l-r. Donal Doherty, Michael Kelly, John Hamilton, The Doherty/Donnelly family and Bev Doherty.
The bar is packed, I know a few familiar faces such as radio gardening expert Gareth Austin, gardening gurus; Willie Grant , Bev Doherty and Colm Grant, as well as others I haven’t met before, all with the common interest of growing their own produce and in some cases rearing their own livestock in Inishowen.
Michael taps his glass and introduces himself to the 50 or so people in the room. “I’m no gardening expert,” he begins humbly. “In fact my first attempt at looking after plants ended in disaster when I managed to kill off some very old bonsai trees. “ (That’s not that difficult I can assure you, keeping a plant in a tiny container and cutting off its tap root is best left to obsessive fanatics.)
How GIY began
Michael continues to tell us how the idea for GIY began. “About eight years ago I bought a garlic bulb from a supermarket. I had got used to the fact that these bulbs had been grown in Spain or Portugal, but this one I picked up was grown in China. I couldn’t believe that this item, which cost less than 50 cent, had been shipped 5000 miles across the world. I got on my high horse and decided to grow some for myself. I took the bulb home, divided up the clove and planted them in the garden. The cloves were then ignored and neglected, but that didn’t stop them sending up green shoots, which eventually fell over and withered away. I thought the plants had died so I started to dig the brown shoots out. To my surprise the single cloves had grown into fabulous bulbs. “
This realisation that plants instinctively want to grow inspired Michael to want to learn more about the art of growing his own. “I was impatient and tried to find local groups to join but as there was nothing in my area, I decided to set up a small group locally.”
The first meeting was in Michael’s local library. He set out ten chairs for a small gathering. 100 people turned up and the enthusiasm was contagious.
In just two years the idea has spread throughout the country. To date 6000 people have joined the local groups, with Inishowen being the latest group to sign up, lead by Donal Doherty, the proprietor of Harry’s Bar.
“People came to that initial meeting for different reasons.” Michael explains, “It could be that the recession was forcing people to rethink their spending and grow for financial savings. There were people who had money but also had time on their hands, people who worry about getting good healthy, nutritious food and also people who liked the exercise that gardening gives you.”
Well travelled
Michael bought a few vegetables on his way up the country earlier in the day and showed us a pack of tomatoes (from Morocco) some mixed red peppers (from Holland) and some grapes (from Brazil). “The combined food miles for these basic vegetables, is about 13000 miles.” Micheal tells us. “I was on the Sean Doherty show this morning and he asked me if this was just the ‘Global Village’ we now have and expect with food. I had to disagree. The statistics don’t add up. We import 5 billion euro worth of food a year into Ireland and export 7 billion euro. The most ridiculous fact is that Ireland imports exactly the same amount of onions as it exports. Now where’s the logic in that? Ships are passing each other in the oceans with the same products on them?” There were more statistics for us. “In the 1980’s 35% of our disposable income was spent on food. Now that amount has reduced to 17-18%. (You might find it interesting to know that here in Ireland we spend the same amount of our income on mobile phone charges as we do on food.”
Of course Michael is here to welcome Inishowen to the GIY fold and doesn’t dwell on the negatives. This is a positive movement to nurture locally grown produce, reducing our dependency on imports and benefit from a community spirit.
Michael’s Top Ten
Michael is keen to tell us his top ten favourite vegetables for growing.“Tomatoes, potatoes (early ones like Orla or Sarpo) peas, garlic, leeks, herbs, salad crops, (which can be grown all year round), courgettes( one of the most prolific and easy crops to grow) cucumber (you can get 40 from just one plant), leaf beet, fruit bushes and an apple tree.” Observant counters amongst you will notice there are 12 in the list, but whose counting anyway. “Just grow what you really like” is the advice that Michael gives us.
“The space needed for a family of four to be self sufficient in vegetables is just 30 feet by 50 feet and a polythene tunnel 40 feet by 14 feet and should only take about 8 hours a week to upkeep .“ Michael can even tell us exactly how much it costs him to feed and rear a chicken to 12 week maturity (€7.50). He’s done the maths.
Michael concludes his fascinating talk by saying, “GIY wants to inspire people to gain and share skills in the edible garden. Please give it a try. The worst thing that can happen is that something doesn’t grow.”
Time for me to mingle....
Monthly meetings
GIY Inishowen will have monthly meetings at Harry’s Bar. See the GIYireland.com website for more details. The meetings are non profit making, fun and open to all levels of gardeners from the professional to total novice. Refreshments will be served and there is absolutely no charge.
