An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

More pics of Bloom in the park 2011 Lots of photos but short on the prose! Above, poppies blooming in the walled garden Myself and sis Kathleen ,legless in the walled garden. Peony Hollyhocks? Even in the best of gardens the carrot fly is feared! The Alice in Wonderland garden ,easily the best for me. Giant teacups All is not what it seems when you go through the looking glass,all the greenery is artificial! Playing cards Mad hatter The Barbershop singers wandered around entertaining Workshops for the kiddies Edible landscape, allotment type garden Keelings were pouring out freshly squeezed orange Juice New Irish cream liquer, we had to sample! Mushrooms Veg grown in rows of military precision, more artificial looking than Alice's garden Just one of the lunchtime queues, the one I was in! Owl Kiddie garden inspired booties Potting bench, remember those strawberry punnets?! Wheelbarrow of veg. Kids getting their hands into compost in the Growise stand Another queue, this time for th...

My sister & myself took our annual jaunt to the big smoke and spent a very enjoyable day at Bloom in the Phoenix park in Dublin on Sat last. This year it was definitely bigger and better and has spread out in all directions with bigger stands and enjoyment for all age groups. My sister Kathleen won tickets on a facebook competition with Nissan Leaf who were sponsoring the Flower Marquee. I took lots of photos and will do another post and probably another! My header pic is taken in the Alice in Wonderland garden, the sign can only be read through the looking glass which I was trying to take but because there were so many people going through I could not stand back far enough. I quite like the pic as it turned out with myself in it! Pic above,there were flowers outside... There were flowers inside.... on water barrels... in water... artfully arranged.... Flowers adorned baskets... sculptures... hats... boots... handbags.... Garden figures appeared sitting.... Waiting around corners.....

We are on the countdown for Bloom in the Park ,Ireland's biggest garden show which takes place over 5 days of the June Bank holiday week end from thurs 2nd to mon 6th June. I have been to the previous 2 with my sister Kathleen who is also an avid gardener,she is the flower child while I am the veggie.Its a great day out for all the family especially as children under 16 go free and there is a dedicated children's Zone to keep them occupied for hours! Its not just about flowers and veggies, it encompasses all to do with them from growing to cooking and all things in between. The Bord Bia Food village is new this year ,previously there was a food market and a marquee for cookery demos, these are now all centralised in to a village for easy access. There will be cookery demos each day by celebrity chefs, we need to get the timetables and plan our itinerary. The artisan food market is second to none and we can graze our way through it! Kathleen admiring one of the show gardens last...