Yes, I shake my fist heavenward and darn it I bite my thmb at him too. St Patrick's Day Eve we take a lovely drive up past Slemish; St Patrick's Day we plant the potatoes, as is tradition; St Patrick's evening Maggie is extremely ill and St Patrick's boxing Day [I know that doesn't really exist] Maggie goes into hospital [ie. the vets] to be put on a drip, poor darling. Huh!!! Me and you Paddy, we're not friends right now!
That's right, what did my little Maggie do to deserve this? Vomitting and diahorrea all evening and the through the night. Now she's in Gleno and I'm here and we are apart and I miss her and she probably wants a cuddle. This was her last night - dry nose, shivering and being sick every 15 mins :(
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In the meantime, I shall tell you about our St Patrick's Day. I do hope you had a good one, funny we don't really go for it here in Northern Ireland but Andrew did have the day off. There wasn't any green face paint or dyed beer, but we did go ot for breakfast - here's Andrew's Irish fry. Oh and I saw a leprechan!, honest, look.....
I decided it would be a good time to try the walk from or new house [still not finished yet even thogh I am wishing hard every day] to the lotties on my own. Disaster. I had the biggest panic attack in absoltley ages and had to be taken home an hour later and put to bed. But and I stress the but becase this is not a defeatist blog, we did get the spuds planted - hoorah!We did it differently this year and instead of just planting them into the beds and covering them up, we put down black membrane, cut holes in it and planted the potato down in there [ ohhhh, lovely soil]. I'm hoping all the extra work was worth it, supposedly we won't have to worry about weeds and we won't need to ridge up the beds through out the growing season. We'll see if it's better than past years and let you know.
This year we went for 'British Queens' and 'Pentland Javelin', Andrew made white stakes to mark the beds, looks good me but I think I'll have to get hold of them and write the words in permenant marker so it stands out more, hehe. There weren't any 'Maris Piper/Peer' this year which is a little upsetting as they're my favourite but I guess these potatoes could be almost as nice, haha. Now, Andrew didn't take off any extra eyes from the seed potatoes, what do you think of that???? I'm not the one that reads the books and magazines but for some reason I believed you had to take at least some off if you want good sized potatoes in the crop - what do you do?At this stage Maggie and I had to go home [why St Patrick, why do you not like us??] due to ill health. So Andrew had the place to himself and did some other work which goes unphotographed. For example he planted a Dehlia and soaked the Persian Buttercup tubers and put them in compost to be planted properly on Saturday. He also did some chit chatting and a good lot of looking.
Anyway that was our crappy St Patrick's day - so much for 'the luck o' the Irish!'
As I feel a bit low and Maggie-less I'll leave it there for today but I still have to tell you all about that trip to Sunnybank at the weekend and all the news about the great seedling germination we've had this week and what else we've planted in the beds - - tomorrow, tomorrow. Big hugs, I'm off to read about other people's day, hopefully better than mine xxx
Poor Maggie, I hope she's ok, you must feel lost without her, but I'm sure she'll soon be home again. I've heard other people say how they've had a great crop when they've planted through black membrane, and it's time saving too if you don't have to earth up. I never rub any sprouts off my potatoes. I've read that if you leave them be you will get a larger crop of smaller potatoes, but if you leave only three sprouts on you will get a smaller crop but the potatoes will be bigger.
ReplyDeleteHi Carrie
ReplyDeleteDid my comment make it through yesterday?
xo Alice
Hello Jo - thank you for the confidence boost - black membrane WILL work! Andrew told me that about the the eyes, now I remember - silly me! xx
ReplyDeleteAlice - no petal, no comment from you made it to me here :( Could you write a little something again perhaps, please? xx
Hi Carrie, hope Maggie is feeling better soon, we've only had Samson for a few months but the the days just wouldn't feel the same if they didn't include him and his walks etc.
ReplyDeleteHappyPlotter - got an update on Maggie - she's eaten a little at the vets and is staying in overnight.
ReplyDeletedear carrie, warmest wishes and quick healing to your little maggie! st. patricks days holds special meaning to me as my nana's family was from ireland she was very, very much into celebrating and so it is a special day in honor of her now. i put in four raised beds today at our new house, i am enjoying planning our gardens here and look forward to planting! there is nothing quite like pulling out potatoes from the garden, that is one of my favorites. xo
ReplyDeleteAh gardenmamma, potatoes hold a very special place in my heart. My earliest and happiest childhood memory is digging some up with my papa in his backgarden. I'm looking forward to watching your house and gardens develop! xx
ReplyDeleteCarrie, I do hope Maggie is back with you soon, and back to her old self. I'm glad to hear she ate a little at the vets. I'm she she misses you just as much as you miss her.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting all your spuds planted. Maybe as way of retribution, St. Patrick will ensure you get a bumper crop!
I hope Maggie is alittle better today Carrie.
ReplyDeleteHope you didn't forget that soda bread and wheaten bread with that fry up! I miss that bread - I get my folks to bring some with them when they visit - my freezer gets full up for a while.
Psst Carrie - I like your new background. Rosie:)
Hope Maggie gets better soon.
ReplyDeleteSending you and her hugs ;0)
How is Maggie? Hope she is back home with you by now?
ReplyDeleteOh my wee Maggie, I should be giving her a wee night time cdudle before Andy puts her to bed. I miss her so much, it's like part of me is missing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the thoughts and comments.
Rosie! - Just realised, it was a filled soda, not a fry *shame on me*. I had wheaten today,yum, how can you live without it?
Bless your heart, Carrie -- and Maggie's, too. I can't stand it when one of my fur-children is at the vet's overnight; I feel bereft and weird and walk around the house thinking I've forgotten to do things. :( Here's hoping your dear sweet pup is back with you ASAP, like tomorrow morning!
ReplyDeleteI have never even heard of planting under plastic mulch (which just goes to show how little I know), but will be running my own potato experiment this season, so will watch yours with much curiosity. :) I think the varieties available to you are different than what we have here, too, which is so fun to observe.