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.

Veg Update (lettuces, potatoes, celery, etc)

Chives are looking fantastic! I've been harvesting radishes 'Scarlet Globe' and some lettuce. Courgettes don't seem to be growing much. I'm having more success with salad type plants this year and most nights I do a slug and snail safari hunt to protect my crops. I'm eager for turnip, beetroot and spring onion to be ready for harvest (to spice up my salads). 

Potatoes 'Charlotte' (First Early) were planted on 24th April. They are in a raised veg box this year and hoping they will produce a good yield. Celery, grown from seed last Spring, was left in the veg box over Winter and is actively growing (as per photo below). I see some nibbles on the celery but think it will give me a good supply.

I thought the rhubarb was finished but it seems to keep growing. I might just get away with another crumble!

In the square metre / square foot 'experimental Veg Box' - most of these plants were bought as plug plants.
There are: Lettuces ‘Bijou’ (5 plants), ‘verpia’ (5 plants), ‘little gem pearl’ (5 plants). Beetroot ‘Solist’ (10 plants), Spring onion ‘white lisbon’ (10 plants), onion stuttgarter and a couple of dwarf bean plants and 2 chard plants.

In the 2nd square metre / square foot 'experimental Veg Box' - all these plants were grown from seed. There are turnip, lettuces, carrots, calundula, nasturtiun and two types of radish Radish'Hilds blauer Herbst und Winter' and 'Red Meat'. The red meat became stressed (probably planted too close together) and set seed so I pulled them out and have planted mizuna salad seeds. Some of the lettuces are too close so I will have to harvest some young plants for salad.

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

No Blinking in June

June is full of surprises... each day the garden looks different. I was away for a few days and suddenly the garden seems to have come to life with flowers everywhere; some plants showing some dominance by spreading and taking over areas; other plants showing weakness and losing their ground. There are lots of buds and lots of growth (including lots of weeds). 

It seems the warmer weather combined with rain showers have really provided good growing conditions. Here's what's currently making a show...

Left and below: Aquilegia / Columbine grown from seed a few years ago. 

Did you spot the bee?

Of course my cat 'Ginger' likes to walk with me as I take photos.

Above: I love the purple/blue and bright pink Geranium. These were divided and moved to new areas in the garden last Spring, and they seem to have established well.

Above: The lupin seem to have suddenly come into flower and already need some old flowers removed to help prolong their flowering period.

The poached egg plant / Limnanthes Douglasii (originally introduced to the garden 2 or 3 years ago by seed ) are a hardy annual that self seed and establish their dominance in the borders. They must like heavy clay soil.

Above: I find it interesting that poppies establish themselves every year in the tiniest of cracks in between the paving slabs.

Above: Rose 'Arthur Bell' surrounded by Poached Egg Plant and  pink Geranium.  I generally don't spray roses with chemicals, hence the black spot on the lower leaves.

This is one of the borders I haven't much time to look after, however, sometimes plants just look after themselves.

Here's hoping July and August are as lovely as June!

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