300 plants in an organic garden: Lissadell

I've been away for a while guys...back once again....

�The staff tell me there�s over 300 plant varieties here, but I haven�t had time to count� laughs Dermot Carey, head gardener in Lissadell House, Sligo.

Dermot is busy but happy. He comes from a growing background, and has grown all over the world. But here, in the walled 2 � acre Victorian walled garden in Lissadel, he�s in his element.

Walking around the garden, it would be suprising if I wasn�t surprised by some of the things I encounter. First up, 29 varieties of lettuce. Not herbs and lettuce, just lettuce. 9 different types of Basil. I sampled the Lemon Basil, and it�s extraordinarily flavoursome.

Black peppers � not pepper as in salt and pepper, but peppers; heritage potatoes sourced from David Langford, who grows 160 varieties in his garden, and once had a man drive from Belgium to deliver a single spud variety to him in Mayo. Dermot and David were both out in the Organic Centre for a Slow Food event recently, tasting native black bee wild flower honey. These people know and grow good food.

Back to Lissadell. Dermot comes from a large scale conventional vegetable growing background. His father grew 100 acres of vegetables in north county Dublin. His mother worked in the Dublin vegetable market, the wholesalers in Smithfield in the north inner city, which is where they met.

Perhaps because of this large scale vegetable growing background in county Dublin Dermot is also convinced of the benefits of technology in organic farming: �organic farmers, to supply more people with a consistent supply of vegetables, need to embrace technology, in the way people like Philip Drapier does�.

Philip Drapier is a field-scale organic vegetable grower in Offaly.

The aforementioned Organic Centre has sent its students out to Dermot to see how it should be done. Dermot is also converting the garden to organic.

Dermot has grown vegetables all over the world. And everywhere he�s grown, things have worked out well.

He�s grown in the US, on the Aran Islands, and in an T�irseach. In an T�irseach he established the Dominican nun�s gardens in Wicklow town, who supply a range of regional farmers� markets, who grow biodynamically and hold seminars on spirituality.

�The garden is divided into four sections, each of which is further subdivided into four sections. That�s how the Victorians would have done it. Except for this bit; this section is fairly wild, more like nature�, he says, pointed to a spectacular, sunflower- laden section.

Everything looks and tastes fantastic. Even the weather this summer didn�t destroy the garden: �some of the crops are wet weather crops�, according to Dermot.

But how does this 300 plant garden make money? �It�s a demonstration garden, so people do tours, and Lissadel is a major Tourist attraction. It�s also a kitchen garden for the restaurant here�.

Lissadell House is one of the north west�s biggest tourist attractions: the house itself, the restaurant and the 400 acre grounds all draw in an array of visitors.

Along with this, Dermot has let his products speak for themselves. �I�ve brought chefs from local hotels and restaurants out here, like Brid Torrades from Osta wine bar and the Atrium cafe, walked them around and given them a box of vegetables to take home with them, They�ve become my biggest customers.�

�I�ve also gone to my customers in January with a seed catalogue, and asked them what they wanted me to grow. It�s a buyer�s market.�

So how does your garden grow? By knowing your market, selling directly, combining demonstration and retailing, having a lineage and a vision, and, perhaps most of all, having 300 varieties of expertly-grown plants. At least, that�s how Dermot�s garden grows.