Grace's Gardens

Grace comes from a long line of amateur gardeners. As a toddler her grandfather sent her in to pick raspberries from his overgrown patch for her grandmother's famous home-made jam (Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's recipe). Her parents then made the mistake of giving her a sunny patch in their well-tended large back-garden in Dublin when she was six. She hasn't looked back since.

She's been growing herbs for more than 15 years. She rejuvenated one 60 foot long
suburban sea-side garden and created a 30 foot square garden from scratch in the last five years. Her current gardens include a jungle alley of ferns for her young son to explore, a loosely themed Japanese gravel garden, a blue and yellow flower garden, a highly productive vegetable patch, fruit bushes (she's still addicted to raspberry and strawberry jam) and fruit trees, a woodland area (she loves shade-plants), a herb garden, a newly planted native hedgerow,
elements to attract birds and bees, compost bins, and a cutting garden inspired by Sarah Raven all traversed by winding gravel paths. She still thinks she could fit in a pond, a glasshouse, and more plants and trees if she re-designed it.

If you want to see Grace's blood pressure rise say that all you want in your garden is a lawn, you think organic gardening is a joke, that she should rip out her garden in favour of a football pitch for her son, or that your favourite animal is a slug.

If you hate raspberries that's fine, all the more for her.

My favourite online garden shops:

• Bakker particularly good for bulbs and dwarf dual-variety fruit trees
• Secret Seeds excellent for unusual perennials and annuals
• Halycon best source for lettuces and also good for organic veg seeds
• Suttons mainstream seeds, you should find these in your local garden centre
• Crocus perennial plants (do not deliver to Ireland)
• Dig-it beautiful garden accessories
• The Organic Centre great source for seeds and courses in Ireland
• seed catalogue links

Gardeners I admire -

• Alan Titchmarsh, no-nonsense organic gardener with a love of plants
• Sarah Raven, the inspiration for my flower garden
• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, enthusiastic fruit and veg gardener, gatherer, and small-holder

(details to be completed)

• lolly-pop sticks as seedling markers
• seed saving
• creating a home-made cloche (see clips)
• jam-jar beer trap
• make your own compost
• make your own comfrey liquid feed
• seed swopping
• cuttings from friends
• how to rescue plants 
• The Cottage Small Holder (inspired me to plant a damson tree for jam and wine)

Creating a cutting garden (before and after pics and costs and pic of arranged flowers)

Find out how easy it it in my Garden Harvest section

• Plot rotation
• Dealing with pests
• Improving your soil
• Seed suppliers (see list above)
• Composting

• Growing herbs outdoors
• Storing herbs (drying and freezing)
• Herb Vinegar
• Herb Oils
• Rosemary Roasted vegetables
• Garlic and Rosemary cream sauce

Just how much can a small garden yield?

Harvests for 2004-2006 plus planting plans for 2007

All photography and text on these pages, except when otherwise indicated, are copyright Grace Tierney, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008