Cloughjordan Plots

Week 52+24 - Bed EX8

2008-06-09T17:23:00.000+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX7

2008-06-09T17:15:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX6

2008-06-09T11:40:00.000+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX5

2008-06-09T11:37:00.003+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX4

2008-06-09T11:31:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX3

2008-06-09T11:29:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX2

2008-06-09T11:26:00.003+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed EX1

2008-06-09T11:22:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD8 planting

2008-06-09T11:21:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD7 planting

2008-06-09T11:20:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD6

2008-06-09T11:19:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD5

2008-06-09T11:17:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD4

2008-06-09T11:16:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD4

2008-06-09T11:16:00.000+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD3

2008-06-09T11:14:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD2

2008-06-09T11:12:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed DD1

2008-06-09T10:37:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC8

2008-06-09T10:32:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC7

2008-06-09T10:31:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC6

2008-06-09T10:30:00.002+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC5

2008-06-09T10:29:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC4

2008-06-09T10:28:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC3

2008-06-09T10:27:00.001+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC2

2008-06-09T10:25:00.000+01:00

Week 52+24 - Bed PC1

2008-06-09T10:24:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed PC5

2008-05-26T14:56:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed PC4

2008-05-26T14:55:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed PC3

2008-05-26T14:55:00.000+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed PC2

2008-05-26T14:51:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed PC1

2008-05-26T14:45:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX8

2008-05-26T14:40:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX7

2008-05-26T14:39:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX6

2008-05-26T14:20:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX5

2008-05-26T14:19:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX4

2008-05-26T14:18:00.000+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX3

2008-05-26T14:14:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX2

2008-05-26T14:13:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed EX1

2008-05-26T14:12:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD8

2008-05-26T14:11:00.002+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD7

2008-05-26T14:11:00.000+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD6

2008-05-26T14:10:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD5

2008-05-26T14:09:00.000+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD4

2008-05-26T14:08:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD3

2008-05-26T14:07:00.000+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD2

2008-05-26T14:06:00.001+01:00

Week 52+21 - Bed DD1

2008-05-26T14:02:00.001+01:00

Week 52+18 - Bed PC3 Planting

2008-04-28T12:47:00.002+01:00

Finished digging this bed and added 1 barrow of well rotted horse manure. Once the bed was prepared I sowed a brassica seedbed with one row each of the following (listed from North to South):

Snowball Cauliflower
Deakin F1 Cauliflower
Waltham Calabrese
Pacifica Calabrese
Darkmar 21 Brussels Sprouts
Balbriggan Brussels Sprouts
Vertus Cabbage
Premier Cabbage
Marner Lagerret Cabbage
Holland Late Winter Cabbage
Gortahork Cabbage
Dottenfelder Cabbage
Cour di Bue Cabbage
Red Spear Sprouting Broccoli
Purple Sprouting Broccoli Late
Purple Sprouting Broccoli Early
Uncle John's Kale
Thousand Headed Kale
Red Russian Curled Kale
Ragged Jack Kale
Pentland Brig Kale
Niki's Cut and Come Kale

Week 52+18 - Bed PC2 Planting

2008-04-28T12:30:00.003+01:00

In the south 2/3rds of the bed we had planted a mix of overwintering onion setts. Into the spaces I planted additional setts of:

Red Baron Onion Setts

In the north third portion of the bed we mixed 1/3 barrow of horse manure and into a fine seedbed we sowed a Leek seedbed consisting of one row each of:

Verdonnet Leek
Wintercrop Leek
Monstruoso di Carentan Leek
Lancia Leek
Hannibal Autumn Mammoth 2 Leek
Ardea Leek

Week 52+7 - Bed DD4

2008-02-11T14:12:00.001Z

The soil in this bed has been carefully cultivated to kill off some weeds and to allow the rain to filter into the beds instead of running off into the paths.

All of the young broad bean plants are doing well and are taking advantage of the recent fair weather.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD5

2008-02-11T14:11:00.000Z

By far the most productive bed in the plots at this time of year.

New leaves of Pentland Brig Kale continue to sprout...

... we have hardly made a dent in the Thousand Headed kale ...
... and we harvested a substantial crop of secondary shoots from the Purple Sprouting Broccoli.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD8

2008-02-11T14:10:00.000Z

The only crop doing really well is still the mizuna ...

... which we have been continuously harvesting leaves from.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD3

2008-02-11T14:09:00.000Z

The remaining leeks continue to grow and some of them have started to produce central flower stalks - one is barely visible in the lower right.

Some of these leeks could have been planted deeper, extending the area of blanched stalk below the leaves.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX3

2008-02-11T14:08:00.000Z

We harvested about half of the parsnip from this bed so far but none of the leeks.

The spring growth of the parsnips is proceeding quickly and we need to harvest and eat a lot of parsnip in the next few weeks.

The roots seem to have a more fibrous root system than the ones that we pulled up a few months ago. the roots seem to be sending out a new set of roots for the spring growth.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC8

2008-02-11T12:38:00.001Z

Now that there is more sun and the weather i swarmer, the growth of the cover crop has increased. We will dig this growth into the soil about a month before we want to sow seeds in this bed, to allow the first phase of decomposition to take place.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC7

2008-02-11T12:37:00.001Z

The grass (and a few weeds) have mostly filled out the bed. We will have to dig in this green manure cover crop about a month before we sow anything into this bed, until after the initial stages of decomposition has taken place. The clover in the path to the right (east) is growing better than that in the path to the left of the bed. This is probably due to the overshadowing bu the remaining brassicas.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC6

2008-02-11T12:36:00.001Z

After the harsh winter weather, this bed seems surprisingly unchanged. We never got around to clearing out the old beet and chard plants, and the brassicas are not nearly as large and healthy as the same varieties in other beds.

The Thousand Headed kale is such a vigorous variety, that even in the poor conditions of this bed it is quite a large plant.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC5

2008-02-11T12:35:00.001Z

This bed is just waiting to be cleared up.

Apart from a few very small Swede turnips that we picked (which were reasonable tasting), there is not much else worth scavenging for.

One of the cabbages that we transplanted has bolted - quite an attractive plant.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC3

2008-02-11T12:32:00.001Z

We have continued to harvest the leeks, biggest ones first.

The leaves are a bit tattered from the harsh weather over the winter, but the plants seem to be growing again now that there is a bit more light and warmth.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC2

2008-02-11T12:31:00.002Z

The onions have grown through the winter frost, wind and rain. A lot of the plants have produced a their third or fourth leaf and are up to 15cm high. The soil on this bed was not as affected by the heavy rain as some of the others, this might be due to the more extensive cultivation, the rounded shape and/or the incorporation of manure. But the surface should be cultivated - carefully to avoid the roots - to increase the penetration of water and to get rid of the weeds and grass that are starting to form.

Week 52+7 - Bed PC1

2008-02-11T12:29:00.001Z

The garlic has grown well over the winter months, despite the frosts, wind and heavy rain.

Some of the young garlic plants have been pulled up by birds, but most of them have produced at least 2 leaves. The effect of the heavy rains on the surface of the soil is very visible. The hard rain drops break up the structure of the soil and flood the surface, which produces a hard capping of silt (there is very little clay in this soil) which cracks when dries. This cap will not prevent the garlic from growing but it does reduce the amount of rainwater that can enter the soil and will cause a certain amount of erosion from the beds into the paths. Careful cultivation to break up this cap will also cover the garlic bulbs, many of which are now standing proud of the surface.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD7

2008-02-11T12:09:00.003Z

This bed is still fairly bare but the clover is starting to grow now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD6

2008-02-11T12:09:00.002Z

The Brussels Sprout plants in the foreground have not grown very big this season, and we missed harvesting many of the sprouts at their prime.

Week 52+7 - Bed DD2

2008-02-11T12:04:00.001Z

We cultivated the soil around the garlic plants to kill off the weeds that were starting and to allow the rain to penetrate into the soil instead of running off the bed.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX8

2008-02-11T12:02:00.001Z

The cover crop of grass continues to grow. It does not really matter if this is from the cover crop that we sowed a few months earlier, or from seeds within the soil, as they will both do the same job of preventing nutrients from leaching away in the heavy rains providing additional carbon to be dug into the soil later in the spring.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX7

2008-02-11T12:01:00.001Z

The ryegrass cover crop continues to grow and will be dug int to ad fertility later in the spring. The north end of the bed is empty because the cover crop failed to sprout under the remains of the peas and broad beans.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX6

2008-02-11T11:59:00.001Z

We left the remains of the harvested cabbage plant in the garden, hoping that this tall plant will produce a number of smaller heads.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli at the south end of the bed has produced a central flower bud that is quite wide and segmented (though barely visible in this blurry photo). This might be due to damage caused by caterpillars earlier in the season.

Another broccoli plant has produced a more typical central bud.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX5

2008-02-11T11:55:00.001Z

After tidying up this bed there are only 3 cabbage plants left, and only two of them are going to produce a head of cabbage.

The one cabbage plant is starting to produce small but tasty flower shoots.

The chard plants had a lot of old torn and rotting leaves removed to reveal a younger heart of leaves that are in much better condition - it is a shame that no one in the group seems to like chard.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX4

2008-02-11T11:54:00.003Z

We carefully cultivated the soil surface to break up the hard capping that had formed through the heavy rain and the abrasive action of fleece being blown around by the wind.

The extent of the growth of this sacrificed pea seedling after 14 weeks can be seen in this (blurry) photo. The plant is being held at the soil level. The damage to the leaves can also be seen.

Week 52+7 - Bed EX2

2008-02-11T11:50:00.002Z

The section of the bed in the foreground is missing some garlic and a few onions, probably due to curious or hungry birds pulling them up.

The onions have started to produce the third and fourth leaf.

Week 52+5 - Bed PC4

2008-01-28T13:34:00.002Z

We finally cleared everything out of the bed, and very little of it was worth taking home. We have started to double dig this bed, removing quite a bit of rock, and will add a lot of fertility before planting anything else. We are able to work with this sandy soil almost any time of the year without worrying about ruining the structure, instead of having to wait until the soil dries up, as is the case with less free draining soil.

Week 52+5 - Bed PC3

2008-01-28T13:33:00.001Z

The leeks did not grow much more over the depth of winter. The ones we harvested are reasonable diameter (given the late planting and transplanting) but they could have been transplanted deeper to get a longer blanched base - which is the part we want to eat.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD8

2008-01-28T13:23:00.005Z

Some of the greens have suffered a bit through the cold weather we have had. We did not put up a polytunnel as we had planned, which would have really helped the lettuce in the foreground.

The mizuna is thriving and we have been harvesting continuously.

Several of the rocket plants are starting to bolt, something that normally happens in the summer, but is possibly due to the hard frosts, or simply because of the age of the plants - they generally only produce for a few months.

The Pak Choi is also bolting, probably due to the lack of protection.

The spinach is still producing leaves, but it looks a little ragged.

The chard plants are growing slowly.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD6

2008-01-28T13:06:00.004Z

The plants in this bed have weathered the hard winter well.

No one has harvested any of the sprouts, and the oldest ones at the bottom of the plant have started to open up and are past their prime. The newer sprouts higher up the plant are ready to eat.

Once some of the older outer leaves were removed the Siwss Chard plants look well with the tender younger leaves providing welcome fresh greens in the late January diet.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD5

2008-01-28T13:05:00.005Z

We have been harvesting quite a bit out of these beds over the past few weeks. The curly kale in the foreground continues to sprout masses of leaves. The Purple Sprouting Broccoli has produced a few central flower stalks - one of the best treats late winter! The Thousand Headed kale at the far end of the bed has produced an enormous amount of foliage. Although not as tender as some of the other types of kale, this variety produces numerous large shoots that can be harvested whole.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD4

2008-01-28T12:43:00.004Z

Eight weeks after sowing, the broad beans are growing well. Several of the seeds have failed to germinate, or have been pulled up by birds, and will be resown once the soil warms up. Notice the soil compaction and capping due to the heavy rains, and the signs of pooling of water in the paths.

Some of the seedlings have started to develop their third pair of leaves.

We dug up one of the seedlings to have a look, and the root system is already well developed and reaches at least 15cm down into the soil. No nitrogen fixing nodules are visible yet.

Week 52+5 - Bed DD3

2008-01-28T12:42:00.002Z

We have been harvesting leeks aver the past few weeks, especially from the north end of the bed (top of photo).

Week 52+5 - Bed DD2

2008-01-28T12:41:00.002Z

12 weeks after planting, the garlic is up and growing well. The section at the south end of the bed has been damaged by something, either trampled by a dog or a bird pulled out the bulbs. This area can eb planted with something else later in the spring.

The third leaves are starting to show on some of the plants. Notice how the soil surface has been compacted by the heavy rains, producing a hard cap that has started to crack.

Week 52+5 - Bed EX6

2008-01-28T12:36:00.002Z

The hardy brassicas have been unaffected by the winter frost, wind and rain, except for a few plants that are leaning a bit more.

The Thousand Headded Kale has produced a huge number of strong shoots that can be harvested and cooked whole (though they tend to be a bit tough)

This Purple Sprouting Broccoli plant had it's central flower bud harvested weeks ago and has now produced a great secondary crop of shoots.

The Gortahork Cabbage has grown very big and we harvested it today. The head was not as full and compacted on the inside as we had expected, but this might be common for this variety.

Some of the sprouts have been harvested but there are still more to eat.

Week 52+5 - Bed EX5

2008-01-28T12:35:00.002Z

The cabbage in the foreground is finally starting to produce a head, though it will still take a while before it firms up. The Swiss Chard is has looking rough after the hard frosts, heavy rains and wind of the winter.

One of the small savoy cabbages has started to bolt. Although it will not produce a head of cabbage, the immature flower heads can be picked similar to sprouting broccoli.

Week 52+5 - Bed EX4

2008-01-28T12:34:00.002Z

Twelve weeks after sowing, and a fair amount of hard rain and wind, the peas are growing under the protection of the fleece.

But the fleece seems to have caused damage to the young pea leaves, probably mostly due to abrasion caused by wind. A lot fair amount of moss has gown on the surface of the soil under the cover as well. It seems that the fleece may have caused more damage than good.

We dug up one of the pea plants to examine the progression. All of the plant below the first leaf was underground, stretching to a depth of 20 cm. But more importantly nodules have started to form on the roots! It seems we have succeeded in inoculating the soil with beneficial nitrogen fixing bacteria that is specific to peas and beans!

Week 52+5 - Bed EX3

2008-01-28T12:32:00.002Z

All that remains of the parsnips is the dried stems of the leaves, and they could easily be forgotten about.

The leeks seem to have grown now that they are not overshadowed by the parsnip, and they are ready for harvesting.

A few of the tops of the parsnip are visible and the first new growth of leaves has started. The roots should be harvested and eaten soon before the leaves use up the store of energy and nutrients.

Week 52+5 - Bed EX2

2008-01-28T12:31:00.004Z

The onions and garlic have grown slowly but steadily over the winter. Some of the bulbs have been pulled up, probably by birds, leaving gaps in the rows. Even if we had additional bulbs remaining it would be too late to plant these varieties.

The heavy rains over the winter damaged the texture of the soil, creating a hard crust which causes water to run off the bed instead of soaking in. The cracking of the crust can be seen in this (blurry) photo of the young onion plant.

The garlic plants are growing fairly well but are not as large as the onions.

Week 52+5 - Bed EX1

2008-01-28T12:30:00.001Z

Much of the grass that was piled on this bed has taken root and is growing well. This makeshift cover crop and will be adding fertility to the bed when dug in later in the spring.

Week 49 - Bed PC8

2007-12-03T17:31:00.002Z

The growth of the green manure has come on quite a bit in the last two weeks.

Week 49 - Bed PC7

2007-12-03T17:21:00.003Z

The last two weeks has seen a significant amount of growth in the cover crop.

Week 49 - Bed PC4

2007-12-03T17:16:00.002Z

Most of what we have harvested recently from this bed is stunted and poor tasting. It hasn't been getting much attention, except as the subject of lessons on how to make this type of gardening more productive.

Week 49 - Bed PC3

2007-12-03T17:15:00.002Z

The leeks are growing well in the fair late autumn weather ...

... and we have started to harvest some.

Week 49 - Bed PC2

2007-12-03T17:13:00.002Z

Two weeks after planting the onion sets are starting to sprout ...

... barely visible in this blurry photograph.

Week 49 - Bed PC1

2007-12-03T17:12:00.003Z

The garlic cloves planted in this bed are probably establishing the beginnings of the root system and will start to send up shoots in a few weeks.

Week 49 - Bed DD8

2007-12-03T17:10:00.001Z

The greens continue to grow, and we have been doing some harvesting ...

... especially the mizuna (bottom) and rocket (top) which are really thriving.

The spinach is ready to harvest as well.

Week 49 - Bed DD7

2007-12-03T17:09:00.006Z

We finally cleared the old pea plants out of this bed and failed to find any nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots. It is possible that any nodules that formed had fallen off when the plants died, but we suspect that the specific bacteria that form these beneficial nodules are not in this soil. This field contains many clover plants which have the nodules, but it is a different but species which forms the symbiotic relationship with plants from the bean and pea family.

This absence would make sense, given that peas and beans probably have not been grown in this field for many decades. The lack of this extra source of nitrogen probably reduced the yield of the peas. We will have investigate how to inoculate the soil before the next sowing of peas and beans.

Week 49 - Bed DD6

2007-12-03T17:09:00.004Z

The remaining Rhubarb Chard plants have been pulled out, as have the red cabbage plants which had not grown well at all this season. The Swiss Chard and the Brussels Sprouts plants continue to grow reasonably well.

Week 49 - Bed DD5

2007-12-03T17:07:00.002Z

We have harvested most of the larger leaves of the kale plants in the foreground ...
... leaving a mass of smaller leaves that will continue to grow.

Some of the sprouts are ready for harvesting.

Week 49 - Bed DD4

2007-12-03T17:06:00.003Z

We cultivated this bed to remove the few struggling seedlings and weeds and sowed two long rows of:

Aquadulce Claudia Broad Beans (two double staggered rows, 48 seeds) - an excellent autumn sowing variety which establishes itself very quickly and will produce a very early crop. It is white seeded with pods up to 23 cm long.

Before covering the seeds we added soil from another garden where peas and beans had grown earlier in the year, in an attempt to introduce nitrogen fixing bacteria which we have found to be absent from the plot.

Week 49 - Bed DD2

2007-12-03T17:04:00.001Z

Week 49 - Bed DD1

2007-12-03T14:37:00.004Z

We finally double dug this bed and cleared the section to the west (left side of photo) of grass which we added as fertility on top of the lower level that we loosened. We added a few buckets of well rotted horse manure, and this bed is not ready for planting, though we should add some more compost or other source of fertility in the spring.

Week 49 - Bed EX8

2007-12-03T14:28:00.002Z

We finally cleared out the remains of the peas and broad beans, and as with elsewhere in the plots, there were not any nitrogen fixing nodules. It seems that the specific beneficial bacteria that form these symbiotic nodules on the roots of the peas and beans is not present in the soil of this field. This would make sense given that peas and beans have not been grown in this field for decades.
The poor yield peas and beans is probably due to this lack of additional nitrogen. We will have to find a way of introducing these bacteria to the soil before we plant any more peas.

Week 49 - Bed EX7

2007-12-03T14:22:00.002Z

We finally pulled out the remains of the peas and broad beans at the far end of the bed and found that there were no nitrogen fixing nodules. This was the same with other plots and it seems that this does not have any of the bacteria species particular to the pea andbean family of plants. This absence would make sense, given that peas and beans probably have not been grown in this field for many decades. The lack of this extra source of nitrogen probably reduced the yield of the peas. We will have investigate how to inoculate the soil before the next sowing of peas and beans.

The ryegrass that we sowed as a cover crop is doing well, at least in the area that had been empty, but there is still no sign of clover or vetch.

Week 49 - Bed EX6

2007-12-03T14:16:00.003Z

All of the brassicas in this bed are growing well in the late autumn weather.

One of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli has produced a central flower head, which is earlier than expected ...

... the Gortahork Cabbage continues to grow ...

... and Brussels Sprouts are almost ready for harvesting.

Week 49 - Bed EX5

2007-12-03T14:13:00.002Z

We have harvested a few cabbages, which were small but tasty, and pulled a few out that were very small.