Garden festival plans sprouting seeds

PLANS for the recently announced Clare Garden Festival are now in full bloom, with gardeners RTÉ’s Kitty Scully, RHS-tutor Ciaran Burke and Seed Savers’ Jo Newton coming on board.

The festival will take place at the Ennis Showgrounds on Sunday, July 29 and interest is set to grow even further with the announcement that these well-known gardeners will be bringing their green-fingered expertise to the event.
The first to confirm her attendance at Clare Garden Festival was Kitty Scully, known to many people through her appearance and co-presenting on RTE’s How to Create a Garden and Corrigan Cooks Naturally. Kitty also contributed to TG4’s gardening programme, An Garraí Glas. She is on the board of directors for IOFGA, the largest organic farmers and growers certification body in Ireland and writes bi-monthly article for Organic Matters magazine.
“I have always loved County Clare, the people and the fact that there are so many enthusiastic and knowledgeable gardeners and amazing gardens in this county. It is an absolute pleasure to be a part of the first Clare Garden Festival,” said Kitty, a former student of an tIonad Glas, the Organic College in Dromcolligher, County Limerick and now a tutor in organic horticulture, kitchen gardening, polytunnel gardening, sustainability in food and preserving, as well as environmental training programmes.
“On the day I am hoping to offer people plenty of information and hands-on advice. I am intending to bring some produce for tasting, so that people experience the difference of home-grown food for themselves and I am delighted to share a couple of tricks, letting people know how easy growing vegetables and fruit can be.”
Festival organiser Carmen Cronin commented, “It is a real treat to have Kitty on board for the very first garden festival in our capital of Ennis. She is a true inspiration and joy to listen to and learn from. Her focus on the day will be on beginners gardening.
“As promised with the festival slogan Everybody Grows!, the day will offer something for everyone and I am delighted to announce two further amazing national guest speakers joining us. Ciaran Burke, who will focus on Garden Design and Ornamentals and Jo Newton, who will cover Advanced Gardening Techniques.”
Ciaran Burke is a well-known plantsman and gardener, who inspires others to garden with his talks to garden societies, writing for garden magazines and through his teaching of Royal Horticultural Society and other courses with The Garden School.
“There are a couple of gardeners from Clare every year joining our courses in Claregalway and I am looking forward to meeting many more,” noted Ciaran, who qualified from the National Botanic Gardens, where he still holds his hands-on seminars several times per year. “I am hoping to share some of the knowledge I have gathered in Dublin and Mayo and inspire Clare gardeners and associations with new ideas.”
For many people in Clare, gardening has long become more than a hobby. In the area of vegetables, there are many who ‘know their potatoes’, with a rich source of information, advice and seeds in particular in East Clare, with the Irish Seed Savers Association advocating vegetable production and seed saving for over 20 years. The third gardener to join the Clare Garden Festival with hands-on talks, demos and advice is Jo Newton, the seed bank co-ordinator and mentor to new staff members at Irish Seed Savers Association. She has a wealth of practical experience in organic growing, having run her own market garden and small holding in Clare for 15 years. She is also very active in sharing her knowledge, teaching workshops such as the organic gardening and polytunnel courses at Irish Seed Savers, in addition to workshops on sustainable land use.
“While some may have thought that gardening and growing had gone out of fashion a couple of years ago, the knowledge remained with the wise. In the last three years, recession or not, many more polytunnels have gone up all over Clare with people excited to grow their own again and in turn to eat themselves healthily. It is wonderful that we now have a festival where we can share this knowledge, celebrate gardening and inspire more people to grow.”
Clare Garden Festival will focus on information-rich and hands-on talks and demonstrations, tastings and questions and answer opportunities. The festival hopes to inspire people to grow their own fruits and vegetables with the objective of healthy living, to support the fight against current health problems including obesity and heart diseases. The festival will provide an accessible platform for groups like resident associations and tidy towns associations to gain inspiration and experience to use in their own estate enhancement.
Clare Garden Festival is supported by polytunnels supplier Joe Larkin, Flynns Pharmacy on the Gort Road and Ennis Town Council. For more information on Clare Garden Festival, contact Carmen Cronin on 087 611 75 38, view www.facebook.com/claregardenfestival or visit www.claregardenfestival.com.