EP346- Is Ireland’s Weather Really Changing ? Ireland Is Not Simply Wetter Or Drier, It Is More Extreme

Hand watering a greenhouse during a heatwave can turn into a daily scramble: alarms set for dawn, hoses dragged in unbearable temperatures, and still you watch water vanish into thin air through evaporation. We’ve both seen how quickly a polytunnel can dry out, how fast IBCs and water butts can empty, and how risky it feels to leave watering to someone who isn’t a gardener. So we get practical about greenhouse irrigation and how to set it up properly while the tunnel is relatively clear. We ...

The quickest way to waste money on a hedge is to choose with your eyes first and your site second. With bare-root season around the corner, we walk you through a simple decision process that stops costly mistakes and helps you pick hedge plants that actually suit your garden, your soil and the amount of maintenance you can commit to over the years. We start with the big questions: what do you need the hedge to do, do you want privacy or shelter, are you trying to stock-proof a boundary...

Timber raised beds rot. Cheap metal ones can rust, bow, and end up in the skip just as you’re getting the hang of growing. So what does a raised bed look like when it’s designed as a product for life? I’m joined by Brian O’Hara from East Cork, who built the Mia Grow Bed, an Irish-made aluminium raised garden bed with a 30-year warranty and a design that goes together in minutes. We talk about the real reason so many of us start a kitchen garden when kids arrive: you want better food, l...

This weeks sponsors: Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. https://seedsireland.ie/master October gardening is a strange mix of momentum and endings: the weather can still feel warm, growth can still be strong, yet the shortening days quietly shut the door on many sowings. We talk through a clear, realistic October seed sowing guide that focuses on what still delivers value, especially if you want winter salads and a head start on spring. We run thr...

This weeks sponsors: Better Plants See special offer here https://betterplants.ie/product/seaweed-soil-conditioner-2-x-10kg-buckets-special-offer/ Bats are flying over our gardens every night, doing a job most of us never see, and too many people still think they are blind, dangerous, or somehow “out to get you”. We sit down with Dr Niamh Roche, Senior Project Manager at Bat Conservation Ireland, to clear up the biggest bat misconceptions and replace them with the real story: bats...