Garden Layout for 2013

a look back at 2012's plants, the spuds on the right created a lovely wind break from prevailing sea winds. i'm going to try and contain them more this year, some vines reached around 6 feet!

Garden Layout 2013:

this is my new garden layout for the coming season. im trying my best to incorporate a bit of 'no-dig' practices and proper crop rotation. im failing a bit with the rotation side of things, so i'll incorporate more nutrients into the soil with homemade seaweed/nettle/comfrey fertilizers and well rotted manure. rotation has been a bit difficult, since im trying to place contrasting colours and textures together in my planting. im excited to get the plants going and i have plans for putting up a wooden arbour over the central seating area, for sweet peas and vines! im also trying to add height to the garden with wooden pea/bean wig wams and creating a useful wind break on the left side of the garden with broad beans and orache.

 



Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins

looks like i spoke too soon about the beautiful spring weather! the past two weeks have been sub zero and snowing! again! oh well, i guess we have to wait a bit longer. the snow has slowly evolced into more rain and flooding. my garden looks a bit like a swamp at the moment and the hens are hiding under the hen house. i can't blame them one bit.

to lift some spirits i wanted to pep up easter sunday with these warming Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins. they'll transport you straight to that sunny mexican beach holiday you're dreaming of. i also posted them as chives seem to be the only crop in the garden at the moment, along with the purple sprouting brocolli. but i decided that maybe 3 back-to-back posts on PSB would be too much.

these muffins look impressive, taste impressive and whip up in impressively no time at all. 15 minutes in the oven is all they take to double in size and cook through. i love the kick that the pickled pepperoncinis give to the muffins and married with chives, cheddar, and sour cream makes for one big fiesta of fun. their texture is airy and moist, almost popver-like. they bake perfect everytime.

Charred Purple Sprouting with Hollandaise and Poached Eggs

what a change in weather from last week! we've had some rain but the frosts subsided and its just begining to feel like spring. just in time cause it was starting to get me down! (see last post) for paddy's day this year i spent the afternoon in the garden, a long awaited treat. i planted seed potatoes as many people did for paddy's day, (it seems to be a tradition here in ireland.) i opted for three floury types: coleen's (a first early crop), record (main crop) and golden wonder (a late main crop). i wanted to try and introduce a bit of crop roation to my current garden's second year. so i planted them where i planted roots and onions last spring.

 

 

 

the idea of crop rotation is an old one. the basis is: different plant families take different nutrients from the soil as they grow. in turn they release new nutrients to the soil that benifit other plants. in a lot of vegetable gardens this determines alot of the seasons planting scheme. after some research there turns out to be some debate on what rotations people use. im following a four year rotation plan:

 

LEGUMES > BRASSICAS > ROOTS & ONIONS > POTATOES

 

do you use a different roation in your garden than the above one?

 

 

after planting spuds i was able to clear bolting kale plants, weed the flower beds and sow my first bit of lettuce, radish and beetroots. i popped in some garlic sets for good measure and much needed slug protection. in the lettuce area of the garden i was hoping to create an artistic planting effect by alternating plants with different colours and textures: frilly red mustards next to a row of little gem lettuce heads, followed by red beetroot and a row of pea shoots. its an exciting prospect to add a bit of colour and intrest to the veg plot. we'll see if it turns out as planned! fingers crossed.

Jam Jar Dressings

i love watching cooking shows and eating! am i alone here? i don't think so. there's something so satisfying about it, your eating something delicious and watching someone make something delicious at the same time. what could be better, really? if you havent done this before i highly recomend doing so.

while eating and viewing i came across a great idea for a blog post. i was watching the program, Hugh's Three Good Things, with Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, and having a bowl of stir fried kale with steamed rice. and one of his recipes was for jam jar salad dressing, (which i make myself at home all the time), and bingo, a blog post was born.

im not the first person to make salad dressing this way, but i still thought i'd share a couple of my favourite recipes for salad dressing made in a jam jar. and since i have been chasing my tail all week trying to stay on top of things. these jam jar dressing recipes fit right in, they are easy to whip up in a rush - just throw your salad items into a bowl, shake up a jam jar full of dressing and go! (or go veg out on the couch watching cooking shows!)

My favourite seed sowing guide, better than an iphone app!

i did find time this week to sow some seeds in the window sill for the polytunnel. tomatoes (4 types - money maker, sungold and tigerella were saved seed from last year, and a new one: chocolate stripe), tomatillos, two varieties of aubergine, and 2 dozen modules of sweet peas (for outside). i also got new nest boxes attached to the outside of my hen house. which is wonderful, it means i don't have to go inside the run to collect the eggs, just open a door and presto! the eggs are collected.

d.i.y. hen house made from a dog house

Thai Breakfast Congee

 



some of you may have already guessed, but the isn't a whole lot happening in the garden lately. the big producer at the moment, and even those numbers have dropped, are the hens. i've got 3 busy kale plants,  6 purple sprouting brocolli (yay!), a box of beetroot, and thats it! so eggs are on the menu, along with some kale i used in this recipe. 

 

its been a long month for the hens with non stop rain and freezing temperatures. the prolonged daylength and a small rise in temperature has done a world of good for egg numbers. my young pullet at the moment just started laying last week! it feels like spring is actually coming. which is a great

feeling after the shock returning from holidays in thailand. my first order of seeds has arrived and i've already put a few broad bean seeds in the ground.

 

before the growing season begins, i decided to take the time to repair and finish the fence i started last fall. it's made from pallet wood thats been stained a mahogany colour, with willow branches attached to create a sort of cottagey feel. it looks just about how i imagined it would, which is a relief! all thats left is a gate and possibly a new arbour for vine plants. ill try not to get too carried away!  



the hens out on their first real day of sun in a long time!

Celeriac Remoulade with Irish Bacon

so, after making this classic dish, celeriac remoulade. i realised that 1) remoulade is a fancy word for coleslaw and 2) its pretty tasty! and after a few seconds of wiki research i realised the name stems from french cusine and that remoulade is a sauce like aioli or mayonaise. so celeriac remoulade means: celeriac with a creamy sauce, or - coleslaw, i was RIGHT. i love coleslaw so thats probably why i think this is so tasty. the simpleness of the recipe and the flavours are lovely for a sunny day lunch or a picnic, if you're lucky enough to live somewhere it isn't raining.

preparing a celeriac

i have already mentioned my love of the root vegetable Celeriac before, if you care to read about my celeriac rants you can click, here. in the post i went as far as to claim myself an expert on the subject of celeriac. with some fancy trivia on the misnomer of its nickname: 'celery root.' very exciting and VERY nerdy. im still reserving extra space in the garden for my new root friends this year while cutting back on its stalky cousin. celeriac to me is a very understated veg, and everytime i peel, slice, or grate one im reminded this. what shows itself as an angry knobbly root in the garden is actually a subltle and friendly vegetable in the kitchen. sweet! this post is in a way a fairwell to a good friend, as this celeriac is the last celeriac from the garden this year, until october when the next crop will be ready. i've got the seed packets ready!

Sour Apple Martini

wow! im back after 4 weeks in thailand and im spinning in disbelief! but reinspired for the new year and food and blogging and gardening. it was getting tough to pull it together before i left. the weather had been well... you may already have guessed- rainy. theres been flooding and freezes and wind storms. the garden i have to say is in need of a lot of tlc and a good going over. the hens ransacked the rainbow chard and started on my flower bulb shoots, while i was away. so some chicken defense is in order for this spring.

thailand gave me loads of ideas for the kitchen and garden, i even snuck in a few seed packets!to try in the poly tunnel! while i was in thailand inever had one bad meal, which brings thai food into the top ranking spot for best world cuisine in my book! i mean, really, when were you last on holiday and all the food was perfect? never? most likely, unless you were in thailand.... so of course i'll be doing a few thai styled dishes for the blog, including: thai breakfsat soup, masamam curry, and pad thai.

im also delighted because the hens missed the purple sprouting broccolli, and its nearly ready for the table! i've had my first mini munch on a few tiny sprouts and i can hardly wait! there's one celriac left which ive got eyes on for a winter salad, and really thats it! there are quite a few beetroots left so im going to put my pickler cap on and get busy.

this recipe i started before i left the country last month. for some reason the image upload for blogger wasnt working,  which meant i had to cut it short and jet. but you can imagine me drinking these around new years and testing the recipe with friends and after thorough research (and a few fuzzy heads) we came up with a final mix to my Sour Apple Martini's. If you have been reading along before, I first started my batch of Sour Apple Vodka in November, after 7 weeks of marinating the end result was reached! Its super delicious and syrupy, perfect for this highly drinkable and dangerously potent cocktail. You will be able to downgrade to apple cider once you've enjoyed one or two Appletinis, the recipe only calls for a small amount, so you will have leftovers to finish!

if you are going to make your own sour apple vodka, click here. i recomend doubling the batch! its too good. have fun!!