Sowing seeds, planting out, buying plants, harvesting the first lettuce, worrying about frosty nights, making comfrey brew – it is all happening. I find April always an exciting month especially with the 40 shades of Green developing fast. So don’t work too hard, sit down with your Dandelion lemonade and read the latest news from The Organic Centre. Happy Easter from all of us here at The Organic Centre!
In this newsletter you will read about:
- Dandelion Lemonade
- Tips and Tricks about Carrots
- Shop News
- Garden News
- Volunteer News
- Course News (more…)
Continue Reading...
April and May Course Bulletin 2011
April 30th Saturday: Soups, dips and breads – new
What you may have tried and tasted as a course participant you can now learn how to cook it yourself with Organic Centre chef Lynne Maguire
What could taste more sublime than a steaming bowl of good homemade soup except for the heavely fresh bread you’ve made to go with it! – Comfort food at it’s very best! We will show you how easy it is. Lynne from the Grass Roof Cafe will give her new course “Soups, dips and breads” on Saturday 30th April. Come along and join in for some and fantastic food. You will also learn to plan your cooking ahead and use your leftovers and thereby minimise time and waste in the kitchen. (more…)
Continue Reading...
with Josette Farrell
General Garden Tasks
Keep on top of weeding and hoeing by spring cleaning your borders.
Feed roses, borders, hedges, trees, shrubs and spring bulbs. SuperGrow fertiliser replaces lost energy in all garden plants. It’s ideal for feeding trees, hedging, shrubs and hardy garden plants. Just apply a handful of the granules around the base of each plant in Spring and again in early Summer. (more…)
Continue Reading...
For GIY week we are having a potato planting demo at Clarinbridge Allotments. You may remember Sylvia had on open day there last year and she has kindly offered to do it again for GIY week.
As St.Patricks day is the traditional day for starting the potato planting Sylvia will give us a timely demonstration on how to do it.
Event: GIY week Potato Planting Demo
Day: Saturday 19th March
Time: 2.30pm
Venue: Clarinbridge Allotments (more…)
Continue Reading...
As well as a whole heap of wonderful and interesting activities for next week, we are also doing a series of expert webchats. These are a really fantastic opportunity for our members and have the potential to become a regular feature.
Imagine the potential, store up your questions on topic of your choice, suggest an expert and GIY will plead and beg with them to give their time and knowledge for an hour.
For GIY Week ‘Expert’ webchats we have a number of experts have very kindly agreed to start the ball rolling on Monday 14th, Tues. 15th and Fri. 18th. These will be happening each night from 7 – 8pm, all you need to do is log onto www.giyireland.com/chat On Wednesday and St Patrick’s Day we have two extra special events. (more…)
Continue Reading...
Sunday 13th March 2011 from 11am -5pm
All you need to know about potatoes in 1 day with special features on
“SAVE the BEES” and “Grow It Yourself” (GIY) (more…)
Continue Reading...
March is the month when things really start to get busy, so I’ll try to be brief this month. I’m told I tend to go on a bit!
New Book Launched
I’m happy to announce the launch of my new book, The Complete Vegetable Grower. It’s a bit of a departure for me, for a start it’s a hard cover and secondly it’s got lots of full colour photographs.
It covers the same ground as my other growing books but with photographs and a fabulous design job by the publishers. I was quite knocked out when I saw my copy! Only problem is that it’s a bit big to stick in your pocket when you head out to the plot and it costs a bit more than the others. (more…)
Continue Reading...
The News
Hurrah, Spring is here! We have some fab February highlights…
The Limerick Bereavement Project is now using Gordon Goes to Greenieland as part of their bereavement services! It is a fantastic group that help children come to terms with parental separation and bereavement.
It was not expected that Gordon Goes to Greenieland would be of such good use to the bereavement services in Ireland but it is a very welcome bonus!
For every ten books we sell we give Barnardos one book for free, so get buying at greenieland.ie.
A big thank you to the kids and staff in Oranmore Boys National School, we had great fun demonstrating our website using their interactive white board.
We are very much looking forward to visiting the kids in Killimor National School.
We hope the Renmore Brownies in Galway enjoy Gordon Goes to Greenieland! (more…)
Continue Reading...
Grow your own Vitamin C in Ireland? Grow spuds!
Find out how at The 12th Annual Potato Day
at The Organic Centre
Sunday 13th March 2011 from 11am -5pm
with a special feature on “SAVE the BEES”
Potatoes are not only a nutritional powerhouse they are also delicious and versatile to use in dishes. Not only does a potato give you an energising supply of complex carbohydrates, but it also provides important vitamins and minerals, including potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B6. 100grms of freshly harvested spuds, boiled in their skin gives about 50% of an adult’s daily recommended intake of Vitamin C. For a substantial helping of fibre eat potatoes with the skin. (more…)
Continue Reading...
Three new courses from The Garden School this Spring in Galway with Irish Garden writer Ciaran Burke, including weekend courses and night classes
Grow Your Own Food
Sunday classes, 6 weeks.
This course is a unit from the RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Horticulture course and on completion participants can get an RHS Certificate if they wish to complete an exam, otherwise it is all about enjoying and learning how to grow fruit and vegetables organically. The course will be held over 6 Sunday’s through March, April and May.
Start Gardening!
Night Classes
A six part course covering basic garden techniques including planning a vegetable garden, soil management and choosing hardy plants for gardens in Ireland.
These night classes will be held on Tuesday’s commencing in March and finishing in May.
Starting with Fruit
One day course
On Saturday 12th March Ciaran will host a fruit course dealing with planning the fruit garden, choosing trees, suitable rootstocks, training, pollinators and more.
All the courses will feature lectures, demonstrations and practical classes, taking place at our venue in Claregalway.
Further details and booking forms are avaiable from the website: www.ciaranburke.ie or call Ciaran at 094 9649943.
Continue Reading...
Well the good news about February is that winter is nearly over and March isn’t far away. However, after the December snow, it’s a braver person than me who’ll bet on us not having another cold snap. January was quite pleasant here but most days the thermometer rarely moved much above freezing.
It doesn’t help that we’re 600 feet up a hillside now, which brings me to planting times. Because of our micro-climate, we’re going to be at least a couple of weeks later than those down at sea level where it’s around 3 degrees warmer. Whilst those lucky people in the sunny south might be as much as a month ahead, we’re now equivalent to being up into Scotland. Always keep your individual circumstances in mind when reading the back of the seed packet. (more…)
Continue Reading...
We’ve certainly had a hard start to winter and I suspect there’s more snow to come but the good news is that a hard winter often means a good summer will follow. However, my attempts at guessing the weather have been consistently wrong in the past so no predictions or refunds if I’m wrong.
One lesson nature has taught me over the years is not to be in too much of a rush. I’ve had more failures and seen others have more failures by starting too early than starting late. It’s OK for the show growers, they’re aiming to have their crops ready for shows and start off in climate controlled greenhouses with banks of artificial lighting. Us mortal growers need to wait until the seasons and conditions are right. (more…)
Continue Reading...
