A Bucket Of Poultry Manure For The Vegetables.

 A new brand to me but still the same stuff!

Being an organic or natural gardener.  I don't use man-made chemicals on the veg plot.  

I had a big pile of fym but it got spread over a stony area of a field to make top soil and eventually more pasture.

We have a big pile of this year's fym but it's far too fresh to use until Autumn.

So I purchased a bucket of poultry manure for 15 Euros at the weekend from a garden centre.  

I spread the poultry manure pellets on the onions, cabbages and potatoes 🥔 that we have recently planted.

It's smelly stuff and I would  recommend you wear gardening gloves when handling it.  It's  a lot easier than piking and barrowing tons of fym.

That's a job for the Autumn.

Does anyone else use poultry manure pellets?  Do you like them and do give your plants all the minerals and vitamins they require?

Dog Walking And Looking At The Spring Flowers At Muckross.

 It's been a nice Spring weekend and we drove over to Kerry with 2 of the dogs: Bronte and Diesel.  

Bronte is a Golden Retriever and Diesel is a Bernese Mountain dog and her breed is from 🇨🇭 Switzerland.   Bronte Golden Retriever heritage is Scottish.  Perhaps that's why she is whisky coloured

Cyclamen growing in the rocks.

The glass house or Orangery.

An oriental princess of a Rhododendron in flower in March.  They don't/ didn usually in England until May.  We live on the Gulf Stream and the Irish peaty soil is very acidic which the Rhododendrons love.

Rhodies and Azaleas coming into flower.

Magnolia tree.

Heather or Erica in bloom.

Looking over the lake.  It would make a great back drop for a Prog Rock starring the likes of Magnum, Kate Bush and Kansas could headline it.  Good line up Dave👍.

Muckross House where Queen Victoria used for an air bnb and put Killarney on the tourist map.  The carpark and gardens are free to visit.

Camelia in flower.  Sometimes they flower 🌼 in February  here.

Bronte looking at the wild Celandine.

Bronte and Diesel with that old gardener/ builders labourer who writes this blog.

We stopped at McDonald's and the four of us had a 2 Euros burger 🍔 each.  The dogs 🐕 were loving it!

We took them to Muckross House and Gardens again for walkies and to see what was in flower.  I hope you liked the photos and the walk?  The dog girls did!

Peas Ready To Plant.

 

Peas 🫛 growing in compost filled modules.

I grew them in my indoor potting shed/ small bedroom or "Chitting Room".

They will get planted out in the next day or so.  Then I will plant some more in the module trays.

I have plans for making a greenhouse with some repurposed upvc windows. Number one son is going to weld me a frame made from galvanised box iron.  That's a blog post for another time.

Peas are members of the legume family.  They originate from the Mediterranean and were no doubt brought along the Silk Road with spices, coffee, Hoover bags and Pot Noodles?  I am joking about the Hoover bags!😃

Legumes extract nitrogen from the air and releaze it into the soil through their root nodules.  They are one of the few vegetables that a tually replenish the soil when they are growing in it.

Have you sown and planted your peas yet?

I have been very busy working for people and myself this week.  There is always something to do at this time of year.

Planting More Seed Potatoes.

 I took fellow blog readers advice and purchased some more seed potatoes.  

Not the cheap ones we bought in Lidl recently.  They had all been sold sadly.  So we bought two 2 kg from a garden shop for 17 Euros.  I nearly had an heart attack when I looked at the till receipt.

Any way I dug three trenches and planted the seed potatoes🥔 🥔. 

I planted them south to north and raked soil over them.  

That's another bit of the veg plot extended.  Hopefully we will have some more early potatoes for tea.

I  think I will plant some more onions 🌰 sets and some peas 🫛 in there next.  We have them growing in the "Chitting Room" or my " Indoor Potting Shed".

Are you busy planting your vegetables at the moment?

Making A New Lawn Or Extending The Veg Patch.

 I have been busy around home and working for someone.

I planted a home grown Griselina hedge the other day.  If you remember on here I grew them from cuttings in the Autumn.  It's satisfying to know you can grow your own plants for free.

A little hedge planted in front of my plastic repurposed heating oil tanks and second hand baths.  The Japanese onions 🌰 and the leeks love growing in them.

I raked out an area and stone picked it to make a new lawn.  We are quite short on potatoes 🥔 space so I might buy some more seed potatoes.

Newly stone picked and raked area for prospective lawn area.

Potatoes 🥔 🥔 are said to be great for breaking ground.  I think us gardeners help the great digging and cultivating the potatoes.

If I do sow a lawn I will be giving myself a chore again mowing in.  Although lawn seed is cheap.

What would you do extend the veg plot or reseed the lawn?

Potatoes are said 

Spudatoes Planting Time.

My Azada hoe having a lie down. 

Azada apparently is Spanish for "hoe".  I have mentioned this tool several times or more on here.  I could not recommend a better tool for slicing off vegetation and digging and tilling with.  

Indeed if you have just took on a overgrown allotment I would recommend you invest in a Azada.

We planted up six raised beds of seed potatoes and  we planted six small net bags of early seed potatoes.  Traditionally potatoes are planted on Saint Patrick's Day here in Ireland.   We planted ours a few days let when the temperature rose to 7 degrees.  

I opened two trenches and planted the chitted seed potatoes  30 centimetres apart and a foot in between the rows.

J placed the seed potatoes in the trenches and we covered them with soil and well rotted fym.  We planted; "Duke of York", "British Queens" and "Homeguard". Developed during WW2 and named after the volunteer "Dad's Army" civilian army volunteers.

I will make more space for second earlies or main crop.  

Hopefully I will find some more cheap seed potatoes in the discount supermarket/ garden centres and beer providers?  Our Lidl hasn't got any left.  I may have to buy some dearer ones from a garden centre or farm centre.

Anyone else planted their seed potatoes yet?

Another Visit To A Carboot Sale.

 Before heading to Inch Beach we called at a carboot sale.  Just for a change.😄  You never know what you will find and being part Womble and part Jackdaw we had to go and have a look.  I am not a fan of decluttering and minimalism.  I like to collect and why not?

This is what we bought:

Our Lady of Perpetual Help picture.

I paid 5 Euros for it and it looks quite old.

The angels Gabriel and Michael are hovering on both shoulders.

I am not much of a regular church goer these days. I do still believe in God and I do like visiting old churches and graveyards, especially when I visit England.  

I hung  the picture up in the bedroom and I woke to an amazing sense of calm and peace.  Perhaps I will start collecting Christian pictures?  I have a framed picture of Jesus in a suitcase that I must get the glass fixed and hung up again.  When I do get it repaired I will post it on here for your perusal. 

I also bought a Leonardo Collection cup.  You can buy them new online.  

It's  subject is London in dear old Blighty or England even.  There is the Post Office Tower, Saint Paul's  Cathedral, Big Ben and a red London painted on the cup.

I like it and it reminds me of the old country and it is added to our collection:

A London Mug.

See you tomorrow.  It will be a potatoes planting post.