 Dear Fellow Gardeners, I’m sure everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather. We had weeks of sunshine in Co. Mayo and managed to get a lot of work done in the garden at Tilled Earth in Achill. Currently I’m laying the red brick edging for the four sections. I’m also planting lots of edible shrubs, trees and herbs throughout the woodland to create an edible forest garden as part of our “Garden of a Thousand Edible Plants.”I am so grateful for the two nurseries that have donated a large amount of trees and shrubs for this project. I have used both companies since I’m in Ireland (26 years) and was always very impressed about the quality of their plants. English’s Fruit Nursery English’s Fruit Nursery is based near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. They have an amazing range of fruit trees, fruit bushes and even strawberry, rhubarb, asparagus crown and other less known fruiting plants. Tom English sponsored €2,000 worth of plants for our project. Last week we planted our apple orchard. My old favourite varieties are Katya (Katie), Charles Ross, James Grieve, Bramley, Beauty of Bath and they also gave me other ones to try – Champion, Pirouette, Red Love and Rosetta. The last two are red fleshed apple varieties. I prefer the M26 rootstock rather than the M9 as they grow into slightly bigger trees and have a stronger rootstock. I will post some photos on instagram and in my next newsletter.Have a look at their amazing range on their website: www.englishsfruitnursery.ie – you’ll be surprised by the good quality and excellent price. Future Forest Nursery and Garden Centre Future Forest was established in1986 in Kealkill in Co. Cork. They have an amazing Garden Centre there and have a very large selection of plants available through mail order. Future Forest is run by Matt and Maria and they specialise in useful, fruitful and beautiful plants.Future Forests sponsored €2,000 worth of the most amazing range of plants, mostly edible or even medicinal shrubs as well as beautiful specimen plants which will be part of our main garden design. Plants include edible shrubs which are suitable for our acidic boggy soil include lingonbery (I have never grown this before), blueberry, cranberry) and also my favourite tasting fruit – the Chilean Guava. There is also Honeyberry (Lonicera caerula), different varieties of Aronia, Serviceberry Amelanchier lamarkii as well as many other edible shrubs. I also got a Gingko Tree (for memory) and the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo)I will talk about many of these exciting plants in future newsletters and on instagram.Have a look at their website with their massive range of plants:www.futureforests.ie And again – thank you to English’s Fruit Nursery and Future Forests for their generous sponsorship. Festival of Gardens and Nature I’m really excited to join this two–day festival of gardening talks, workshops, organic cooking, garden tours and foraging classes in Ballintubbert Gardens and House in Stradbally, Co. Laois.The festival takes place on the 3rd and 4th of May.The line-up of speakers and artists includes Nigel Slater, Rory O’Connell, Darina Allen, Diarmuid Gavin, Thomas Pakenham. Sean Ronayne, Daphne Shackleton, Merlin Sheldrake , Joshua Sparkes, Dominic West and many others. One event I’m particularly looking forward to is the evening concert with Johnny Flynn on the Saturday night. He is one of my favourite songwriters. Here is a link to one of his songs.https://youtu.be/a4QQ7HYYdWw?si=r(1fmpdBaclxM3 As you can imagine, tickets are selling fast. You can book tickets on www.festivalofgardensandnature.com or email Minnie Preston on [email protected] Upcoming Courses and Talks Date: Saturday 12th April 2025 Course: Beginner’s Course in growing your own vegetablesVenue: Mayo Abbey Training Centre, Co. MayoEmail: Nicola [email protected] Date: Sunday 27th April 2025Talk at the Clare Garden FestivalVenue: EnnisThe Clare Garden Festival is a wonderful gardening event with lots of gardening talks, stalls and craft demonstrations and with some great speakers like Jim Cronin and Jo NewtonContact: Carmen CroninEmail: [email protected]Website: www.claregardenfestival.com Date: Saturday 3rd May and Sunday 4th May 2025Festival of Gardens and NatureVenue: Ballintubbert, Co. LaoisContact: Minnie PrestonEmail: [email protected]Website: www.festivalofgardesnandnature.com Date: Saturday 10th May 2025Course: Summer in the PolytunnelVenue: The Organic Centre, Co. LeitrimEmail: [email protected]www.theorganiccentre.ieTel: 071 9854338 Date: Thursday 15th May 2025 Course: Growing in Polytunnels and GreenhousesVenue: Mayo Abbey Training Centre, Co. MayoEmail: Nicola [email protected] Date: Saturday 30th August 2025Course: Autumn in the PolytunnelVenue: The Organic Centre, Co. LeitrimEmail: [email protected]www.theorganiccentre.ieTel: 071 9854338 Happy Gardening Klaus |
