Yes, its really true: Clare Garden Festival will become a stand-alone event in 2013! Following the successful first festival as part of Clare Agricultural Show this July, the 2013 festival is a stand-alone event to be held independently on 28th April 2013. The festival will be run in partnership with Co Clare Show committee at their premises of Ennis showgrounds. Follow Clare Garden Festival on facebook.com/claregardenfestival to hear all the latest news on the festival and get plenty of garden updates for Clare and beyond too.
Traders now wanted—display and sell your wares at our Garden and Food Fair at Clare Garden Festival.
Support Irish Seed Savers this Christmas
Maybe sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have such an amazing organisation as the Irish Seed Savers working away tirelessly in their beautiful and productive gardens near Scariff, Co Clare. Then twice per year a wonderful newsletter drops through the door, we give our membership, receive great seed in return and we visit them once per year at their Open Day. And all of that is hugely appreciated and very important.
There comes a time though, when such an organisation that we admire and cherish needs a bit more from us (in order to survive and be there for us and preserve seed for generations to come!)
Sold? Well, I certainly was when I saw their recent newsletter and talked to some of the guys… here’s how you can help:
- Bring your family out to visit Seed Savers Santa
- Give the gift of a membership to a friend or family member (We’ve been doing this for the last years and its a great gift!)
- Make a trip out to Seed Savers and sample their new lunches—yum! Get some seed while you are there. (Ring first as Seed Savers closes over Xmas!)
More details and buy online from Seed Savers Gift Shop
Irish Gardeners Gift Set—Garden Guide, tickets to Blarney Garden and Irish Seed in one great gift set
Based on our great success to-date, the Irish Kitchen Garden team this year decided to take a chance on a new idea. We approached two of our featured gardens to come onboard and offer a unique gardeners gift set. Treat the gardener in your life to a gift that he/she can enjoy for a full year.
The gift set includes
- 1 Irish Kitchen Garden Calendar
- 4 packs of Irish Seeds from Brown Envelope Seeds
- 2 tickets to visit Blarney Gardens at Blarney Castle
- Christmas Greeting card
- Optional gift wrap
All for under €30, available exclusively from www.theirishkitchengarden.com
Lynn says: For several years now we have been working with amazing gardens and garden organisations nation-wide establishing great relationships along the way. This year we want to give back to the gardening community both commercial and private by offering a unique gift for gardeners. We are proud to present our first The Irish Kitchen Garden Gift Set in collaboration with Blarney Castle and Brown Envelope Seeds.
2nd Jim Cronin Organic Garden Course in Ennis—Crop by Crop Vegetable Gardening
We were delighted to hear the great feedback following Jim’s Organic Gardening Course in Ennis in September 2012. Participants asked for another course focussing on vegetables in detail, which is why I am delighted to let you know about the new upcoming course: Areas covered in this course will include The Potato and the Bean Families, The Onion Family, The Lettuce and Carrot Families and The Cabbage Family (of course you could also call them Solanacae, Brassicaceae… but lets be practical first). Includes also detailed instructions on sowing seed and planting crops.
Course Details and Booking
Days & Times: Four Tuesday evenings, 7–9pm
Dates: 5th Feb, 12th Feb, 19th Feb, 26th Feb
Fee: €80 for 4 evenings (€70 for repeat participants)
Venue: Rowantree Cafe Bar, Round Room, Ennis Click here for Directions
Booking: Application Form available from Course Website; Course will run with a minimum of 10 persons booked and paid by 23rd January.
Jim says: “Passing on knowledge, information and ideas is a great privilege to me, which goes beyond the act of teaching and aims to create a healthier society and focuses around attention on the increasing need to re-localise our food production in particular and our communities in general for the coming post-carbon era where food miles will be reduced to food meters.” I have been at several of Jim’s courses now and always learned something new—such a great privilege to organise this…
More Gardening News on Scoodoos, Blarney in Bloom, Wooden Céili Band and GIY
Here are just some other bits of news I have picked up in the past weeks, which I would like to share:
Scoodoos Love Trees!
If you havent heard of Scoodoos yet, please do look them up. Probably one of the most adorable and fun facebook pages I have seen in a long time—fair play, Ciaran.
GIY, Yacon and Klaus Laitenberger’s Milkwood Farm
We recently ordered ourselves some highly recommended Yacon’s from Klaus Laitenberger directly and he might yet have more… we’ll see how they grow.
Blarney in Bloom 2013
Festival announced for 13th July, great place, great garden—well worth a visit at any time of year.
Wooden Garden Céilí Band
These guys are wonderfully hand-made in Co Clare. Another great gift idea.
