Gardening With A Mediterranean Twist

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Fresh from his Malaga experience, Eugene will be showing us some wonderful Mediterranean plants that are suited to growing in Ireland.

Eugene Higgins Profile:
I was born into Horticulture in a plant nursery/garden centre in north Co Dublin started in 1940 by my grandfather, so my excuse is, "that its in my blood".
On leaving school I worked in various Dublin radio stations and spent my spare time working in the family run garden centre, this soon reversed after spending an intervening number of years in Australia.
Over the last 12 years I have been combining Horticulture and media work.besides working on the Afternoon Show since season 1 my media contributions have also included:

. BBC   Room For Improvement (Season 1)
. UTV   "UTV LIFE"
. FM 104  Claire McKeon Show
. Lite Fm Dublin Saturday magazine

In 1999 I returned to retailing opening Colour Green Garden Centre in Malahide Dublin, which won "Best Specialist Garden Centre 2002-Ireland".
In 2004 we subsequently moved the business to Tullamore, Co Offaly, where we have a lot more space around us and have concentrated on developing our Colour Green Landscaping Services. Our highlight to date was, being commissioned last year by the Afternoon Show to restore a nursing home's spectacular Japanese garden that had run into serious disrepair (Carrigoran Nursing Home, Co Clare).

I am currently working on an exhibit suburban style landscaped garden in Dublin with a working title of "The Garden Gallery" based at Blackbanks' Garden Centre, Raheny, Dublin which should be completed by late Spring 2008.

Plants:
. Agave - €40 (Indoor for winter, doesn't like wet)
. Olive Tree - €50 for small, €250 for large (Outdoors, growing successfully, south of Englland are getting a successful yield of olives)
. Trachycarpus - €140 (Outdoor, gets very worn through winter, Eugene recommends growing these beside walls away from wind)
. Cycas - €39 (Indoor only)  
. Norfolk Island Pine - €25 (Grow huge in native country, Eugene recommends to grow indoors)

Tips:
. You need to have a south facing garden to harness as much heat and sun as you can
. Where possible it helps to have a greenhouse or conservatory as back up incase the weather doesn't improve
. Always great to have a heater on back up to place beside the plants.
. Keep your eye on garden temperature. If you see the temperature reaching 7 degrees before darkness take relevant plants indoors, as Eugene always says a temperature gauge is a must have in a garden.
. Some Mediterranean plants may only be grown indoors so always seek the advice of garden centre staff when choosing your plant.
 
For More Information
Botanical Gardens
Address: Camino del Jardín Botánico, 3  29014 Málaga
Reservations: +34 95 225 21 48 
Administration: +34 95 225 07 45
http://laconcepcion.ayto-malaga.es/opencms/opencms/laconcepcion/portal/menu/rutasyjardines/coleccionesdeplantas/coleccionesdeplantas?idioma=en

For more information on where the Afternoon Show filmed, plus many other attractions visit  www.spain.info