Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seeds. Show all posts

Monday 21 February 2022

Hurricane force

An image from Twitter as Franklin approached the coast.


The third storm of the week, #StormFranklin, turned out to pack the biggest punch to us. It blew for a long time and it blew harder than the previous two, Dudley and Eunice. The highest gusts recorded at Mayo Sailing Club were at 2 am at 81 knots - that's 150 kph. But gusts in the 70s lasted for many hours. That's a category 2 cyclone for hours on end. Sustained winds were over 40 knots from 3 in the afternoon to 4 in the morning. 


Is this the new normal?  I was heartbroken today when I saw the damage in the garden. Nothing major - a gorse bush broke, Alex's Inukshuk was dangerously altered losing his midsection so he had to take it down. But every shrub and plant that has started to bud and bloom was devastated. Withered and burned by the salt wind. Every window in the house is coated in heavy salt. 

I walked the vineyard and there appears to be no damage. The ground is VERY wet and I have no idea what the salt will do. The Galicians claim that the salt air adds to the terroir, but this was more than salt air. It was more like a scouring. Thankfully the careful staking and pruning seem to have held. 

I've been adding wood ash to the soil around the vines to condition the pH. I've got 5 rows done and only one left to go. I have a pH testing kit and will give it a go after a few days when it's all done. 

I've also fed the fruit trees and soft fruit shrubs with an organic fruit fertilizer, thinking it may help. Not if this wind continues. 

At least the polytunnel survived and everything inside is thriving, including my peach tree which has flowered for the first time. And strawberries are coming. So exciting. I've been pollinating by hand with a brush. It's been great to have fresh broccoli, lettuce, endive, peas, rocket, and Swiss chard through the winter. Wonderful. Very happy with the results. Everything seems healthy for a change. I think the treatment with fulvic acid really helped. I've also added microbes to the soil in the raised beds. 

Meanwhile, the bees were quite active today as the temperature increased and the wind subsided. Alex has been busy building and thatching his natural beehives out of old monkey puzzle tree sections.

















 

Let's hope the worst of the weather has passed. I have started propagating my seeds. We bought so many this year. I've also been a plantaholic this winter, buying up stuff from Lidl and the coop and online. Now I will have to plant it all. 







 

Friday 18 February 2022

The test of weather

 


Well, we survived two named storms in one week. Storm Eunice made landfall as a category 2 cyclone in Kerry and West Cork today. We had northerlies against which we are protected by the hill behind our house and vineyard. We were spared by track. But a Category 2 storm that they are now tracking like hurricanes and the NWS in the US tracking the storm's progress for us? Where is this heading?  Are hurricanes now the norm for us? Bloody hell. 



We did not get the snowfall that was projected for this morning. Just a dusting of sleet, snow and hail, but the hail showers continued through the day so it was hard to go up the hill to see what was going on. The squalls were ferocious. 


Croagh Patrick was stunning dressed in white against the whiteness of the storm.  Very flat light all day. Fierce, cold gusts. Alex is in Dublin for an event but I stayed home to tend to the homestead. I've experienced a bit of anxiety after exposure to lots of people and decided this event was not that important. 



Meanwhile, the seed hatching factory has been up and running for the past few days. First time trying seed propagators. I'm sorry to learn that I haven't been gardening by the moon. Right. Another thing to learn and plan for. Sometimes I feel like I am gardening on Mars. I hope to be able to walk to the top of our hill in the morning to get a view of Nephin before the snow melts. Hopefully, I won't get blown off.