Community Gardening..... a sight to behold

I haven't blogged about the Community garden I've been working with as I've been posting pictures onto my facebook page (www.facebook.com/greensideupveg) and have loaded a .pdf file onto the Greenside Up web page (http://www.greensideup.ie/) for anybody interested in how we started the community garden in Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny.  James, one of the earlier gardeners also uploaded photos into Flikr of the garden in progress (also accessible from the web page).

However........ I was there again this morning and am astounded by the lush growth of all of the fruit and veg.  I'm aware that the first year of growth can be very productive but the garden really is a sight to behold.

It's in a sheltered spot in the middle of the village which helps, but the size and quantity of produce must be down to the quality of the 'Hoolihan Muck' (apologies if I've mis-spelt it) donated and added to the majority of the beds at the beginning of the growing season.

Our tomatoes went from this................

......to this in just a couple of months.  Finnusa, Valerie & Liam spent some time today thinning out and defoliating as the trusses were so heavy they were starting to snap the stems, and the fruit were in danger of not ripening.

The runner bean and nasturtium bed is lush with growth too. 

To achieve this we dug a trench about a spade deep and wide and filled it in with the 'Hoolihan Muck'.

Runner beans are a greedy plant so planting them in a trench really helps with growth.   We'd planted the seeds into modules in the polytunnel and a week or so before they were due to go outside, prepared the trench.

Valerie harvesting runner beans 11 August

This was the result today.  This was also the first time Colette and her family had ever eaten runner beans (as you don't tend to see them for sale in supermarkets), and they went down a treat!

We have had more success in the polytunnel too.............. the cucumbers, courgettes and peppers are producing like mad!

And the newly built herb bed was impressive too:

Picking off the leaves on the beetroot that had been infested with the Beet Leaf Miner (see previous blog) seems to have done the trick and the bed of thyme is flourishing.  We even have a bud starting to appear on the globe artichoke (which looked touch and go when it was planted).

Everything grown in this small garden has been sown from seed this year by the gardeners since March.  It went from a gardening group to a FETAC accredited course and from a group of strangers to a group of friends that have been a joy to work with.

The Rural Development Office in Goresbridge is open every morning from Monday to Friday and anyone interested can drop in to have a look during this time.