Muintir na Tire School Garden Competition

“When you grow your own food, you savor it more because of the effort and love  it took to get to your family table. There is nothing as  rewarding as picking your own fruit and vegetables.   Also growing your own food has many health benefits It helps you eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. You decide what kinds of fertilizers and pesticides come in contact with your food. It lets you control when to harvest your food. Vegetables that ripen in the garden have more nutrients than some store-bought vegetables that must be picked early. The Blueberry is the Super berry Blueberries So simple to grow and so good to eat. These berries are absolutely delicious whether eaten fresh or cooked. They grow to approximately 1 metre high, or a little lower if grown in containers. The best soil to use grow the plants in is a lime free compost, with some slow release tablets added. Here's a useful tip: it is best to grow two varieties of blueberry to...

Sweetcorn Why Grow It? Sweetcorn takes up a good deal of space and gives a relatively low return – just two cobs per plant – it can also be difficult to grow well in Ireland given our relative lack of sun.  But the sheer pleasure of harvesting a fresh cob of corn and the incredible sweet taste make it worth a try.  They say you should run from the veggie patch to the kitchen when you harvest sweetcorn to cook it immediately – this is because as soon as you pick it the sugars in the corn immediately start to turn to starch and so the flavour is degrading literally by the hour.  So in other words – you will never taste anything like homegrown sweetcorn Sowing Sow indoors in small pots about 2-3cm deep – one seed per pot.  Delay sowing until May.  They will need temperatures of 20 degrees celsius so a warm sunny windowsill or a heating mat is required.  Harden off well before planting out. Growing Plant out the seedlings when they are 8cm tal...

World Bee Day 2022 May 20th is World Bee Day!   For World Bee Day 2022, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan will be  releasing three short videos about ‘the Basics of Bees’.     1. What are pollinators? Why are they in trouble? An introduction to the 100 different types of bee in Ireland, and  why they are in trouble.  2. Top Ten Ways to Help Pollinators An overview of the top ten things you can do to help pollinators,  recommended by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 3. Recording Our Pollinators This final video will talk about how you can help us understand more  about pollinators by keeping an eye on your patch.   ‘Plan Bee’ – TG4 documentary, 2021

  Biodiversity in Schools have announced the rollout of the Nature Hero Awards – Ireland’s first, standalone outdoor learning award for schools.  It is a mark of excellence for a school that recognises exceptional work to create an educational space that nurtures a love of nature, develops a knowledge of our biodiversity and encourages action to help it locally. One lucky school who demonstrates an outstanding contribution to outdoor learning will win a school garden upgrade worth  €10,000  thanks to the sponsor, Glenveagh Homes. Further details at https://www.biodiversityinschools.com/nature-hero-awards.html

WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY? Biodiversity is basically a fancy word for nature. It was formed by merging together the two words ‘biological’ and ‘diversity’. It simply means the enormous variety of life on the planet. From the tiniest bacteria to the largest elephant... if it’s alive it’s part of biodiversity.  Why is Biodiversity important? Aside from the obvious moral reasons for looking after biodiversity, q uite simply without it we would not be able to survive on Earth.  ​That’s kind of a big deal. H ere are seven reasons why: Food             Cleaning Recycling Wellbeing ​Materials Medicine Air School Projects ​How can you boost the biodiversity at your school? We have put together a collection of fun and simple actions you can take to help a wide variety of wildlife.  Wildflowers Birds Bees  Bugs Growing wildflowers  is probably one of the most beautiful biodiversity projects you can undert...

  Hi Everyone. It's that time of year again. Entries are now being taken for the Pride in Our Community Competition 2022 You can enter by going to the following Link  https://forms.gle/ GHuX58yNJqmcjRF17 To find our more about this Competition Please go to our website https://www.muintircork.com/ competitions-and-programmes/ pride-in-our-community Please Circulate to any group in your contacts MUINTIR NA TÍRE Cork County Federation Clg. 8 Sidney Place Wellington Road Cork  City Tel: 021-4500688                                                   Email:  admin@muintircork.c om  Website  http://www. muintircork.com About Muintir na Tire in Cork An independent voluntary body who promote the welfare of the people of County Cork through the process of Community Development in particular the promotion of Community Councils.   Tel 021 450...

Parsley Why Grow It? One of the most popular herbs in the world, parsley is the classic “stock-pot” herb and a quintessential part of any herb garden. Sowing Parsley is dreadfully slow to germinate, taking up to a month.  It is said that it doesn’t transplant well and therefore is better sown direct in the soil.  I’ve had no success with sowing it direct, and always sow it in module trays for later transplanting.  If you minimise root disturbance when tranplanting it will do fine.  Alternatively, sow seeds in a large container such as a window box or large pot.   Growing Plant out in a semi-shaded spot – in full sun, parsley leaves may scorch.  It requires very little attention when growing but water well in dry weather.  Parsley is biennial, which means that it lives for two years. In the first year it’s at its best, providing lots of leaves.  In the second year, it flowers, produces seed and dies. Harvesting Cut the outer l...