Nettle Beer - Bottling

So it is a week after I brewed my nettle beer and I have been keeping a close eye on it everyday. The airlock was bubbling away everyday since first clipping on the lid and half filling with water. 


I noted at the end of my first post on nettle beer that the day after we brewed the beer there was a sulphur (fart) smell emitting from the airlock which I was not ready for and instantly took to the web to see if this was a problem. Turns out it is perfectly normal and within a day the smell was gone. (it's all a learning curve)


I made sure to take a hydrometer reading every day to monitor progress and each day it was changing which meant it was still fermenting and additionally not ready to bottle. 


I took a hydrometer reading of 1.001 or 1.002 (I erred on the cautious side and settled for 1.002). Our starting gravity was 1.032. Through the magic of an online calculator that give us an ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 3.94%. Not bad for a first attempt but next time I'll aim for higher. 

Monday night and it was time to bottle. The picture above shows all the bottles, caps and bottle filler soaking in a warm bath with sterilising solution to make sure there is no bacteria coming into contact with the beer. Seems like overkill for just nettle beer but I am trying out the kit for future lager and ale brews so best to establish good practice from the start. Basically you want to make sure every surface that will be touching your beer is sterilised. 


Make sure to rinse well however before bottling to avoid a swimming pool taste to your beer!!!


I added approx a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle before adding the beer. The kit I bought came with a handy bottle filling tube (see picture below) which fills the bottles to the right level. Put the caps on and tighten as much as possible before giving each bottle a quick shake to make sure all the sugar is dissolved.

That as they sad is that. There is still about 4 litres to be bottled, I ran out of bottles but will be getting more today so I will finish the process tonight. 

So far 21 litres of nettle beer....looks a little like juice! 


Note: the Exputex in shot is not part of the formula :)

Nettle Beer

I came across an article for nettle beer a few months ago and commented then (to myself) that I must give it a go sometime. Then last week I saw a video on You Tube on the same subject so decided to give it a go myself. Being me I like to do things correctly so did a lot of research before just launching into it. I purchased a Homebrew beer making kit from the world wide web which arrived within a few days. 

Initially I got lost in the lingo of hydrometers, specific gravity readings, wort, activation of yeast etc. The methodology however is much the same no matter what kind of beer you are brewing so time spent learning the different equipment and its purpose at the start is time well spent.

STEP 1 - THE EQUIPMENT 

The above picture shows the kit which included the following:

• fermenter with lid, grommet, and bubbler airlock
• bottle filling system
• hydrometer
• glass trial jar
• stirring paddle
• large liquid crystal thermometer
• 100 grams VWP cleaner / sterilizer

Additionally I purchased:

• youngs dried active wine and beer yeast (100 gram tub)
• coopers Ox-Bar 24 500ml PET bottles (bottles not in picture)

From all my research I figured out the above kit would be the minimum I would need to brew my first batch of nettle beer. 
Other equipment needed will be a large saucepan or several smaller ones if you don't have a large one. I also use a potato masher and a sieve for straining the nettles into the bucket. Whatever you have lying around though will do fine.

STEP 2 - THE INGREDIENTS 

The next stage involves becoming one with nature and getting out to pick the nettles, not sure how many I would need I picked 2 extra large shopping bags full, only picking the top 6-8 leaves with the newest growth to ensure the best flavour. I think I picked about 2.5 kgs worth of nettle tops but realistically only used 1kg worth.

Other ingredients include the following:

• 3 bags 500g demerara sugar
• 1/2 kg white sugar
• 10 lemons
• 3 oranges
• 1/2 container cream of tartar powder
• brewing yeast (amount varies depending on instructions)

STEP 3 - PREPARATION

Sterilisation is a key part to brewing any beer to avoid bacteria contaminating your finished product. I filled my brewing bucket with warm water and added sterilising powder as instructed. I think it was 1tsp per gallon but it will tell you on the container.

Chuck in all you other implements too to the bucket such as your hydrometer, testing jar, stirring paddle and any other items that will be coming into contact with your beer. Leave them for 10 mins or until they are about to be used being sure to rinse them off well beforeh use.

Meanwhile you can add your nettles to your pot(s) and get them boiling. I boiled mine for around twenty minutes. At the same time as the nettles are boiling you can prepare your other ingredients, zest and squeeze the juice from all the lemons, only squeeze the juice from the oranges and set aside.

Get your sugar bags open and ready to chuck in, saves faffing about later.


STEP 4 - ADDING TO FERMENTER

Once the nettles are done you can transfer the liquid to the fermenter. Using your strainer pour the nettle liquid and nettles into it over the bucket, use the potato masher to squeeze and residual juice from the nettles into the bucket. An extra pair of hands go a long way at this stage.

Add in all your sugar in stages making sure it all dissolves in the hot water.

Next add in your lemon zest, lemon juice and orange juice and again mix through well.

Add in the 1/2 container of cream of tartar powder, mix.

Lastly for this stage, top up the bucket to the required level, in my case the 25L mark with cold water. Give it all another good mix to make sure all the ingredients have mixed together well and the sugar is fully dissolved.


STEP 5 - MONITOR & TAKE HYDROMETER READING

The kit I got came with a liquid crystal thermometer (see picture above) which sticks onto the side of the fermenting bucket. We are aiming for a temperature between 21 and 24 degrees which is the optimal temperature to pitch (add) your yeast to the mixture. Adding the yeast to the wort (mixture) at a higher temp would mean the yeast will not activate and you will have alcohol free beer. Not good! 

In my case I decided to sit tight and let the mixture cool naturally but I have heard you can chuck the entire bucket into a cold water filled bath and speed up the process. It took a few hours but eventually the temperature came down to 24 degrees which meant time to pitch the yeast. However before pitching the yeast there is one critical step that must be done, you must take a hydrometer reading.

Now I don't understand all the ins and outs of the hydrometer (at least for the moment) but the basics are as follows:

• you take a reading before the yeast is added
• you take a reading after fermentations is complete
• you do a short equation and the answer gives you your alcohol content of your beer

(There is an added use of the hydrometer in that to test if fermentation is fully complete you take a reading after say 3-5 days or when the airlock is finished bubbling, if the hydrometer reading is the same for 2 / 3 days in a row then fermentation is complete and you can bottle your beer - more on this in later blog posts).

My hydrometer reading (Starting Gravity) is: 1032.


STEP 6 - PITCHING THE YEAST

The yeast I got states to simply add 1tsp per gallon to prepared liquid (in this case my wort), other yeast will vary though so be sure to read your packet carefully. I added the required amount of yeast and sealed the lid of the fermenting bucket tightly, popped on the airlock and half filled it with water.

The fermenting bucket is now sitting in our warmest room, its small and the boiler is located in here (we don't have a hotpress) and is generally a constant 22 degrees which should be fine for brewing.


STEP 7 - LEAVE IT ALONE & MONITOR

I woke up this morning to the sound of bubbling from the airlock. This is a good sign as it means the brew is fermenting. Something I was not ready for was the sulphur smell (a rather unfortunate resemblance to fart smell) that can sometimes be emitted from the yeast. This is meant to be perfectly normal and will dissipate after a few days (fingers crossed for that).


Progress Updates to follow..........

Allotment - Kale

Decided to give Kale a go this year as have heard lots of others raving about it, I haven't even tasted it before which may have made more sense before attempting to grow it but when do I ever do things conventionally?


We have 2 varieties to try, one is called 'Dwarf Green Curled' and 'Westland Winter'. I think we got the latter from a magazine as a freebie. 


Like all Brassica's it is pretty straightforward to sow, we sowed 6 no. of the 'Dwarf Green Curled' variety in a plug tray (see below: left of picture) but only require 3 good plants. We have been doing that a lot this year with everything to allow for any failures to germinate or other issues, sowing approximately double what is needed. I will sow another batch of Kale in May to stagger the cropping times a little, next time I will try the other variety and will sow 6 again but needing 4 good plants.

Allotment - Carrots

Carrots are probably the first vegetable I get asked about when I mention I have an allotment. Aside from the humble spud they are without doubt the 2nd most popular vegetable in Ireland. I would be surprised to hear of any veggie grower who doesn't at least grow a small amount of carrots just for that unbelievably fresh smell when they are harvested. 


Last year I got a pretty good return from the carrots, some people seem to have a lot of trouble with theirs but ours were pretty straightforward. This year I want to get them even bigger and better than last year. 


Historically to sow carrots you would sow them as thinly as possible for thinning out at a later date. However one of the chief drawbacks to this method is an increased risk of attracting the dreaded carrot fly who just loves  the scent of the thinning's. To avoid this we use the same method as we use for sowing our parsnips. That is to use the dibber to make a conical shaped hole approx 6 inches deep. We then fill this hole with compost. You are often told that manure and fresh compost in the carrot bed will cause forking but to be honest I used this method last year and did not notice any forked carrots so I will try it again this year. If it ain't broken don't fix it!!!


By using the dibber there is no need at all for thinning, just make the holes approx 2-3 inches apart and make your rows approx 18 inches apart. An additional benefit to this method is you do not waste as much seed. Carrot thinning's cannot be transplanted so they are either eaten as mini veg or composted. The only drawback that I find is that it is very time consuming at the initial stage but I think it balances out as there is no further work required apart from keeping the weeds at bay. 


We are sowing a few different varieties this year, 'Autumn King 2' and 'Chantenay Red Chored 2'. We are sowing 76 of 'Autumn King 2' and 76 of 'Chantenay Red Chored 2', too many? 


To avoid having a glut of carrots available all at the same time we are staggering our sowing times, first sowing in April, second in May and another in Early June. This will stretch out the cropping period and make storage a little easier later in the year.


We also use Enviromesh (a fine and hard wearing netting) which ensures that the carrot fly cannot get near the carrots at all but sunlight and water can. The carrot fly lay their eggs at ground level, the offspring then burrow below ground and start feeding on the carrots. The mesh is very expensive, a roll of 5m x 2.6m is €31.99 but having said that it should last for many years so worth the investment in my opinion. 

Allotment - GrowVeg Garden Planning Software

I came across this programme last year and decided against spending £15 (Sterling) on it at the time as the allotment costs were already pretty high for the year. 


This year though we are much more budget friendly so I splashed out. The software itself is a garden planner where you recreate a 2D map of your garden, allotment etc. and then set about planting the fruit and vegetables in your 2D garden. 


There are pre saved fruit and vegetable plants on the software meaning all you need to do is drag and drop your chosen vegetable (say potatoes as an example) to your preferred patch of ground. Depending on the number of potato tubers you are sowing you can grab the corner of the image and expend it accordingly. Where the software is clever is that it automatically fills the space with the relevant plant spacings so you know for instance in a row 2 metres long you can plant 5 potato tubers but no more. 


It allows you to draw shapes of various types, circular, rectangular, square etc. so, if like me you have raised beds you can first draw these in and then plant your vegetables within the beds. 


There are several clever things that can be done using this software. Firstly you can plant all your vegetables in the garden but who is to say that a certain vegetable will stay in that patch of soil all year round? Winter sown onions or garlic for instance will be harvested by Early / Mid Summer (June) and there are still 6 months of the year left to go, plenty of time to sow, grow and harvest another crop. 


There is an option to select a month by month view on the software where you can see each month what will be in the ground (this requires editing each vegetable individually by double clicking on it and editing the 'Only in the ground' option) Example: Onion's sown the previous winter will only be in the ground until maybe July. So you can edit your months from Nov to July (default setting is Jan to Dec). Therefore if you select August as the month you wish to view the Onions will have been harvested and that piece of ground can now be used to sow something else, spring cabbage, spring broccoli etc. 


Another handy feature is that once you plant a vegetable or fruit plant in your 2D garden, the software automatically creates a plant list or sowing list. So once you have finished planting your garden for the season you print off your plant list and that can be your sowing guide for the shed. 


One negative aspect with using this software is say you make more than one sowing of the same vegetable during the season to stagger harvest dates. The plant list will not differentiate between sowing's so you will have to make a note yourself of how many to sow and when exactly to sow them. While this is not the end of the world it's just a shame as it would have been the perfect addition to an already impressive piece of kit. Visually I renamed some of my crops, eg Radish 1, Radish 2 etc. so I will know which ones were sown first on the print out of the plan.


The cost is pretty minimal for such handy software, to be honest it is time consuming initially but once finished you will seldom have to edit it, unless you change your mind about something that is. The charge is an annual fee so if you want to create a crop rotation plan it will cost you another £15 next year to continue using it. 


A cool feature with the crop rotation plan (if selected in the settings) is that the software will warn you about sowing a vegetable from the same family on the same patch of ground 2 years in a row. A red flashing will come up on screen to prevent this which is quite useful for planning next years crops. Makes crop rotation easy if you have never applied it before. 


There is a 30 day free trial of the software which I would encourage you to at least try and see if it's for you. I would also recommend reading through the user guide as there are far more features to this software than I have highlighted here. Above are just some of the more useful ones that I have used. Overall very impressed with the software. 


See link below to online layout / plant list view of the allotment site using the software. If some veggies look a little crowded it is because the image is the 12 month plan where more than one crop will be grown in the same piece of ground. 


http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=254087

Allotment - Enviromesh

Unfortunately for every crop you want to grow there are will be at least 1 pest that loves to eat it before you do. 

Enviromesh was something I had been reading a lot about last year as particularly good for covering Carrots from the Carrot Fly but it has so many other applications than simply this. In the picture below you can see a sheet of this mesh covering our onions, parsnips, carrots and further right lettuce plants last year. I looked at each carrot during pulling (of which there were many) and none appeared to have any damage whatsoever from the dreaded fly. 

The mesh itself is very fine,feels extremely tough and durable and is guaranteed for at least 10 years. Last year we used plastic pegs to keep it in place and these did the trick. 

The mesh lets light and water to penetrate which is obviously key to allow pants to mature uninhibited. 

If there are any drawbacks to it, the main one would be the price tag. The sheet below measures 5m x 2.6m and retails at €31.99. I have two rolls at this size and it pretty much covers 1 of our 3 beds. Of course not every vegetable plant needs to be protected in this way but certainly carrots and parsnips benefit from its use. Other vegetables such as Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Swedes, Turnips etc. would all be protected with the mesh. 

If I had the cash I would definately purchase enough to cover all our raised beds but until then will have to make do. 

La Sportiva Nepal Extreme B3 Mountaineering Boots

This B3 Mountaineering boot was bought with future expeditions in mind. Initially I got them for use in the Scottish Highlands in winter but with one eye on the Alps and hopefully further afield. 


Being completely green in this area I was not sure what I was looking for in a good boot. I went to the old reliable 53 Degrees North in Carrickmines, tried on a few pairs, walked up and down the stairs etc... Luckily the salesman on the day knows his stuff and actually advised me to go to Snow and Rock in Dundrum where they sell the Nepal Extremes. I had been doing a little research beforehand and came across these boots, reviews of which were quite positive. Only the price tag put me off at around €370....


Nevertheless having tried them on I knew they were the boots I wanted and so I parted with the hard earned,not easily spared cash and got the boots. I was so excited to have finally gotten myself a pair of technical mountaineering boots that I actually wore them around the apartment for the following few days (sorry neighbors below us), I actually convinced myself I was breaking them in.... 


Unfortunately due to a prolonged knee injury I didn't have much opportunity pre Scotland to break in the boots properly, this was a big concern to me before heading off for a whole week of pretty intense climbing but armed with plenty of blister kits off I went anyway.


The other members on the trip were envious of my shining new boots on our first day out on the mountains but I was eager to get them dirty early and remove the new boot feel / look to them. 


From the first time I wore them on the actual snow and ice I knew I would have no problems with blisters. They are supremely comfortable to wear and even the additional weight to what I am used to was not so much of a problem. The only issue I had was getting the right fit on the adjustable tongue but once sorted during a rest stop ceased to be a concern. 


We spent 4 good days on the Mountains, 2 of which were 9 hour days and at no point in time did my feet feel any discomfort. They are extremely tough boots and feel like they will last for decades with some care and attention after the long trips abroad. The sole itself is Vibram which is synonymous with quality. 


I would recommend getting these boots a size larger than your regular foot size to allow for wearing a thick mountaineering sock underneath. I have read online on other reviews that some people have experienced that these boots are not the warmest available but I cannot say I had this problem. 


We used standard G12 Grivel Crampons but the boots are designed to take the cramp-o-matic design should you choose those instead, I have no preference either way. There are additional features to these boots that are above my head but are I am sure no less clever / useful. 


I was told when I bought the boots that they should be tied very tight with no play or movement in the ankle. However I found this to be uncomfortable and did not allow for a natural foot movement or ankle roll when on the approach walk or traversing / contouring. I would advise allowing a little give if not on a technical section and if on a technical climb to then tie the laces up tight where a tight fit is needed for use with the crampon. That however is just a personal thing, fiddle around with them until you get the 'setting' that works best for you. 


If anything these boots are a little above and beyond the requirement for a trip to the Scottish Highlands but don't let this be a reason to not get them. If you are at all considering a trip further afield than Scotland then these are an excellent boot choice. I really have no complaints about these boots...except for maybe the price but if nothing else will make you more regimented in the care and cleaning routine!!! 

Allotment - Peas

To sow the peas this year we am trying something different. Last year we simply planted the peas out direct, sowing them where they were to grow. This year however I am going by the policy of planting a plant and not a seed (with a few exceptions to this rule...)


The variety we are using is called 'Early Onward' and cropped very well for us last year. We plan on sowing 1 double row which equates to 46 plants overall. The double row will eventually be spaced 6 inches wide and each plant 2 inches apart. 


If you are fond of peas you may wish to sow another, if not two additional double rows. Sowing should then be staggered for a longer cropping period with new sowing's made every 2-3 weeks until the end of July. Each double row should be spaced 24 inches apart which is a reason why we chose to sow only 1. 


We filled 46 2" diameter pots with good quality all purpose compost making sure to compact the compost before sowing. This will mean when it comes to planting them out the root ball will be nice and compact instead of loose which can lead to damaged roots when transplanting. 

Using a dibber, pencil or whatever you have to hand make a hole around 2 inches deep and drop a pea seed into each, backfill and set aside. Germination should occur from 7-10 days.

Allotment - Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Calabrese (Broccoli)

Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Calabrese or as you may better know it as Broccoli are all members of the Brassica family and are sown in much the same way. We had various levels of success in 2011.


Cauliflower


For one reason or another last year our Cauliflower plants were a complete failure. They germinated well and once planted out just failed to progress and establish into strong plants. We never really fully got to the bottom of why they failed but we will give them another go for 2012. The variety we are growing is called 'All The Year Round' which can also be sown later in the year for a spring harvest.


Brussels Sprouts


Brussels Sprouts, love them or hate them (we love them) they are one of those crops that if grown well will reward you with an abundance of veggies. The only downside to growing Sprouts is the time they take to mature, using up valuable land for most of the growing year. We are growing them again this year though, a few less plants this time around, we are aiming for 3 plants. If grown well we should get a good crop of sprouts in time for the Christmas dinner. The variety we have is called 'Evesham Special'.


Cabbage


Probably the most successful of our crops in 2011, the cabbage is a staple in the Irish vegetable growers garden. Due to being left too long before harvest a few heads burst open which can happen apparently to early maturing varieties so the key is to harvest when ready even if needed or not. As above with the Brussels Sprouts we only want 3 strong plants, this does not sound like a lot but for the area of ground required we did not want to sacrifice any other crop. We are not massive cabbage eaters anyway so no need to have 30 heads all maturing at one time. Maybe when we have a bigger garden in the future we will dedicate more space to them. The variety we sowed is called 'Offenham 2 - Flower of Spring'


Calabrese (Broccoli)


The Calabrese plants were coming on very well last year, we took off for a weekend while the plants were still establishing and came back to complete devastation...the rabbits had completely mauled most of our plants but we still had some left. However due to a period of very warm weather the broccoli heads bolted before becoming fully formed, this I later found out was down to a lack of watering during the really hot period. 


We are giving it a go again this year determined not to make the same mistakes. We sowed approx 14 no in total to have a few spares but only need 6 strong plants overall. We sowed two varieties called 'Green Magic' and 'Autumn Green Calabrese'. 

(See tray on bottom of picture above)


Sowing for all the above was done in the exact same way. In a cell tray filled with good quality multi-purpose compost sow 1 seed approx 1/2 an inch deep and backfill with compost. Allow a good watering and cover / set aside to germinate. Make sure to label your tray as the seedlings can look very similar and difficult to figure out later. 


You can of course sow directly where they are to grow or in a seedbed for transplanting at a later date but as the saying goes 'plant a plant, not a seed' If sowing in a seedbed make sure to cover it to prevent the Cabbage Root Fly from laying its eggs at the base of seedlings, the eggs hatch into larvae which burrow down to the roots of the Brassica's damaging the plant (especially seedlings). For Swedes, Turnips and Radish crops the larvae will burrow into the roots themselves ruining the crop.  


I would advise for all the above to sow double what is required to allow for lack of germination, pests and / or any other problems that may occur as it might be too late to do anything about it. You can always give them away to your neighbour if you cannot use them yourself. 

Allotment - Rhubarb

We chose to grow Rhubarb the most difficult way possible, we do love a challenge myself and Laura....


Growing Rhubarb from seed is quite a challenge and was described in a book as 'only do it if you have your heart set on it'. It will probably take 2-3 years of growing and management before we get a decent crop of Rhubarb but what's the rush? 


Traditionally you grow Rhubarb from roots or crowns but not being in any particular hurry we bought the seeds instead, thinking more of the long term project than anything else. 


The plan for the future then would be to propagate new plants from the existing ones or alternatively to sow a new batch every year or two from seed to have fresh growth every couple of years. 


We sowed 6 seeds in a small unheated propagator to allow for any failure to germinate, we ultimately need only 2 plants. Each seed was sown approx an inch deep in multi-purpose compost. I would expect to see germination after 2-3 weeks. The tray was left outdoors as are all my propagator trays this year but with the benefit of additional cover from the elements.


I will provide a picture update when they have germinated....  

Allotment - Pak Choi

Another vegetable I have never tried but have heard lots about. It is meant to taste a little like cabbage. It is another member of the Brassica family so should like the Irish climate. We have a variety called 'White Stemmed' which it says on the packet should be ready to harvest in 8-10 weeks. I don't think even the most optimistic grower would expect a harvest in Ireland that quickly, especially after such a wet and cold April. 


We sowed 7 seeds in 7 x 2" inch pots in good quality multi-purpose compost and literally just left them outdoors but under a layer of Enviromesh to keep the worst of the weather off them. 


The following picture was taken 3 weeks after sowing and demonstrates the slow growth so far this year.  

Hopefully May will bring a nice increase in temps otherwise I will have to pot these on to larger pots as I don't want to plant them out when they are too young / small.


For succession sowing's we will be doing another batch in early May (6 no), early June (5 no) and early July (5 no). 


I just hope we like it now! 

Allotment - Spring Onion

The first of our Spring Onion seeds were sown last weekend (6th April).


For a continuous crop of Spring Onions hopefully right up to October we will be sowing two small pots (3" - 4") filled with compost every fortnight with the aim to harvest one pot each week from June onwards. Last year the Spring Onions seemed to take an eternity to reach a good size for harvesting but their growing position was probably the worst spot available on the allotment. 


I got the tip to grow them in pots from another gardener whose videos I watch online, it saves space and makes repeating sowing's frequently quite easy. Spring onions do not require much space to grow and I have seen them grown on short lengths of gutter hung from the Polytunnel structure to maximise space usage. 


I filled the pots about 3/4 of the way to the top with multi-purpose compost and compacted it a little, then I scattered a few of the seeds, approx 10-15 on top of each and topped off with another fine layer of compost. The pots are then set aside outdoors but under cover of enviromesh to keep the worst of the wind and rain off them. 


I have the same variety but from two different seed companies, 'White Lisbon' from Suttons and White Lisbon from Mr. Fothergill's. To my mind they should be the same but according to the seed packet they can be sown at different times of the year (Suttons can be sown from March to May and from August to September for an overwintering crop whereas Mr. Fothergill's can be sown from March to July only).


I also have a variety called 'Tokyo Long White' which again has a longer growing season (March to July and September to October) as it can be overwintered. 


I will stagger which variety is sown and compare results later in the year. 

Allotment - Broad Beans

We bought the Broad Bean seeds last summer planning on sowing them over the winter. Sadly we missed the boat so instead had to wait until this spring to get them started. 


We have 2 varieties of Broad Bean, 'Masterpiece Green Longpod' and 'Red Epicure' but both are sown in the same way. We need to plant out 11 plants of each variety but sowed 15 of each to have a few spares if needed. In small pots filled with compost, make a small hole using dibber, pencil or whatever your weapon of choice is and put a seed into the hole. Top off with a little more compost, water and leave to germinate. 


We sowed these seeds in a propagator tray and covered with the lid but left the tray outdoors. We are hoping that the additional heat will help them germinate quicker but that being outdoors from early on means they will not need hardening off and will be tougher plants. It is almost like a mini cold frame, hopefully. 

There is an additional cover that goes on top of this bed which keeps the worst of the weather off the sowing trays. 

Allotment - Joining GIY

I registered to become a member of GIY Ireland late in March and received my membership pack on the 2nd April. 


For those who are unfamiliar with GIY it stands for Grow It Yourself. It is an online resource for anyone and everyone who wants to or already does grow something themselves to eat. It's members range from those with little or no experience to master gardeners. It is a registered charity that was established in 2009, I have been dipping in and out of the website since early 2011 and have noticed in that time the website has gone from strength to strength and has nearly 6,000 members online alone. 


They champion the idea of local GIY groups all over the country, essentially all you have to do is find your nearest group and go along for a meeting or two, learn from the other members and maybe contribute a little something yourself and if you like it stick around. 


Feeling a little more settled and established this year I decided I would like to become more active within the organisation, I noticed they have a membership option which for €35 I chose to take up. We are playing catch up with the UK which has an abundance of magazines, websites and resources dedicated to allotments, kitchen gardens and generally growing your own fruit and vegetable but I think we are starting to row in behind the idea. I was pleasantly surprised when the pack arrived yesterday to find the following inside:

• GIY Magazine which is packed with information.
• 7 packets of organic seeds, Carrots, Beetroot, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Peas, Courgette and Parsley. Also incl. were growing guides for the above seeds.
• GIY Wallchart which included a month x month list of tasks and a growing calendar for the mainstay crops.
• GIY members card which I believe gets me a 10% discount with participating retailers (I know Woodie's participate so that's all I really - best customer 2011 award goes to me). Additionally the card gets me a 5% discount on the GIY website on goods and also some of the courses they run.

Overall I was fairly pleased with the package, the website is very well run and each day there is a tip of the day to keep me logging back in (a good idea for any website). I have yet to go to a GIY Group meeting but there is one scheduled for the 21st of April so looking forward to that. 

For more info visit http://www.giyireland.com/

Allotment - Asparagus

Well after 12 months of talking about it I finally planted some Asparagus crowns in the allotment. They have been in the shed for the last year so not even sure that they will grow but If you don't try you don't get. I have been amazed by nature in the past so wanted to give them a chance before chucking them on the compost heap.


They require a deep well draining and finely prepared location with no large rocks / stones in the soil. I made a trench approx 10 inches deep across my raised bed. and loosened up the soil a little on the base. The trench only has to be a spades width across. 

The crowns (I have 4) are then placed on top of the loosened soil at a distance of of 18 inches of 1.5 feet apart. Spread out the 'tails' a little so they are evenly separated. The books say to only replace approx 3 inches of soil initially and once shoots appear to add more as you go but I chose to ignore the conventional wisdom and covered them completely. So now to wait and see. I believe it can take up to two months for the shoots to appear so now to play the waiting game. 

Allotment - Leeks

Had some mixed results last year with the Leeks so will be giving them a better go of it this year (hopefully). My problem last year was sowing time, I don't think I sowed the leeks early enough meaning I was always playing catch up. That said we still have a decent crop that we are eating at the moment so I wont complain too much, some are on the thin side but the majority are of a good size, this year though we will try and do better.


I managed to sow the leeks on the 31st March this year, compared to late April last year I have given them an extra 4 weeks to establish. We want around 18 decent size plants by June time for planting out so I sowed around double that to have a good chance. They are fairly straightforward to sow, I used 6 deep plastic pots and filled them 3/4 of the way to the top with good quality all purpose compost. Make sure to compact it a little. Then I sprinkled around 6-8 seeds evenly on top of the compost. and then another fine layer of compost to cover the seeds. 


That is pretty much it. I would be expecting germination in about 3 weeks as they are outside but it could take longer. To allow a little protection from the wind I made a small 'greenhouse' just out of some timber and plastic I had lying around. It is well ventilated so it wont get overly hot in there but I am hoping it will keep the worst of the wind out at least. 


Picture below (far right) shows the wee greenhouse I made. It's not fancy but hoping it will do a job.

Picture of leeks to follow....

Allotment - Summary March 2012

March is the first real month of work in the allotment. It the time to get everything ready for a busy month of sowing in April. 

In my allotment there is no manure available in the Autumn so had to wait until March before I could dig it into the soil, this is far from ideal as it doesn't give the manure much time to be broken down but its better than nothing. 

Jobs completed in March:

• Dug over all beds, removed weeds and any remaining vegetation, scrub from last year (of which there was a lot). 
• Added manure and dug in to beds (except areas where Parsnips / Carrots will be planted.
• Harvested last of the Parsnips still in the ground.
• Harvested some of the remaining Leeks.
• Sowed First Early Potatoes.
• Sowed spring Garlic.
• Sowed Shallots.
• Sowed Parsnips.
• Planted 6 Strawberry plants.
• Added top cover of compost to overwintering onions / garlic.
• Prepared grow bags / plastic containers for sowing / planting. 
• Prepared mini greenhouse for sowing seeds under protection.
• Cleaned out shed as everything just got chucked in at end of last season.

See image - overview of the plot

Allotment - Shallots

This is our first year attempting to grow shallots so will see how they go. 


You buy shallots in sets similar to onion sets, basically baby shallots. These are planted in rows approx 8-12 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart. We just got enough for a single row of 15 in total. Each shallot set should grow to form approx 4-8 shallots each so we should have plenty assuming they all grow well that is.


We used the same method as with the garlic, made a small hole with a dibber, filled it with compost and pushed the shallot into the compost so that just the tip was visible. Thats pretty much it. Hopefully the compost will provide plenty of organic matter for the set to feed on. 


You have to keep an eye on the shallots in the weeks after planing as the birds seems to quite like to pull them out of the soil thinking they are worms, if you see a shallot has been pulled up, then just pop it back into place. 

Allotment - Parsnips

Parsnips have a reputation as a difficult crop to grow, maybe we were just very lucky last year but we got a very decent crop of Parsnips with what seemed like a simple enough care plan.


Last year I sowed parsnips in 2 different ways. One was the conventional way of sowing thinly approx 1 inch deep into finely prepared soil in rows approx 12 inches apart (Some books advise to double the row distance to 24 inches). 


The other way was to use a dibber to create a conical shaped hole approx 6-8 inches deep to the same spacing as above. These holes are then backfilled with compost and compressed gently. Once all these holes are prepared you can then go back and make a small hole say an inch deep on top of the compost and drop in 1-2 parsnip seeds in each (2 is a good idea as parsnips have a notoriously poor germination record). Backfill the hole a little and job done. 


The results were fairly impressive with the parsnips planted into the compost holes far outgrowing the others. In general the were longer, wider looked generally straighter than the others. 


The major drawback with this method is it is very time consuming at sowing stage. However the results are far better so its definately worth the effort. We decided this year to plant all our parsnips in this way. A big advantage is that when making the initial hole with the dibber you manage to eliminate any stones that could damage the parsnip as it grows.


We have 2 different varieties of parsnip, F1 Countess and White Gem. We did 36 compost holes in all so 18 of each variety. Weed control is very important as parsnips do not like competition. 

Allotment - Garlic

We already have winter sown Garlic in the Ground that was planted Late Nov / Early Dec which should crop in early summer time. 


We are big garlic users in our household so decided to sow a spring planting also. Ideally you would do this Early March time but we only got around to it late March but are hopeful we got them in just on time. 


To sow garlic it couldn't be easier, you usually buy a pack of 3-4 certified garlic bulbs which have around 12 cloves each in them. All you have to do is split each clove apart from the bulb, you need to allow 6-8 inches between cloves in rows approx 18 inches apart (we made our rows a lot closer at approx 8 inches apart) and 2-3 inches deep. Conventionally all you have to do is push the clove into the soil at the above spacing and that's it. 


This is how we planted our winter garlic and they seem to be doing quite well. See image below. 

As an experiment we made a small hole in the soil with a dibber, we then filled this hole with some compost and compressed it slightly. Then we planted a clove of garlic into the compost and covered it so just the top was visible. This is the method with which we sow our carrots and parsnips and I just wanted to give it a go. It is a good way (at least I hope it is) of giving the clove a good start as it has lots of organic matter to feed on. I have not read about others doing this and there may well be a good reason for that but I said I'd give it a go. Only downside to this method is that it is time consuming. 

Allotment - First Early Potatoes

The first vegetable to be sown this year are our First Early Potatoes. We only planted 10 seed potatoes as there is just the two of us we should get a good return. Also early potatoes do not store well so we pretty much have to eat them as they are harvested. This will be the first year for us growing earlies so I am looking forward to seeing how well they do.


We planted these the usual way, dug a small trench about 6-8 inches deep and added some manure and a sprinkling of Blood Fish & Bone, a balanced fertiliser to help them along as Potatoes are a hungry crop. We placed each tuber (sprouting eye facing up) about 12 inches apart in rows approx 24 inches apart. 


Just to help protect them a little from a late frost we added some straw dense manure on top to keep the soil warm, when the plants are poking through the soil we will earth them up on top of the manure which will add additional organic matter to the potatoes. See image below. 

Allotment - March 2012 (New Beginnings)

Well its a new year (I know the year started in Jan) but in terms of the allotment March is the beginning for me this year. 


I will admit over the winter I have not been to the allotment even half as regularly as I should have been but this year I am back and armed with a plan.


The aims for 2012 are fairly straightforward:

• Improve the quality of the soil.
• Improve on the crops that grew well last year, be it size, quantity etc.
• Do not waste space on vegetables that realistically will not crop well outdoors (especially true for my allotment given its exposed location).
• Grow more typically 'Irish' vegetables. 

I like to think we learned a lot last year, I was not in truth, altogether happy with the return of vegetables we had but that was down to our own mistakes. I have learned however and this year I will be aiming for a much better return.

Half the fun is in the learning experience so I will accept it and move on. 

One mistake from last year was the crop protection from pests, we lost or had a lot of damage particularly to our turnips, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower plants from various pests. Lesson learned: protect crops adequately

Hardening off was something that we didn't understand enough about until it was too late. We had a lovely variety of strong plants at home in a nicely controlled environment. Once they were exposed to conditions in the allotment however they (mostly) either withered and died or had severely stunted growth and failed to crop entirely or cropped miserably. Lesson learned: Start everything off in the allotment, under cloches / protection if needed but at least it will be stronger for being outdoors from the start of the year, additionally wait a little longer to sow to allow weather to heat up sufficiently. 

Compared to this time last year we are way ahead of ourselves, instead of building beds and filling them with soil in a mad panic I was turning over soil and adding manure (something I didn't get to do last year) so hopefully improving the quality of the soil.

I have also spent a few quid (£15) on a garden planning software to better help us plan what to grow, where to grow it and most importantly what to plant after it has cropped for succession growing. Last year for instance once the potatoes were dug up in August we just left the ground empty when we could have been growing something else making better use of the space available. That hopefully will not happen this year.

So I am full of beans, raring to go and almost impatient as most of the prep work is done, now all I can do is wait for April so I can start sowing.