New season vegtable.

           We have now had the first couple of pickings of  Purple Sprouting Broccoli,

First pickings.

this plant takes a long time to grow, the best part of a year from sowing the seed to cropping, but is always well worth the effort. The seeds for next years crop have also been sown in root trainers, they will get planted out in a couple of months. We are coming to the end of the last year veg,

Nearly the last of the leeks.

maybe a couple more pickings of leeks, but plenty of carrots, swede,  parsnips potatoes and onions, also curly kale. Cauliflowers are just starting to form their curds, we will look forward to them. Swede and turnips have germinated in the garden and various brassicas are growing away in their seed trays. The tomato plants are all looking good, potatoes all planted, various squashes and courgettes in their pots, the new season has begun.
Yesterday saw us again over in North Roscommon for a plant swap day, meeting up with like minded friends, talking gardens and swapping plants. Although several of us live in the west of the county we seem to gravitate to the north of the county where there is more energy and alternative  thinking people.
 Had we been looking for soft fruits we could have planted a whole field with the amount of black and redcurrant cuttings, raspberries and strawberry plants as well, but our soft fruit garden is completed although it has cost quite a bit, but we could have done it all for free from the plant swap.

Plants from the plant swap.

We came away with some lovely plants including Agapanthus, Arum lily, Bamboo, Red Bergamot and  Perennial Purslane, plus other bits and pieces. Seven of us then descended on the local garden centre, never a good idea, the excuse being we all wanted a good cup of coffee. Needless to say we all ended up with a little more than coffee, but by and large we were all quite good!  We sound like a bunch of naughty kids in a sweet shop, for the group of friends that we were with, a garden centre is the adult equivalent, the coffee is just the excuse.

Starting off with a board for the base frame.

Inspired by the previous weeks basket making course we have now made a large willow obelisk for our runner bean support,

Now all we need are the beans.

it not only looks good but came free from nature and took just an hour to make.

Daffy is not too sure about Felix.

Our two youngest cats, Sparky and Felix have fascination with a couple of our ducks, Daffy duck who likes to spend time in our garden when she is wanting to lay a clutch of eggs

What is that duck doing?

and a white Indian Runner who we have had to remove from the run as she had a bad leg. On closer examination we found  that her leg band had cut right into her leg, this we had great difficulty in removing and she is still limping, so she has her own sick bay and we give her a daily swim in the pond as physiotherapy.

The cats just do not understand how these friends appear to be able to walk on water, they have both tested out the pond with their paws and found it to be wet, Sparky has had a bath in the pond, but still has not quite worked it all out.

Strange friendship.