetable Association (NIVA) on a great display and what looks to be a great harvest year.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Giant Sunflowers

Aren't sunflowers fab!  

I didn't grow sunflowers last year and I really missed them. This plant is definitely on my annual 'must grow list'.

I've tried various varieties like 'Teddy Bear' and the reddish 'Autumn Beauty' but the best sunflower (in my opinion) is 'Giant Single' Sunflower. They put on the best show, with their height and their giant, dinner plate-sized flower heads - very eye catching.

I started these from seed in April. They grew slowly but diligently all summer and now they're making a wonderful display. So cheerful!

I haven't measured these beauties, but they're on average 7 to 8 feet tall. A great plant for kids to grow too - who can grow the tallest!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

30 Days Wild Overview

Pictured: Discovery Walks.

During the month of June I took part in The Wildlife Trust's '30 Days Wild' Campaign which aims to get as many people as possible outdoors and appreciating nature /  our natural environment. 

Its been a great month and I’ve really enjoyed discovering  new walks, and some beautiful areas that I hadn’t known existed. I made an effort to appreciate wildflowers and wildlife and to take time out to listen to the birds and enjoy the sights and sounds around me whether at the house, or out walking in a meadow or along the beach. Here's a little summary of some of the highlights....

This month I was captivated by the beauty of weeds. Many of our weeds have valuable attributes. Dandelion leaves can be used in salads and add a bit of zing, and, of course, dandelion tea is popular. Nettles can be used to make soup, tea, or feed for the garden. Daisies - I'm not sure if they have any benefit apart from being pretty. However, sticky weed can make a refreshing summer's drink; simply put into water, and it tastes similar to cucumber water.

I enjoyed beach walks this month - looking for shells, watching the birds, and seeing some jelly fish.

I enjoyed watching bees and insects on foxglove and chives. The hawthorn trees were in flower and looked fab this month, and in my walks I enjoyed seeing orchids and other wildflowers.

I really love trees and I took lots of forest walks this month to enjoy birds singing, creatures crawling and simply appreciating being outdoors.

The good news is that we can enjoy getting outdoors all year long, but for some inspiration you might have a look at Random Acts of Wildness ideas.

Of course I didn’t quite get through all my plans  for the month. However, I will continue getting ‘wild’ with nature over the rest of the Summer and beyond. 

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

June in the Garden

This month is flying by....

June is a great time of year for gardeners.... no more frost and its been much warmer in Northern Ireland (approx 65F / 18C). Plants in the garden seem to be thriving. I've lots of lettuces and have been eating salad every day for lunch (have lost 9 pounds). However, I keep forgetting to photograph my veg!

Here's a little snapshot of bits I've managed to photograph...

Above: A few weeks ago I planted up a small Borage plant for the bees and butterflies to enjoy. It's now 4 times the size and just about to flower

Above: Photograph of Borage in flower last year - the insects really love this plant and the flowers are edible. They look great frozen in ice cubes.

Above and Below: Other plants currently in flower.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Community Gardening Update - kitchen garden

A box hedge has also been planted to add some structure.

We've been very busy at Antrim Castle Gardens with Spring projects. In April-May we designed a new area based on a traditional kitchen garden (pictured left) where we  aim to grow culinary and medicinal herbs along with a range of veg such as beetroot, chard, salads etc. We've been able to source some plants none of the group have grown before so it will be a learning curve. We've borage, chervil, dill, sage, chives and lots more. There is even comfrey planted in the beds. Some of these plants of course can be invasive!

Basil purple and green - so easy to grow (for some). I've had limited success growing Basil so I took a photo of the  plants in our group's greenhouse - something I can aspire to.

The veg area is another learning curve for our group. Last Autumn the pigeons and birds devoured many of our plants. This year some of the men have built netting structures and a scarecrow (that looks like one of our members) and we're hoping for better success!

Various varieties of potatoes are being grown this year including: Mayan Gold, Lady Balfour, British Queen and others. 

The greenhouse has proved very popular with tomatoes (above), an heirloom variety called Purple Cherry, and below cucumber are almost at the eating stage.

When working in the gardens one Saturday, we noticed some members of the public carrying plants away with them, taken from our greenhouse (and they never asked if they could have the plants!). So now we put a box asking for donations and set it beside spare plants that visitors can take home with them. Not sure why anyone would just walk off with plants without asking?!?

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Making an Herb Box

I've been wanting to increase my use of herbs and have decided to locate a range of herbs near the kitchen using a newly constructed herb box. Suppose this will be a bit of an experiment as I've not too much experience of growing herbs. I will have to see if there is enough sun and if the plants like the location. The box currently contains a topiary style French lavender, 6 chive plants, 2 types of thyme, marjoram, and 3 types of oregano. 

The herb box includes a well established thyme (far left),  'Country' Oregano which came from a local garden centre, and at the back - chives that are coming into flower (these have been divided from plants in another area of the garden and added to the herb box).

Bought from the local garden centre at a cost of 4 plants for £5 (about $8 US dollars):
Marjoram - I'm not sure how to use this, but will have to learn.
'Hot' oregano smells great with a strong spicy smell. 

The French Lavender topiary was the most expensive plant at £12.99 (about $21 US dollars). I've used purple slate stone as a mulch as I had some spare sitting around.

The herb box is approx 15 inches (width) by 45 inches (length). The wood is decking wood which cost approx £20 to purchase (about $33 Us dollars) and as the labour was free it works out pretty good value for money. Just hope I can manage to keep the plants alive!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Best of July Blooms

July was a warm, sunny month for us in Northern Ireland and the flowers have enjoyed the unexpected long periods of good weather. During July the average high temperature was 22C / 72F - might not sound that warm to those living in other countries but for Ireland it's really great weather (we don't have the need for air conditioning).

Looking over my photos for July, I thought I'd share some of my best flower photos for the month. Many of these plants are still in flower - roses, petunias, etc are great for their long flowering periods.

L-R: Climbing rose, aquilegia (grown from seed), rose, petunia.

L-R: Aquilegia x 2 (grown from seed), chives, leek flowers (grown from seed).

L-R: Petunia, astilbe, foxglove, delphinium (grown from seed).

L-R: Dog rose, unknown, sedum, silverdust/cineraria (grown from seed).

L-R: Nasturtium x 2, Calendula, lupin - (all of these where grown from seed).

I just love the delphinium (grown from seed) and the background of our July blue sky!

May all your blooms be bold and bountiful!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Summer Salads

I've been eating salad for lunch and dinner all week due to unexpected success at lettuce growing this year. I suppose with the hot weather we're having this July the slugs aren't munching as much as they normally do. Plus I go slug catching almost every night to protect my plants.

Left: Salad prepared with various lettuces including beetroot leaves, grated beetroot, spring onion, calendula petals and decorated with a nasturtium flower.

This raised veg box is mostly plants for summer salads (or stir fries).
Pictured L-R (front): Spring Onion ‘White Lisbon’, Lettuce ‘Bijou’, Chard 'White Silver'.
L-R (back): Lettuce ‘Little Gem Pearl’, Lettuce ‘Verpia’, Beetroot  ‘Solist’. The plants in this bed came from a mail order I placed as I hadn't had much success growing salads from seed in previous years.

Some slug damage on the Little Gem lettuce (pictured left) but most of the salad seems pest free.

The Beetroot  ‘Solist’ has grown successfully, however, it hasn't much flavour. It's golf ball to tennis ball size. I use some of the baby leaves from the plant in salad and the bigger leaves in stir fry.

Grown from seed, this beautiful looking salad grew successfully. I labeled it as Lettuce E I N K and now I've no idea what the E I N K stands for as I misplaced the seed pack.

Above and below: Grown from seed, flowers for decorating and eating in salads: Calendula 'Orange King' and Nasturtium 'Tuti Fruitti Mixed'.

Above: all from the garden.
Below: a bit of chicken, croutons and dressing make a tasty dinner!

Bon Appetit!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

VegEdibles on 4th July

Lots of veg being harvested this month. I've had some plants bolting but I think the main reason is I've planted them too close together and they become stressed. Seems I've enough lettuces to last the whole summer! However, I imagine they'll begin to bolt / flower if I don't use them soon. Lunch is generally tuna salad and dinner is chicken salad,  with celery, radish, turnip, spring onion and whatever else I can harvest.

The celery grown last year and left over Winter is a good size to harvest. However I've noticed flowers coming so I think my time is limited to get it eaten. I had a look on the internet about freezing celery and it seems do-able so I will try this.

Chive flowers are lovely added to salads.

I keep replanting radish as per the seeds coming up below. Radish looks great in salads or sliced on top of pasta dishes. 

Above: Flowers begin to show on my Radish Hilds blauer Herbst und Winter, a German type of radish I'm trying out this year. So I pulled two of them - pictured below with Turnip 'Purple Top Milan'. The turnip are tennis ball size.  

I had said goodbye to rhubarb a couple of weeks ago but the plant produced more stalks and I decided another harvest was in order - more crumble and ice cream for me!

Lettuces everywhere ready to eat! A learning point - sow every few weeks rather than all at one time. Above is Lettuce ‘Verpia’ I bought by mail order. They're a lovely elephant sized lettuce leaf! 

Happy Independence Day to all Americans! Have a great weekend!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.