Gardening Together Programme Comes to an End.

Every Thursday for six weeks, eight groups of parents and children attended the Gardening Together classes at Gardenia, John Street, co-ordinated by Kilkenny County Library. The brainchild of Trish Nolan at Kilkenny County Library, the programme was developed to encourage families back out into the garden and demonstrate just how easy it is to grow – and how much fun it can really be!  On Thursday last the groups were presented with their certificates by RTÉ’s Helen Carroll, and each received a surprise gift from Gardenia to encourage them to continue gardening.

Those who took part expressed their gratitude for the classes saying that they learned so much more than they had originally expected – professing that they were delighted to discover that it really is easy and fun to plant their own vegetables! “All of the parents and children who took part in this pilot programme have told us that they really enjoyed it, that they learned a lot and loved re-discovering the library as well as learning how to garden” says Trish, who is looking forward to being able to offer this course again next spring.

The course was facilitated by Gardenia, and a ground space donated by St. John’s Primary School will be maintained by the pupils at the school over the coming months. Caitriona Byrne at Gardenia says “this was a wonderful project to be involved with and we are delighted that those who took part enjoyed it so much.”

For those feeling inspired to learn a little more about growing their own garden, a full range of books is available from the library at John’s Quay – right next door to Gardenia who have all the tools and plants you need to get started!

Gardening Diary by Sam Walsh & Eddy Oneck, students at Kilkenny Vocational School.

Two of the participants, Sam and kept a diary of what they learned. Here are a few of the entries:

22nd April 2010

Today we were introduced to Caitriona from Gardenia and Trish from the library. Firstly Trish went through waste, compost and recycling. Then we planted mustard and water grass inside egg shells, we were asked to pick an item of recycling and plant inside it, we were given supplies to make our own mini garden. We then went to the library and joined it.

29th April 2010

Today we planted carrots, beans, potatoes and lettuce. Then we brought the vegetables to the school using many trolleys and a pallet truck. And then we were given our pictures with the Mayor of Kilkenny, Malcolm Noonan.

13th May 2010

Today we started in the library and we planned our garden. Then we went to the garden and we dug the garden. We found a lot of chafer grubs and then we picked out the big rocks.