Hydro Farm Allotments

2 weeks ago we got our first batch of hens, 10 Rhode Island Red’s all in great condition. They settled in well to their new hen house. These have been free range since they were hatched, so they were delighted to arrive at a great home with plenty of room, big laying boxes and free range every day.

Next we got a further 17 young chickens that will be ready to lay around September. We have both hens and cocks so the mix will be very interesting. We will keep the most handsome cock and the most popular and the others will be re-homed. As they will only fight if there are too many and also upset the hens.

It is soooooo exciting to see so many people interested in allotments this year. When we started in 2000, it was almost hard to get people to take a plot. This year it totally different with the phone ringing and the emails just keep on coming.

We have expanded 3 times this year and now have 42 plots. Our original plots are well established now with great ‘plotters’. this is a great help to the newcomers, who can get great ideas and advice from them.

It is a wonderful time of the year with the fruit trees and shrubs full with blossoms.

Some apple blossoms at the Hydro Allotments.

All the ‘Plotters’ are very busy preparing the ground and putting in seeds and plants. Everything is growing at a great rate as the weather has been kind during April which has warmed up the ground and then the recent rain has given everything a great boost.

Some cabbages and onions thriving in the moist weather.

It has been a life long ambition of mine to make my own poly tunnel. I was given a present of one in the 1980’s and it has grown loads of produce and has been on 3 sites. Last winter it was ravaged by the storms and fell apart. For the last few years, every year the ends of the hoops rusted and broke off. So my poly was getting lower and lower. Last year it was only about 5′ at the highest point and the sweet corn had to bend, as it touched the top.

This year I got some galvanised pipes, some lovely plumbing fittings and a friend Scotty with a pipe bender. It was a great experience to start bending and see the pipes take shape. We burried the pipes directly into the earth at a 45 degree angle for the front and back hoops and at 90 degrees for the middle hoop. To make it stable.

It was all held together with the great fittings that were very smooth and strong. We then built a wooden frame around the bottom that was attached to the hoops with movable brackets. The plastic was put on and the secured to the wooden frame with full length laths. Then we opened the brackets and tightened the plastic. It is a great success and if anyone would like to see it, I am happy to show them. It is a super tunnel and I love it.

I am now able to grow everything I want to. A great advantage is, that it is so easy to work in, as there is loads of hight and space all round.

We put a mesh panel at the back for air circulation and we are going to make 2 doors for the front. A mesh one that will open in, for when it is very hot and a plastic one on the outside to keep it warm on colder days.

Our beautiful dogs Tiffany (Black) and Bella are admiring to the newly opened plots and checking out the water supply.

Some of the ‘plotters’ have been very busy getting their plots into shape. They all have made a terrific start.

Some are digging for the first time and others are well used to it.

We have just upgraded our tea room with a new fridge, sink, electric kettle and microwave.We have tables and chairs so you can have your sandwiches in comfort. Threre is a swap table there for everyone to use and a white board for people to ask for anything they need or want to exchange. There is a new bar.b.que area that will be used in the summer. The tea room and tool shed have new roofs and we have new car parking areas.

2009 We have started with a bang. We have just put in a new car park, bar b que area, re-roofed the tea room and the tool shed and 5 new allotments. We have had a wonderful talk from Caroline Robinson who gave us a 2 day seminar on planting and rotation. This was very interesting and we will adopt this growing system.

The winter was hard on garden structures. We lost a glass house and my poly tunnel even though we are very sheltered. We also got flooded. A drain next door got blcked and caused the flood waters to flow through the 2.5 meter stone wall, damaging the foundations. This will have to be taken down and re-built.

The plots are very busy with lots of plotters working hard to prepare for sowing. One plotter planted some potatoes in a fine week in January. He has panes of glass over them but the ground is still cold and no sign yet, but he always has the first potatoes and I am sure he will have them again this year.

It had been a while since I had been to visit the Hydro Allotments in Blarney and I am happy I had an excuse to pop by.

There was a lot going on, with plants already appearing, and I now have another visit planned in a few weeks. Zwena’s outstanding success has leadto a major expansion.

The site for the new plots is in between a couple of old walls with loads of light, great protection against wind and close to the recreation area, which is also getting a revamp. This is a great opportunity for would-be allotmenteers as the Hydro Allotments community is so warm and dedicated. It would be fantatic for beginners too as the neighbours are so helpful and willing to share knowledge, as of course is Zwena herself. See organic growing pains for an idea of what to expect.

Anyone considering getting an allotment really could not do better. The allotments are only 20 minutes from Cork City Centre, yet seem like deep countryside, very little noise, fields as far as the eye can see and thriving wildlife. Don’t forget to rabbit proof!

I honestly can’t wait to see the progress and meet some of the newcomers that have already signed up. If we were not hard at work on the abandoned garden, we would be running to sign up ourselves!

It is the end of a very sucessful 9th. season of our allotments. It has been a great year with a wonderful ‘Open day’ in the early summer where over 60 people came to see what we have been doing.

Our ‘Plotters’ were very busy getting their plots to look great. The day was fine and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had people who wanted a plot, who were interested in starting allotments and guests from the organic world.

That night we held a great bbq for all the plotters where there was plenty of good food and everyone brought good things to eat. Although the summer weather was not as good as we would have liked it to be, the crops were great with every allotment laden with fruit, flowers, vegetables and herbs.

As winter approached it was time to harvest the pumpkins and gourds. Our biggest this year was a 70lb. yellow pumpkin that measured just over 5 feet in circumference…..Wow it was a beauty. We gave it to Mark at the Organic shop in the English Market for display. The Examiner came and took a lovely sunny photograph for their back page on the 21st. of October.

On December the 6th. we had our Christmas Mulled wine, Apple punch and Mince Pie night for everyone on the farm. It was a candle lit night and everyone was in great form. Chris who entered his secret recipe for apple chutney in the Super Value/ R.T.E. national competition has become a finalist. As part of this R.T.E. filmed him for a day in different locations. It was all very exciting. They filmed both Chris and Mauve at the allotments picking some wind fall apples and talking about the competition. Good luck Chris and Mauve…we are all rooting for you……. your
chutney is the BEST!

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