5 minute read

ooted in exford

Mark Cooke invites you to grow along with him and also visits soft fruits growing expert – Cyril Wheelock

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on board with his new monthly column. Mark is a committee member at Enniscorthy Community Allotments, and has a huge passion for growing fruit and veg which he shares on his Instagram platform @rootedinwexford which has over 6,500 followers. Mark describes himself very much as a ‘hobby gardener’ who is not academically trained in horticulture. He started planting with very little knowledge a few years ago and that knowledge has now ‘mushroomed’! Mark loves sharing his passion for growing with readers of the Slaney News.

MARCH...

March is here and that means that we can now start to grow a lot more in our garden. We still need to be careful as we can get frost that can undo a lot of our hard work. Before I get into what my plans are for March, I will give you an update on what I got up to in February.

For anyone who follows my Instagram page, @rootedinwexford, you will have seen that my greenhouse got a good clean and tidy as planned. It was well needed and took a few hours over two weekends, but I was delighted to get it all done. After I cleaned it, I gave the soil a good soaking, added some fresh organic seaweed fertiliser and topped up the beds with some compost.

I began to sow my seeds. As mentioned last month, February is a little early and if you haven’t started already, don’t worry, you still have lots of time. The first things that I sowed were tomatoes. Last year I grew 22 varieties, but this year I have 42. It’s a lot, but it’s lovely to see all of the different varieties and all of the different colours. I like to grow heirloom varieties. These are generally seeds that have been passed down through generations and are not like the tomatoes that you would see in the supermarkets. You can also save the seed from them each year and regrow them. It’s great to share all of the different tomatoes with family and friends and they are packed full of flavour.

Following on from my tomatoes, I grew some aubergines. Aubergines were difficult to get right for me and they took three years of growing for me to successfully get some crops from the plants, but I persisted and was happy with the results. The trick for me was to ensure that I sowed them early in the season and that I kept the greenhouse hot, at a minimum of 10 degrees.

Finally, this month I grew chillies and some peppers. I have lots of different varieties to grow including the normal green, yellow and red bell pepper that you see in the supermarket, but I have also sown some chocolate bell peppers. The chocolate name doesn’t reflect the taste, it refers to the colour of the pepper. The chocolate bell pepper does have a sweeter than normal taste and is said to be a great addition to a salad. It’s my first time trying to grow them. They are also a heirloom variety so again it’s great as you can save the seed to grow the following year. Chillies and peppers may grow outside but generally they grow best when in pots in a greenhouse. As mentioned before, next month there is a lot more that you can grow. The days are becoming warmer and there is a lot more light too. This is good news for seeds as they like warmer temperatures. Again, I would try to keep your seeds indoors to germinate and move them outdoors once all risk of frost has passed. I’m lucky that I can keep mine in my greenhouse and then wrap them up with horticultural fleece to protect them, but your warm windowsill, if you have room, is also still an ideal space.

I will start this month with some herbs, followed by some brassicas; such as cabbage and cauliflower, along with cucumbers, carrots, potatoes and peas. A great herb to start with is chives. Chives are a perennial herb. This means that they come back every spring. Chives, if allowed to, will also grow flowers. The flowers are commonly a purple colour, but you can also get them in pink, red and white colour (depending on the variety of chive). They are edible too and they are a lovely addition to your summer salads too.

Potatoes can be grown at this time of year. I usually sow them in a raised bed or a pot towards the end of the month. At this time of year, you usually grow varieties that are known as first earlies or second earlies. They have this name as they are usually the first to crop and they will be ready to harvest in May or June. The variety I have chosen to grow this year is British Queens and they are a second early potato. Before I grow my pota- toes I chit them. This is a process where you place the seed potatoes on a seed tray (or an old egg carton) in a cool and light window. This allows shoots to form before you plant them. It just gives them a little head start.

When I mention I am living in Wexford to anyone outside of the county, like many of you, people always talk about strawberries. Wexford and strawberries usually go hand in hand. This time of year is a great time to start growing strawberries. To look at this more, I went to the Village at Wheelock’s and met with Cyril Wheelock. Cyril grows strawberries that can be seen across the county, and beyond, on the side of the road in the famous strawberry stalls, that pop up each summer. Cyril invited me out to have a look around his glass houses where he grows over 100,000 strawberry plants each year.

Cyril spoke at length about strawberry growth, and we spoke about the challenges that it can bring. He spoke to me about how he has made a conscious effort to change from peat, to coir, as a growing medium. He noted that this was his first year using it which brought a set of new challenges but said how he was excited to see how it turned out. It was evident from speaking to Cyril that he likes new challenges and that he has a great passion for strawberry growing and even eating them, stating he eats them every day.

Cyril said that he grows mostly two varieties but always likes to try new varieties. He grows Centenary and Favori. These varieties are said to give great taste. The first variety gives just one crop, so Cyril needs to plant these at two-week intervals. Favori is known as an everbearing variety, which brings a flush just weeks after the previous harvest. It was great to see how the strawberries are grown at this level and it was fantastic to see how they are planted, with taste and quality as the end goal. I look forward to getting back out to see how they progress and to hear how Cyril is getting on with his growing this year.

If you’d like to see more about what I am growing, or ask me questions, then make sure to pop over to @rootedinwexford on Instagram. You can also check out next month to get some updates on how I got on this month and my plans for next month. n

M&M Meats, Rafter Street, Enniscorthy: Mick and Thomas Crofts took home gold from the 2023 Associated Craft Butchers Awards. Pic: Courtesy of Enjoy Enniscortrhy.

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