Dear Tenteners,
Everything is growing in the garden after Ireland's worst winter in living memory – and everyone is at it. You can see gardens starting in Ireland where there were never gardens before – and allotments are spreading as fast as Farmer's Markets!
10:10ers are in the lead, the Irish office garden has splendid purple sprouting broccoli to eat as we watch the broad beans, shallots, and - yesterday - asparagus pushing up through the warming soil. And better yet, the perennials (every year) like the alpine strawberries (you can grow these from seeds or buy plants) and the fruit bushes are budding up again. Alpine strawberries are tiny and soooooo delicious – and fruit almost through the year.
Our Polar Bears have made the crowd stand up wherever they go and this month 10:10 will be holding a raffle to see which schools and events they will attend next. Let us know if you want them to visit you. The Polar Bears make people laugh and show that making cuts in our life styles doesn't have to be run by the doomsayers. It can be fun to work together, and that's what 10:10 is about - with the Polar Bears there to thank us.
Big companies like Sony Ireland and Abbot Ireland have joined 10:10 – businesses and people are already starting to make the change that they know is necessary – now all they have to do is help us spread the word.
Check out our brand new international website for tips around the world – it may be upside down to us, but the vegetables growing in New Zealand look mighty like the vegetables growing here. The new website makes it easy to tour the world and discover that 10:10ers are springing up like – well like the Irish gardens!
Speaking of that - back to the garden.
TIP OF THE MONTH: Water, water, water. Whatever you do NEVER LET YOUR PLANTS DRY OUT. Water makes the nutrients in the soil available and allows the plants to grow without interruption – try watering your potatoes daily and you'll have a bigger crop with a better taste!
Onwards & upwards,
Tony and the 10:10 team in Ireland
