There’s something so elementally enjoyable about peeling back a sweetcorn’s skin to find the beautiful shiny yellow kernels underneath, writes Michael Kelly.
As well as specific watering methods there is the regular pinching out of side shoots to allow air to circulate around the plants, writes Michael Kelly.
Learn to make ‘a one-pot veggie wonder that’s crammed with healthy vegetables, herbs and pulses and as an added bonus uses up stale bread too,’ writes Michael Kelly.
Growing tomatoes is a double-edged sword because once you’ve tasted a proper homegrown tomato you really can’t go back to the bland shop-bought alternative, writes Michael Kelly.
Time to transplant those tomatoes too. ‘Did you know that the little fuzzy hairs on the stem of a tomato seedling can become a root if planted under the soil?’
The act of harvesting spuds is pure GIY joy. Rummaging in the soil underneath a potato plant and finding lots of lovely tubers is as good as Christmas, writes Michael Kelly.
We’ll be teaching you to grow onions, pumpkins, sweetcorn, courgettes, kale, beans and chillis for all shapes and sizes of gardens, writes Michael Kelly.
Since reading the book, I’ve started sweeping the floor every morning in a mindful way – it’s delightfully old school and calming at the same time, writes Michael Kelly.
Potatoes are high in vitamin C, naturally fat-free, a source of fibre and potassium and low in sugar. They are also versatile and delicious, writes Michael Kelly.
It’s no longer just about ‘exotic’ fruit and veg that are difficult to grow in Ireland, we are now importing lots of veg that grow perfectly well here, writes Michael Kelly.
I have had some God-awful compost heaps over the years – slimey, smelly, sludgy yokes that festered away in the corner of the garden, writes Michael Kelly.
As usual, the aubergines were a disaster – at this stage, I think I only bother sowing them because there’s not much else to do in February, writes Michael Kelly.
Leeks often don’t grab the health headlines the way their allium cousins – garlic and onions do. But they contain most of the same flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients, writes Michael Kelly.
So many people in my generation remember their fathers toiling away in the garden, we’re only one generation removed from the soil, writes Michael Kelly.
As I’ve looked glumly from the house at the sodden garden, it’s been playing on my mind that it’s high time I got the beds in the veg patch covered down for the winter, writes Michael Kelly
A LEVY ON disposable coffee cups looks set to be introduced later this year or early next year.
Precise details of the long-mooted ‘latte levy’ will be published at a later date, however, previous plans indicated that the levy would likely be up to 25 cent.
Ossian Smyth, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication, said the introduction of this environmental levy is “not primarily intended as a revenue-raising measure, but rather as a means of incentivising increased use of affordable reusable alternatives to disposable coffee cups”.
‘Keep cups’ are reusable receptacles that people bring to cafés to be filled up with coffee or other drinks and are designed to reduce waste. But do you use them?
Mostly cloudy with a passing shower
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Breezy with rain
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