Apple Harvesting

It's almost apple harvesting time, and this is a very exciting year for me! I have a bumper crop of 43 apples!

Six years ago I bought a self pollinating apple tree that I have grown in a pot. Over the years, I've averaged 13 apples each year (expect in 2013 when I had 0 apples). This year I've taken extra care; I've ensured the tree didn't dry out; I was careful in Spring and throughout Summer to take off leaves infected by little green caterpillars that ALWAYS infest the tree and eat the apples. I have fed and fertilized. (And I pruned last year).

A view upwards. It may be hard to believe there are 43 apples but there are. However, some are going to be too small for eating. I just couldn't bare taking any off. This year is a bit of a quantity competition!

These apples have fallen from the tree naturally (not counted in my 43). The tree has shed quite a few apples over the Summer, a natural process. Of course, I'm not sure what variety of apples they are, as the label is long gone and I never recorded what variety I bought.
So looking forward to eating my organic apples this year!

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

Harvesting Rhubarb

The rhubarb is ready for harvesting!

Rhubarb is one of the most reliable plants I've grown over the years. Its an early-cropper, while many other plants are just coming into growth at this time.

I've always grown rhubarb in a slightly shady area of the garden. I generally mulch it once a year and leave it to its own devices. Two of my four plants are growing at different paces - this is luck and perfect for staggering the harvests a bit. I've no idea what variety I have as the plants were given to me by two different people.

What to do with the rhubarb? I saw a recipe in Tesco (grocery store) magazine about a month back, stuck it on the fridge so I wouldn't misplace it, and waited for my rhubarb to grow big enough to harvest.  This weekend I made 'Soured Cream and Rhubarb Tea Cake' - yummy! Above is a picture of the cake on the recipe page - always a bonus when what I make resembles the picutre!  It tastes delicious. Each serving has 23 grams of fat and 477 calories - no wonder it tastes so good! 

Tesco recipes can be found at: https://realfood.tesco.com/

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

July Cottage Style Plants

Lots of colour in my cottage-style garden this Summer. I tend to mix perennials, annuals, veg, herbs and fruit together around the garden, using pots and planting them together in the flower beds/borders. It tends to work well. Here's a little snapshot of what's looking bright and cheerful this month... 

L-R: Shasta Daisy, Achillea 'Terracotta', Hydrangea, Astrantia major 'Primadonna'.

L-R: Astilbe Fanal, Begonia, Self-fertilizing Apple Tree, Dianthus.

L-R: Nemesia, unknown (can't remember) perennial, Hebe shrub, unknown (can't remember) perennial.

L-R: Echinacea (I think), Calendula, hoverfly on Lavender, Asiatic Lily Red Joy.

A window-box planted up with annuals (fuschia, dianthus, lobelia, etc) and hung on a painted fence-panel to brighten up a seating area.

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

30 Days Wild and Around the Garden

Beach walk included admiring a jellyfish, shells and seaweed.

From the 1st of June I've been taking part in The Wildlife Trust's '30 Days Wild' Campaign which involves getting outdoors every day and enjoying nature /  the natural environment. 

I've been taking walks in the evening, listening to birds sing at lunch time, and I've enjoyed taking time out for beach walks and noticing the beauty of wildflowers/ weeds in bloom this month.

Evening walks have been amazing. I discovered this wonderful forest walk is only a 10-15 minute walk from the house. Funny how it took over a year to discover what was on my doorstep. All it takes is trying a new route rather than taking the same path all the time.

Meanwhile, in the garden....

The flowers are bringing in bees and insects. From chives to wild floxglove, the pinks are looking lovely this month!

And lots of things to come, including strawberries, onions, apples and potatoes!

The foliage around the garden is looking fab too!

If you're interested in going '30 Days Wild for nature' for the rest of June, check out the Random Acts of Wildness ideas.

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

Pottering in the Garden

When I 'work' in the garden, I don't consider it a chore... I consider it a bit of play time. It's a time to get my hands dirty, do something messy, get creative, and try something new. Pottering about has become one of my favourite past times. 

Earlier in the month, walking around our local Garden Show, I was struck by all the great ideas others have come up with, and it was great to see young people and children getting involved in the show. 

Here are some playful and creative ideas from our local Garden Show...

The winning 'Team Garden Challenge'  was created by young Level 2 Horticultural students. I've seen this design idea used a number of times, and it's always eye catching and effective. I particularly like the old boots planted with alpines. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Above: Local schools get involved in creating 'edible gardens' - this one has a cute little chick made from an egg shell with what looks like watercress growing from it, along with sage, chives, and other herbs. 

Above: Growing lettuces and herbs from recycled plastic milk or water bottles is a great way to start a mini garden in a small space.

Above and below: School children use recycling boxes to plant up mini edible gardens. If you look closely they're really clever and packed with lots of great plants.

Above: Recently, I was pricing clay herb pots and they were quite expensive. The use of plastic bottles to grow strawberries, herbs and lettuces are a great idea, and children would enjoy this as their own little garden patch to look after.

May is the month for garden shows... this weekend I'm visiting 'Bloom in the Park' in Dublin (the 'Chelsea of Ireland'). It's the first time I've managed to make it down to the garden festival, now in its 9th year, and I'm really excited (camera ready!). Hoping for lots of inspiration (and good weather! (raincoat ready)). 

For more information on the Dublin show click here.

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

First Rhubarb Harvest

The first of the rhubarb harvest this year... there were four more stalks but they were stewed last night and served with yogurt topped with honey granola. My all-time favourite way to eat rhubarb is warm served with ice cream.

I have no idea what variety of rhubarb this is as I acquired the plant years ago. Last year I was given more rhubarb from a friend and not sure what variety it is either. Luckily the four plants seem to be growing at slightly different rates, which is handy. I've always grown rhubarb in the shady area of the garden and it has grown well.

In celebration of my 1st rhubarb of the season, I'm joining Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday ...where she's cooking up some fab looking butternut squash!

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

Labelling plants

Above: permanent pen has almost faded from last year.

Recently I've been making an effort to label plants, particularly when sowing seed or purchasing a new plant. Despite my efforts, I've discovered that pencil and 'permanent' ink seem to disappear from both wood or plastic plant labels within less than a year (sometimes much sooner). 

I've been looking at alternatives... I'm toying with the idea of purchasing a wood-burning pen kit to see if that would be a good solution.

Above: Permanent ink on a plastic label, (written a few months ago) is starting to fade a bit. Pencil works better on plastic but it too seems to disappear within about a year.

Above: A newly written label in pen on wood. How long will it last?

My gardening group has also had the problem of plant labels 'gone blank' over approx 6 months' time. Unfortunately, this has caused some confusion over what plants are where. We're also looking at low cost, more permanent plant labelling options.

If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share.

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

Autumn Apple Picking

Pictured: apples picked at the Apple Event.

My own home grown apple harvest this year  was 3 apples (just 3). 

But not to worry, County Armagh in Northern Ireland is known for growing apples and this year seemed a good year for apples (except for mine)! One of the National Trust Properties, Ardress House, has an apple orchard and at the weekend they had an all things apple event - apple picking, pressing, apple pie, apple cider, etc. 

Above: Apple trees as far as the eye could see!

Many trees full of apples ready to eat!

The apple event was a great day out and its lovely to come back home with apples much larger and less perfectly shaped than the shops offer. Unfortunately there was no signage to tell what variety of apples were available. There seemed to be several different varieties and I seemed to pick what look like cooking apples. Looks like I've a few apple pies to make this week to start using my apples!

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

The Tomato Challenge

A good learning point for a gardener is to label plants. I usually do this but sometimes plant tags go missing or maybe I forget to make a label. However, I think this tomato is 'Red Pear'. Grown from seed, initially I was labeling the plants 'red bear' (that was a laugh when I told a friend I was growing red Bear tomatoes!

We're well into mid-August and my tomatoes are developing but no sign of turning red yet. I've pinched the tops and I'm pinching side shoots. There are still lots of flowers so maybe more fruits will develop... or maybe I'll run out of time as it is getting chillier at night. Either way suppose I'm sure to get some cherry sized tomatoes at some stage soon.

Below: Various tomato plants growing in pots outside. Not in a greenhouse as I've done in previous years but better results than I had expected.

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

Veg Update

The good news - I'm harvesting a few things - mostly salad crops, courgette, a range of herbs and beetroot. The bad news is - it hasn't been a good year in terms of growing veg. Firstly, I got a late start sowing seed (end of April), and late planting onion as well (top left corner of photo). Most seed sown direct into the ground were eaten (devoured more like it by pests). My 2nd sowing was devoured. Third time lucky? The bed pictured above has survived, however, my other two veg beds must have an extended family of slugs, snails and other pests that seem to manage to eat anything that's planted. The trials and tribulations of growing - and trying to grow organically!

Above and below: Beetroot Boltardy and Beetroot Chioggia. The leaves have been nibbled by caterpillars however the beetroot are growing well and are quite tasty. The Chioggia, an Italian heirloom variety, don't seem to bleed as bad (when harvesting / preparing) as the Boltardy. 

Above: Courgette All Green Bush - lots of large healthy leaf growth - however not as many courgettes as I'd expect.

Above: This year I have 3 apples on my self fertilizing apple tree.
My best year was about 13 or 14 apples. Its a small pot grown tree.

Above: Tomato, I thought were Purple Cherry, however I'm not too sure as I took seed up to the community garden project and the plant labels all got mixed up. This year the tomato plants are outside so they're slower to develop but hopefully will still produce some fruits. (All plants, except apple & onion, were grown from seed.)

It's great to be harvesting (suppose a little is better than none).

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

Rhubarb race continues

Photo above and below: shows approx 5 weeks growing difference.

I'm eagerly watching the rhubarb to see how it's growing (and wanting to harvest). This year I made a new rhubarb bed made up of four mature rhubarb pieces from other plants. Two pieces from my own 'dug and divided' plant, and two given to me by one of the garden group members. I should have taken a photo of the giant root system on the rhubarb when I dug it up - the size of a tree trunk. Rhubarb is quite easy to divide - just stick a spade through and slice it into pieces!

Above: I'm trying to force rhubarb (hurry up its growth) by putting a pot over it. And underneath the clay pot....

A small stalk emerging (as well as several slugs hiding). This is the rhubarb given to me in January by a garden group member. It is much slower to grow; I assume as it was put into the ground quite late (in January). Hopefully it will give me a later harvest.

Stewed rhubarb and ice cream will soon be on the menu!

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

Rhubarb Race

Photo above shows 5 days of growth compared to photo below.

The rhubarb race is on and each week I expect the fruit to get bigger and bigger. Last year I was harvesting from May to early July and I'm hoping for the same (if not better) this year. I divided the plant in January and did a swap with another gardener hoping to acquire a new type of rhubarb - neither of us know what variety we had so it'll be interesting to see what happens. This year I have five rhubarb plants - I'm thinking lots of rhubarb eating (crumbles, jam, stewed and served over ice cream)!

How's your rhubarb doing?

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

Community Garden Update

Our volunteer garden group have planted up our 8 new veg boxes with winter vegetables including: scallions, perpetual spinach, two types of kale, winter salad, and winter calabrese/ broccoli. The organic plants were supplied by a local market garden whereas next year we hope to grow our own from seed. We are likely to sell our veg to fundraise for the group, however, this is still to be decided. Our group had the help of an experienced veg grower who suggested the layout of our beds.

This photo shows the veg boxes at the far left before they were planted. The two planting boxes above are for fruit - strawberries and rhubarb. Earlier in the month we planted a range of fruit trees - apple, pear, gooseberry bushes, etc.

Above: some of our members planting  fruit trees. One of the apple trees had about 5 apples on it, which the group were delighted about. However, they were stolen before we could harvest them. Suppose this is the slight downside to gardening in an area that is open to the public every day. 

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

No Apples for Me

Photo taken  October 2012.

Last year I had a record harvest of 15 organically grown apples from a little pot grown tree (yes, that's my top record.) This year I have a record - 0 apples (yes, zero). But it's my own fault...

We had a cold Spring and a warm, dry Summer. My apple tree is a self fertilizing tree that grows in a large pot. I was very bad and forgot to water it during the summer so I imagine this is why the fruits dried up and didn't develop. I do miss my little harvest of apples. Suppose there's always next year!

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