Between work at Sonairte and the day job I haven’t had a chance to do any pruning at home – either in the orchard or around the garden. So here’s a quick overview of what I’ll be out doing again as soon as the rain eases up. After pruning each tree will get a about a two cm deep mulch of compost from the trunk right out to the edge of the branches and in the summer I try to keep an area around the trunk mulched with lawn mowings to keep the scutch down. Don’t forget to put a new grease band round the trunk at this time of year to catch pests that have overwintered in the soil.

You can increase the productivity of all these by summer pruning and I’ll be teaching a half day hands-on course on how to do this, and how to prune the plum and cherry family in July – contact info@sonairte.ie for details

Plums, cherries, peaches and apricots – leave strictly alone at this time of year. These must only be pruned in warm summer weather so they heal quickly and fungal spores don’t get in and kill them. Actually I could prune peach and apricot because I’ve got them in the polytunnel out of the rain, but I’ve been nipping back and tying in as they grew – they are only still babies – so they don’t need attention. For how well peaches can do in a polytunnel check Nicky Kyles garden diary to see the crop on a tree that she bought from Aldi only two years ago.

Grapes – These must be pruned before they start into growth – leave it too late and they will literally bleed to death. Sonairte gets a great crop from the vines on the south facing wall at the top of the garden. My garden is colder so I rely on the ones I grow in the tunnel and it pots in the conservatory. Some years I get a crop out of doors and some years I don’t. Basically, once you have a framework established you simply cut back to just leave two of last years buds on each rod.

Mulberries – I haven’t been growing these for long enough for my baby trees to need pruning but I’m simply going to take off growth that is out of reach. I find them great because they fruit over a long season – almost two months last year – and I love the icy crunch of them in the mouth. We developed a habit of standing under the tree for breakfast last year

Figs – I find that all I need to do is cut out any branches that are causing overcrowding and tip back the fruiting branches by about a third of the new growth. They crop wonderfully well in a tub if you only have a balcony – the most productive of balcony fruit in my experience.

Hazel – OK, its a nut not a fruit. Pruning depends what you want it for. I grow six different varieties of cob for nuts and I do what is called “brutting”. You walk round the big bushes in summer and snap the ends of any branches that don’t have a worthwhile nut crop on them – don’t snap the ones that have nuts on. You don’t need to break them right off – ragged is fine. Then this time of year go round again and trim these ragged ends to neaten them up. Sounds odd but it makes them form lots more fruit buds. You can take out all the crossing wood etc but I find that leaving them as natural as possible works best for me. I also grow the twisted hazel, which not only makes a nice decoration for the house at this time of year when the catkins will open indoors in a jug of water, but helps to pollinate the other bushes, I grow a red leaved one which looks lovely at the back of the border, particularly in spring and autumn, and I grow the ordinary hedgerow hazel and at this time of year I cut back a couple of bushes almost to ground level to use the poles to support runner beans etc this summer. It takes five to ten years, depending on conditions, for them to produce really good tall strong stems.

If my walnuts and chestnuts ever get big enough to need pruning – they’ve been in for twenty years now – I’ll let you know how to do it. They don’t crop worth mentioning in a cold wet north facing garden.

Three days after St Brigid’s Day, two days after Candlemas and the dates that traditionally galvanise the gardener into action. Even if your soil is still cold and wet and the wind is blowing twigs round your ears you should get out last year’s seed packets and check what is still good to sow this year and what you need to buy for next year. The good organic gardener will have kept their soil covered during the winter with mulch or green manure so there will be few weeds and lots of plant food available for this growing season. If frost hasn’t killed the green manure you can cut it down now and leave it lying on the beds to start breaking down into food for the worms and the soil. You should also be cutting down any dead stems still standing from last year – the birds have taken any remaining seeds by now and they are homes for slugs and earwigs. Take them to the compost heap to turn into plant food.

Make sure you don’t walk on your flower and vegetable beds if you can possible help it – your soil will thank you for it by drying out quickly and being ready to sow and plant sooner. If you have some clear soil that is reasonably dry you can sow broad beans and early peas now and cover the ground with fleece to get an early crop. They will go in the bed you have reserved for the legume (pea and bean) family in your rotation this year. You should also make sure you’ve bought your seed potatoes and set them up to “chit” – which means grow shoots. If you put them in a box in a light place you’ll get nice short fat shoots that will be east to plant without breaking them when St Patrick’s Day planting comes around.

If you are lucky enough to have a polytunnel or greenhouse things are already getting really busy – by now you can be sowing your summer cabbages, which are very hardy, and cresses, scallions and summer purslane. Its a good idea to hold back on lettuce unless you have some heat. But if you do have a propagator, or even a window sill, then its time to sow just a few early tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. The very earliest tomatoes are Sub-Arctic Plenty and Earligirl – there are better flavoured ones for later in the season but a couple of plants of each will be very, very welcome when they come into fruit and save you from the imported ones that never taste of anything anyway.

And now I’m heading for the nature trail at Sonairte to see if I can find early primroses or even violets – the snowdrops and cyclamen are in full bloom and there’s a lovely clump of crocuses outside the shop door – five times as many as last year, they’ve spread wonderfully

A member of Sonairte staff wants to know if it is too late to sow anything in her polytunnel. No it isn’t – in fact to my mind it is never too late to sow a few winter crops in polytunnels, greenhouses, window sills or even to take a chance on a small patch of bare earth in the garden – especially if that patch of bare earth is a raised bed so the ground won’t easily get soggy.

Best for all year round germination are the brassicas – the cabbage family. They’ll come up like the proverbial mustard and cress, in fact mustard is one of them, not matter when you sow so long as the soil stays a few degrees above freezing. And even if it does freeze most of them will pick themselves up and keep growing.

At this time of year I often gather up the ends of seed packets – cabbages, broccoli, turnips, rocket, land cress, purslane, chinese greens and mustards of all kinds, maybe chicory, maybe carrots. Even winter spinach and onions. I use seeds where the packet has been open for a season or more so germination may not be great. Then I just weed the patch where they are going, scatter the seeds over the surface and rake them in lightly. If I’m sowing under cover I water them in, if not I reckon the soil is wet enough at this time of year. And then I watch to see what comes up and pick the baby leaves when they are a couple of inches long, picking a leaf off each plant so there are leaves left to keep it growing. Absolutely delicious salad right through the winter.

And even if you don’t have a polytunnel or greenhouse you can make your own cold frame or cloche very easily – lots of plans around on line. Or maybe you should just watch this space.

October is a busy month in the organic garden. As the leaves begin to fall wildlife is heading for its winter quarters. Codlin moth and wax moth larvae start to crawl down tree trunks to spend the winter in the soil before emerging for another year’s destruction of  the fruit crop.  Here at Sonairte they don’t make it into the soil – the tree trunks are wrapped with sticky grease bands and it catches them as they go past. We also hang up seeds and nuts for the birds who diligently search the cracks in the branches for any other overwintering pests.

This weekend (16^th October) is our annual gardening for wildlife day with lots of ideas for ways of attracting birds, bees and other friends into the garden – and persuading them to make their home there. We’ll be talking about planting, bird feeders, dry stone walls and water in the garden among other topics.

And then it will be autumn pruning time and a full day of fruit related topics on the 13^th November.

With autumn fruit hanging from the hedgerows and neighbours depositing bags
of apples on friends doorsteps in the middle of the night to get rid of
their surplus this old favourite may come in handy. Note a couple of tweaks
to tradition - the addition of porridge oats and hazelnuts to the crumble
topping and the two different sugars - using brown sugar in the topping but
ordinary granulated with the fruit makes a nice taste contrast. You could
also use wholemeal flour instead of the plain and the crumble topping will
still be good if you cut down on either or both of the sugar and butter in
the topping.
Try it out in the cafe at Sonairte


Blackberry and apple crumble

Ingredients:

Crumble topping

In a food processor pulse together until crumbly

	• 1/4 pound (1/2 cup) shelled and husked hazelnuts
	• 3 ounces (3/4 cup) plain flour
	• 3 ounces (3/4 cup) porridge oats
	• 4 ounces (1/2 cup packed) soft brown sugar
	• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) butter

Or chop the hazelnuts and rub the rest of the ingredients together as you
would for pastry
• 1/2 pound (1-3/4 cups) blackberries (picked from hedgerow)
• 1 pound (3 or 4 medium) apples (windfalls will do) peeled, cored
   and sliced
• 1 tablespoon white sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon powder

Butter a shallow casserole dish and layer blackberries and apples.
Dust over with the cinnamon sugar mixture
Top with Crumble topping and bake in 180 degrees centigrade
(160 C fan oven) for 30 to 40 minutes until top is lightly browned
and crisp and fruit is soft.
Serve with fresh cream, mascarpone or creme fraiche according to
personal preference.

It has been a bumper year for apples and other autumn fruit, the hedgerows are dripping with wild berries and we are all hoping that the old wives tales aren’t true and we aren’t in for a bitter winter.

At Sonairte the cafe staff are dipping into their recipe books for interesting ways of using and storing the bounty, and celebrating the new fashions in frugality, while keeping it not too frugal.

Fruit pies and crumbles are one obvious way of celebrating autumn fruits – not just apple but blackberry or elderberry and apple. And the blackberries and elderberries make great wines and syrups as well. For the more adventurous there are pickles and chutneys, and of course you can always make cider.

This is also a good year for hazelnuts and sloes so keen foragers can make this traditional Hedgerow Jam

Hedgerow Jam

Ingredients

250 gm rose hips, 250 gm haws, 250 gm rowan berries, 250 gm sloes, 250 gm crab apples,  500 gm blackberries, 500 gm elderberries, 4 oz shelled fresh hazelnuts, Sugar (see recipe for quantity)

Equipment
Very large pan,  sieve, bowl, wooden spoon, small jug, jars, lids

Wash fruit well. Put rose hips, haws, rowanberries, sloes & chopped crab apples into a large pan, add water to half way up, simmer gently until tender (gentle simmering gives much better flavour than boiling).

Sieve the pulp, pushing it through the sieve with the wooden spoon and weigh it.  Write down the weight. Put the pulp back into the pan and add the blackberries, elderberries, and chopped nuts. Simmer, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t burn, for 15 minutes. Add ! kg sugar plus the weight of the pulp (the amount you wrote down) in sugar.  Cook over a low heat until sugar has dissolved, then boil rapidly until setting point is reach.  Pot in sterilized jars.

Look for more seasonal and wild food recipes on the Sonairte website http://sonairte.ie/about/blog