Gardening Advice & Tips for Irish Gardeners

This weekend in the garden was really a general maintenance weekend as most other aspects of the garden are under control and with the frequent showers between the sunshine I let nature take its course and didn’t use my recently installed irrigation system.

I have able to feast on some more vegetables this weekend too with some early peas, more thinnings from my rows of carrots and the first of my beetroot.

All my vegetables are coming towards maturity now, so space is really at a premium. The result of this is the continued need to thin my carrots which is not a problem. But on a more concerning note my butternut squash is getting out competed by my broccoli and it is not developing like I would have hoped.

With that I mind I realise that the taller and more shade tolerant broccoli should have been planted at the back of the raised bed with the squash taking the sunniest spot towards the front. All hope is not lost as we still have another 8 good sunny weeks in which the squash may recover.

To give my squash the best chance I have been feeding and weeding around the plants this weekend. Saying that, the weeds were few and far between now as my vegetables soar towards the sky and shade out everything beneath. This really means us gardeners have little to do expect worry about our worse performing members.

I have fed the all my vegetables with a liquid feed of maxi crop organic seaweed fertiliser. This fertiliser is a general mix and contains a good balance of everything a developing vegetable needs. Because squashes are hungry for everything from sun to water to food I gave them an extra powerful application of feed.

No such worries and concerns for my broccoli, carrots, peas or onions as they continue to surge forward. My onions have started to develop decent bulbs and they foliage is really starting to wain under their own weight.

A common problem with courgettes has reared its ugly head – blossom end rot. The cause is different from that of tomatoes where infrequent watering is to blame. With courgettes the issue is a fertility one and the lack of calcium in the soil. With that I have been feeding my courgettes with a special mix of garden lime & phosphorous.