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Today’s guest is an award-winning horticulturist and garden designer, a blogger and podcaster. Peter Donegan has seen his career ‘bloom’ in recent years after he was selected by a French jury to represent Ireland to design & realise the Irish WW1 centenary peace garden at Chateau de Peronne, France. He followed that with a silver medal at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show in Cardiff in 2019, and his latest project was scheduled for this July at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
That project has been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis. It’s hoped that it will go ahead in September. Also hit has been the new RTÉ TV show DIY SOS: The Big Build. Peter is the garden designer for that series, but production has been suspended after filming two episodes.
He is philosophical about it. “They are just gardens and they haven’t been decommisioned, just put on hiatus”.
His advice for those who are lucky enough to have a garden and who are thinking about putting their locked-in time to use is to resist the temptation to dig and plant a ‘victory garden’. Life will return to normal; you’ll go back to work and you won’t have time for farming.
Instead he recommends what he calls the cheaters guide to growing your own, beginning with trees and fruit bushes – minimal investment for maximum reward.
Also featured in this show:
- Galway’s Cúirt Literary Festival went virtual this weekend
- Dear Ireland: The Abbey Theatre’s specially commisioned lockdown performances begin streaming tonight
- Beautiful collaboration by socially distanced musicans Ger O’Donnell and Gráinne Hunt.
Subscribe for free to receive The Lock-In Podcast, via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or RSS.
About the Author: Conn Ó Muíneacháin
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