After a 4 year stint away to France, we came back and decided to use the land on our property to grow our own fruits and vegetables instead of having horses eating grass,
What became a small plot expended over the course of a year and a half into a full vegetable garden, the first seeds planted around the field were really successful and the set up of water, electricity, tree cutting, paths, driveway and polytunnels started in late 2013.
We decided to be as “green” as possible using recycled material whenever possible, the driveway is crushed tarmac, the slabs in the tunnel are recycled from Dundrum shopping centre, all wooden boards and planks used for raised beds were previously used as floor struts.
We shredded all tree branches as floor woodchips to prevent weeds, terraced the field into three levels and open water wells.
We introduce hydroponics with great success so far for some of our salads and vegetables, all work is done manually and after a full year setting up everything and learning a great deal in the process we are fully operational and will be using for the first time all the land available.
Always looking for interesting produces to cook with, we buy our seeds from reputable suppliers and use a great deal of organic ones and originals like Morelle de Balbis for exemple, we grow each year around 12 different types of tomatoes and will use them in different sauces and chutneys. aubergines, peppers, chillies, beans, peas and mangetout are only some of the seasonal growings, there is an average of 100 different types of fruits and vegetables growing each year.
Salads here do not stop at rocket and baby gem seen on every Irish menu, we have on average 10 different salads growing at all time.
Because we follow the seasons, some products are not available all the time, for exemple we only use our own strawberries for desserts so when they are all gone, we will wait until next season’s crop to make more.
We do not use insecticides and pesticides and use alternative natural ways to remove pests like predatory insects and trying to be growing as organically as possible..