Sustainability Expert

Sustainability Talks for Local Groups in Ireland

In my permaculture design practice I have often noticed a parallel phenomenon: the most difficult, most constrained project sites are invariably the easiest to design and the best sites, in a conventional sense, are the hardest, requiring the most careful observation to design well.

The darling buds of May

May Orchard Update – Bumper Fruit Crop Forecast for Ireland in 2025

A-May-zing weather for fruit trees God bless the spells of bitter cold, snow and frost we had during the winter and God bless the beautiful calm, warmth and sunshine this spring. I expect that most gardeners couldn’t fail to notice the widespread, spectacular flowering of both domesticated and wild fruiting trees this year. Gardeners and non-gardeners alike traveling about the countryside will have been greeted with an almost exotic display around each corner from the hawthorn trees laden in white. With the limits of brilliant white exceeded, an abnormal fraction of the May trees have changed clothes this year and blossomed in pink instead, as if they couldn’t wait longer and ripened themselves instead of setting fruit. Fruit tree “chill hours” requirement Even that winter cold spell – now a distant memory – was good for the trees. Proper cold winter weather has a role in regulating the apple tree Continue Permaculture Story

Organic home vegetable beds

Flood and Drought Resilience in Wales and Ireland

I was delighted to present at a recent Lantra Wales “Farming Connect” webinar titled: “Making Your Horticulture Enterprise Drought and Flood Resistant”. The event was free of charge courtesy of Lantra and the Welsh Government.