New Blackcurrant Patch

I take great pleasure in making something from nothing, and being on a very tight budget and physically less able than I'd like, I had to think creatively when I wanted to make a new blackcurrant patch.


I cleared the land of the tall grass, stones and weeds with a battery strimmer (no laughing - it works, and I can't pull start the petrol one any more). I then aquired a load of used car tyres from a local tyre place (for free) and placed them about 4 feet apart in a grid. This means that the bushes will be about 5 or 6 feet apart.


I then weeded as best as I could inside each tyre, added a layer of well rotted donkey manure, then added soil from an old heap created when land was cleared for my polytunnel.


I planted the blackcurrants (pot grown from pruning trimmings from a friend's bushes) one into each tyre, sprinkled some organic chicken manure pellets around them and then watered them well.


You may wonder why I didn't plant them straight into the ground.


I'm no longer as physically able as I would like and have to make everything super easy to maintain. All I have to do is strim all around the tyres now, and weed the soil inside the tyres now and then when seedlings appear.


As a PS - If anyone would like free used tyres (car or tractor etc) my local tyre fitter is very willing to let anyone have what they want for free. The tyre recycling company actually charge him £1,500 to take away an artic's worth of used tyres ! And they then go and make a profit on them when recycled !


I'm happy to give his address/location to anyone interested.


Here is a quick snap of the new blackcurrant patch. As you can see I still have my work cut out with a load more clearing etc ! But it's way cheaper than a gym membership...

Spring is Officially Here - Vernal Equinox - Ostara

It's here at last ! Let's hope the weather systems know about the Spring Equinox too !


Today at 5.32pm (Irish/English time) it is the Vernal Equinox for 2010. If you are wondering what a Vernal Equinox is, have a read here Equinox Info. This is a pretty comprehensive explanation.

Basically equinox = balanced light. It's when the days and nights have equal length.


Here in Ireland it occurs when the rising sun penetrates the passage of cairn T at Loughcrew in Co Meath, illuminating the backstone.

This is when Spring begins in Ireland YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Not a day too soon !

In my reading this morning over my mug of coffee (bad girl I know) I found this web page tylwythteg.com. Turn off the sound real FAST (as the music is really YUK & terrible). Scroll down past the rubbishy advertising and there is a very interesting article about the veranal equinox and how it was/is celebrated by Pagans and Christians alike in Wales, and how the festivals for both have interconnected.

There are some lovely little fascinating titbits in there.

Enjoy the day - and remember to celebrate the end of Winter at 5.32pm - I will be.

Project of the Week - Create a New Raspberry Patch

Well, as you can see I have some hard work ahead of me. Sure is cheaper than a gym membership... and far more fun !

This is the patch that I started working on this morning. I want to turn it into beds for summer raspberries (and blackbcurrants further along). My friend John has given me a load of summer raspberry canes/plants and a tonne of blackcurrant canes rooting too. So, I just think of the calories I will burn clearing the growth and strim/dig/lift/drag away !


I have a Bosch battery operated strimmer (don't you dare laugh) as I no longer have the strength or grip to pull start my petrol brush cutter (it's not often I growl at illness). It's a great little machine, however the battery lasts for about 20 minutes only in this heavy stuff and then takes 3 hours to recharge ! It's a game of patience...

The polytunnel bits are growing nicely. I have mixed lettuce, radish and carrots all shooting through the soil in normal germination times, and Cambridge strawberries growing happily. I can't wait for the dwarf french beans, peas and spring onions to show also (all in the tunnel for an early crop).

But - I went to water the tunnel this morning and the hose was frozen all the way, so no water. I checked again at 12.15pm and it was still frozen ! I can see myself walking from the house with bottles and wateringcans soon...

Donkey Dung Fertiliser & Raised Beds in the Polytunnel

At last the sun is out again !

And it's all of 5C at 1.18pm...

Was -6 last night...

Spring sprang a few weeks back and has well and truly bounced back into its box. Try telling the plants that, many of which are in bud despite the unusual freezing cold weather.

There is some good news - my lettuces and radishes are about 1 cm tall in the polytunnel and I now have 5 raised beds built in there with 3 more to go ! Thank you John for all your help - you sure must enjoy roast dinners and soda bread !

No sign yet of the peas, carrots or french beans that I have also sown in the new tunnel beds - but there is time yet and my mouth waters at the mere thought of them.

Well now I must go back to shovelling donkey doo doo (dung, shit, waste) into the newest beds, which I mix with the natural soil in the tunnel and the recycled compost from last years tomatoes, to form the base of the soil for the beds.

Enjoy the sun while it's here - because it will be gone again by June...