This year, take the oppurtunity to meet other enthusiast at horticultural show countrywide
GARDENING IS USUALLY a solitary pastime, and gives us time to mull over things, daydream, and feel at one with the great hubbub of nature. But getting out of the garden, meeting other gardeners, getting to know new plants and how to care for them, and generally replenishing our brains is as important as those hours spent alone.
With this in mind, I've compiled a round-up of horticulture-related activities for the first half of the year, some of which, I hope, will tempt you beyond the garden gate.
Vegetable growing is big at present, which is a good thing, not just because of all the worthy reasons for growing one's own, but also because the production of one's own food almost always leads to further acts of gardening. The Organic Centre in Co Leitrim (071-9854338; www.theorganiccentre.ie) offers numerous food-growing courses, among them: starting a garden from scratch; growing herbs; making the most of one acre; and commercial organic vegetable production. Most day courses cost €90. Also worth mentioning is the centre's Potato Day (admission €5) on March 16th, when all matters spud-esque will be celebrated, discussed and eaten.
Glebe Gardensin Baltimore, west Cork (028-20232; www.glebegardens.com) offers an intensive two-day course (February 7th and 8th) on all aspects of setting up a vegetable plot for year-round production. This is surely the best value course around, at €100, including lunch on both days in the excellent Glebe Cafe. Further one-day courses take place on February 15th and 22nd, and on March 1st. There are more vegetable courses at the Irish Seed SaverAssociation in Co Clare (061-921856; www.irishseedsavers.ie) and at Hunting Brookin Co Wicklow (01-4583972; www.huntingbrook.com).
Dublin city folk, meanwhile, will find help on their doorstep at the National Botanic Gardensin Glasnevin (01-8570909; www.botanicgardens.ie) when kitchen gardener Peter Meleady gives a day course on organic vegetable growing on March 21st (booking essential, fee payable). That same institution also offers a propagation workshop on March 7th, as well as numerous lectures and exhibitions during the year, all of which are detailed on the website.
The Garden and Landscape DesignersAssociation (GLDA) holds its 13th annual seminar at UCD on February 21st. The theme is "Future Gardens: Evolution or Revolution? How gardens of the future will respond to environmental and social pressures". Speakers include British designers Paul Cooper and Sarah Eberle, both frequent participants at Chelsea Flower Show; and American designer Julie Messervy, whose schemes include the Toronto Music Garden, created in collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Nigel Dunnett of the University of Sheffield will also partake. Dr Dunnett is famous for his work in ecological planting, including green roofs and the dreamily gorgeous "pictorial meadows" - plantings of native and non-native plant species that provide long-lasting and painterly displays. (Seminar fee €155, concessions for students and GLDA members; 01-2940092, www.glda.ie).
Spring flowers bring a happy thrill to the hearts of all gardeners, and are among the most sought-after plants. A mixed bouquet of British and Irish nurseries will be present at the Bellefield Plant Fairat Bellefield House, near Birr, in Co Offaly on February 28th. Among the plants for sale will be hellebores, hepaticas, trilliums, cyclamen, primulas, pulmonarias, old daffodils and small- and bell-flowered clematis. (Admission €5; 0505-47766, www.angelajupe.ie).
Snowdrops, of course, are the purest and most perfect of early bulbs, and these can be seen in plenty for the entire month of February in the garden of galanthophile Robin Hall, at Primrose Hill, Primrose Lane, Lucan, Co Dublin (2-5pm daily; admission: €5, 01-6280373; www.dublingardens.com). And at Altamont Gardenin Co Carlow, its "snowdrop week" from February 9th-16th, with daily tours of the collection at 2pm (059-9159444; www.altamontgarden.com).
On April 4th, the cream of the crop will be on show at the Alpine Garden Society's Spring Show, from 1.30pm to 4pm at Cabinteely Community School, Johnstown Road, Dublin 18. (Non-members €3, www.alpinegardensociety.ie). This is where the elite plants of Ireland come to strut their stuff, and where their owners will, ever so politely, vie with each other for trophies. It's my favourite plant show of the year, where species that I can only dream of are on display - miniature trilliums, impeccable pleiones and the incomparably-grey and woolly Raoulia, which rejoices in the common name of "vegetable sheep". Oh, and there are plants for sale, too.
Meanwhile, on the same weekend (April 4th and 5th), there are more posh plants at the annual Orchid Fairat the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. Plants will be on display, British orchid nurseries will be in attendance, and experts will be on hand to proffer advice.
Plant collectors in this country are increasingly well-served by specialist nurseries and events. May 10th sees the annual Rare and Special Plant Fairat St Anne's Park in Raheny, Dublin 5, where a couple of dozen (or more) plant and sundry sellers will gather (find more details closer to the day on www.rareandspecialplantfair.com).
Later that month, the third Bloomshow opens in the Phoenix Park in Dublin (May 28th-June 1st; www.bloominthepark.com). One of the major sponsors has not renewed its funding this year, but Bord Bia is bravely going ahead. The nursery pavilion will house around 50 plant and sundry specialists, and the grounds around the park's visitor centre will once again be transformed by a host of carefully picked designers, with - it is hoped - around 20 or more gardens. Among them will be names well-known to the gardening fraternity: Oliver Schurmann of Mount Venus Nursery, Peter O'Brien, Jane McCorkell and Fiann Ó Nualláin to mention a few.
The following weekend (June 5th-7th) finds Garden Show Irelandat Hillsborough Castle in Co Down (www.gardenshowireland.com), while at the end of the month (June 27th-28th), Springmount Garden Centre, outside Gorey in Co Wexford, is hosting its own two-day festival. One of the attractions will be the Garden Roadshow, with a team of British experts holding talks and question-and-answer sessions. (053-9421368; www.springmount.ie).
Beyond these shores, the Chelsea Flower Showtakes place from May 19th to 23rd (www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea). This year, according to the organisers, there are no Irish show gardens - not that that will stop bunches of Irish gardeners making their way across the water. For those who wish to go with like-minded people, Bay Garden Tours offers an overnight stay in London, with a visit to Kew Gardens as well as Chelsea.
Among the many other excursions being led by gardeners Frances and Iain MacDonald are trips to Madeira, Cornwall, the Cotswolds, the Loire valley, the Italian lakes and South Africa. Stay-at-home types might be persuaded to venture as far as Donegal in late May or west Cork in September (053-9383349; www.thebay garden.com).