June bustle

Well, that was a hectic month...

June started busy, and absolutely continued to push me to my limits! I’m still going strong, though the weeds need a lot of attention. Let me tell you all about it.

Early June Bouquets

Seasonal Activities

The glorious Ranunculus came to an end, and I removed it to make way for tomatoes. We are still working on the potatoes from the styrofoam boxes, and by the time they are all eaten, the first earlies should be ready - they are very close. Potatoes have to be one of my favourite vegetables to grow and eat, but I’m very much looking forward to tomato time also. Some stupice tomato plants have a few green fruit plumping up. Plenty of comfrey tea to keep that going!

There’s lots of leafy green growth, and I managed to get a few half hardy annuals planted, though not as many as I would have liked, and germination has been spotty. At this point , I’m moving onto next years flowers, planting biennials like Foxglove, Sweet William, Honesty, Hesperis and Wall flowers.

I’m trying to keep on top of picking annuals like sweet peas, so that they keep on producing - and keeping them well fertilised - here’s some sweet peas in the tunnel that are pumping out blooms.

We took a little holiday to Somerset (a long drive/ferry journey) to the Green Scythe Fair - a magnificent sustainable event. (There were no generators allowed. And hence no queues for coffee. ) Brian got to meet more of the scything community, and we both attended some training events. There were scything competitions with were great craic, and lots of stands with delicious food, and craft items, entertainment and chat. An exceptional event, a lot of integrity in the planning and organisation, there were no moments where you had to be suspicious of greenwashing.

My blackcurrants are mostly ripe, so I picked a few kilos and froze them. Having a few under-ripe ones in the mix is good for jam making, they have more pectin. Blackcurrant jam is very popular with my boys - I’ll be making a few jars of that when I get a minute…

Pruning and picking at the same time

This time of the year the water germander blooms so a group of us go to Lough Ree to count them for the National Biodiversity Data Centre. None were in bloom, but the population looks very healthy - which lifts my heart. The tubular water dropworts were also looking good, so 2 species still not extinct!

Coole Meadow

I have been picking, scything, weeding, removing biennials that have gone over. We have tried to grow bulb fennel - there's lots of slug damage. I’d be surprised if we get more than one plant to full fruition.

We are seeing wild orchids appearing in larger numbers, see here for some info on how they grow. Thats a very gratifying sign that we are doing all the right things, it’s very encouraging. There are wild orchids also in large numbers on the greenway beside Mullingar - well done County Council!

The potatoes are doing great, though a few that were planted in the compost bin have disappeared. The main crop are doing better than the first and second earlies. Lots of composted hay mulch seems to be working well to keep the weeds down and feed the plants.

Pumpkins, winter squash and courgettes are struggling, they would love some more heat, please! The one thing thats looking great are the scythed and mown paths…

Here’s a live from one of the sunny days in Coole

Workshops

I had one week where I had 5 workshops. A wonderful situation to be in but I couldn’t do it very week.

I came back from the scything holiday to a Jam Jar workshop in the Refill Mill. There 12 enthusiastic participants, and plenty of flowers so that everyone went home with lots of fragrant beauty. That workshop was supported by Creative Westmeath. That was Wednesday.

Next up was Cruinniú na nÓg, supported by Westmeath Arts office, on the Saturday. This is a very special day, dedicated to the creativity of young people, not many countries have something like this. All events are free, and there’s a wide variety. I had a delightful group in the Refill mill on Saturday morning for a kombucha workshop. We got to taste a large variety of flavours, and combined that with cheese and crackers for maximum sophistication! The creativity comes into play with the flavours on the second ferment - rather than being limited to what’s in the shop, kombucha brewers can create a customised flavour and change it up every brew. The participants went home with a their first ferment begun, and a bottle with a second ferment with an interesting flavour added.

The afternoon’s event was flower crown making in Cuige. We had a full house, and a variety of designs - They all had a really good time, and there was that lovely energised buzz that happens when people are engaged and working with their hands and brains.

Here’s some photos by Bronte Mini sessions from the event:

Dried flower crown workshop

On the following Monday morning, I ran a composting workshop in the Women’s Community Project in Mullingar, that was popular, and participants went away comfortable with making their own compost. They also took away a compost caddy, thanks to Westmeath County council.

On Tuesday, I headed off to Portlaoise where I ran a seed saving and biennial planting workshop. Later on I collapsed in a heap :-)

After a good break, I had an edible flowers and herbs workshop in the Refill Mill which was probably more like a supper club, also supported by Creative Westmeath. I’ll let the photos tell that story.

Edible Flowers and herbs workshop

Flower Farming

The month began with an amazing turn out of flower farmers at Bloom. It now feels like months since were were all together! There were lots of chat with other flower lovers. We sold loads of our bouquets, and everyone admired the display garden that we created (and won a Silver medal for). All credit to Karen , Barbara and Trasa for their tireless work in creating this. I accept that it’s not in me to do that kind of painstaking work. But happy to provide muscle. I was invited to present on the last day, and I really enjoyed talking about cut flowers, pollinators and sustainability while making an arrangement to illustrate my points.

Since then, it’s been a hectic scramble to get stuff done before the solstice. Mid June is when my garden looks its best. where there are still lots of flowers left to begin blooming (dahlias - c’mon) things start to look a little raggedy in July. So lots of picking and staking to keep production up and straight-ish.

At this point - post solstice - it’s time to get biennials planted. I need to get these beauties to a good size, and in the ground before the soil cools down.

Learning

Apart from the 1 day scything workshop that I attended in Somerset, there hasn't been much time for formal learning this month. I am looking forward to putting those skills into practice - although it’s difficult to wrest the blades from Brians hands…

My pottery class is over till September - here are some slugs I made as chopstick rests - I’ll have to have an asian themed dinner party now!

As if I don’t see enough slugs!

Upcoming events

I’m doing the event floristry for the Yoga Picnic, and I’ll also be talking about Kombucha making on the day - get your tickets for the full day here.

I’m trying a Dublin venue - I’m running a Dried Flower crown workshop in Dublin, July 14th, at 10am. Early Bird price till the end of June.

I’ll be teaching a soap making workshop in the beautiful and productive Swainstown farm on Aug 10th. You’ll go home with lots of scented and rich handmade castle soap.

I’ll be giving a talk and selling flowers with some other Flower Farmers on July 28th as part of the Belvedere plant fair. Linda from Wild and Green and Jo From Glasson Flower farm will be there too. And Brian will be telling people all about scything.

The final workshop in the Lake County Learning project that isn’t yet sold out is Gardening for biodiversity and plant propagation - September 10th.

And a song to finish as usual…