I am more than happy to answer any gardening related question or query or if there is any aspect of gardening you would like me to discuss please feel free to let me know. Just reply to any post or contact me by clicking here: CONTACT PETER DOWDALL

I have had a love for gardening for as long as I can remember and over the last ten years I have been working at restoring the 200 year old gardens at Dunsland, in Glanmire, Co Cork.  It’s an ongoing labour of love and like all gardens it will never be finished. Attached to the gardens I run a garden centre and before next spring I hope to create some display gardens in the old walled garden here at Dunsland.

Over the last number of years I have presented and guested in several television programmes related to gardening along with being the resident gardener on the TV3 programme Ireland AM. I left TV3 to work with Richard Corrigan on the City Farm programme on RTE which focussed on the increasing popularity of kitchen and allotment gardening.

This website offers gardeners and non gardeners alike information on all issues related to gardening in Ireland.

It is hoped that this site will attract a large online community of gardeners and people interested in gardening. Ireland is a country where gardening is beginning to really take off and in particular ‘grow your own’ kitchen gardening.

Peterdowdall.com promises to be very informative and I will endeavour to offer suggestions on how to get the best results from gardening and how to overcome any problems you will encounter during the gardening year.

I dislike the term ‘expert’ and I would never claim to be one, as the more I learn about the garden (and at this stage I have devoted my whole life to it) the more I realise how much I still have to learn, however I do have a lot of gardening related experience and knowledge  and I enjoy imparting it and helping others with their gardens and I hope that this new website will, in time become an invaluable resource for all those interested in gardening and plants in Ireland.

I will also offer users advice on products for the garden both new and older tried and tested gardening products. Problem solving and answering gardening questions will be very much part of the site and where I can I will recommend solutions and gardening products to users.

My attitude to gardening is quite simple:

Don’t be scared of the garden, give it a go. Don’t be put off by all the technical terms and the Latin names, just remember how simple it all is: you put a plant or a seed in the ground and it grows. after that it’s all just extras. If I can impart a love for gardening on just one person in Ireland then this website will be a success.

If you are new to the world of gardening then get ready because you have hours, days, weeks, months and years of pleasure and satisfaction awaiting you on your voyage of discovery. I hope that your voyage will start with peterdowdall.com and that I can help you along the way.

This website aims to share with readers the basic tools, techniques and principles of how to create and maintain a beautiful garden through all the seasons of the year. Straightforward, no-nonsense language and advice, along with photographs showing the practicalities of gardening will advise budding gardeners on all aspects of gardening.

At the heart of this peterdowdall.com lies a DIY ethic that applies not only to the garden, but also to living. We are intrinsically linked to plants and the natural world and the survival of plants and the natural world is intrinsically linked to us.

A five-year battle with cancer in my twenties gave me an entirely new view on life and living and the vital link between us, and the natural world around us. With this in mind I try and garden with nature and work with the natural order as opposed to working against it.

As a gardener I feel it is very important that we  should work hand in hand and with nature and try and learn what it has to teach us. Gardens and gardening will be naturally far more successful if we remember this.

There are already many websites in Ireland dealing with issues to do with gardening, Ireland however has recently experienced a huge growth in interest in gardening and the search for knowledge, information, ideas and products is growing with it.