RADIO and television gardening expert, Peter Dowdall certainly didn’t beat around the bush when it came to praising the upcoming Clare Garden Festival. The festival will be held at the Ennis Showgrounds on Sunday, April 27, with a host of gardening experts set to attend.
Among them will be Peter, who said, “Even though it is only a very young event, the Clare Garden Festival is establishing itself on the gardening calendar throughout Munster and beyond. I am delighted to be a part of it this year.
“The theme of this year’s show, My Beautiful and Edible Garden, is a great choice and while I will be focussing on ornamental gardening, the importance of good garden design and gardening in small spaces, I believe there is always room for some edibles in every garden, delighting the eye and the palate,” he said.
The festival will feature talks on edible flowers, borders and hedges, as well as the always popular beginners’ talks on garden design, organic gardening and advanced techniques in the areas of soil improvement and growing in polytunnels.
Also speaking at the event will be Clare’s Jim Cronin, Ballymaloe’s Susan Turner and landscaper, Peter Donegan from Dublin. Visitors can also expect a great garden and artisan food fair, with over 50 plant, garden, food and craft stalls from all over Ireland and children’s entertainment. The event is run in partnership with the County Clare Agricultural Show Committee.
“We are currently working with our 2014 experts on a full schedule of talks, which will use last year’s successful idea of asking each speaker to do two bite-sized talks of 20 minutes each. It is wonderful to get their input and know their excitement at coming to talk at Clare Garden Festival. As a matter of fact, we will also have two of last year’s expert speakers re-joining us as stallholders as they enjoyed the festival so much – Klaus Laitenberger and Adam Whitbourn. It is a huge pleasure to welcome all our expert gardeners and I hope that the talks will inspire gardeners and novices,” said festival founder and organiser, Carmen Cronin.
The festival hopes to inspire families and residents in general to grow their own fruit and vegetables with the objective of healthy living. It 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.
For further details on Clare Garden Festival, visit www.claregardenfestival.com or www.facebook.com/claregardenfestival.