Rostrevor Men's Shed

02/06/2026

Chi Me was well attended today with 9 men taking part 💪

Unfortunately Seamus and Leo had to leave early for what they described as a “top secret rendezvous”… we’re still waiting on the full story 🤔😂

Not to be outdone, the second class also attracted 9 women, making for another great day of activity, fitness and plenty of laughs.

Well done everyone who took part!

31/05/2026

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏! 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒚𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏. 🌱🍅🌻” 💚

Water crew this week were Bill, Jimmy, Stephen, Gerry C and Paul.

Garden crew yesterday were James, Stephen, Rhode, Malachy, Bill, Tim and welcome back Seamus M.

What a team! Looking around yesterday, the garden has never been in better shape. The beds are full, the paths are tidy and the plants are clearly benefiting from all the care and attention they’re receiving. 😍

We started yesterday morning with another trip to the seaside, returning to the spot where we collected fresh seaweed for the potatoes last week. This time we gathered a wonderful mix of washed-up decomposed seaweed and leaves. One of our shedders uses this in his own garden, so we know it’s good stuff and packed with valuable nutrients. It was used as mulch around our tomatoes and lightly spread across our outdoor beds. 🌊

A couple of members were looking for tomato plants and we were happy to help. With around 80–90 plants in a relatively small space, we could spare a few! This left some empty beds in the polytunnel, which have now been filled with strawberry plants and colourful flowers including geraniums, asters and marigolds. These will brighten the tunnel while attracting beneficial insects. 🐝🌼

With the recent warm weather, the polytunnel door has remained open and we had a surprise visitor yesterday. A blackbird that has clearly been helping itself to the place lately seemed quite shocked to find us already there! 😎

We also mixed another batch of our biodynamic Preparation 507, made from valerian flowers, rainwater and a ferment starter. A much more pleasant mixture than Preparation 500, which was also applied throughout the garden yesterday. For those curious, Preparation 500 is fermented cow manure diluted 10:1 with rainwater before being applied to the soil. 😷

The final tomato support strings have now been fitted and the plants are looking exceptionally healthy. Flowers and herbs throughout the garden are thriving too. We have also sown white clover throughout the beds. While many gardeners dig clover into the soil for its nitrogen benefits, we’re hoping to establish it as a living mulch to help protect the soil surface from the summer sun. 💪

Malachy kindly supplied us with a selection of surplus seed potatoes which are currently chitting. These will be ready to refill our potato buckets for a winter harvest once the current crop is lifted in a few weeks. 🤝🥔

Yesterday we also transplanted some spinach into shadier areas to help it cope with the heat. We had some surplus pea seed past its best-before date, so we’re giving it a chance too. Even if the crop isn’t spectacular, it will still contribute valuable nitrogen to the soil. 🙏

Elsewhere, everything is looking very promising. Raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, gooseberries, apples and plums are all doing well. Our peas and broad beans are filling their pods nicely and the tomato plants are covered in flowers, promising plenty of fruit in the weeks ahead. 🤞🍅

You are up to date! 👍

30/05/2026

New frock for the gnome!

We had a request a few weeks ago to repaint a gnome. As you do.

We know of a specialist from our friends in Kilcoo Men’s Shed, Colm Morgan,and this thing is right up his street. We asked Colm to help out and he duly obliged. Isn’t it great? The before and after pics show what a talent he has.

Elsewhere in the shed it was business as usual. Bench repairs, painting and varnishing were the order of the day.

Tim was making a load of candle holders. Gerry and Alan were making a great job on a curvy backed bench, Martin was on the lathe and James was tidying up as usual.

Our CNC machine has a wiring fault,, so repairs are needed on that.

Mark actually did some work today, but not until he had been down to the book library in the park to restock it.

Stuart was threading a strengthening bar for his monster bench and adding in a decorative panel.

Eamonn’s scones went down well with The President’s tea. Patsy helped out a wee but there too.

The gardeners were busy as usual, everything in full growth phase due to the great weather. Full report tomorrow.

Our new drum sander hit its first replacement belt and was put into immediate use tidying up a memorial plaque.

Lots of stuff going on!

30/05/2026

New frock for the gnome!

We had a request a few weeks ago to repaint a gnome. As you do.

We know of a specialist from our friends in Kilcoo Men’s Shed, Colm Morgan,and this thing is right up his street. We asked Colm to help out and he duly obliged. Isn’t it great? The before and after pics show what a talent he has.

Elsewhere in the shed it was business as usual. Bench repairs, painting and varnishing were the order of the day.

Tim was making a load of candle holders. Gerry and Alan were making a great job on a curvy backed bench, Martin was on the lathe and James was tidying up as usual.

Our CNC machine has a wiring fault,, so repairs are needed on that.

Mark actually did some work today, but not until he had been down to the book library in the park to restock it.

Stuart was threading a strengthening bar for his monster bench and adding in a decorative panel.

Eamonn’s scones went down well with The President’s tea. Patsy helped out a wee but there too.

The gardeners were busy as usual, everything in full growth phase due to the great weather. Full report tomorrow.

Our new drum sander hit its first replacement belt and was put into immediate use tidying up a memorial plaque.

Lots of stuff going on!

26/05/2026

Chi Me Morning Crew ☀️🥾

A great turnout at Chi Me this morning with 10 men and 11 women enjoying the walk, the fresh air, and some surprisingly decent weather! In fact, conditions were so good that some of the lads even broke out the shorts… a rare enough sight that probably deserved its own warning notice 😄☀️

24/05/2026

🌿 Rostrevor Men’s Shed Garden Update 🌿

Water crew this week: Bill, Jimmy, Stephen, Gerry C and Paul 💧
Garden crew today: James, Stephen, Rhode, Seamus C, Malachy, Bill — and a big welcome to new man Mickey 👏

Another fantastic squad today with loads achieved 💪

Any excuse to head down to the sea is a good one — and with the potatoes needing seaweed, a couple of volunteers were quickly found 😎 With the tide out and the sun shining, it made for a very pleasant expedition. Fresh seaweed was duly applied on our return.

Not only does this feed the potatoes naturally, but it also helps reduce rain splash from the soil — which can spread blight spores. Nature doing the heavy lifting 🌊🥔

Our compost operation got a full reshuffle today. The matured compost from bin 3 was emptied into a spare wheelie bin so we could rotate bin 2 into bin 3, and bin 1 into bin 2. This reintroduces oxygen to speed up decomposition and gives us a fresh bin for new garden waste ♻️

In the polytunnel, we continued securing paracord supports for the tomatoes. This year we’ve screwed the supports into the raised beds rather than burying string, as we discovered the buried string simply rots away 🤞

Outside tomatoes are looking excellent despite our temporary supports collapsing earlier in the week 🤕 One hanging basket casualty was replaced, and as a precaution we underplanted mustard — a natural biofumigant that helps suppress soil pests 🔬

Signs of summer everywhere now:
🍅 First tomato flowers appearing
🫛 Broad beans and peas flowering, with pods already forming
🌸 Alyssum, geranium, thyme and sage putting on a proper show

Today we also:
🧅 Planted red onions
🌿 Added dried seaweed mulch to remaining veg beds
🥬 Harvested spinach and celery

A mystery irrigation issue had us scratching our heads this week 🤯 Water supply was on… but no water reaching the beds. After some detective work, the culprit was a slightly slipped fitting in the timer — made trickier by the automatic stop valve hiding the leak 😄

Fruit is forming nicely across the garden:
🍓 Strawberries
🍏 Apples
🍑 Plums
🍇 Vine
🫐 Gooseberries
❤️ Redcurrants

Slightly later than last year — judging by the discovery of a jar of June 2025 blackcurrant jam still in circulation 🤷🏼‍♂️

Gooseberries got an early garlic water spray this year after last season’s fungal issues.

And finally… a little biodynamic experimentation 🧪

With a nod to Rudolf Steiner, we collected valerian flower heads growing on the wall (usually dismissed as weeds). These will become a fermented valerian tea for compost and soil health. The science may be debatable, but gardening has always involved a little experimentation — and the Shed is never short on curiosity 🔬🥼

Busy hands. Good company. Plenty of laughter. The Shed way 👍

23/05/2026

Full steam ahead!

It was a full on experience for anyone in the shed today. Martin was on the large turning a finial - no he wasn’t cold, it is protective cover form all the flying chips.

The flower beds were getting a rejuvenation and in the tunnel, Bill was setting the tomato lines supervised by Stephen. Full garden report tomorrow as usual.

In the workshop, bench repair, manufacture and construction were taking place.

Stuart was on his monster bench, routing out a spot for the decoration.

Gerry was finishing off a bench he has been working on for a few weeks.

The monster remanufacture job that we took on a few months ago is progressing nicely, but there are a lot of tenons and mortises needed - a steep learning curve!

Supports for a new roof were being prepared.

Donal and Mickey took it upon themselves to rearrange the contents of the timber store.

Part timer Alan was busy stringing his harps - we might get a tune out of them yet!

Patsy and Leo kept us all watered, and Eamonn made his usual batch of scones.

The missing paint tin continues to be a mystery.

17/05/2026

🌱 Garden Update from the Shed 🌱

Water crew this week were Bill, Jimmy, Stephen, Gerry C and Paul 💧👏

Today’s garden crew were James, Stephen, Rhode, Danny, Bill and Tim — great to see a full complement back in the garden and with plenty of hands on deck, we got a serious amount done 💪😎

During the week we took delivery of a trailer of seaweed — thanks to Malachy and Gerry 👏

This was dried seaweed, unlike the fresh seaweed we used in the potato buckets. Fresh seaweed still contains auxins (natural growth hormones), giving root vegetables an extra boost 🌱 The dried/semi-decomposed seaweed works differently — acting as a slow-release nutrient mulch, ideal for brassicas, fruit trees and in our case... the tomatoes 🍅

The seaweed was heavily matted, so it had to be pulled apart and spread in thin layers around each plant — a bit of a job, but one that should pay off 🤞

Our tomatoes are all looking healthy, including the six hanging baskets, although we sadly lost one basket tomato 😢 We planted them deep (with just the tips showing) to maximise root growth, so they may look small for now — but that’s all part of the plan 💪

Today we transplanted:
🥬 Spinach
🥬 Tree cabbage
🥬 Little Gem lettuce
🥬 Red salad lettuce

This freed up bench space, allowing us to move remaining potted plants onto the sandbed table. The propagators and benches have now been dismantled, making room for the rest of the tomato planting 😎

The rosemary, oregano and sage all overwintered brilliantly and will hopefully add some lovely flavour later in the season 🌿 Our geraniums and alyssum are adding a splash of colour 🌸 while the peas and broad beans are already flowering — harvest time isn’t far away 😋

This year we’re trying something new — a cold-tolerant Russian tomato variety called Moskvich 🇷🇺🍅 These are now outside using our repurposed shoe rack shelving for support. Even the old proposed pond area has become productive growing space — everything in the Shed garden gets a second life 💪

Elsewhere:
🥔 Potato buckets are thriving behind the windbreak netting
🥔 Potato beds got their final hilling-up today
🌽 Babycorn planted close to the wall
🌿 Fresh seaweed and comfrey tea feed planned for next week

Today’s harvest included:
🌱 Celery
🌱 Spinach
🌱 Oregano
🌱 Sage

Our fruit trees are looking promising too 🍎 Apples are forming while still flowering, and despite the recent weather, gooseberries, redcurrants, plums, grapes and strawberries are all showing great signs 🍓

Homemade jam season may not be too far away 😋

You’re up to date 👍

16/05/2026