Kildorrery Community Garden teeming with life
Kildorrery Community Garden has fully embraced the spirit of sustainability and community ‘cando’ since the seed was planted for the project 10 years ago, back in 2011.
Today, the space is thriving, positively bursting with life as raised beds spill over with potatoes, strawberries and huge purple cabbages, and the polytunnel houses sunflowers straining against the roof, while grapevines hang, like a vision of an Italian villa.
Joanne Hunter and Joan Keating, both plot holders at the allotment, meet TheAvondhu on a muggy, overcast morning to give a tour. Both are wearing Irish Seedsavers T-shirts - Kildorrery Community Garden was selected as one of ten groups awarded a place on the Seed Guardian Programme in February 2021.
The garden holds 15 plots, and they endeavour to use no pesticides or chemicals - though the ‘ spuds’ need to be sprayed for blight, which the gardeners do minimally. They grow borage for the bees, and have expanded into the nearby primary school, where five tyres are filled with herbs from the garden. The primary school children come down annually to visit the garden and see how things grow, as do the local crèche.
Fertiliser is made on-site with comfrey, while aphid spray is homemade and environmentally friendly. The tumbler compost bin replaced the older bins, and makes usable compost in just six weeks. It is fed with food waste from the householders nearby, and cardboard from the Thatch & Thyme Restaurant in the village.
CHEESE PEPPERS AND GREEN NUTMEG MUSKMELONS FOR 2021
Joanne and Joan explain that the garden has been a learning curve for everyone, and the reason it’s thriving today is due to the hard work of core members, and what they’ve learned from Seed Savers and other organisations. Plots are €25 for the year, and at the moment 11 are occupied. Unused plots are used communally by other members.
“For something like this to work, you need someone to lead everyone and get involved. We all work together - some people take a plot here and then continue at home, or stay here year after year. Most of us have a garden at home as well - not as well maintained though!”
The group try their hand at a new plant every year - this year it is cheese peppers, and green nutmeg muskmelons.
“We’re not experts, and we’re always learning. The classes from Seed Savers are invaluable - it’s step-by-step on how to best save seeds for next year - like peas, for example. During lockdown a lot of people took up gardening, and we were able to give them the seeds for free. They teach us how to keep the best seeds, and have variety, so you don’t pass on bad or diseased ones. Before this, we were self-taught but now we know a bit more.”
Joan is hopeful that Kildorrery wine will soon be coming in the making - the vines inside the polytunnel give a Roman-temple vibe to surroundings.
Fennel is growing where it wants to, proving to be an unstoppable rogue force, and the group have an ongoing war with starlings, who have the grapes and tomatoes in their sights.
The garden is not only a success because of the plot-holders. CES workers take control of grass and weeds, and the community development team of Kerenna Gallagher, Noreen Dunne, Dave Myers and Tomás Keating, while Cork County Council funded the tumbler composter and repairs to the raised beds. Other groups have donated materials for the garden, including the loose stone for the walkways.
INFECTIOUS
Joan and Joanne are incorrigible gardeners. For TheAvondhu’s photos, the women go foraging, returning with nasturtiums, courgettes and a chilli pilfered from Bernard’s plot (apologies, Bernard!). While The Avondhu asks them to pose for a photo in the raised beds, they actually start weeding. This commitment to the garden is infectious, as they recount how kids have wandered into the garden for a tour, returning with friends.
Kildorrery Community Garden embodies the spirit in the village - there is scarcely an element of it that is not done by a volunteer or a group in the village. TheAvondhu is sent away with a sunflower, which we will try very hard to keep to the same standard as the home in which it grew!