May frost

Posted on13. May, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

I laughed at the brother last year when he warned me to watch out for the May Frost! I was sure he was winding up the newbie. I’m not laughing now. Tried covering the earlies with fleece but still got discoloured blackened leaves. Big Jim advised me to get the fleece up off the spuds and suggested hooped willow wands as a support – lots growing along the hedge. Strange year so far. What are the odds on a June Frost?

Move clay while the sun shines

Posted on22. Apr, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Richard Van Gogh feeling the Spring Urges…

Last year’s compost bin performed so beautifully, I decided to have two!

Quality Inspectors Jim & Mick admiring Cyril’s Rhubarb.

Water Metering

Posted on20. Apr, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

It’s on the way, says Mr Gormley. Time to put the buckets out and save every drop. B&Q supplied this mini-guttering. Hasn’t rained yet so I don’t know how effective it’s going to be. Small roof. I put in a waterbutt on the big shed at home and it’s great. Filled up in no time.

Recent Activity

Posted on20. Apr, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Starting off the Sunflowers from last year’s saved seed. This lot has been potted on and delivered to Kilcock. Too early yet to put them in the ground. The styrofoam casing around the propagator came from the packaging of a B&Q storage box – just fitted exactly!

Spuds chitting away in the spare, cool, bright bedroom. Odd lot Kevin got this year – Collen, Cara, Lady Balfour, Duke of York. A far cry from the Kerr’s Pinks and Golden Wonders of yesteryear. And what about that great Irish potato – the British Queen?

Starting off the Sweetpea on the windowsill a few weeks ago. Nine of the 14 came up. They’re flying out in the plastic house now.

Dylan’s Courgettes and Pumpkins were sown less than 2 weeks ago but are going absolutely mental. They need to be planted out even though it’s frosty still. A bit of fleece over them should do the job. I didn’t realize how big these were going to get last year – I put down some courgettes, squashes, pumpkins. Little plantlets. They ran riot and threatened to take over the plot. This year – no pumpkins – Dylan can bring them home. No squash – we didn’t really take to it. Two courgette plants are going in – and they’re going to be watched!

Green shoots – these onion sets all came on wonderfully in the plastic house and are now planted out with the carrots. Next lot coming on.

About Time

Posted on20. Apr, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

The brother reckoned my strawberries will be OK if I put a bit of plastic over them. This will bring them on after the fright of the winter, he says, and they’ll be flowering in no time. Must replace that painter’s dropcloth with a stiffer piece of polythene.

Some newcomers on the allotment this year and lots more sheds. Property boom over? Not here!

These are the boyos to watch. Very hungry and very persistent! Net up!

Meitheal

Posted on05. Jan, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Cyril’s new shed went over in the storm on the 30th December but the Carton Court Meitheal swung into action next morning. No damage done, seemingly. Field looks depressing at the moment, water and ice everwhere. Our winter cabbage looks very holey, despite the netting.

Home on the Free Range

Posted on05. Jan, 2010 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Thanks for the turkey Roger. My son-in-law declared it to be the best-tasting turkey ever!
Happy New Year!

Maynooth Allotments Crown Head Gardener of the Year – Jim McMahon

Posted on16. Oct, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Judged by Gerry Daly, Jim was awarded 1st Prize.
Well done to all involved.
Read More News @Maynooth Allotments Blog  & Paddyplot32

Thanks Guys!

Posted on13. Sep, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Lots of largesse on display down the plots this week. Look at the size of that turnip, says Damien, take that one with you! You’ll have to top and tail these beans, advises Gerry, there you go. And Tomato King Mark shoves this lot over to me – and the same amount for Kevin! Thanks a heap, fellas, much obliged. If you’re wondering how the Golden Wonders might taste, wonder no more, cominatcha!

Latest on the Property Ladder

Posted on06. Sep, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Cyril finally gets a roof over his head on the Allotment with his shiny new B&Q shed. Wonder what the combination will be? We’re all waiting for word of the shed-warming occasion…
(Architectural Digest please do not copy!)

A Treat for the Palate

Posted on02. Sep, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Noticed this original dining suite yesterday down the line from me. Ingenuity or wha?

Done Spraying

Posted on02. Sep, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Well that’s that. We munched our way through all the Sharpe’s Express, steamed right on through the Queens and fretted nightly about the fate of the Wonders and Pinks. All over now. Clipped all the haulm yesterday and threw a bit of clay over the drills. A fortnight now till we lift them. Let us pray.

Too Many Queens?

Posted on30. Aug, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Our poetic-hearted Gerry has come up with another literary parallel for our allotment lives:-

After Apple Picking

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still.
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples; I am drowsing off.
I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the water-trough,
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and reappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Robert Frost

Ready to drop

Posted on30. Aug, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

My Sungold tomatoes have been changing colour over the past week. Must be ready so. Going to chance one tomorrow.

The Fingernail Test

Posted on16. Aug, 2009 by Maynooth Town Portal.

Dylan checking the ripeness of the pumpkins he sowed way back when.