“Samhradh, samradh, bainne na ngamhna, thugamar féin an samhradh linn…” Hanna was singing while walking down the road, she wore her heavy winter coat. It certainly was not the weather that inspired her performance, but more a plea to the gods to bring the summer weather, “summer, summer, the honeysuckle, we brought the summer withContinue reading “Finding our bog”
Author Archives: Ciaran Burke
Early morning in our garden in Co. Mayo – July 2012
Summer, oh where is the summer? This morning was a rare sunny start and I was up early to see the fog lifting its damp veil from around our plants. There is a saying in Ireland, “sun before seven is gone by eleven”. You really do have to get up early to get the bestContinue reading “Early morning in our garden in Co. Mayo – July 2012”
Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.
Hogweed, not the giant one grows in our garden, close to where the spruce trees tower and cast shade over the dwarf rhododendrons, dwarf Podocarpus and assorted conifers in what we refer to as the office garden. My view from the computer desk looks out on to this area, well part of it, the hogweedsContinue reading “Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.”
Well done to the rare un-staked! – Herbaceous Perennials that stand up for themselves…
I love gardening but there are some jobs that are laborious and feel like a waste of one’s good time if they have to be done too often, cutting the grass is one such task, staking herbaceous perennials is another. The former job is reduced by having less grass areas and more plants, and inContinue reading “Well done to the rare un-staked! – Herbaceous Perennials that stand up for themselves…”
How to make a newspaper plant pot
One sheet of newspaper, one empty smoothie bottle… easy and quick!
Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica
This morning before I left to supervise the Royal Horticultural Society examinations taking place in our Galway centre today, I enjoyed a bowl of muesli topped with berries of Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica- it is so uncommon in gardens that there has yet to be a common name adopted for it; honey berry, blue honeysuckle and siberian blueberry. WhateverContinue reading “Honey Berry, Siberian Blue Berry – Lonicera caerulea var. kamstchatica”
Nasturtium Oatotto (risotto made from oats) -Recipe
“Oatotto” – low food miles version of Risotto This is a low food mile version of Risotto using nasturtium leaves. We replace the arborio rice which is used for risotto with pinhead oats, this reduces our food miles. We can’t call it risotto if we don’t use rice so we call it Oatotto! This isContinue reading “Nasturtium Oatotto (risotto made from oats) -Recipe”
Ciaran The Gardener 