Quality Time & Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

As a business owning mum, one of my constant struggles is the emotional guilt of not spending enough quality time with my children.

When they were tiny we made the decision that we would forgo holidays, new cars and lovely treats so that I could stay at home and look after our children rather than paying someone else to do it for us. I did that for ten years but when the youngest of our three finally started school aged five, I loosened the apron strings and signed up for the full time horticultural course that set me on the road I'm currently on.

With fantastic support from Mr G I studied and experimented, dreamt and talked plants and just a month after finishing the course threw myself into starting Greenside Up so that I could share all the knowledge I'd learnt about soil, water, polytunnels, biodiversity and plants, thereby helping newbie gardeners to grow their own veg too.

However, as any self employed, business owner knows - this isn't a nine to five job. To make a success of it, and particularly when you're so passionate about what you're trying to achieve, it's a seven day a week, evenings, early mornings and even middle of the night kind of job. I can't deny either that I thoroughly enjoy being 'Dee' again and not just being "someones mum", but as a mum, that's where the emotional struggle begins. How can you have a successful business and be *WORLD'S NO 1 MUM*? (I wonder do men feel this pull, as Mr G certainly doesn't feel the same guilt I do at bathrooms not always being clean and shiny and floors unwashed...?)

The answer, I feel, is that you can't be everything to everyone and that there's no such thing as the perfect mum. We all try and do our best. There were no school lessons teaching us how to do it, we weren't born knowing how to be parents, nobody ever warned us just how difficult it would be, that it doesn't necessarily come naturally to us all. All we have is our own upbringing to guide us and we either try and replicate it if it was a good upbringing, or hopefully improve upon it if it wasn't.

Before she retired to go on to become a full time foster mother, for many years my own mum was a business owner too and I now fully understand and appreciate all the sacrifices and guilt she must have felt. (Mum's now in her mid 70's and along with my dad is currently looking after three under one year old babies...) I was lucky - mum did her very best and I feel, a fantastic job, guiding and showing us in her actions how to be good human beings. My sister and I grew up to be independent spirits thanks to her amazing example.

So how do I do the best that I can for my own children? Well for a start I'd like, and need, to spend quality time with them. I'm having to accept that it's not going to be every day, or as often as they or I would like. At the beginning of this year I made a firm resolution that I would spend good, quality time with them - not homework or eating meals together time, but one on one time. Children remember things they do rather than things they own. My memories are of holidays, swimming lessons or weekly trips to the cash and carry where the four of us would stop off and buy huge piles of fish and chips and pickled gherkins.

For our children and me, our quality time tends to be spent in the kitchen baking. They love to cook, so guiding  and teaching, weighing and tasting is how we're currently spending most of our quality time. Yesterday we baked tasty little Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from a recipe our youngest had torn out of a magazine. To our surprise the easy recipe worked, the cookies are delicious and I'm sharing it here ....

Ingredients


1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs (I used 3 as the mixture looked very dry)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
100gms 70% chocolate broken up (or a cup of chocolate chips)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Method


Heat the oven to 180oC and grease and line a baking tray (23cm x 33cm). Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until combined. If you don't have a food processor, cream the first seven ingredients together, then add the remaining.


Spread the mixture in the tin and place in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven, cut the pieces to size and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy with a cup of tea, cream or custard!

For now, when I'm sitting alone at night, when they're all tucked up in bed and I'm beating myself up from feelings of unbearable guilt that I missed the latest soccer match, haven't yet taught my eleven year old to knit or am sending them off to a neighbours once again to be looked after, I have to hang on to the fact that as long as my children keep slipping me notes like this one I can't be doing it that wrong.

If you have children, how do you spend your quality time with them? Do you suffer the same guilt? All tips greatly appreciated please!

Gardening with Kids - Have Fun with Cress

Children love to watch seeds grow, and even better if the seeds they are growing are scattered in the shape of their name or favourite shape (am thinking hearts for Valentine's Day here...).

Here’s a simple project that can be grown at any time of the year – as long as you have a light windowsill to grow them on.

What you will need:

Cress seeds

Watering can or spray bottle

A container – margarine tubs, mushroom container – anything that will hold your seeds

Compost, kitchen roll or cotton wool

What to do:

Place your compost, cotton wool or kitchen roll on the bottom of the container and soak with water.

Shake some seeds into your (or your child’s) hand and carefully shape them into the desired initial or shape (beware as they are easily scattered!)

Place the container on a windowsill, preferably where the child can see them.  

Make sure the compost, cotton wool or kitchen roll is kept wet as the seeds won’t grow if they’re allowed to dry out.

In just a week’s time, when the cress has reached about 5cm, it will be ready to eat! (Tastes delicious in a sandwich with egg or cheese.)

Older children might like to try growing the seeds in more than one container at the same time, with say compost in one and cotton wool in another so that they can compare the results. 

Some of the things you can talk about as you watch the seeds grow are:

• How the seeds all bend as they reach to the light. If you turn the tray they will bend back. There's a special word for this which I love called Phototropism. There are lots of 'tropisms'. Another one I like is Thigmotropism where a plant moves or grows in response to being gently stroked or touched.

• If the seeds are sown too thickly they might not grow as strong or healthy as they will all be fighting for space and light.

• If they forget to water them they might not grow as strong or healthy as they will all be fighting for space and light.

• If they forget to water them they will become limp (as we do). If they are overwatered they might not germinate as they will be starved of oxygen and drown!

• If two experiments are carried out, do the seeds that were grown in the compost look healthier, greener or larger than those in the kitchen paper or cotton wool? Did they grow more quickly? (If so it's because there are nutrients in compost that will feed them, whereas there are no nutrients in compost or kitchen roll!  Seeds don't need nutrients to germinate as everything they require to do this is contained within their seed shell. However, once they've sprouted and grown their first leaves, they will be looking for those precious nutrients.

Have you ever grown cress seeds in different ways? What's your favourite way of eating it?

Guest Post: Fabulous! 5 Easy Winter Flower Bulbs by Susan Flowers

Susan has kindly written the first of my new feature guests posts that I'll be including on the Greenside Up blog. She is the Manager of the Blooming Brilliant Garden Centre at Dermot Kehoe Supply & DIY Centre in New Ross, Co. Wexford. Susan has had the gardening bug for over 10 years, and has designed several gardens in that time, along with working as a horticulturalist and garden centre manager. 

This Spring her garden centre is getting a bit of a re-vamp, so she is quite excited about planning the new layout! You can follow the Blooming Brilliant Garden Centree  on Facebook.

You are probably longing for Spring right about now, aren’t you? Craving a bit of colour and cheer in the garden as you wait for the first green shoots?  Well, did you know there are some fantastic flowers you can enjoy in your garden in winter? There are, and they are easy peasy to grow! Here are my top five:

Winter Irises

Winter Iris

Winter Iris

These little jewels generally bloom in January, and are mainly in shades of purple & blue. Iris reticulata is their Latin name, and they look stunning planted in groups. I’ve several in bloom in my garden at the minute, and they come back year after year as long as your soil isn’t soggy. You can also have them indoors in a pot to enjoy the scent up close, (put in a coolish spot in order for the flowers to last longer) and then you can plant outside when they are done flowering. There is a cheery yellow winter iris, too - iris danfordiae- which also has a fab scent, but is not quite as likely to return next year. Still, they are not expensive as plants in pots or as dried bulbs & are worth the enjoyment!

Winter Aconite

Winter Acconite

Winter Acconite

These sunny little ‘Winter Buttercups’ (Eranthis hyemalis) are wildlife friendly, tough as boots in the snow, and will often multiply and make a nice carpet of sunshine! Planted underneath a deciduous tree - where other plants will often not grow- they are a real lift! Winter Aconites are much better bought as growing plants in pots versus dried bulbs in bags. The foliage dies back around April/May, and it feeds the bulb so it will flower again next year, so don’t chop it while it is still green- this goes for all bulbs, too.

Snowdrops

Snowdrops

Snowdrops

Another winter beauty best bought in a pot, Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) also multiply over the years- but do plant them in groups to start; a single plant or two on their tod look a bit lonely. As they clump up more fully you can gently split and move them when they are finished for the season. You can go mad and pay big money for special varieties (like on the top picture above), or buy the more common kinds for much less.

January Gold & February Gold Daffodils

Early Daffodil 

Daffodil February Gold

These very early daffs do  what they say on the tin! In fact, it was so mild here in Ireland this December that my January Golds have been in full flower since mid December- and they are still looking great one month on! These bulbs have never let me down and always give a wonderful, long, show. Most likely you will find them for sale as inexpensive dry bulbs in in bags, and that is perfectly fine for them. Enjoy! But don’t tie the foliage in knots after, or cut down until after it yellows- like with all bulbs, it feeds next years flowers.

Crocus

   

Mixed crocus

Crocus tommasinianus

Your teacher probably had you plant a few crocus in a cup in school when you were a child- they are that easy to grow, but no less valuable Winter cheer for it! There are lots of different colours and colour combos to choose from in the different varieties, but one of my all time favourites is plain old crocus tommasinianus, pictured below. 

Crocus tommasinianus

It is so graceful and spreads around nicely. They all are very good for any early honeybees that venture out on mild Winter days, and the happy go lucky crocus deserve a place in every garden. J They also are fine purchased dry, or as growing plants in pots.

I hope you are inspired to grow a few of these gorgeous, easy Winter flowers yourself!  

I hope you enjoyed ready about the fabulous bulbs available to brighten up our winter days as much as I did, and are now thinking of adding some colour to your own gardens?


Susan is currently selling all of the bulbs mentioned (and others) in pots at this time of year, with prices varying between 5 for €10 for some pots, 3 for €10 for others, which I think is great value...... Thanks Susan, I may be heading down way soon! 

Sowing Seeds ? Paper Potter Product Review

Image courtesy of  Mary Gettings www.ecoevolution.ie
(fellow Paper Potter fan!)

Last year I tried making newspaper pots for my seeds using a small plastic drinks bottle as a guide but found it quite fiddly, and could never quite get the base to sit correctly.

When I saw the Nether Wallop Plant Potter (great name!) online it was top of my Christmas wish list and I was therefore delighted to find that I had been a good girl after all when I was handed my presents from under the tree.

Some seedlings sulk if their roots are disturbed so they should either be sown directly into the soil (like parsnips and carrots whose roots generally won't form) or into pots that will biodegrade (beetroot, beans, peas, squash and melons).

I've used cardboard tubes (from kitchen or toilet rolls) which work very well too but it's questionable as to whether the glue used to stick them together is 'safe'.

If you like to sow your own seedlings, making your own pots out of newspaper is a great money saver (even if you do have the initial small outlay of a wooden potter, better if it's a gift) and you'll be doing your bit to help the planet by recycling old newspapers too.

I really enjoy using my little potter. It's made from FSC oak and beautifully turned, fitting into the hand perfectly. My eight year old made several pots too and loved helping mum - she didn't want to stop! I was also impressed by the minimalistic packaging. Just a cardboard box with the instructions printed on it - no plastic and compostable - there's a lesson there for other companies who over package...

There's not much more I can say other than a great little tool that I'd recommend all gardeners have in their kit bag. These are available online for €11.75 plus postage... If you count up how much can be spent on seedling pots over the years, and the fact that once you have this tool you'll never run out of them, I think it's worth it.

If you're not sure, or are just interested in how to make them, here's a clip demonstrating how quick and easy paper pots are to make using the Nether Wallop Paper Potter.

Have you an essential piece of kit in your bag that you can't do without in the garden?

Seeds : How do you know when it's safe to sow?

Mixed seedlings ready to harden off 

You've made your lists, drawn out your crop rotation plans, have your seeds and compost ready, and before long you'll be itching to start sowing.

The pressure builds as magazines and social media start to fill with stories of planting dates and there's a noticeable jostle over who's starting to sow which vegetable seeds when.

Does that sound familiar? If you're new to vegetable gardening beware as it soon will be and before you know it you'll be sowing too and then wondering why your seedlings are seriously struggling or have died.

Leggy parsley seedlings sown too early and stretching for light

As such an avid social media user, last year I remember feeling a sense of panic that I'd left my sowing too late, yet it wasn't even March! I know from experience that we can be three weeks behind the growing conditions of warmer gardens, but it was difficult not to feel left behind when being bombarded with everyone else's reports.

Don't get caught out by a late frost - frozen seedlings!

So why is it important to sow seeds at the correct time (temperature)?
If you attempt to sow seeds below their preferred temperature, it can result in slow germination, seeds rotting, problems with plants developing and ultimately disease as they wont have started life with the best start.

Seeds need heat to germinate and the requirements vary from plant to plant. They will germinate quicker at higher temperatures but the minimums required can be roughly divided into three groups:

5 deg C for brassicas (cabbage type family), lettuce, peas and broad beans
7 deg C  for parsnips, carrots, beetroot, scallions, leeks, onions
10-12 deg C for runner beans, French beans, courgettes, tomatoes and sweet corn

Different containers for seeds

So how do you know when is the best time to sow?

Part of being a successful gardener is learning to work with, understand and appreciate nature and her elements. That means noticing the wind directions and the signs of seasons changing, the fluctuations in temperature. Keeping a diary of not only what and when you sow but weather conditions that can be referred back to will become an invaluable aid.

If you wish to sow seeds indoors that can be transplanted out as the temperatures rise, or plant seeds directly into the soil where they will germinate, you'll need to have an idea of the soil temperature.

We can roughly work out when the best sowing dates are using average temperatures from previous years. Having an idea when the last frost date is in your area will help you to plan when to sow your seeds indoors, ready to be transplanted outside and hardened off once the soil temperature has warmed up.

So many things wrong here,   too many seeds sown, not enough light, no drainage...

Take runner beans for instance. You have two choices:

1. Sow the beans directly into the soil once the soil temperatures have reached 10-12 deg C for three days or more (between May and June, depending upon where you lives) - NOTE: easiest method!

So for us at 1,000 m above sea level I would be aiming for early to mid June however, if you live in a warm, sheltered area, mid May should work for you.

2. Sow the beans in modules ready to plant out when soil temps are 10-12 deg C or more. 

Beans take between 7 - 14 days to germinate and you could allow approx 3-4 weeks in the pots prior to transplanting outside. As an example, if I'm looking at the calender, aiming to plant my beans outside on 11th June, I would plan to plant them in pots during mid to end of April (keeping an eye out on long range weather forecasts. This should also allow time to harden them off before planting i.e. acclimatising them to the outdoors gradually.

There's no science here - most vegetable guides will suggest you sow runner beans between April and May.  The above was just a demonstration of how the guides arrive at that.

Bottom heat from a propagator gives stronger seedlings

In Ireland the most helpful resource I've found for frost dates, etc are the reports published by Met Eirann that give 30 year average temperatures from 1961 to 1990. Unfortunately not up-to-date, these can nevertheless be used as a guide for the average number of (ground) frost days that occurred each month as well as minimum and maximum temperatures. Bare in mind that the weather conditions from your nearest weather station might not resemble those of your garden. In our case it can differ by up to 5 deg C

Children love to help sow seeds

For more accurate current readings Met Eirann also publish daily records, those combined with the averages could give you a very clear indication of the ultimate sowing dates.

If you want to be totally sure however, soil thermometers are readily available either online or from garden centres.

Horticultural fleece placed over beds will protect seedlings from frost

Whenever you choose to sow, it's a good idea to start gathering resources in case of unexpected frosts that can either be used at the beginning of the year to protect sowings and seedlings, or at the end to protect from autumn frosts. Start stocking up on horticultural fleece, collect newspapers or pick up old net curtains from boot sales so that you can cover precious seedlings should a cold snap occur.

Hope that helps!