Allotment envy

The title says it all, allotment envy is the new green-eyed monster. I'm not sure if I want to admit this in print but I'm jealous of my neighbours beds and his soil is just perfect, as fine as flour. Yes I know no two allotments are the same and yes mine did have a week of neglect, but I doubt even with 10 weeks of hard toil would my patch compare with the earthy beauty it borders. 

Rumour has it he is a professional gardener and tills his soil through a sieve! Well the guy is a genius and I'm determined to discover his secrets and catch up. With this in mind, I've taken the entire week off work so me, Mr Carrott and the Carrottettes can get dug in. 

Politics in spades

Trevour Sargent does it, Eamonn Ryan does it and even Michelle Obama does it. 

Ireland's Green Ministers both have veg patches and America's First Lady is turning part of the South Lawn into an organic veg garden to provide food for the first family. This is all breaking new ground. 

Speaking of which, Get Ireland Growing, a campaign to encourage those interested in community gardens and allotments, was launched by the Green Party on Sunday. 

It's aim is to promote growing your own to save money, to improve public health and to enhance community spirit. Now this is one recipe that can take us all forward. 

It's website, www.getgrowing.ie, features advice, allotment success stories with links to community facilities and gardening centres. Minister Sargent will also be providing regular YouTube clips with growing tips. And personally I can't wait to see the Eamonn Ryan clips. Delicious. 

One potato, two potato....oh chit!

With the Grand Slam last weekend I neglected the allotment, in fact I simply just ignored it. I had planned to plant the first crop of seedlings but instead I was glued to O'Driscoil, O'Gara, O'Connell & Co and no, I didn't feel guilty.
Then I had to take Mother's Day off to attend the glorious homecoming and even got a glimpse of the Six Nations Cup. Oops, I'm going to have to dig deep this week to overcome the relapse!
On the agenda is the potato. Supermarket potatoes don't come close to the buttery, melt-in-the-mouth floury taste of the Irish spud. Little did I know that growing potatoes was as controversial as the pension levy. Debate rages every year over whether you should "chit" seed potatoes before planting time or if you can just bung them into the ground.
For the unskilled (me!) chitting aka greensprouting is putting your seed potatoes in a cool but light area, rose end upward for several weeks so they form strong, strudy shoots.
Some experts, including Paula Prender, our allotment teacher in Castlefarm, Athy encourages chitting in that it gives the potatoes a head start in the growing season so they mature nicely before a blight strikes.
My mom, daughter of an Offaly potato farmer, is strongly opposed to the idea of chiiting; so much so she laughed heartily at my neatly-rowed seed potatoes in egg cartons.
She reasons the sprouted potatoes will find the soil to cold when planted out and their growth will slow as a result. "You're fussing over them, pampering and spoiling them; they aren't grandkids you know," she jokes.
To find out what method works best for me, I'm going to do both and see what happens; the proof will be in the potato.
And to get the debate really raging, should I leave all the shoots on the chitted potatoes or rub some off? Answers on a postcard please!

Look who's talking!

A strange snippet into my daily routine. I've formed the habit of talking and singing to my seedlings each morning and at night, when bringing my son to bed, we say goodnight to kale, to lettuce, to mr spud and mr onion and so on. 

This is perhaps the first sign of allotment madness, but it turns out that there my be some truth to the belief that talking to plants and veg helps them grow. 

Plants need carbon dioxide to grow and when you talk to a plant, you breath on it, giving it that extra infusion. However, for this to have any real effect on your favourite veg, you have to spend several hours a day conversing with it in close quarters. 

And did you know the idea of talking to plants was first introduced in 1848 when a German professor Dr Fechner suggested the idea. He believed plants were capable of emotions, just like humans and you could promote healthy growing by showering your plants with attention and talk. Just don't let the neighbours catch you!!

Pictured Carrott Jnr showering the seedlings with attention and talk to help them grow

Seeds of happiness

My leeks and onions have sprung and are not dead as I feared last week. My runner beans continue to live up to their name and will need to be planted into bigger pots shortly. All the others - kale, lettuce, peas, broadbeans, spinach and herbs are growing to plan. Once this cold spell passes, I'll start planting them out and begin again with a new batch of seeds. 

My seed potatoes have arrived. They are currently in egg cartons in my utility room and getting ready sprout. Once the sprouts appear, they'll be ready for planting in my fresh cultivated soil!

In the trenches

There are various ways to get manure into the ground. My preference is single digging. Start at one side of the bed and dig a trench one spades depth and width. Pile this soil into a wheelbarrow. 

Using a spade add a layer of manure. Now dig a trench next to the first trench. Upturn the soil from the second trench into the first. 

Repeat this until you get to the far end of your plot and use the wheelbarrow soil to fill in the last trench. Now can you dig all that? 

A word of warning, this is tough, labour-intensive work so helpers such as husbands and little ones are an advantage!

The plot thickens

This week is all about preparing the soil. The plots had been ploughed several weeks ago and are ready to be tilled. The benefits of this are it provides more oxygen, water drainage and makes it easier for roots to penetrate the soil. 

The other reason to till the soil is to incorporate organic matter such as compost or manure to help improve the quality. As we learnt in our class this week, the ideal fertiliser is good old manure and it is plentiful supply thanks to the Young's herd of organic cows at Castlefarm. So we spent the weekend shovelling shit!

Going potty

My seeds arrived, hurrah! I ordered them from The Organic Centre in Leitrim (www.theorganicentre.ie) and it took less than a week. The grand total was €114 for more than 30 packets - everything from broadbeans to swiss chard, with a bit of cabbage, turnip, carrots and pumpkins in between. So it's time to stop planning and start potting. 

As a newcomer to growing vegetables, I was amused to see how different seeds can be: onions, small and sliver; broadbeans, big and brown. Some were almost too small to see. 

The more thrifty gardener can use empty recyclable milk and yogurt pots or egg cartons. I opted for the shop-bought variety, five seeds for €5, each tray takes 40 seeds. 

I filled the seed trays with damp compost (Shamrock Organic Gold) and gently firmed it down. I placed one seed into each pot and covered it with a light layer of compost. 

The aim is to successfully germinate the seeds and for that you need moisture, air and the right temperature over a period of two to three weeks. 

Seeds I potted were kale, lettuce, broadbeans, dwarf french beans, runner beans, leeks, peas, onions, rosemary and a whole lot of thyme. On my schedule for the coming weeks is cabbage, chicory and spinach. 

I loosely covered the trays with cling film to keep the moisture and heat in. It is important to keep the compost moist; I got carried away though and may have drowned my leeks and onions as there is no sign of any germination taking place, so careful not to over water. As it is I'll be starting over with my leeks and onions. 

The peas and beans have thrived, with the prize specimen already reaching nine inches; my girlfriends are impressed!

For the moment, my kitchen has been invaded by seed trays, taking over all available counter space and window sills. Just a couple more weeks and they'll be out of the house and into the ground, only to return as fully grown and edible vegetables (hopefully). 

What's up next, shoveling shit - digging deep with muck and manure!