The onions, shallots and garlic spring to life!!

How we have all grown

It's now five months since our first dig into the allotment at Castlefarm in Narraghmore and dare I say out loud things are going smoothly. 

These past weeks we have been planting in earnest, indeed a race against time to get seeds into the ground. 

On row one, 'The Traditional', we have potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic and herbs (borage and chives). Row two, 'The Experiment', we have broadbeans, French beans, peas, runner beans, chicory, radishes, rhubarb, sweetcorn and pumpkin. Next is 'The Unknown' row three, so far fennel, cabbage, turnip and a half row yet to be planted. And row four 'The mix' we have beetroot, carrots, leeks, spinach and a poly-tunnel, where I've started courgettes, tomatoes and have yet to source organic sweet pepper seeds. It's full steam ahead. 

Everyone on the allotments are sharing ideas and seeds; each proudly giving a tour of what they have planted, what's growing, what's not.

We are all nurturing the soil with Castlefarm's organic manure, caring for the seedlings, feeding them now with organic nutrients in turn hoping that they will feed us in the coming months. 

Back in February in the bucketing rain and freezing wind, we tilled the soil, the hardest part of the preparations. Then we got real and ordered a battery-operated rotavator that many of us used. Now in the past weeks, the plots are springing to life and we have faith that a good summer will yield a great harvest, fingerscrossed!

Birds and vampires

Next up were the onions and shallots. We got the sets a few weeks ago, again from Fruit Hill Farms. Sets are miniature bulbs, which means they get off to a fast start having more stored energy that a seed to work with. Sets are planted flat end down so that the tip is just above soil level. 

A great tip I got was to nip the tops off to stop the birds thinking they are worms and pulling them out. 

And to keep the vampires away, two rows of garlic went in too. I broke the bulbs apart into cloves, 'cracking' is the official term, and planted them a good two inches below the surface with the top pointed up. 

On the agenda next week is wigwams and bamboo creations so the beans can runaway with themselves!