I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Thanks for any advice.
Gerard [http://homepage.eircom.net/~gerfmcc]

On 30/7/07 12:12, in article ,
" wrote:

I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Thanks for any advice.
Gerard [http://homepage.eircom.net/~gerfmcc]


I'm no veg. grower, Gerard but potatoes are grown on fields near the sea in
my native Jersey. South facing slopes are particularly prized and sea weed
used as fertiliser produces a wonderful crop. What will probably help
others help you is if you tell us which way the plot faces.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

wrote:
I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Thanks for any advice.
Gerard [http://homepage.eircom.net/~gerfmcc]

Dereck Jarman's garden at Dungeness a few miles down the coast from here
would be worth researching....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82194366@N00/445829047/

Les


--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

wrote in message
...
I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Well I used to row pretty much anything I wanted in the extreme south west
but it took time to get shelter belts of hedges established to act as a
windbreak, I took a short cut and put a polytunnel up and moved in tons of
seaweed from a nearby beach to supplement the manure from a lare flock of
hens and ducks and to be fair it was hard work but I rarely failed to row
what I wanted. The lack of frosts that close to the sea are a bonus as well.


--
Chris, West Cork, Ireland.
Festina lente

Cerumen wrote:
wrote in message
...
I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Well I used to row pretty much anything I wanted in the extreme south
west but it took time to get shelter belts of hedges established to
act as a windbreak, I took a short cut and put a polytunnel up and
moved in tons of seaweed from a nearby beach to supplement the manure
from a lare flock of hens and ducks and to be fair it was hard work
but I rarely failed to row what I wanted. The lack of frosts that
close to the sea are a bonus as well.

On the cliff tops of Brixham things seemed to love it! Sunny, well drained
soil with a smattering of limestone. Didn't find anything that really hated
it...

L


--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

On Jul 30, 3:18 pm, "Cerumen" wrote:
wrote in message

...I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.

Well I used to row pretty much anything I wanted in the extreme south west
but it took time to get shelter belts of hedges established to act as a
windbreak, I took a short cut and put a polytunnel up and moved in tons of
seaweed from a nearby beach to supplement the manure from a lare flock of
hens and ducks and to be fair it was hard work but I rarely failed to row
what I wanted. The lack of frosts that close to the sea are a bonus as well.

--
Chris, West Cork, Ireland.
Festina lente

That all sounds very industrious; after that you should be able to
grow anything.
Shelter indeed sounds like the main initial problem. Plants get
battered sideways by the winds.
Once you have shelter sorted, it gets easier. You need to get some
shrubs/walls/hedges/trees in place and/or get a tunnel as Chris
suggested; just make sure it is well attached to the ground. If you
are trying hedges, some things can be used as temporary initial
hedging as the real shelter gets established. Some plants thrive by
the sea (e.g. sea buckthorn) and look at what does well in the nearby
hedges. There are various hebes and escallonias used in coastal hotel
gardens that survive near hurricanes and many native shrubs will do
fine if given shelter long enough to get them established.
As for blight; not sure if it is any worse near the sea.

Des near the ocean in suburban Dublin but where we have refined gentle
city winds not like dem oul west cork tyfeckinphoons

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:12:54 GMT, wrote:

I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Thanks for any advice.
Gerard [http://homepage.eircom.net/~gerfmcc]

Get yourself a copy of 'Seaside Gardening' by Christine Kelway, pub.
by Collingridge, 1962, and/or 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' by W.
Arnold-Forster, pub. by Country Life, 1948. The former is out of
print, but the latter has recently been re-published. Not much about
veg. but plenty on shrubs and shelter belts. Try the Advanced Book
Exchange for second-hand copies:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry


I'm not a veg. grower, but as Sacha says, you can grow plenty of crops
in those conditions. In west Cornwall, which has a similar climate and
exposure, early (new) potatoes, 'spring greens' and cauliflower are
popular commercially, although the former do have to be regularly
sprayed against blight especially when it's warm and damp. I suspect
that main crop potatoes wouldn't survive blight. You have to choose
your season for what you grow, avoiding the worst of the winter storms
(your phrase 'salty breeze' is something of an understatement!). Crops
that need support such as peas and beans, do tend to get blown over if
not sheltered, or grow dwarf varieties.

Good shelter trees and shrubs are Cupressus macrocarpa, Pinus radiata,
Quercus Ilex, Olearia species especially O. traversii, Elaeagnus
ebbingii, Griselinia littoralis and Pittisporum species, but all take
time to get to a useful height. Here in the 1950's, you often saw
fields with long screens of hessian netting supported on post and rail
frames running across them, or temporary lath fencing (inch laths with
inch gaps, running vertically) to act as windbreaks, although you
seldom see either nowadays.



--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

wrote in message
...
I have been granted the use of a very large plot near the ocean, here
in the south-west of Ireland. I have been told that the salty breeze
coming in off the Atlantic will make it difficult to grow many crops
successfully, that potato blight would be difficult to prevent, etc.
There are a few apple trees on the land, but they are in terrible
condition, no-one has taken care of them for years.
What sort of crops would be likely to thrive in this area? The soil
appears to be excellent, dark and crumbly.
Thanks for any advice.
Gerard [http://homepage.eircom.net/~gerfmcc]

have a look here Gerard:
http://www.burncoose.co.uk/coastal-plants.cfm
http://www.coastalplants.co.uk/

HTH Jenny

"Des Higgins" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 30, 3:18 pm, "Cerumen" wrote:
wrote in message


Des near the ocean in suburban Dublin but where we have refined gentle
city winds not like dem oul west cork tyfeckinphoons

I got blown off my feet near Greystones not long ago one night, mind the
Guinness might have been part of the problem there...


--
Chris, West Cork, Ireland.
Festina lente