How does the garden work?

FAQ’s

Mud Island is a community garden and not allotments which means everyone shares in the planning, sowing and harvesting. If you’ve never gardened before, don’t worry,  there’ll always be a committee member on duty to suggest and guide you to jobs you feel comfortable with. We even have a large sit-down area with tables if you’ve difficulty getting around. It’s the perfect spot for planting seed trays, transplanting, writing labels and catching up on garden news.

The short answer is: no. We’ve lots of gardening gloves and other tools you can use. Just remember to give them a clean and put them back where they’re stored so others can find them. It’s also best to wear clothes and shoes you don’t mind getting muddy. It’s Mud Island, after all ; )

We hope you will. There’s almost always plenty. Much of what we grow relies on regular harvesting to encourage more growth and more harvest for us. That said, we ask people to take what they need and not what they want. We’re keen supporters of reducing waste food.

We are not organic but strive to be organic where possible. Over the past few seasons we’ve planted to increase biodiversity and attract pollinators and the benefits are already showing with fewer pests and more ladybirds.

We source most of our seeds from Irish Seedsavers, the Organic Centre, Brown Envelope Seeds and any gaps are supplemented by Mr Middleton and other commercial seeds sellers. We’ve always harvested some seeds but will be increasing this from 2020. We avoid F1 seeds as they are modified not to produce seeds.

We make lots of our own fertiliser from our wormery and we have very successful four-bay composting station. Both provide us with part of our needs but we supplement this with as much organic produce as possible.

Yes, children are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult. There’s so much for children to enjoy in the garden but equally they won’t know what’s edible and what isn’t. We ask parents to keep their children within their line of sight at all times to ensure their safety.

We’re always keen to try new things. There are planting meetings, usually twice a year, and this is your opportunity to throw some suggestions in the hat for our seed shopping list.

If you’ve something interesting of your own we can usually accommodate a small corner to experiment. This worked well for a chickpea experiment a few years ago and some beautiful rocket a member brought back from the Lebanon.

The garden is open from 2-5pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays so feel free to come along at those times to explore the garden. You can also sign up for membership at https://www.mudisland.ie/join-us/. Please also check out our FB group for news of latest gardening activity and events.

About Us

Chairperson – Nathalie Crowley

Treasurer – Gemma Hogan

Secretary – –

Membership Secretary – Johnny Moran