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This is a blog about books, writing, library events and news written by staff of Cork City Libraries
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Sow…Let’s Grow
There aren’t enough hours in the day for all the jobs that need to be done in March.
Sunday was my only free day this week and I was determined to get out in the garden to plant some seeds but lo and behold it did not stop raining all day long and so I used the time to go through my seed collection and get all my March sowing seeds ready to go.
Seeds that can be planted in March:
Basil Agapanthus
Broad beans Aquilegia
Carrots Calendula
Coriander Eryngiums
Cress Lupins
Lettuce Nasturtiums
Peas Phacelia
Radishes Sunflowers
Spring onions Sweetpeas
Turnips Wildflowers
Last year I grew basil, carrots, lettuce, peas, and wildflowers. When sowing the carrots and lettuce I chose pots that were much too small and my crop at the end was only big enough to feed a family of mice! The basil, peas and wildflowers, however, did much better. The smell and taste of home grown veg is so satisfying; the fresh aroma of basil could almost convince you that you were living in Southern Italy (almost) and I’m sure I’ve waxed lyrical about the experience of eating freshly picked peas before, but it’s certainly worth mentioning again. If you want to try your hand at growing any of these, why not drop by to Hollyhill Library and have a look through our free Seed Library, we have all the above-mentioned seeds in stock. Members of the library can borrow up to four packets of seeds and groups up to 8 packets at a time, in return all we ask is that when the plant has finished growing, to return a portion of its seed to the library at harvest time. No matter how small the portion every little bit will help to keep this wonderful service going.
This year I’m also going to try and grow coriander and calendula, with hopefully a better result than my carrots and lettuce! Coriander likes a fine and fertile soil so remove all the clumps of earth and stones beforehand. They also have a fairly long root so make sure your pot is over 25cm deep. Scatter the seeds over the top of the soil, 5 to 10 per pot, cover with soil and water well. It will take about 3 weeks to germinate, you can sow coriander all the way through until September, to create a continuous crop.
Calendula is a great starting point for novice gardeners as it requires very little attention and is amazingly easy to grow. Simply pop the seeds exactly where you want them to grow in the garden, they do not need to be grown indoors first or in a greenhouse, and water well. They will flower all year round if we have a mild winter and the flowers are entirely edible. They also make great companion plants in vegetable gardens to attract pollinators and increase the yield of your crops. An all-round winner in my book!
Talking to my mother, another enthusiastic gardener, I was lamenting the fact that I do not have a greenhouse to start my seedlings off in and here is the ingenious solution she came up with – recycle plastic bottles! By cutting them in half and placing the top over a plant pot you are essentially creating a tiny greenhouse, the heat gets trapped under the plastic providing a much better temperature for seeds to germinate and when the seedlings start to appear, transpiration will create droplets of water on the inside of the bottle meaning the seeds water themselves.
Happy gardening!
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Sow. . . Let’s Grow
February is a funny month, there’s not much you can plant outside as there’s still a risk of frost, but all around, you can see that something is happening in the garden. Magnolia trees, dogwood, and crab-apple trees are all beautifully covered in blossom at this time of year, adding a froth of pink and white to the skyline. Closer to the ground we see snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils as they treat us to an early display of spring colour. There are a couple of things that can be planted in February including sweet peas and broad beans which I’ll touch upon later in this blog, but February is usually known in the gardening calendar as ‘the big clean’ because this is when you get your garden ready for all the new growth and baby seedlings that are going to start appearing come March and April. There’s always plenty to do in the garden!
The Big Clean
For me the big clean involves clearing all the dead foliage away from my pots. Any stray bits of twigs and garden debris that may be harbouring slugs and snails who pose a major threat to any new growth or baby seedling, can go too. Next, I carry out a stock take of my pots, seed trays, bulbs and seeds as it’s handy to know what you have and where it is. I then take time to form a loose planting plan, eg I know I can sow silver ragwort from January until April, provided I have a greenhouse or a sunny and warm windowsill, but its best to sow poppy and cornflower seeds directly outside in March. In Hollyhill Library I have created a planting chart for all the seeds that we have in stock, so you can simply come in, consult the chart, and borrow the appropriate seeds so you can go home and plant them that very day!
Sweet Peas
Sweet peas are fairly easy to grow and have a fabulous smell which is really amplified in small gardens. Once you have picked up your seed packet from Hollyhill library and have brought it home, you can run straight to the bathroom – not because the thought of gardening makes you sick but because you need empty toilet roll tubes! These are ideal as sweet peas have quite a long root and seed trays are generally too shallow. Fill the tubes with fine soil/compost and put one seed in each roll. Push the seed down about an inch or about half the length of your thumb. Water gently (try to keep the cardboard as dry as you can) and place in a sunny windowsill. They should start to germinate in about a week. Once the risk of frost has passed, or the seedlings have grown a good few leaves, you can plant them out in the garden, cardboard tube and all.
Broad Beans
Broad beans are even easier, as they do not need to start off indoors. They are a climbing bean so make sure that wherever you are planting them they have access to support, such as a wooden fence or trellis. Give the soil a good rake to remove any large stones and break down the clumps of soil that have materialised over the winter. Once you have done this simply push the seeds about 5cm below the soil. You can eat the pods when they are as small as 3cm, and they should usually start appearing in May.
Happy Growing!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow!
December is the busiest month of the year for many people, from the stress of Christmas shopping to the excitement of finishing school for the little ones, and the all-important winter exams for those in secondary school or college – the garden is the last thought on anyone’s mind...or is it? The garden doesn’t just stop at the front door you know. In this blog I’ve hand-picked some books that we have in stock here in Hollyhill Library that can complement your gardening from how to make Christmas wreaths to what herbs perfectly accompany the Christmas day roast.
Beautiful Wreaths & Garlands: 35 Projects to Decorate your Home for all Seasons & Occasions by Catherine Woram contains pages of stunning ideas on how to bring all that wonderful winter foliage into your indoor space. Using materials that can be found in almost every garden, she shows you how to create beautiful Christmas wreaths that can highlight your fabulous gardening success.
The Homemade Year by Lily Higgins is a wonderful read that I would recommend at any time of the year. She has divided her book by the seasons and has lots of gorgeous recipes and projects especially suited to each one. Winter starts on page 247 and the very first project is a stunning leaf wreath using dried leaves and herbs from the garden. This wreath is slightly less showy than the one in the previous book and would be perfect for those trying to incorporate a little bit of the Danish hygge tradition into their Christmas. On page 255 is a how-to for a facial steam using chamomile and rosemary which can ease congestion – especially handy at this time of year! And on page 289, one of my favourite Christmas activities, instructions for an orange pomander. Now I know that neither oranges nor cloves are particularly common plants to see growing in an Irish garden, but I love this one all the same and for less than the price of cup of coffee, your house can smell like Christmas for weeks. It is a lovely activity to do with your family, or whomever you choose to spend the holidays with. In the picture below you can see the pomanders my housemates and I made together.
Ultimate Christmas: The essential Recipes and Festive Crafts for the Perfect Christmas published by Paragon Books Ltd has lots of festive recipes that you can use to utilise your fruit and veg harvest. Regardless of whether you’re growing to feed a family of six or just have some herbs on your windowsill, this book has recipes that cater to everyone. Potato and parsnip rosti with smoked salmon, sour cream and chives on page 83 is a delicious recipe which uses common veg you may have grown yourself. No matter how small your gardening endeavours may be, there is no doubt that home grown produce adds just a little bit extra to any dish you desire to make. This book also has a small section in the back dedicated to Christmas crafts and here we find another wreath design, this one uses holly leaves which can be found almost anywhere – I pass several bushes on my walk to work every morning!
A Very Vegan Christmas: Plant-Based Recipes for Celebrating in Style by Sam Dixon is all about those plants. This book may be marketed towards vegans but anyone who believes veg deserves a starring role on the table, should most certainly give it a read. I’ve already leafed through this one and I’ll share with you some of my favourites. Maple & pecan stove-top carrots uses the thyme I’ve grown, and I’ll probably throw in some rosemary as well, I feel they really must be used together. Mushroom and chestnut stuffing also uses a host of herbs, and this will absolutely be on my dinner table come Christmas day. Roast butternut squash curry for those in-between days where you’re not quite sure if you can eat another charcuterie board, the recipe also calls for spinach and I’m going to use my rainbow chard instead, the colour will look just stunning.
Happy Christmas everyone from Hollyhill Library!
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Cork City Libraries visits Sofia with the ADELE Project!
Nestled in between the cool winds of the Black Sea and the Danube River, at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, lies the city of Sofia. It was here, in the capital of Bulgaria, that the third ADELE LTTA (Learning Teaching Training Activity week) took place. Librarians from all over Europe congregated last September to share their experiences: the challenges and benefits of their work as librarians as they all strive to make each of their library’s sites of possibility, imagination, and education. The focus of the week was on Digital Services and Literacy – something which the ADELE tool is vested in.
The ADELE tool is a webtool that aims to show librarians and those working in non-formal education where the strengths and weaknesses of their integrated digital technologies lie. Both library professionals and patrons can access the tool online, answer questions pertaining to their local branch, and receive indication as to how well their branch and digital services are geared towards the future. The tool is fully customisable, thus allowing executive librarians to tailor the tool to their specific branch.
As a participant in the EU funded ADELE Project, we were invited to participate in this third edition of a series of LTTAs. This was hosted by the Global Libraries – Bulgarian Foundation who were exceptional hosts who made sure that all participants were privy to the country’s intellectual, cultural, and literary delights. Nineteen representatives from Ireland, Norway, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and Slovenia spent a week exchanging ideas, giving, and listening to presentations, and experiencing different European cultures firsthand.
Being a part of an Erasmus+ funded partnership, a key aspect of the trip was in cultural exchange. Participants of the LTTA were encouraged to experience and learn about our host country. Our colleagues in the Bulgarian Library service spoke at length both in formal presentations and casual conversations about their work: the challenges, benefits, and problems that come part and parcel of work in a library system. At the end of our cultural and learning exchange in the beautiful city of Sofia, it was time for the participants of the third ADELE LTTA to say; “au revoir”, “ciao”, “auf wiedersehen” and “see you anon” to each other until the next time!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow!
A Time to Plan
I must admit, that although I may come across in these blogs as a seasoned professional (or at least I hope I do!), my garden has not been given the tender love and care it deserved during October. I went out, almost afraid to look last week, for fear that I would be faced with a plant graveyard instead of a garden and yet lo and behold, everything was all right! As my garden exists entirely in pots some had become slightly waterlogged but that was the extend of the damage. Nature is incredibly good at regulating herself and bearing this in mind I turned around and headed back indoors to plan out next year’s logistics – sometimes all the garden needs is to be left alone.
Planning what you’re going to plant in the garden is not for everyone and by no means is it essential, but I find it helps to at least take note of what has grown and thrived in your garden and what struggled or failed to grow at all, to prevent more disappointment a year down the line. For example, muscaria and daffodils thrive in my garden, I planted them once and they have flowered every year since, however I have had less success with tulips, so I don’t think I’ll buy any more of those. Whether you are a seasoned planner or are only just starting out we have plenty of books available to borrow on the subject, such as Your Gardening Year by DK Publishing and The Gardener’s Year Made Easy by Which? to mention but a few.
National Allotments and Community Gardens Conference
At the end of October, I was fortunate enough to attend the first ever National Allotments and Community Gardens conference held in The Glen Sports and Resource Centre. There were people from Tidy Towns committees, Seed Libraries, and enthusiastic gardeners galore, coming from as far as way as Omagh and it was wonderful to see. We were given a tour of The Glen community garden where questions were encouraged and Barry Hickey, who looks after the garden, was more than happy to provide advice. This garden is unique in the fact that it has partnered with the HSE and many of the groups come from HSE-run services like Rehabilitation programmes, Mental Health and Wellbeing for adults and children, and people involved with Probation services. In densely populated areas like these, it is even more important to have access to green spaces and home-grown food as it can make all the difference to the lives of the people who live there.
After lunch, we were brought to the Togher Community Garden where we could wander around and peruse the tea and cake table. Although the garden is relatively new at just two years old, they have wasted no time and the space is impressively filled with raised beds, a green house, a pond, and massive compost bays. This garden focuses on healthy, home-grown food and they have even grown amaranth, a staple food in South and Central America. Many children in the area experience a disconnect from the food on their plates and where it comes from, and this community garden aims to change that. Children from South Lee Educate Together are regular visitors to the garden and the Ballyphehane Men’s Shed also put a lot of work in. It was absolutely wonderful to see so many enthusiastic and committed people giving their time to projects within the community.
If you want to find out more about these community gardens you can find them on Facebook or you can find out more about The Glen at https://glencentre.ie/secondary-schools/ .If neither of these community gardens are close to you why not try one of the other 24 community gardens that are dotted all across Cork City? We here at Hollyhill Library are trying to do our bit by maintaining our seed library and encouraging people to grow their own. Members of the library can ‘borrow’ up to four packets of seeds in the hope that they will save the seeds and bring them back to us the following year. We also take donations of unused seed packets as we strive to be as sustainable as possible.
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Cork City Libraries Visits Belgium with the ADELE Project!
by Claire Fitzgerald
In the heart of Brussels, library staff from across Europe gathered for the second training session of the Erasmus+ ADELE project (Advancing Digital Empowerment of Libraries in Europe). This event, held in September, served as a melting pot of ideas and discussions on digital innovations in public libraries. The ADELE project is a collaboration between one hundred library staff from one hundred European Libraries to develop an online tool to review the use and provision of digital technologies. Cork City Libraries is a proud participant with five library staff representing five libraries across the city.
As an ADELE-participant, I was delighted to visit the charming and vibrant city of Brussels to participate in presentations, information-sharing, and library visits. Along with my colleagues from Cork, Maria and Tom, I was joined by twenty-four librarians from Ireland, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Finland, and Austria.
Muntpunt Library, located in the city centre, served as our base hosting many of our activities, including presentations on digital skills and tools. Each participant presented a case study highlighting digital innovations from their library. Tom discussed the broad range of digital services available at Cork City Libraries, while Maria focused on 3D Printing at Bishopstown Library, and I spoke about the Acorn Training Courses Cork City Libraries ran in collaboration with Cork ETB.
The trip included a visit to the EU Commission and European Parliament. At the EU Commission we heard about initiatives to promote digital skills through informal education. We received a guided tour of the EU Parliament and saw the Parliament hemicycle.
The week wasn't just about the digital realm; we also had the opportunity to visit a selection of Brussels’ libraries. As library staff, we were all particularly excited about this part of the itinerary. We went on a guided tour of Sans Souci Bibliotheek in Elsene, a delightful local library found in the suburbs of the city. At Muntpunt Library, we explored the makerspace De Grid, an entire floor dedicated to creativity with many different types of tools and facilities available to use. One of the highlights was a visit to the Royal Library of Belgium where we explored the library's extensive collection of rare manuscripts and ancient texts. From illuminated medieval manuscripts to early printed books, the library houses a diverse array of historical treasures. While there, we paid a visit to their ‘book tower’; an impressive 17-storey repository housing all Belgian publications.
The ADELE training provided an insight into the ways libraries across Europe continue to adapt to the digital age while maintaining their mission to provide access to information, promote lifelong learning, and serve as focal points for the community.
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow!
Now that the evenings are drawing in and we breathe a sigh of relief at the lack of flies and midges, spare a thought for the birds and other small mammals who rely on these to feed themselves through the winter. Making a garden that is wildlife friendly is more important than ever during the colder months. Lots of animals like squirrels and mice gather food during summer and autumn to get them through the winter, but birds and foxes must hunt through the winter. If you have somewhere to hang a bird feeder, do please hang one up, or if you have a pile of logs sitting somewhere that you had planned on tidying, why not leave them a couple months longer, the small mammals of Ireland will thank you for it. For more ways you can make your garden a safe haven for wildlife, check out books like Joe’s Expert Gardening Guide: Create Your Own Nature Garden by Joe Swift, available to borrow from your local library!
Houseplants have had a huge resurgence in popularity - gone are the days of the stuffy geranium in your granny’s living room window, everyone from your teenage cousin to the hip librarian has one these days! While the gardener’s to-do list is never finished, the unpredictability of autumn weather and the shrinking hours of day light can force you to retreat indoors whether you want to or not. An ingenious way around this is to bring the garden indoors to you, through the medium of houseplants. Houseplants are certainly a much easier way to dabble your toes in the gardening world, because you don’t even need to have a garden to reap the benefits. I currently have over 40 different houseplants and am quickly running out of space – plants like Tradescantia are so easy to propagate that my one plant has quickly turned into five! We have lots of lovely books on houseplants here in Hollyhill library including Never Put a Cactus in the Bathroom by Emily L. Hay Hinsdale.
If you do still want to get out into the garden however, there is still plenty to be done.
Spring-flowering bulbs can be planted all the way up until the first frost really, and they come back again and again every year so a worthy investment if you want a colourful garden but don’t have the time to maintain it.
Garlic and onion bulbs can be planted now for a good crop next summer. For garlic try and plant hardneck varieties as they are better suited to our climate. Pop the bulb into the soil pointy end facing up and leaving roughly 15cm between each bulb. Keep weed free and removes the scapes or flowers as they appear as this will direct more nutrients to the growing bulb. Garlic should be ready to harvest once the leaves have turned yellow and withered, usually around next July. For onions, make sure the variety you have are an autumn variety rather than a spring one, as these will not survive the winter. Depending on how big you want your onions plant them in rows with 5 – 10cm between each bulb (the bigger the gap the bigger the onion), with the top of the bulb just poking out above the soil. Keep weed free and all going well, your onions should be ready as early as next May.
All those dead leaves are perfect for the compost heap. Simply scoop them up and pop them in!
As a lovely little treat, I’ve attached a photo of my cosmos flowering this week. I planted these back in May with seeds I had borrowed from the Hollyhill Seed Library and after all the bad weather we’ve had this summer, I had given up hope when August came and went, and they hadn’t flowered. However, I just needed a little patience, because as it turns out August showers sometimes bring September flowers!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow!
As the summer draws to a close and the nights grow longer and darker, there is still plenty to be done in the garden as we tidy away the remnants of the summer bounty and prepare for winter.
If you think however, that the dawn of September means the death of the growing season then let me change your mind by outlining four plants, all of which can be sown in September and all of which we have in stock in the Hollyhill Seed Library, that is chicory, coriander, calendula, and phacelia.
We have two types of chicory seeds currently in Hollyhill Library i.e. ‘Palla rosa’ and ‘di Castelfranco’, both of which can be planted from April up until late August/early September. The baby leaves can be used in salads and the fully grown leaves can be used in stir fries.
Coriander is a wonderful herb to have at the ready and can be sown from April all the way through until October. Coriander doesn’t actually like full sun and is partial to bolt (flower prematurely) when exposed to long periods of hot weather so planting seeds at this time of year means that this can be avoided.
Calendula is another wonderful plant to have in the garden. It is an incredibly useful plant and can be used to make tinctures, ointments and washes to treat burns, bruises and cuts. It can be planted from March to May for a floral display in late summer and in September and October for an early flowering. Simply scatter the seeds over some well raked soil and keep moist. Calendula seeds can also be collected and saved for next year, and they will self-seed so no need to replant year after year.
Phacelia, which has wonderful purple flowers, can be sown all the way from March through to September and if you are fortunate enough to have a large garden, can be used as a green manure.
September is also the time of year for planting spring flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, crocus, muscaria, snowdrops, and hyacinths to name but a few. These are well worth planting as they come back again and again and bring swathes of colour to the garden when all around is so grey and miserable. If you have a cottage style garden, throwing the bulbs in the air and planting them where they land, can contribute to a lovely natural feel.
Hollyhill Library hosted a seed saving talk with Ellie Donovan during Heritage Week. Ellie spoke about the importance of saving seeds, not just as a way of saving money, but as a way to preserve Irish heritage varieties for the future, ensuring that the Irish ecosystem remains healthy and full of biodiversity. Some specific seeds that she mentioned during the talk included aquilegia or granny’s bonnet which I’ve mentioned before on this blog, fennel which is a fantastic herb, and I cannot walk by one without snapping a bit off and eating it, Martock beans which I had never heard of, and sweet chestnut.
Regardless of what seed you are collecting; the most important thing to do is make sure that they are dry – do not collect on rainy days and do not allow them to get damp while you are storing them as they will become mouldy and unusable.
Ellie kindly allowed us to take some of her saved seeds after her talk and I decided on the Martock beans. What intrigued me was, aside from this being a very old bean variety (there is evidence to suggest that these beans were grown by Neolithic people – 12,000 years ago!) the bean pods grow upwards instead of down. They are also quite a small variety, usually growing around 4ft tall and producing a hefty crop, Ellie said she counted 80 pods on one of her plants. So, I intend to plant these out next February and see what happens. Stay tuned!
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Goad Plans of Cork City!
The dedicated Cork City Libraries Local History website, Cork Past and Present, has recently had an interesting addition made in the shape of Insurance plans for the commercial heart of the City. The wide selection of maps details the changing landscape and businesses that filled the city centre from 1897 to 1961!
Cork City Libraries hold copies of seventeen editions of the Goad plans for Cork City, from 1897 to 1961. These are held in five bindings in our Local Studies and Learning Department. The ‘key plan’ on the first sheet of each edition provides a graphic outline of areas represented in more detail on maps 2-16 of each edition. Under the key plan (in PDF form in these webpages), a selective index of streets, buildings, and firms is included. The scale of the detailed plans is one inch to forty feet (1:480) on the original paper copies. Fire insurance plans were first drawn up in the late eighteenth century to provide risk information to fire insurance underwriters.
Charles Edward Goad, born in Surrey in 1848, moved to Canada in 1869, where he became a renowned cartographer and railway engineer. The firm of Charles E. Goad was established in Montreal in 1875 and became the leading producer of fire insurance plans for 1,300 places in Canada, before he returned to Britain in 1885 to produce insurance plans for the commercial sections of more than 100 towns in Britain and Ireland, along with surveying places in other countries.
Fire insurance companies had an interest in preventing fires to insured properties, and firefighters (often private) needed detailed information regarding access to water, routes to building, room arrangements, locations of doors & windows, thickness of walls, information on construction materials, type of roof, locations of combustible materials, water-works system, etc. Charles Goad died in Toronto in 1910. Goad insurance plans now provide an excellent information source for historians, geographers, architects, environmentalists and genealogists.
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow!
I was fortunate enough to attend a gardening course at the end of June, with the intention that it would contribute to my work with the Hollyhill Seed Library and this blog. Although the day itself was wet and miserable, and the arrival of the promised sandwiches never materialised, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my head was spinning with the amount of information that was being imparted upon us. The lady who was running the course, Aoife Munn, was a fountain of knowledge and I would highly recommend checking out one of her talks if she ever pops up in your area.
She initially spoke about the importance of pollinator plants. In a study conducted by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland it was found that our native plants have declined by 56% since the 1950s which is a terrifying statistic. Plants have evolved over millions of years to adapt to their surroundings, including their ability to attract pollinators specific to that area. Given that we have lost over half of our native plants it’s not a big jump to assume that our native bees and other pollinators must be really struggling in the changing landscape. Something we can do as gardeners to alleviate that struggle is to plant native pollinators. Sometimes you don’t even have to plant anything, if you just let a patch of land grow wild you will be amazed at what will grow there.
Plants such as dandelions, oxeye daisy, clover and knapweed will all appear in your garden given the space and the time. Foxglove, primrose, cornflowers, and marsh marigold are all native Irish plants and great pollinators too, so it’s a double win! A plant that she also suggested that I’d never considered before was the humble ivy. Ivy keeps its foliage all year round, it flowers when very little else does and its berries are a wonderful food for birds during the chilly winter months. Other fantastic pollinators include snowdrop, crocus, comfrey, wallflower, hellebores, and alliums.
Aoife also showed us how to make biodegradable pots for seedlings or for plants that need an extra bit of support indoors before they can be planted out. To make your own pot all you need is a couple of sheets of newspaper and a plastic bottle, a 250ml bottle is a perfect size. Fold the newspaper sheet in half horizontally, with the closed end towards you and the open end facing away. Put the plastic bottle at the start of the newspaper, making sure the open end is also facing the open end of the newspaper and roll the newspaper around the bottle. Stuff the paper into the opening of the bottle and then take the bottle out and put it back in, bottom end first so it can squash down the newspaper. This will degrade much faster than a toilet roll tube and repurposes items that would traditionally have ended up in the bin.
In other gardening news I ate my first radish this week and it was one that I had grown myself! I borrowed the seeds from the Hollyhill Seed Library, planted the seeds in the bottom of the pot that my peas were in and hey presto, a couple of weeks later I have lots of lovely crunchy little radishes. Another vegetable that is ready to eat is rainbow chard. Although not fully grown yet, the baby leaves are perfectly edible and pinching them out now gives the remaining leaves space to grow. Using my baby rainbow chard leaves and the radish I grew, I made a lovely peanut satay and it’s safe to say that nothing beats the taste of freshly grown veg!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow…Let’s Grow! Gardening in July
The garden in July and August is really the gardeners’ magnum opus. All the hard work throughout the year is finally (and literally!) coming to fruition. Just yesterday I ate my first home-grown strawberry of the year, and although a slug had technically piped me to the post, the berry was nevertheless still as sweet.
Aside from a variety of fruits and vegetables reaching maturity during these long summer days, there is plenty that can be planted now so that you can have fresh produce all year round. Here in the Hollyhill Seed Library we have several packets of carrot seeds, and if you plant them out now you will have a gorgeous crop of carrots come Autumn. Sow the seeds about 1cm deep in rows 15 – 30 cm long. Sow them as thinly as possible because you want to avoid having to pinch them out later, as this can attract carrot root fly and then all your hard work will be for nothing.
Another vegetable you can plant now for an autumn crop is the pea, which we also have in stock in the Hollyhill Seed Library. There is nothing nicer than the taste of freshly grown peas and if you grow nothing else this year, please invest the time and love into growing a couple of pea plants. Push the seed 3cm down into the soil, keep it well watered, and give it something tall to grow around – that’s all there is too it! If you plant them now you should be able to harvest the lovely little pea pods around September.
Chive seeds can also be harvested now, and I have actually managed to harvest some of my own this year and have very proudly donated them to the Seed Library. I noticed that it was growing new flowers even though the old flower heads were still on the plant so I decided something must be done. I snipped off the flowers taking a good bit of the stem with them, immediately put them upside down in an envelope and left them outside overnight so all the little insects can escape (make sure you check the weather forecast beforehand though – you do not want soggy seeds!). Most of the seeds should come out if you give the chives a good shake at this point and you can simply discard the flowers, but if you want to go the extra mile you can tie the stems together using a slip knot and keep them as dried ornamental flowers. Nothing has to go to waste!
Because everything is growing so rapidly at this time of year, it is important to remember to feed your plants with fertiliser or compost – especially if you are gardening in pots. If the very thought of which fertiliser to use or how to start a compost heap is making your head whirl, you are not alone.
Thankfully we have lots of books in stock that can help you along the way, including No-Waste Composting: Small Space Recycling, Indoors and Out by Michelle Balz, The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up by Matt Rees-Warren, and How to Make and Use Compost: The Practical Guide for Homes, Schools and Communities by Nicky Scott. I started my compost heap from scratch just under a year ago and it is coming along nicely now. The first time I used it, it was a disaster – nothing grew! I had used it far too soon and it was still so acidic that it had killed the seeds. Disheartened, I left it for several more weeks and even invested in some worms that had been destined for the end of a fishing line. Around mid-June I decided to try again and used it to plant some salad leaves and basil. Lo and behold, not only did the seeds thrive this time round, so too did some mushrooms, which I see as a huge bonus!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | The Rights of the Child at the Children's Library
The Children’s and Teen’s Library in the City Library, Grand Parade now features a colourful and informative display of the rights of the child according to the UN Convention. These universal rights define who children are, what their rights are, and the responsibilities of governments regarding these.
This display proudly showcases each of the 54 rights of the child and is conveniently located in a high traffic area of the Children’s Library – enabling children and their families to view the rights (which forms a very important part of the convention!)
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child forms a cornerstone of strong institutions and fair governance. Making sure that Children and their families have access to what these rights are and how they affect their lives contributes to Goals 4 and 16 of the Sustainable Goals.
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When JFK came to Cork | 28 June 1963
by Mary Horgan
This summer marks the 60th anniversary of the visit of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America, to Cork. As part of his historic four-day trip to Ireland, five months before his assassination in Dallas on 22nd November 1963, he visited Wexford, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork. JFK’s eight great grandparents had emigrated to America during the 19th century. Welcoming him back to the homeland of his ancestors was for so many, like welcoming one of their own home again.
Interestingly, a visit to Cork was not originally on the agenda, but anticipation rose two weeks before the president’s arrival in the country, when the Evening Echo reported that ‘Mr. Kennedy himself had asked specifically that Cork be included as part of his Irish itinerary’ as some of his ancestors had hailed from the county.
Evening Echo, 14 June 1963
But also, Cork people don’t like to be excluded and can be very persuasive; remember, how in 2011, Cork made certain that Queen Elizabeth II would not leave Ireland without visiting the city. At a meeting of Cork Corporation on 26 May 1963, it was agreed that the Freedom of Cork should be offered to President Kennedy. On 11 June, he was formally nominated and elected a freeman of the city of Cork, with the actual conferring to take place during his visit on 28 June 1963. This was the second time that a U.S. president became a Freeman of Cork; the first being, Woodrow Wilson, in 1919. As the day of the visit drew closer, the public learnt more about the planned itinerary through the local press. On 21 June, Lord Mayor Seán Casey, T.D. issued an appeal to employers to allow their staff time off work to welcome the U.S. President and requested that businesses and houses along the route of the motorcade would decorate their premises for the occasion. Sixty telephone lines and specialized wired photograph facilities for members of the world’s press were installed in the City Hall and 900 gardaí were allocated to be on duty during the Cork visit.
On the morning of Friday 28 June 1963, five helicopters left Dublin carrying JFK and entourage. Shortly after 10a.m. the sound of helicopters could be heard above the streets of Cork. Ten minutes later, the President landed safely on the square in Collins Barracks, on the north side of the city. The official welcoming party included Lord Mayor Seán Casey, Jack Lynch, T.D. who was Minister for Industry and Commerce at the time and Walter McEvilly, the City Manager. The combined pipe bands of the 4th and 12th Infantry Battalions played ‘The Boys from Wexford’ and ‘Kelly the Boy from Killane’.
President Kennedy inspects a Guard of Honour as he departs Collins Barracks
(Courtesy of Irish Examiner Archives)
The Presidential motorcade consisted of fourteen vehicles, including three buses for members of the world’s press and a Secret Service car – not a common site on the streets of Cork. An estimated 100,000 people, some carrying American flags, lined the streets, as the motorcade made its way down Summerhill, along MacCurtain Street, over Patrick’s Bridge, then along Patrick Street, Grand Parade, South Mall and over Brian Boru Bridge to the City Hall.
(The Irish Times, 29 June 1963)
The bells of Shandon rang out across the city, and it seemed that at almost every corner, musicians felt compelled to show their joy at the visit by taking up their instruments. The Irish Times reported that: ‘Rose petals, confetti streamers and ticker tape were strewn along President Kennedy’s path as almost 100,000 Leesiders roared a Céad Míle Fáilte, again and again’. Businesses had followed the Lord Mayor’s request to close and erected signs such as: ‘Closed, gone to meet President Kennedy’. In their excitement, sometimes the crowds surged forward, eager to shake JFK’s hand, make eye contact, clap him on the back, thank him for coming, while concerned Secret Service men looked on. But he was in no danger in this place, and he must have felt that because sometimes he even leaned forward from the car and brushed hands against the outspread fingers of people nearest the motorcade.
President Kennedy’s motorcade nears the top of Patrick Street
(JFK Library)
President Kennedy accompanied by Lord Mayor Seán Casey waves to cheering crowds as the motorcade makes its way along Patrick Street
(Courtesy of Irish Examiner Archives)
Evening Echo, 28 June 1963
When the motorcade finally arrived at the City Hall, 2,000 invited guests awaited the president inside the Concert Hall, where his entrance was greeted by a fanfare of trumpets from the Southern Command Band.
On behalf of the city, the Lord Mayor welcomed him with the following words:
‘Throughout its long history, Cork has received many famous visitors from many parts of the world but I can confidently say that no man has ever come within our walls who is more welcome than John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the great republic of the west, leader of the powerful nation to whom we all owe so much’.
President Kennedy with his hands on the Freedom Casket as he accepts the Freedom of Cork in the City Hall
(Courtesy of Irish Examiner Archives)
President Kennedy accepted the Freedom Casket containing his Certificate of Freedom. Designed by the well-known Cork firm, Wm. Egan & Sons, it was made of solid silver, gilded in fine gold, mounted on a plinth of Connemara marble and engraved with shamrock, Celtic design, the Cork Coat of Arms, the U.S. Eagle Crest and the Kennedy family crest. The President’s concluded his eight-minute speech, which was relayed over loudspeakers to the crowds outside with the following words:
‘So I must say Mr. Mayor, that when I am retired from public life, I will take the greatest pride and satisfaction in not only having been President of my own country but a Freeman of this City.’
(Courtesy of Irish Examiner Archives)
This photo shows JFK leaving the City Hall en route to Marine One helicopter waiting at the Marina Park, Victoria Road, which is now known as Kennedy Park in his honour. A crowd of about 5,000 had made their way there with some running in under the whirling blades of the helicopter. The pilot had a difficult job to clear a path through the crowd before executing a take-off which had him hovering with the wheels almost touching the heads below.
The Irish Times reported:
‘A White House Press Corps man wiped perspiration from his brow and said: “Gee, that was the most dangerous take-off I’ve ever seen in many years of covering American Presidents. Cork outdoes anything I’ve seen before. I thought the mobbing in Berlin was bad, but now I know better. My message home will be of this one helleva hooley we had in Cork.’
JFK’s visit to Cork was a short one, but in the words of The Cork Examiner:
‘Cork indeed will remember, and President Kennedy will never forget’.
Sources consulted for this post may be viewed at the Local Studies & Learning department, Grand Parade Library, Cork:
Harvey, Dan. & White, Gerry. The Barracks: A History of Victoria/Collins Barracks, Cork. 1997.
Tubridy, Ryan. JFK in Ireland: Four days that changed a president. 2010
Quinlivan, Aodh. The Freedom of Cork: A Chronicle of Honour. 2013.
The Cork Examiner
Evening Echo
The Irish Times
Irish Examiner Archives
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Sow...Let's Grow! Gardening in June
The garden in summer is brimming with life. From the glorious blue of the cornflower, to the lovely red and yellows of the rainbow chard, and the wonderful whites of the roses which are absolutely thriving in this hot weather!
Seeds can be harvested from candelabra primulas. You will know its time when the green seed pods turn a pale brown. Collect them in a paper bag and leave in a dry place (an airing cupboard perhaps) for a few days. During this time the seed heads should dry out fully and split releasing all the little seeds.
Hellebore seeds can also be harvested and stored. Simply leave the flowers on the plants and they will turn brown and with a bit of luck dry themselves out. Once you can gently shake the plant and can hear audible rattling then it’s time to harvest. Snip the seed heads off the plants, remove the little black seeds from within and store them in a paper envelope in a cool place - a fridge is the ideal temperature to store seeds. Once you have collected your seeds make sure to write on the envelope what the variety of flower is, when it was harvested, and planting instructions for next year. If you have a couple of envelopes, why not drop some into Hollyhill Library? We would be more than happy to take them and catalogue them into our Seed Library for the rest of the community to use and enjoy.
Watering and feeding are so important in the summer months, as is weeding. The categorisation of certain plants as ‘weeds’ is a hotly debated topic at the minute, as we become more aware of the importance of biodiversity and the concept of mutualism. However, if you are growing fruits and vegetables then I think it is okay to weed these beds or pots – leave a space elsewhere to accommodate the biodiversity that these plants provide.
We recently received a donation of Phacelia seeds which can be planted all the way through March to October. This plant is generally used by farmers as a green manure as it is a wonderful weed suppressor and although you may not have a garden the size of a field, it is a wonderful plant to fill any gaps around the garden and can even be planted in pots. Crowd the seeds together and you will be rewarded with a glorious display of purple flowers that smell fabulous to boot! And although it is an annual, it is a remarkable self-seeder, so it won’t come back in the same place next year, but it most certainly will come back.
The nightly slug pick is well under way at this point, especially when there has been rain during the day. The slugs are out in their hundreds, and you will also find me out with my torch inspecting each plant for unwanted guests. Aside from physically picking these slimy snackers off your plants, surrounding the pot with a ring of table salt also does the trick. For larger gardens however this may not be practical, instead why not try a beer trap? Simply fill a yoghurt pot or takeaway container with beer and place in the near vicinity of your plants. The slugs much prefer beer to vegetables! These and other handy gardening tips can be found in the wide variety of books we have available to borrow in Hollyhill Library for example, Can Anything Stop Slugs? A Gardeners Collection of Pesky Problems and Surprising Solutions by Guy Barter and The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook: Identify and Solve Common Pest Problems on Edible Plants by Susan Mulvihill.
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100 Years Ago Today | June 16th 1923
Cork District Sessions
Denis Sexton, Clarence Street (now Gerald Griffin Street), was charged with the larceny of a bag of onions on Patrick’s Quay, the property of the Cork Steam Packet Company. Sergeant Mullen stated that he arrested the accused, who made the following statement, “I went to the Steam Packet, I thought there were six bags and four cases to collect”. “I said to the checker, ‘sign me for this’ and produced an order. When I went up to the quay, I found it was five cases and five bags on the boat and when I found out my mistake I left one at Morcelli’s with no intention of selling it. I was going to take it back again. That is all I have to say”. Sergeant Mullen said he was still making inquiries and hoped to procure enough evidence to connect the accused with the offence. He accordingly applied for remand. Mr. O’Connor, representing the defendant, said he was a respectable young man with ten years in the same employment. Bail was fixed at £10.
South Infirmary Committee
Dr. Donovan stated at the South Infirmary Management Committee meeting that the water supply to the hospital tasted badly and that he forwarded a sample to Professor Moore for analysis. Professor Moore reported that it was quite unfit for drinking or domestic use. Mr. Wallace said this was a very serious matter. Dr. Donovan said the water is filtered before being supplied to the patients. Canon Murphy, committee chairman, said it would be well if the water was boiled before use. It was agreed to bring the attention of the Corporation to Professor Moore’s report and request steps be taken to improve it. One tender was received for painting the institution. It was from Mr. Lingwood, French’s Quay, for £191 10s. and was accepted. Mr. Wallace voiced the committee’s gratitude for the money allocated to the hospital from the Hospitals Sweepstake. Only for the efforts of Mr. Duncan, a fellow committee member, the amount would not have been as satisfactory as it was. Mr. Wallace expressed the committee’s regret at the loss of the services of the Protestant Bishop and the Dean. Canon Murphy agreed that it was the committee’s desire that the distinguished clergymen reconsider their decision and return to the hospital board.
Kiss of Warm Rain
The May-June cold spell of bitter, broken weather has left its mark on tree, shrub and meadow. The satisfying profusion of a leafy June is absent. Ash, beech, oak and elm do not bear their full lusciousness. The flowers are blooming, but in a wistful, half-hearted way. Normally fertile soils are hard, parched and cold and our young spring crops have been hard hit by this bitter, boisterous weather. Delicate potato, grain and orchard plantations are late and crabbed in their growth. A few days of soft, heavy rain from the Atlantic will amend matters. Weekend sport-makers may not love the warm kiss of the misty rain but to one born of the soil no weather conditions in late spring or early summer are more welcome – the fulsome, harvest-growing rain from the sea.
Diamond Jubilee Celebrated
Sister Mary Camillus celebrated the 60th anniversary of her profession as a Sister of Mercy at St. Marie’s of the Isles last Saturday. The Rev. Dr. Cohalan, Bishop of Cork, presided and the occasion was one of great rejoicing among the members of the community. All present availed of it to offer Sister Camillus the tribute of their veneration and affectionate esteem. The only daughter of Dr. John and Mrs. Burke of Bantry, Sister Camillus lost her father in her infancy and came with her mother to reside in Cork. She received her education at Laurel Hill, Limerick and Clapham, London. Still very young, she entered St. Marie’s of the Isles in 1860 and was professed on June 9th 1863. In the House of Mercy Sister laboured for 40 years, during which time hundreds of girls learned from her the truths, duties and beauties of the Catholic faith before going on to struggle for sustenance and position in every land. The greatest tribute to the work of this holy nun is contained in the numerous letters which have come back to her from all over thanking and blessing her.
Blackrock vs. St. Finbarrs
There is no need to go back on the circumstances which led to the falling through of last year’s County Championship between these two sides. Suffice to say a very regrettable hitch led to a walkover for the Blues and intense disappointment to thousands of followers of the national code. Recompense arrived and an enormous attendance witnessed the old rivals meet in the semi-final of the Henebry Cup. Both sides were fully prepared for the test and there was no doubting their determination to put forth their best effort to win. The Blues put up a big fight but it was somewhat short lived. Their opponents came through the ordeal of the first-half some points to the good and, on the resumption of the struggle, there was really but one team standing, the Rockies. Their hurling was marked with unmistakeable rigor and mastery and at the long whistle Blackrock emerged from the arena with a substantial winning score. Though feeling was uncommonly high, both teams, to their credit, fought out the issue in a sporting spirit. There was rather too much partisanship displayed on the sideline which the players, very properly, ignored. I have to say unpleasant things of the gate arrangements. These were decidedly out of joint for a contest in which such widespread interest was evinced. With anything approaching even ordinary arrangements the gate takings would have been acceptable to even the College authorities, which is where the final against Sarsfields will be played.
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Seed Library at Hollyhill
May is that wonderful time of year when everything really begins to start happening; fresh foliage on trees as well as an abundance of wildflowers brings a splash of colour and fragrance to the city, reminding us that it’s a great time to start planting.
Hollyhill Library has a great selection of both vegetable and flower seeds available to borrow from its new Seed Library! The Seed Library is Cork City Libraries first and currently only seed library in its service, and taking packets of seeds works in a similar way to borrowing books. Members of Cork City Libraries can take packets of seed for free, and once you have planted the seeds and enjoyed the fruits of your labour, we then ask that you save a portion of the seeds from the plants and donate them back to the library for others to sow and enjoy.
If you do not know how to save seeds, panic not, we have lots of gardening books available for borrowing on this very subject and if you keep an eye on our social media, we have talks and workshops sporadically throughout the year all about gardening - In April as part of the Cork Life Long Learning Festival, Bethan Lucas gave a talk on the importance of seed saving and practical tips on how to save seed.
Something that you can sow in abundance now that the weather is getting warmer, is cut-and-come again salad greens like lettuce, rocket, and oriental greens. When planting the seeds, you can either scatter the seeds all over the soil and then thin them out later or plant the seeds about 5 centimetres apart in nice even rows. They do not need to be planted very deep, I have mine in a discarded roasting tray. Once planted make sure to keep the soil moist, (I mist mine with a recycled spray bottle) and keep in a sunny windowsill. Within a week you should see little green shoots bursting through the soil. We stock these seeds in the Seed Library in Hollyhill Library.
This year I’m also sowing cosmos, cornflowers, pot marigolds and Californian poppies. Simply sprinkle the seeds over a sizeable area (my biggest pot is 40cm so I used this one but the bigger the better), gently press down into the soil, or sprinkle a new layer on top, making sure no seeds can be seen, give them a good soak and that’s it! The seeds should start to sprout in about 2 weeks’ time.
For sowing delicate seeds or if you just want to give them a bit more a fighting chance to grow before they encounter slugs and snails, sowing them indoors in a seed tray is a great idea. Not to worry if you do not have a seed tray, the inner tube of a toilet roll cut in half is perfect for incubating seeds. Once the seedling is a couple of centimetres tall and sprouting several leaves it is time to plant out in the garden, either into a bigger pot or if you are lucky enough to have a proper garden, out into the flower beds. You can also use this method for growing salad leaves.
Happy Growing!
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Cork City Libraries Sustainability Blog | Social Sketchers
People, Peace, and Paint in Douglas Library.
Douglas Library’s Social Sketchers meet every Tuesday morning in the library’s community space. They, as their group name implies, sit together to paint, sketch, draw (and redraw!) whatever the muses inspire them to each week. Everything from watercolours to oil paintings, to gouaches and anything in between. Friendships are formed amongst the glossy tubes of paint and copious amounts of tea. New members are welcomed with open arms – no barriers to ability or age are to be found in the Social Sketchers, only positive reinforcement, and a safe, warm, welcoming space for members to hone their hobby skills.
Members that attend the Social Sketchers find a space for tranquillity and relaxation in between library bookshelves. The sketchers can find inspiration and knowledge within the library’s many art books, the everyday life of the library, and each other’s projects. Members can be seen pottering from one desk to the next with looks ranging from admiration to profound astonishment on their faces as they examine their co-sketchers’ oeuvre. They can also avail of the library’s printing services to create templates or models for their work.
In meeting in Douglas Library on a regular basis, the Social Sketchers are contributing to UN Agenda 2030’s Sustainable Development Goals in a number of important ways. Sustainable Communities and Cities form Goal 11 of UN Agenda 2030’s SDGs, and the presence of a safe, inclusive, and resilient space that the library can accommodate adds to this. The sketchers also add to aspects of Lifelong Learning that all library’s facilitate; many of the members of the Social Sketchers are retirees who use the time to improve their ability to sketch and paint. This contributes to Goal 4 of the SDGs. Lastly, in the inclusive nature of their group, the Social Sketchers foster an atmosphere of Gender Equality – Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
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