‘Smart gardening - you heard it first in Bailieborough’

Every community garden is a smart idea in general, but in Bailieborough they have just launched an actual smart community garden.

The modestly proportioned garden adjacent to the Bexcourt Centre was created by Kilann Parish Green Group, and officially launched last Tuesday.

“Smart gardening - you heard it in Bailieborough first,” quips horticulturalist Barry Kavanagh, who may be renowned for winning multiple golds at Bloom, but remains committed to projects at home.

This garden has a number of beds outdoors and a polytunnel with a further six beds to grow “more exotic crops”.

“It’s completely off-grid. The watering system is fed by gravity – there’s no power connected to it. And there’s a sensory system, which is solar powered and waters the plants in the polytunnel. All of the lighting in the garden is solar powered – everything is off-grid.”

The experienced duo of Barry Kavanagh and Eilish McGowan coordinate the work of the very active Green Group, and this latest project was supported by Cavan County Council who funded the garden through the Healthy Communities Initiative. Barry and Eilish have ensured the garden is as accessible as possible.

“It’s spacious so people with wheelchairs, or walking frames can get around it. All the beds are raised to ensure any one with back problems can actually use it. It’s fully accessible in every way.”

The garden is also a focal point of the group’s drive to further enhance Bailieborough’s green credentials.

“We have it connected to biodiversity corridors, so it’s connected throughout the rest of the town, like a web - and this is the small hub of it.

“We planted hedges, and small woodlands connected to different patches of nature throughout Bailieborough, and it all comes together back at the garden.”

Bexcourt Community Centre is a busy location. Ten organisations have expressed an eagerness to participate in the garden, and it has already been nominated for a Pride of Place Award.

“We felt it was ideal to put a community garden in somewhere that’s already quite busy. It’s brilliant.”

Barry emphasises the “community” ethos of the garden.

“It’s not like allotments. Allotments belong to the allotment holder, usually an individual or maybe two people, but a community garden belongs to everybody and anybody. Anybody could walk in off the street and sit on the bench there and have a cup of tea.

You don’t have to be fully involved in the planting or harvesting. That’s what makes them great spaces to be involved in.

“Universally, right across the world, community gardens are a place that everybody can share, no matter who they are or what ability they have or what denomination they come from, it means nothing.”

Workshops will be held over autumn and winter to help anyone interested in preparing the ground, and to draw up a plan for planting in Spring.