RTE horticulture series visits plant business in Kildare

Home Grown returns to RTÉ One this Spring with a second run of the popular seven- part series celebrating Irish horticulture.

Industry advocates and presenters Kitty Scully and Colm O'Driscoll once again travel around Ireland in search of stories celebrating Irish Horticulture and exploring our increasing interest in growing our own vegetables and plants.

Kitty  heads to Schram Plants in Moyvalley, Co Kildare, as she follows the journey of a plant from seed to sale.

It can take more than 100 days to grow a plant suitable for sale in a garden centre from a seed.

She discovers how much work goes into getting plants onto garden centre tables.

HOME GROWN is screened on Wednesday March 6th 2024 on RTÉ One at 8.30pm.

Gardening activity surged during the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a growth in spend by consumers to circa 1.5 billion euro in 2021 (IPSOS Bord Bia Value of the Garden Market study 2021), and a whole new cohort of new and returning gardeners. 

Home Grown series 2 sees Kitty and Colm meeting people involved in greening public spaces, growing exotic mushrooms, community gardening initiatives, outdoor salad leaf production, restoring historic gardens and learning how bees play a vital and integral role in large scale fruit production. 

Other stories include visiting an amazing sensory garden developed for health and wellbeing, following the young designer who won the Cultivating Talent competition on his first foray into designing and building a show garden at Bord Bia Bloom 2023; and meeting with a new, innovative generation of growers, and finding out how social media influencers are inspiring a new generation into gardening. 

Colm, Head Gardener in Lismore Castle Gardens in Waterford says:

 “Once again it was a privilege to meet some of the industry leaders and get an insight into the hard work, determination, and innovation that it takes to succeed in this sector.  

“It was encouraging to see the huge role environmental sustainability plays across all sectors of horticulture and its importance to all of the enterprises we met. 

The adoption of new technology was also apparent across the sector as companies strive for innovation and efficiencies that enable them to compete on a global scale. 

"Horticulture has struggled to attract young people into the industry but by embracing technology and improving the environmental credentials of the industry I believe it can become a more attractive proposition to future generations. It was also really encouraging to visit smaller enterprises that identified niches in the horticultural market and are thriving by growing for these very specific markets."

Kitty, Head Grower on a private estate says:

"Last year was a really challenging growing season with unprecedented levels of rainfall in March, followed by drought before a wet and cold July/August.

“It was worrisome but yet inspiring to witness first hand the resilience and determination of growers as they navigate our ever changing climate, and reiterated the importance of buying Irish when it comes to plants, produce and inputs.

'Chatting with growers across the country it became clear that climate was not the only challenge facing growers in 2023. Coupled with ever increasing input costs and vulnerable supply chains, the struggle to maintain viability and stay in business was real. It was encouraging to see some growers respond with a focus on shortening supply chains, which in turn boosts local economy and reduces carbon emissions. The capacity of growers to rethink, reimagine, adapt and act in times of crisis never fails to amaze me.”