Dirtdigger

Allotment Gardening, Blackcurrants, Father Ted, Jam Making, Shallots

Careful Now!!! Tipping Day on The Monster in The Corner.

July 19th, the 200th day of the year, annual Small Far away day, and if you happen to be a Father Ted fan it’s the day Marathon became Snickers, Galway was liberated from the Indians and everyone packed up and headed to the caravan for the Fr. Noel Furlong jig fest…
July 19th is tipping day as we call it, the day when you undeniably concede that the year is definitely foreshortened, but, if we’re lucky, we get a day like today that is promising to be the hottest day of the year, with expected highs of 28 Celsius under clear skies and light southerly breezes. It will be a bumper day for 99’s and dry cider and disposable barbecues, and every route to any stretch of sand with water will be choc-a-bloc till sunset.

forecast for today...worth a screen capture! — forecast for today…worth a screen capture!

Of course, it being a leap year means that yesterday was actually the 200th day of the year, and as such yesterday was tipping day on the Monster in the Corner. We unearthed all our onions and set them to cure on the bed rails. We also harvested a lot of the bunching onions and dug up some good sized beets; we picked about 4lbs of blackcurrants and another 4lbs of Hinnonmaki red gooseberries which we set about jamming once we arrived home; we took some of the last of the rhubarb for this year for once July is out we leave the rhubarb to nature’s devices; the shallots we set to dry 2 weeks ago are curing nicely and the pots of basil are doing well. Not one of the sunflowers has opened its head as yet but they have put on good height with some already over 7 foot and in the next 7-10 days we should see the first of the sunny faces. The Redbor kale is leafing well and the parsnips have plenty of lush top foliage which is an indicator of subterranean developments.

Rhubard, Beets, Gooseberries, Red Scallions, Shallots and onions on 18th July 2016

All in all the Monster is looking well, and considering that this day last week was a very challenging day when Mrs. Dirt-digger had a very nasty accident on the allotment site, stepping onto a length of timber with 4” nails protruding from it that someone had mindlessly discarded onto one of the walkways and in the process spiked her foot badly…sometimes all is not as rosy as it first seems on an allotment site, and they can be challenging and dangerous environments. Still, the Monster’s pro’s always out-weigh the larger allotment site con’s, and as steering groups and committees don’t like such dangers being acknowledged and/or pointed out, we are thinking about a couple of simple signs:

Snapping the Snapper... — Snapping the Snapper…18th July 2016

Blackcurrant Jam making process last evening…

CAREFUL NOW!

Down with this sort of thing…

Fathers Maguire & Crilly — Fathers Ted & Dougal: Careful Now!!!

More anon everyone…

Allotment, Allotment Gardening, Dirtdigging, Gardening, GIY, Greenfingers, Onions, St. Anne's Park Walled Garden

Six Years a Growing: get the picture?

On this day 6 years ago, Mrs Dirt-digger was one of the first plot holders to turn a sod in the then newly opened walled garden allotments in St Anne’s Park in Dublin. We took possession of our keys on 3rd July that year, and sooner than attempt a verbose essay on our experiences during that six year period, we’ve decided to post a little photo journey of our challenges and achievements to date, and over the coming days we’ll update the scrapbook with more images…

So, day 1, July 2010…

plot 49 — We took charge of an overgrown corner on Nov. 1st 2012

the first mecnanical — The Monster’s new name tag; summer 2013

The "beamer" on plot 49 — The “beamer” on plot 49

The Monster's Gift — some summer harvest from The Monster’s Mouth in summer 2013

IMAG1371 — The ladies left the hive and set up shop on our beam bench…

curing the shallots july 2014 — curing the shallots July 2014

Basil and Tomato plants in the polytunnel

Summer time flush on plot 49...2015 — Summer time flush on plot 49…2015

early summer on the monster in the corner — Early summer on the monster in the corner…

Dimpled Golfus... — Time to Tag with the balls…

June 2016 on Plot 49 — one small corner of the plot that is the Monster…June 2016

most photos courtesy Janette

#EURO2016, Anne Hildago, City of Paris, Grand Vermeil, Irish Football Fans, Irish Football Team, Mayor of Paris, rosy in the garden, The Green Army

Excursus II: everything’s rosy in the garden…

Final detour to the EURO’s 2016…

The Green Army on the move... — The Green Army on the move…

Although the Republic of Ireland Football Team was knocked out of the EURO 2106 by the host nation France last Sunday, the travelling hoards of fans who made the journey in support of their footballing heroes are to come home with a big prize nonetheless.
Today the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced that the Irish fans are to be awarded the Medal of the City of Paris the ‘Grand Vermeil’ for their “exemplary sportsmanship behaviour” together with the goodwill “atmosphere” they created in all of the cities in which they based themselves for the duration of the tournament.

As an Irishman and a football fan I am pleased no end, and though the cynic in me is screaming “who will the award be presented to? When will it be presented? Where will it be presented? Will there actually be any genuine football fan present at the presentation ceremony? etc. etc.” I suppose I should just acknowledge that any award recognising such a large travelling contingent of Irishmen and Women should not be too easily dismissed as a triviality, and perhaps deserves such international plaudits for promoting some of the better elements of what this island of ours, both North and south, has to offer. Well done to all, we may have been beaten on the green fields of France, but there’s always next time. Roll on Serbia on 5th September!!!!
See, everything’s rosy in the garden…COYBIG

and as the above picture shows, everything’s rosy on plot 49 as well

…roses and photograph compliments @janpaulkelly

Allotment, golf balls, rude mechanical, St. Anne's Park Walled Garden, Wheelbarrow

The Monster’s ‘Rude Mechanical’ 2016

We here on Monster in the Corner always like a challenge, and never more so than in maintaining the Monster’s mantra of reducing, reusing and recycling.
When first we encountered the overgrown eyesore that was our allotment plot almost 4 years ago we knew we’d have our work cut out in trying to clear and cultivate it, but once we had achieved this we started to think on how to develop a character for our plot.
Where other plot holders had bought metal plates and wooden plaques with numbers on, or, as in some cases still had the original 12” corrie-board plot number signs pegged in the ground by the council to demarcate each allotment, we decided on something different.
For three years we used a large log, sourced from a tree felled by winter storms, and onto this we placed the Monster’s call sign i.e. 49, and for good measure – and also because my daughter bought it as a gift to the plot- we had a small bug hotel pinned to the log. This ‘rude mechanical’ as we called it, was always one of the talking points of the larger walled garden and helped set the early scene for the way the Monster in the Corner would develop over the years.

The Monster's Original Mechanical ON PLOT 49 — The Monster’s Original Mechanical ON PLOT 49

However, three wet and stormy winters always take a toll and this spring the Monster’s mechanical was looking forlorn to say the least. It was time for a change, and as such a challenge. Sooner than simply replace like with like, we decided we’d try to plant-up the plot’s designation, a living floral mechanical if you like, but also to incorporate –as is our practice- some element of recycling. So, with a spare wheelbarrow, a large hole, 4 square yards of dirt and a slow but steady supply of Dimpled Golfus (golf balls from the adjoining park golf course see post of 6th May) we set about this year’s rude mechanical…

Spilling the Barrow... — Spilling the Barrow…

Setting the balls... — Setting the balls…

We’ve had to wait for some of the initial bedding to fill-out in order to mark the template, and the deterioration in sunshine levels together with increased rain the last 20 days have slowed the blooming scheme a little, but here’s hoping it will colour up by mid July…

The Monster's Rude Mechanical 2016 — The Monster’s Rude Mechanical 2016

	Janette Kelly on Nature’s Golden Burlesqu…
	carolee on Making Something Of Nothing!
	Janette Kelly on Many Weathered Madness
	Green-fingers Day To… on International Greenfingers Day…
	The Garden Is Now… on Back to our roots…

Author: Dirtdigger