Ireland: Pandemic unearths a passion for growing food in Ireland
Brownes Photography
Across the country, more people have been growing their own than ever before – at home or on allotments
By Lorna Siggins
The Sunday Times
Sept 13, 2020
Louise O’Connor has a favourite photo of a sleeping child with his arms wrapped around a pumpkin. “He grew it from seed, and his mum sent me the lovely picture,” she says.
O’Connor, who has just been named overall winner of the 2020 Energia Get Ireland Growing Award, is never happier than when she is mucking around at her home in Cobh, Co Cork, with young children.
The preschool professional has always believed in the outdoor classroom, and she transformed her garden into a communal allotment several years ago. “Patch na bPaisti”, as she named it, became an informal Saturday activity for many young children.
However, like community gardens across the island, Patch na bPaisti had to suspend activity temporarily during the lockdown. Allotment holders were told access was closed to their plots from March to mid-May.
O’Connor didn’t want to waste the opportunity — or any produce. Working with Cobh Allotments and several local garden nursery groups, she prepared and distributed “grow packs” — both for young children confined at home and for vulnerable adults who were being advised to “cocoon”.
The “garden-care growing packs” not only lifted spirits locally, but also right across Cork city. O’Connor “kept it simple”, including only compost and potting soil, some vegetable and flower seeds, instructions on growing, and an email link for questions in each pack.
“We might include a growing plant that people could pop into the ground straight away,” she says.
“We did a lot of seed saving and swapping, as there was also a lack of availability of seed, and I think we all began thinking about the importance of food security. But, mainly, it was to show people that it could be done and that it was a bit of fun.”
O’Connor is to receive a polytunnel, as winner of the Get Growing award. The runner-up is the Cleas community group, on the Aran island of Inis Oirr, which worked with 10 islanders to set up an organic community garden for a wide variety of vegetables, along with quinoa and wildflowers.
The “small steps” approach reflects the philosophy behind the Get Ireland Growing initiative, founded 12 years ago by Mick Kelly, of Grow it Yourself (GIY), an organisation based in Waterford that encourages people to grow food at home, at work, at school and in the community.
“I started with garlic alone, and sowed half of the cloves upside down as I didn’t know which was the right way up,” he says. “My background before that had been in killing plants, and so I know what that feels like.”
He still remembers that “Tom Hanks Castaway moment” — as in Hanks’s hysterical delight when he was finally able to light a fire on his desert island in the film.
“I got a brilliant crop of garlic, and experienced that sense of revelation that many people feel when they find they can produce something themselves,” says Kelly.
GIY appeals to those who have space at home, and those who think they don’t, but find they do — because there is “so much you can grow in a pot or a box”, in a balcony or apartment.
“You may not get to be 100% self-sufficient, but every little nudge away from reliance on the food system is something good, and generally it is a positive activity,” he says.
Interest in Get Ireland Growing took a big leap during the lockdown, as did inquiries about local authority allotments, which reopened in the first phase of the government’s “roadmap” for reopening society from May 18.
Sean McDonagh, from Oranmore in Co Galway, couldn’t wait to return to his garden in Merlin Woods, the extensive “green lung” on Galway city’s eastern perimeter.
“It took a bit of work because of the dry spell, but I got it back up and running,” says McDonagh, as he shows me his spuds, turnips, onions, scallions, cabbage, peas, mint and strawberries.
“That’s something I got from a seed packet, which could be something illegal for all I know about it,” he laughs, pointing to another healthy-looking plant. He has a chicken coop where he kept hens, and used their eggshells to keep the snails away.
“I’ve been here four years, and I come down three times a week and it is just pure joy,” McDonagh says.
“We have people of all backgrounds and nationalities,” says Michael Tulley, hi next-door neighbour at the allotment. Tully is Galway city council liaison officer for the Merlin allotments, and his own patch is coated in seaweed, from Ballyloughane beach several kilometres away, for use as fertiliser.
“I’ll rotate the soil with the seaweed several times to get the nutrients, and I’ll be growing potatoes, cabbage, leeks, turnips, onions and Brussels sprouts. We often have more than we need, and we leave out spare produce at the gate for passers-by,” he says.
Allotments, as in parcels of land leased for the individual not-for-profit growing of food, date back to the Second World War “victory gardens” initiative to encourage independent growing. Local authorities hold powers under the planning acts to reserve land “for use and cultivation as allotments”, but must also promote them under the national planning framework.
The plots tend to be leased on an annual basis, at a nominal fee, and are subject to terms and conditions. Plots are inspected for cultivation, and neglected or untended allotments are reclaimed after a period of time.
Galway city council has 77 allotments, at Merlin and Shantalla, serving the east and city-centre areas. There are waiting lists for both, and the council is looking at adding another plot on Galway’s west side, according to Susan McSharry, of the council’s recreation and amenity department.
“We know there is demand for it, but we have always had great interest, even before Covid-19,” she says. “It was very difficult for holders during the lockdown, and we had to stagger the times for return when they opened up again to ensure social distancing.”
Dublin city’s parks and landscape services department looks after 134 allotments within its parks, and 173 allotments in its green spaces, such as St Anne’s Park, Raheny, and Meakstown, in Finglas. Waiting lists vary from place to place, with some sites having a list of “as few as six people and some as large as 120 names”, according to Dublin city council.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county council has 93 applicants on the waiting list for its Shankill allotments, and 110 applicants on the Mount Anville allotments. Fingal county council manages about 900 plots at four sites throughout the county. Three of the sites are in the north, at Turvey, in Donabate, Skerries and Balbriggan, while the fourth is at Powerstown, near Mulhuddart in Dublin 15.
Cork city council operates an allotment scheme in Churchfield, where there are 52 plots.
O’Connor, who enjoys a close relationship with her allotment group in Cobh, says that while the activity has many benefits, with its focus on community growing and food independence, the commitment to maintaining a licensed plot is “not for everyone”.
“If you have young kids, or you are dependent on public transport, there are other options,” she says.
“However, there’s one common factor: it is such a positive activity and so good for one’s mental health. I think we all need to have our fingers in muck far more often than we do.”
