Peter Dowdall: 'You cannot fail to become a gardener after visiting Mallow festival'

All roads lead to the town's Cork Racecourse for Mallow Home &  Garden Festival from May 24-26

Enjoying Mallow Home & Garden Festival last year was Genevieve O'Sullivan from Castlemagner, Co Cork. Picture: Andy Gibson

All roads, tracks, garden paths and boreens lead to Mallow next weekend and, in particular, Cork Racecourse, for the annual Mallow Home & Garden Festival, May 24-26.

This show has stood the test of time and continues to attract gardeners and non-gardeners alike. As it has been going now for over 25 years, it is also continually evolving and improving. Indeed, it has developed from a purely plant and garden fair into a full-on family day out with a huge range of interests catered for with exhibits focusing on self-build and DIY, furnishing and décor, lifestyle and leisure along with a pet expo and artisan food village.

With all this going on, still the main focus and the favourite elements of the show for me, and for most gardeners who visit, remain the show gardens and the nursery village.

This show has stood the test of time and continues to attract gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

The show gardens this year will once more offer inspiration. There will be an enviable display on offer when you see what some of our top suppliers and landscapers can do with small and larger spaces.

The Pavilion Garden Centre of Ballygarvan will take hold of these gardens this year and I cannot wait to see the results as they bring some stunning specimen plants and their range of quality garden furniture and outdoor living supplies.

Cork Builders Providers has recently completely revamped its outdoor living range at its showroom in Togher. “We will be bringing a taste of this to Mallow, exhibiting our range of composite decking, fencing and porcelain tiles,” David Heavin of Cork Builders Providers says.

 “We will have a team at the show over the entire three days to help people make the choices on materials for their garden.”

O’Neill’s Quarries will be showcasing its range of stone and slate and keep an eye out for some of the larger stone features in the gardens which can really become stand-out focal points in any garden.

As always, the nursery village will be a wealth of horticultural and botanical treasures and my advice is to get there early, for the real treats won’t last long.

One element of the show that has always made the show unique is the series of talks and seminars and this area of the show too has developed into one of the “must-do” parts of any visit to Mallow.

Peter Dowdall will be speaking at the event.

I think this is the 22nd year that I will be speaking on each day of the show in the main seminar room, offering tips on designing your garden along with ways to ensure that your garden promotes biodiversity.

Well-known and hugely popular gardener Paraic Horkan will also be speaking on each of the days and he will be speaking about the best plants to use now for a splash of colour for the summer. 

A little birdie has told me that this may be Paraic’s last Mallow show appearance and so this is not to be missed. He will be stepping down from his day-to-day work in Horkan’s garden centre and hanging up his cap with Newstalk and other media work, though he will continue with his weekly slot on Midwest Radio. He isn’t doing Bloom this year either so this really will be a rare opportunity to listen to Paraic and to meet with him to discuss your own garden queries.

Gardener Paraic Horkan will give presentations at the Mallow Home & Garden Festival.

“I genuinely look forward each year to Mallow, the diversity, range and quality of the plants on show is second to none,” says Paraic. “Of course, meeting the Cork people and enjoying the bit of banter and craic. It’s a real family day out, and I enjoy coming down, browsing the plant suppliers and in particular, the specialist growers.”

The force of organic energy that is Colman Power will be busy. Each day, he will be addressing audiences with nutritional therapist Kara O’Donnell entitled Food Education for Kids and later each day he will give a presentation solo on Growing Your Own Organic Fruit and Veg.

Colman Power is a fan of the Mallow event.

Colman was full of excitement when he told me that he would be “bringing a rare variety of tomato that is purple in colour and provides the same level of antioxidants as blueberries”.

“I will be talking about five easy crops to grow that will cover ground and thus minimise weeding,” adds Colman — music to the ears of most organic gardeners. Colman is a huge fan of the show at Mallow. “You can read about everything to do with gardening, but it is the whole experience of meeting individuals and the energy that they give off that is a bit special,” he says.

I am always in awe as I listen to Margaret Mulchinock as she talks about the art of flower arranging. This is always a popular talk so be sure not to miss it. Also of interest to me at this year’s talks series is a demonstration by Hanna Blackmo entitled “From Flower to Jar: How Do Bees Make Honey?”

Whether you visit for the vintage cars, the food market, the lifestyle or home décor, you cannot fail to become a gardener after a visit to Cork’s most impressive show of the year.