SOPHIA POWER
The head gardener of Lismore Castle, Colm O’Driscoll returns to lead a brand new third series of RTÉ’s Home Grown alongside co-presenter Kitty Scully, which celebrates Irish horticulture.
The two industry advocates will once again travel the country in this popular series, searching for stories that highlight the very best in the horticulture industry.
The first episode was broadcast on RTÉ One last Wednesday, 5 March, when Colm visited the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise to view a unique horticulture programme that has been thriving for the past ten years. The series continues tonight, Wednesday, 12 March, at 8.00 pm. People who miss the episodes can catch up on RTÉ Player.
Home Grown series 3 explores everything from innovative growing techniques to the extraordinary people shaping Ireland’s green spaces, profiling small producers, and highlighting the generosity of community gardening for a good cause.
This seven-part series also goes behind the scenes at Ireland’s largest horticulture festival Bord Bia Bloom, highlighting the resilience and ingenuity of Ireland’s horticulture industry, looks at the intrigues of creating habitats for animals, and explores many other stories that inspire growth and connection.
Colm O’Driscoll is a dedicated exponent of organic horticulture and craft gardening and currently works as Head Gardener of Lismore Castle Gardens. A Graduate of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Colm has enjoyed a diverse career gaining experience in many sectors of the horticultural industry including, landscape, retail, nursery stock, and organic food production. Colm strives to innovate and introduce new and exciting plants while adopting sustainable methodologies, an endeavour that is clearly seen from his regular contributions to The Irish Garden Magazine, and through his lectures and workshops.
“Horticulture is such a diverse industry and the full spectrum of this diversity is portrayed this season, highlighting the far reach of horticulture and the important role it plays in our society. I got to see the important therapeutic role horticulture plays in the inspiring ‘Field of Dreams’ project, while I also witnessed how horticulture can be used as a rehabilitation tool in one of our country’s largest prisons,” said Colm.
“Last season we saw how vulnerable Irish growers are to weather extremes, so it was interesting to visit Met Eireann to see the work they are doing to bring advance weather warnings to growers sooner, to help them cope with our ever-changing climate. I also visited several enterprises that are bringing us new technology and innovations that aim to improve the sustainability of the industry. From autonomous driving tractors to carbon sequestering fertilisers, the range of innovation is inspiring,” added Colm.
PHOTO CAPTION: Home Grown presenters Colm O’Driscoll and Kitty Scully.
