Posts Tagged ‘vegetable’
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
The nation is split on parsnips. On one side you have, let’s call them the parsnip-phobes, the group who believe this vegetable to be nothing but the basis for a bland soggy mash. Then on the other side you have the parsnip-philes who view them as a easy grow vegetable, one which will add a warm nutty flavour to stews or conversely bring forth sweetness when roasted.
Where do you stand on the issue? Well, to truly test yourself you should try you hand at growing your own. Once you bring them fresh from garden to table you may see a whole different side to humble parsnip.
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Tags: Avonresister, carrots, Celery, cloches, cooking parsnips, easy to grow once, Forked parsley, forked parsnips, Gladiator, Hollow Crown Improved, Malformed parsnips, March, May, Mediterranean, nutmeg, Offenham, Parsnip, parsnip canker, parsnip for shallow soils, parsnips, Pastinaca sativa, resistance to canker, roasted, stews, sweet parsnips, Tender and True, The Student, Umbelliferae, vegetable, White Gem
Posted in Growing guides., Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Summer cabbage…. With its peak harvest in August and September this vegetable provides an excellent source of Vitamin C leading up and through autumn. All health benefits aside summer cabbage has had its image tarnished by the soggy mush that’s served up by school and work canteens. In this guide I hope banish the soggy cabbage blues as I show you how to cook cabbage correctly, but first let’s look at how to grow summer cabbage at home.
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Tags: acid, acidity, alkaline, alkalinity, April, August, autumn, ball-headed, Bird protection, birds, boil, boiled bacon, Bolting, boron, Boron deficiency, braising, Brassica oleracea capitata, brassicas, broom handle, bubble and squeak, butter, butterflies laying, cabbage, cabbage root fly, caraway seeds, caterpillar, Chafer grubs, chop, chopped cabbage, cloches, Clubroot, cold ham, cold water, coleslaw, coloured green, compact, conical, cook cabbage, copper, cream, crinkly, cutting, Cutworms, D handle, damp, damp sacking, dark, Derby Day, Diamond-back moth, dibber, dig, digging, Downy mildew, drill, early winter, English dish, farmyard animal manure, fast growing, fast growth, Fine netting, fish blood and bone, flat, Flea beetle, fleece, frames, frost, frugal, fungal disease, Gall weevil, garden centres, garden fork, Golden Acre, good cropper, grass, grass clippings, Greyhound, ground lime, growing area, Growmore, hand fork, harvesting, hay, Head cabbage, Heading cabbage, health benefits, Heartless cabbage, herbicide-free, Hispi, home, homemade compost, iron, June, Leaf Spot, leaves, leggy, Magnesium deficiency, malformed, manganese, Manganese deficiency, March, mashed potatoes, May, Mealy aphid, meats, melted butter, Minicole, moisture, morning, mulch, netting, neutral, nitrogen, nutrients, October, Oil, organic, outer leaves, oval heads, pan, paper, peak harvest, pests are controlled, pH, phosphorus, planting, plastic bags, pointed heads, poor crops, potassium, potatoes, Primo, purple, Quick maturing, rain, raked, refrigerator, ring spot, round, running to seed, salad crisper, sautéed, scents, school, secondary crop, seed, seed germination, September, shade, shallow fried, sharp knife, short-term storage, slatted boxes, slug, small plots, smooth, snails, soggy, soil, soil test, soils ph, solid hearts, soluble, Southern Europe, sowing, spade shaft, spades depth, Split hearts, Splitting, steam, stem the heads of cabbage, stir-fry, Stonehead, stones, straw, strips, strong flavours, stunting, successional sowings, suitable to grow in Ireland, sulphate of iron, summer cabbage, sunny, Swede Midge, swollen, taste, tender, thinned, thinning, transplantation, transplanting, trench, trowel, true leaves, veg, vegetable, vegetable peelings, vegetable soup, vinegar dressing, vitamin C, water, watering, waterlogged, weed free, well-balanced fertilizer, well-rotted, wet newspaper, wet rot, wheelbarrow, White blister, White rust, Whitefly, wilting leaves, wind rock, Winnigstadt, Wire stem, work, yellow leaves, Yellows virus, young, zinc
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Beetroots…round, cylindrical or tapered swollen roots that are way more versatile than many give them credit for. Fairly pest free, they are also a good crop for the organic gardener. Find out for yourself as we detail amongst other things the varieties suitable to grow in Ireland, and how to plant or sow them.
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Tags: acid soil, Albina Vereduna, alkaline soils, autumn, beet, Beetroots, best varieties, Beta vulgaris, Black bean aphid, Black Leg, bleed, boil, bolt-resistant, Boltardy, Bolting, boron, Boron deficiency, Burpee’s Golden, chutney, cloches, cooking, copper, Crimson beetroot, cut, Cylindra, cylindrical, Detroit, disease resistance, dries, drill, dry peat, early March, early winter, easy, end of July, Fanging, farmyard animal manure, feeding, fertiliser, fertilizer, fish blood and bone, flavour, fortnight, frames, freeze, garden centres, germination, golf ball, Greens, ground lime, Grow beetroot, Growmore, harvesting, hasten germination, hay, Heart Rot, home soil test, how to, Ireland, iron, label, Leaf Miner, Leaf Spot, leaf yellowing, leaves, life expectancy, manganese, Mangold Fly, Mediterranean, metre, Mid-March, neutral, nitrogen, orange skin, organic gardener, origin, paper, pest free, Pests and Diseases, pH, phosphorus, plant, plant ills, plastic bag, potassium, preservation, raked, red, refrigerator, roots, rosettes, salads, scorching, seedlings, shelter, slatted boxes, slices, smooth skin, Snowhite, soil, soil conditions, soil nutrients, soups, Southern Europe, sow, sow seeds, spades depth, Speckled Yellows, spinach, sprout, stones, storage, successional harvesting, suitable to grow in Ireland, sunny spot, supermarket, swollen, tapered, tennis ball, thinnings, tips, tolerate shade, trench, trowel, vegetable, vegetables, vigour, waterlogs, weed free, wheelbarrow, When to grow, Where to grow, white, White beet, yellow, Yellow beet, zinc
Posted in Growing guides. | No Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Here’s a handy list that I compiled in response to that eternal vegetable growing query that crops up as soon as spring arrives, “Am I too late to sow… (Insert vegetable of choice here)? (more…)
Tags: April, Artichoke, Asparagus, August, beetroot, black plastic, Broad bean, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bulbing, carrots, cauliflower, Celeriac, Celery, Chicory, Chinese cabbage, Courgette, cucumber, depth, digging, Endive, February, French bean, fridge, garden centres, garden forks, garden shed, garden soil, germinated, glass, Globe artichoke, January, July, June, Kale, kohl rabi, leaf beet, leeks, lettuce, list, March, marrow, May, month, months, onion, outdoors, Parsnip, Pea, Perpetual spinach, plastic, plots, potato, pumpkin, radish, Red cabbage, runner bean, Savoy cabbage, Scallion, seed germination, seed sowing, silage cover, sow, sow from seed, Spinich, spring, Spring cabbage, Spring onion, sprout, sprouting variety, Squash, stones, summer cabbage, Swede, Sweet corn, Sweetcorn, tomato, Turnip, Turnip root celery, veg, vegetable, vegetable grower, vegetable growing, vegetables, warm, weed free, weed growth, weeks, windowsill, Winter cabbage, yellow turnip
Posted in Vegetable garden tips and advice. | No Comments »
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Last week I wrote about a solution to lack of space for growing salad vegetables faced by balcony and patio gardeners.
That was the window box vegetable garden.
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Tags: 6 inches, Avonresister, Balconi red, balcony, base, beetroot, Bubble wrap, bulbs, cabbage, carrot, cherry tomatoes, compact, compost, drainage, dwarf, garden, garden centres, gardeners, globular, granules, gravel, grit, growing, Half pint, Hestia, holes, John Innes, John Innes No. 3, John Innes seed compost, Kundulus, lettuce, miniature, moisture, nutrients, Parmex, Parsnip, patio, Pea, plants, plastic, polystyrene, Pronto speedy, pumpkins, radish, recycle, roots, runner bean, salad, Salad bowl, Scarlet globe, seed, six-inch, soil, soil-based, sowing, space, Spring onion, Summer, Swellgel, terracotta, Tiny Tim, tomato, traditional, Tumbling Tom, veg, vegetable, vegetable seeds, vegetables, veggie, water, water-holding gel, watering, White Lisbon, window box, window box lip, windowsill, wooden
Posted in Vegetable garden tips and advice. | 4 Comments »
Sunday, March 15th, 2009
Tags: 110m2, 1200 square feet, 20ft x 30ft, 20ft x 60ft, 55m2, 600 square feet, advise, allotment, Allotments, Ballintubber, Beginners, car parking, Carrigtwohill, Christmas, city centre., Cork, demonstrate, drive, East Cork, farm, farmers market, farmland, farmyard manure, free, Fruit, Fruit tree, greenhouses, Grow, growers, growing, Halloween, harvested rainwater, lockers, Midleton, orchard area, owners, peace Peas, planting, potatoes, Private, pumpkins, Romanesco cauliflower, Secure storage, sell, Sheds, site, sprouting broccoli, stall, teach, Toilets, trees, unusual vegetables, veg, vegetable, white turnips, €300, €500
Posted in Cork allotments | 2 Comments »
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Have you seen this yet…. The Ideas Campaign ?
The co-founder of the Sunday Business Post, Aileen O’Toole is behind this initiative which aims to harness the minds of the country.
The blurb goes: “the Ideas Campaign is an independent initiative by citizens for citizens, designed to capture people’s ideas for stimulating Ireland ’s economy.”
“This grassroots campaign is about the positive aspects of economic activity that often receive little media attention, and the need to focus on solutions instead of the problems,” she says. “It is about setting a challenge to people to be innovative and creative.”
The Ideas Campaign.
So basically the Ideas Campaign is about asking people for ideas to stimulate economic activity, and one of those sections is “Agriculture and Food”
Some of the ideas submitted so far relating to allotments and fruit/vegetable growing include……..
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1. My policy idea is to introduce small half acre ‘plots’ for the general population to produce their own produce - after all we are in a monetary “wartime” situation.
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2. Every town in the country should start a community garden whereby a piece of land is given by the county council to a community group who will develop the land and grow fruit and veg and subsequently have a low cost weekly market.
There is a lot of land lying idle at the moment which, if worked, could yield good food. We would be a happier nation out working in the garden in tune with one another and with nature. A community cafe could be built on the land - a simple ‘Seomra House’ where everyone could congregate for soup and eat produce from the community.
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These are not my ideas I swear , but those of others that are interested.
Although some of the ideas are a bit “happy-clappy”, I’m sure there is a basis for something substantial there.
Have a look at the site and see what you think yourself.
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Tags: Agriculture, Aileen O’Toole, Allotments, built, cafe, citizens, community, community group, country, county council, creative, eat, economic, economy, food, Fruit, garden, Grow, growing, half acre, Ideas Campaign, innovative, Land, low cost, market, media attention, nation, nature, plots, population, produce, solutions, soup, Sunday Business Post, town, vegetable
Posted in Allotment news from Ireland. | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
It all kicks off this month in the vegetable garden.
So have you got your gloves ready, your spade sharpened, and your special slug detecting goggles on?
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Tags: April, aubergine, beetroot, bird, broad beans, Brussels sprouts, bucket, bud, bulb, carrots, cauliflower, chit, chitting, compost, conservatory, container, cucumber, drill, farmer, free-draining, freezer, garden, garden centre, glasshouse, gloves, goggles, kohl rabi, leeks, lettuce, March, net, onion, onions, parsnips, patio, peas, polytunnel, potato, radish, Rake, seed, sets, shallots, slug, soil, sow, spade, spinach, sprouting, straw, summer cabbage, sun, sunroom, sweet pepper, Swiss chard, tomato, turnips, vegetable, weather, weeding, weeds, windowsill
Posted in Vegetable garden tips and advice. | No Comments »
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
With the vegetable growing season almost upon us, I decided in this post to provide you with the three most important questions all prospective growers should ask themselves before starting vegetable growing.
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Tags: air, aubergine, bed, carrot, clay, compost, cucumber, damage, feed, fence, grit, grower, Ireland, leaf, lettuce, light, loam, Manure, marrow, onion, potato, pumpkin, root, runner bean, sand, shelter, site, soil, south, spinach, stem, sun, vegetable, wall, water, windbreak
Posted in Uncategorized, Vegetable garden tips and advice. | No Comments »