May 2026
Busy with biodiversity
Another fantastic month, full of outdoor fun, workshops, plant growth and blossoming, learning and socialising. The weather was cold and windy at the start but more than made up for it towards the end.
I’m writing this sitting in the middle of a wood, admiring the young oak trees. Rusty is taking it handy, and Brian is off with his scythe somewhere. There’s a bit of bare ground here - we had some roadworks for the tree thinning- and I’m just running through all the native wild flower and grass seeds that I have at home that I can spread here. (bare soil is an opportunity!)
Lots of birdsong too, a lovely accompaniment to writing, and since I’m sitting quite still they may approach. I think that I heard some bluejays screech, I have never seen any here but they are definitely planting acorns all around.
We are just about getting through the hungry gap and coming out the other side. We have dined on artichokes a few times, and while they are not a full meal, they are extremely tasty and welcome. I snuck out a few potatoes, but I think it will be a few weeks yet before the styrofoam boxes started in the tunnel in February are ready.
Garlic scapes are ready for picking, and a few garlic plants were loose in the soil and ready for harvest. It’s a little early for the rest, but because I had my hard stop with the hip surgery last November, I got the garlic planted in October - no procrastination there - and it’s grown well.
We started the month with some kayaking in Lough Lane, and the May festival in Castlepollard, followed by a few days in Pure Space in Clare - some kayaking in the Shannon, a very hilly bike ride, and a very quick dip in the pollock holes. While there, we attended a lovely evening - a talk by Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh about the traditional buildings of West Clare, which was followed by a beautiful short film -The Mud House at Johnnie Mac's Cross. The event has deepened my appreciation of traditional Irish architecture - I can now confidently say - ‘oh, there’s a half hipped roof’. What cosy homes people made with the materials available to them - stones, mud, wood, rushes, straw. Truly sustainable.
We were H=honoured to get a tour of Lios Uath while there - Tony is working with Mother Nature in a gorgeous way.
The Mullingar Gathers Community Supper was delicious and lovely - as always - and that clay baker that I offered last month found a good home with a young couple who have just moved here.
And here’s Brian showing off his kayaking skills - going backwards.
Coole Meadow
Well, the potatoes in the ground are doing wonderfully - we had lots to plant out in the end, with a kind donation of a few kilos of Sarpo Mira as a trade. In addition, we have the potatoes in the compost cages - that experiment is quite interesting at this point. We planted up two cages on St Patricks day - I put in potatoes at the outside on several layers. So we filled the cages with layers of old rotted grass and donkey manure, made some holes in the side with a dibber, and then shoved in the spuds, leaving a chitted bit as close to the outside as possible.
I then wondered if the new potatoes might not form also near the edges, and be exposed to light, and so I changed the method subsequently. Further cages had only one layer of potatoes, covered with compost and/or manure, not so close to the outside. Well, at this point method one is the clear winner with loads of leafy growth. It remains to be seen what the yield is. I’m wondering if we will see any growth at all from the other (8) cages - they were planted up to 6 weeks later, but there’s not much going on right now - the recent heat and rain may change that in June. (fingers crossed!)
Everything else is progressing well - we have lettuce, beans, courgettes, cucumbers, squash, beetroot. Some of the lettuce, bean and squash plants were eaten after planting, but I expect that so I always plant lots of extras ready to back fill the spaces. And with the beans, I’ll generally plant a seed or two beside the plants, in the hopes that something will come to fruition. A belt and braces approach.
The grass is getting quite long - and while we won’t mow most of it until later in the year, it’s hard keeping up with growth around the beds and on the paths. Growth is good!
Workshops
Loads of workshops this month - Biodiversity week saw me deliver 5 workshops in 4 days - that has to be a personal best.
I delivered a few workshops in the libraries for my residency - Soil health, Composting and No-Dig in Mullingar Library, Gardening for Biodiversity in Kilbeggan and Spatial poetry in Moate. If any of those sound interesting, I’ll repeat the same 3 in other Westmeath libraries - details here.
Biodiversity week began with the launch of the Westmeath Biodiversity plan - read it here . I was delighted to decorate the venue, and with Brian’s help, to make some reusable mechanics for future installations. Thanks to Smyths Hardware for the scrap plywood, and to Bell Lane for the hessian to cover the boxes. And thanks to Nadia for providing some of the flowers - the lilac and lupins.
For Biodiversity week, I ran a foraging workshop with Womens Community Project - nettle tea was the hands down favourite foraged dish. We had a few flower oriented workshops too - working with flowers seems to capture emotions, and lift spirits - it’s really lovely to see peoples mindset change during a workshop.
“The mood in the room completely changed, for the better. Including my own, I arrived tired from working late last night. I’m now leaving the room, refreshed & uplifted.”
Another highlight was the seed saving workshop in Athlone Library, where the participants saved seeds for themselves, and also replenished the seed library.
Flower Farming
My flowers got around this month - the launch of the Biodiversity Plan and the launch of the Green and Blue project. At both events we made take away bouquets for the guests at the end of the evening - thanks Claire from Red Roots for your very professional help with this.
Ranunculus have been pumping out the flowers in the tunnel since early April - but once the soil gets too warm they go dormant. I planted some in large pots last November, and left them on the north side of the house - these produced long lovely stems much later - perfect timing for Bloom in fact, so I’ll be doing more of that next year. I planted some in crates in February - they are about to bloom, but have short stems, so not great for cutting.
Load of seedlings planted out and loads more to plant out - and generally lots to give away - plenty found new homes at the (very successful) plant swap organised by Mullingar Gathers in Mullingar library. And for most of my residency workshops, I’ll bring some of my extra plants - flowers fruit and veg - so that participants can bring home at least one new plant.
Also spent a day at Bird Bia Bloom with some of the Flower Farmers. Great to be able to talk to people about the importance of Irish grown flowers, to see the show gardens, and the art exhibition of botanical and floral art - great inspiration for the year ahead!
Learning
Still enjoying the IKC3 program, and another in-person session. Good things are going to come out of this - watch this space!
Biodiversity week - really enjoyed the grassland walk and talk by Linda Gilsenan. She’s so knowledgeable and her enthusiasm for plants and the creatures that live in the grasslands is infectious.
Also made it to the Invasive Species talk out at Lough Owel, where once again I learned a lot. And managed to get in a quick paddle in the lake.
Upcoming events
A few more Residency events coming up in June: Booking links will be found here.
Our Shared Plate have invited me to come to Granard for a couple of workshops - the first is edible flowers and herbs, June 18th. One of my favourites to run. If you’d like to come along email reception@lngfrc.ie or phone 0436660977.
Mullingar Gathers has a fabulous solstice event at Red Roots on June 20th -and other fun events - click here for full details.
Links
Only one link this month : If you’d like to be on a WhatsApp group for workshops, here’s the link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EkFKGaEdq1EGb7chY0WOAO?mode=gi_t
Music
I’ve heard from some of my readers that you like this section, thats great feedback, thank you! This one has amazing choreography (you need to watch it) and is a bit more modern than my usual choices. If you’re finding it long and a bit scary in places, go to 4:17 for the best bit.
Busy and varied month Anna ! Well done on the workshops and glad you get in some R&R on the water!
Great read as always Anna and thanks for the mentions!