After the recent sunshine, warmth and rain Goresbridge Community Garden is starting to bloom. We were a little late planting vegetables in the polytunnel as it was full of plug plants and hanging baskets for the village scheme. However, the tomatoes, courgette and butternut squash, aubergine and chilli peppers from the Feeling Hot range of Greenside Up seed collections have now been planted and are starting to grow thanks to the summer heat. We’ve also planted basil, coriander, French marigold and Calendula amongst them, all useful companion herbs and flowers we sowed from seed earlier in the year.
In the garden outside, fruit is forming and flowers are attracting the bees. The recent dry spell has caused some bolting of the rocket and spinach (plants flowering and setting seed too early) so leaves are quickly being harvested and fresh seeds will be sown to replace them. Some of the onions have bolted too so we’re pinching the stems out of the flower forming stalks as soon as we spot them which will enable the onion bulbs to grow a bit larger before we harvest them.
I really enjoy working with the Goresbridge gardeners. I’ve had the pleasure of tutoring them for four years on and off thanks to VEC funding. Due to the Kilkenny Leader Partnership funding, this year my work will be continuing throughout the summer months and I’ll be able to offer hands-on, practical gardening advice, which is the best way to learn! This means we’ll be able to cover the harvesting, cooking, preserving and nutritional elements of growing your own food, aspects that are often overlooked with gardening courses usually ending in July. We’ll also look at what we can grow in the empty spaces after harvesting as well as autumn soil preparation and are developing a crop to sell to a local award-winning restaurant.
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Dee Sewell – a horticulturalist and certified trainer who started Greenside Up in 2009 and teaches people how to grow vegetables. Dee specialises in working with community gardens but also offers workshops, allotment visits, consultations, horticultural therapy, afterschools clubs as well as local talks – she tailors her services to meet clients needs. In 2012 Dee launched a Seed Gift Collection containing varieties of vegetable and insect friendly flowers with the aim of getting more people growing. Dee’s blog was a finalist in the 2012 Ireland Blog Awards in the Eco/Green and Lifestyle Categories.
