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THE TENTH ANNUAL Bloom festival is happening this weekend in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
There’s a wide range of imaginative designs on display – from tributes to the children who died in 1916 to Chinese temple gardens.
Between them, the Bloom designers have hundreds of years of experience in creating and maintaining their gardens. They’ve been working hard for the past three weeks to get their offerings ready in time to be judged and viewed by the public.
So… Want to get your garden in shape for the summer months, but don’t know where to start?
TheJournal.ie spoke to just a few of the designers at Bloom to get their top tips for gardening at home.
The award-winning Brian Burke designed GOAL’s Damascus Courtyard War and Peace Garden at Bloom this year.
He knows a thing or two about show gardens and exhibits and said people shouldn’t try to create what they see at festivals like Bloom:
There’s an imperative in the show garden setting that you plant very densely, that you create density, that you create quantity and you create lushness, people often make the mistake of trying to recreate that at home.
Instead of copying what you see, his top tip is to give your trees and plants room to breathe in your garden:
At home you need to give plants a bit more breathing space.
Fiann Ó Nualláin has plenty of experience at Bloom having participated in all ten of the festivals.
He has designed 19 gardens altogether for the annual event and this year one of his creations is all about 1916 and the children who died during the Rising.
His advice is to wear suncream while gardening, but along with that he also gave some unexpected dietary advice:
Eat more tomatoes, because tomatoes have lycopene contained in them and the more lycopene you ingest into your body, the more melanin you get, and melanin makes you tan, not burn.
The youngest ever participant at Bloom, Sofi Dosa, believes the most important thing is to be organised in your garden, and plan everything beforehand.
She said:
My top tip, organisation, that’s always number one, and planning, planning, plan yeah plan.
So. Yes… That’s you told.
Alan Rudden, designer of the Santa Rita Living la Vida 120 Garden at this year’s festival, has several Bloom medals to his name to date.
The long time competitor gave a simple tip of keeping your garden neat and tidy, which everyone can follow at home:
Paint your boundary walls and keep your grass verges clipped and clean look.
One of the most relaxing spaces at Bloom is the Savills Face to Face garden, which is meant to encourage conversation rather than living your life through a smartphone.
The designer, Andrew Christopher Dunne, believes the number one thing any gardener should do is enjoy their surroundings.
It doesn’t matter what you do or how good your garden is, enjoy it.
Bloom is on between now and Monday, for more information about tickets click here.
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How dare you! I’m happy with my garden as it is and I’m sick of your unrealistic beauty standards and expectations!
Horticultural Porn
It’s a great day out. Especially for the food. Lol. ATMs around, too, so it’s handy!
My husband wants to paint the boundary walls but I said “No”.
I think block walls look odd painted, they need to be plastered first.
I’ve gotten rid of most the plants in the rear of the garden and have put gold stones on instead with a couple of slabs and on those slabs are pots with flowers. There are railway sleepers acting as boarders.
The side of the garden leading to the shed is covered in gravel and I’ve placed two potted plants and have put in 12 snapdragons against the wall and 12 violas in front. The shed and gravel are bordered with sleepers.
The middle of the garden is taken up with a huge trampoline, I decided to cover the lawn in bark as the grass under the trampoline died. I have a stepping stone leading to the laser of the trampoline.
The patio is bordered by garden wall, and a lovely wooden fence with a gate. With flower pots around the patio. A lovely wind chime hangs off the parasol giving gentle chimes in the light breeze.
Not a show garden but my little sun haven. I would love a water feature but at 299 it’s more expensive than all the work I’ve done to my garden. Could be better spent elsewhere.
Sounds really nice , Lily!
It’s a working progress.
My lawn is full of weeds thanks to global warming. I fought the lawn but the lawn won….
I love my garden it reminds me of the jungle it’s in a right mess ha ha unlike Lilly’s which sounds amazing
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