There is a real feeling of spring in the garden now, green shoots in the hedges and borders and our first daffodils flowering. The overwintered crops are looking a nicer shade of green and beginning to shoot away. A few people have been in-touch recently concerned that their overwintered garlic and onions look a bit unhappy- the short answer is so would you if you had to sit outside through a wet Irish winter. The good news is that they hang in there and then burst away with the first few mild days. Many people new to growing get very concerned if their crops look a bit under the weather. Unfortunately, they often will if you grow without the use of pesticides, but the good news is that you usually end up with something tasty. Perfection and nature friendly gardening don’t sit easily together. The whiskey producers talk of the “angel’s share” -the whiskey that evaporates through the barrels. Maybe veg growers should have the same attitude, though I’m still working hard at managing to see slugs as angels.
The rain is definitely easing – it’s still raining at some stage daily, but not as heavily! Something I remember from my time working in tropical countries was that some areas didn’t have a wet and dry season but a wet and flood season- that seems to apply to Ireland at the moment- though like all growers I will probably be complaining it’s too dry soon. The slight drying out has allowed me to get out with a hoe to prepare the beds for transplanting my onions. All work is done from the paths so that the soil isn’t compacted. We are largely no dig now so a hoe to kill weeds followed by spreading compost and “scratching” that into the surface with a three pronged cultivator (a strangely uncommon garden tool) is enough to get my beds ready. All the hard work is done by the worms and other soil life.
My glasshouse is rapidly filling up with seedlings, the plan being to have plants ready at the right time and in the right quantities as the beds are prepared. I use the standard commercial seed trays which have from 80 – 200 modules in them. I have seen home gardeners using these for one crop, I assume they haven’t really thought this through, if you sow lettuce, for example, you will have less than a month to eat 100 lettuces and much as I enjoy lettuce----- . If you are using a modular seed tray sow a few different crops in the same one. For the domestic grower one or two trays are probably all you need.
As ever this time of year I get a feeling of quiet optimism, this year is going to be a good one. I’ve been growing for longer than I would care to admit but I still get a buzz when I see the new spring growth. A garden is the perfect refuge from a world and its leaders that can, at times, appear mad. And I’m fortunate enough to get paid for it.
