Newsletters

January Gardening Newsletter 2024

Dear Fellow Gardeners, This year was certainly one of the more difficult years in the vegetable garden with enough rain to put off any new aspiring vegetable gardener.  The good…
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December Gardening Newsletter 2023

Dear Fellow Gardeners,   We wish you all a Happy Christmas and a fruitful New Year. This year was certainly one of the more difficult years in the vegetable garden…
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November Gardening Newsletter 2022

Dear Fellow Gardeners, November Gardening Newsletter 2022.  The year 2022 has been a very busy and exciting year for us travelling and discovering new and old vegetable crops from Southern…
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Gardening Newsletter May 2022

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Gardening Newsletter May 2022 May is definitely the busiest month in your vegetable garden and hopefully you have managed to do all the other jobs such as…
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Gardening Newsletter April 2022

Gardening Newsletter April 2022 Dear Fellow Gardeners,  This must have been the nicest early spring in many years.  It’s wonderful to see all the early awakenings in nature.  The blackthorn…
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Gardening Newsletter February 2022

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Gardening Newsletter February 2022 February is generally the month when I get out of my gardening hibernation.  Finally there is work to be done.  The days are…
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Gardening Newsletter January 2022

Dear Fellow Gardeners, January is often a cold and miserable month in Ireland and it’s far too early to get out into the garden.  I do, however, love the cold…
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Gardening Newsletter December 2021

Dear Fellow Gardeners, I can’t believe how fast this year is going.  It has been an exciting year with lots of new and exciting projects. Online Polytunnel Course (NOTS) The…
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Gardening Newsletter October 2021

Dear Fellow Gardeners,  Everything in nature has gone to rest and maybe we should also slow down a little bit now.  However, there are some plants that want or even…
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Gardening Newsletter September 2021

Gardening Newsletter September 2021 Dear Fellow Gardeners, September can often be one of the nicest months in the garden and we can still look forward to the Indian summer (or…
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July 2021 Gardening Newsletter

  Dear Fellow Gardeners, Just in case we do get a dry summer you might have to water your plants outdoors.  If you water your plants, give them a thorough…
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April 2021 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Finally there are days again that remind us of spring.  I think it’s so important for all of us to get this little lift – this little…
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January 2021 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Last week I was out tending the old Huegelbed in Bundoran and it was one of these magical days with the occasional blue sky, not a breeze…
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December 2020 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, We would like to wish you all a wonderful and happy Christmas. This was certainly a very strange and difficult year for everyone but one of the…
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November Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, You may think this newsletter has little to do with gardening but at the end it will come back to it – to  soil – the Earth’s…
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September Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, In September we often have the best weather but so far this hasn’t materialised – at least not in the North-West.  It seems to have been a…
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August Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, August is a lovely month in the garden.  You can sit back and reap the rewards from it.  So many crops are ready now with the endless…
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May Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Everyone with a garden is in a lucky position. At least we have some escape from this crazy situation.  Maybe one good thing that may come out…
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April Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, These are difficult times – more difficult than most of us have ever experienced, but often during and after these events it is time to re-evaluate our…
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February Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, One would imagine that after 30 years in a profession one would know everything important and essential about it. But not so with gardening or at least…
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December Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, I have finally finished my Nuffield report. It’s such a relief to have it all completed. The title is “The potential of growing Yacon and other Lost…
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November 2019 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Usually November is my least favourite month of the year but leading up to it was really fabulous. I was harvesting some of the Jerusalem artichokes last…
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October 2019 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, Time to prepare for winter Please don’t listen to the old tale that you should dig over your garden, spread compost or manure and leave it rough…
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September 2019 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, I can’t believe it’s already September. Since we got back from holidays a couple of weeks ago it hasn’t stopped raining. Lough Melvin is already as high…
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August 2019 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, August 2019 Gardening Newsletter We are spending some time in the Peloponnese in Greece in a beautiful area called Arcadia. The word Arcadia means “a place where…
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July 2019 Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, July 2019 Gardening Newsletter Just in case we do get another dry summer you might have to water your plants outdoors. If you water your plants, give…
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June Gardening Newsletter 2019

Round-up – Glyphosate The momentum is really picking up now after an American couple was awarded $2 billion compensation from Bayer/Monsanto. This is the third case where compensation was awarded…
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May Gardening Newsletter 2019

Dear Fellow Gardeners, May is definitely the busiest month in your vegetable garden and hopefully you have managed to do all the other jobs such as bed preparation in the…
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March Gardening Newsletter 2019

Dear Fellow Gardeners, We certainly won’t get bored with the weather – from the summery spell last week to winter in the last few days. According to old gardener’s lore…
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April Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, In case you haven’t seen it yet – we have a new website with a completely new design. We hope you like it. It was designed and…
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February Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, We might not feel that spring is just around the corner during this cold spell. It’s great to see some snow though – everything looks so pure…
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January Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, We would like to thank all our seed customers and newsletter readers for your support and wish you a wonderful and happy new year. The year 2018…
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May Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, The next step on our Global Agricultural Focus Trip was Canada – British Columbia. I was very impressed with agriculture in British Columbia. Unlike the rest of…
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April Gardening Newsletter

 Dear Fellow Gardeners, I hope you won’t be disappointed, as this won’t be an informative practical gardening newsletter, but more a summary of my first few weeks of my Nuffield…
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March Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, I hope you have all survived the storm with not too much damage. We were lucky here – there wasn’t even a breeze and not even a…
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February Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, February is often the nicest month in Ireland. We really notice the days are getting a bit longer and we’ll probably get as much sunshine in February…
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January Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners, I wish all readers a wonderful and successful gardening year in 2018. The last year was certainly quite a challenge with all the rain throughout the summer…
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December Gardening Newsletter

December Gardening Newsletter Dear Fellow Gardeners, Last week I was teaching for a couple of days at the Permaculture College in Kinsale. It’s a fascinating place with student from all…
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November Gardening Newsletter

November Gardening Newsletter Dear Fellow Gardeners, It’s great to get a dry spell especially during this time of year. It makes gardening so much easier. I was very busy in…
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October Gardening Newsletter

Dear Fellow Gardeners I am sincerely honoured at having been awarded the Nuffield Scholarship. In my 50th year I will be travelling around the globe searching for vegetables that have…
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