Diarmuid Gavin is returning to screens soon with new series Greatest Gardens (Image: BBC)
The days are getting longer and the weather warmer but for avid gardeners spring time is the ‘perfect time of year’ to get their gardens summer ready. And who better to share their top tips than Irish garden designer, Diarmuid Gavin. The presenter, 61, will be back on screens very soon with co-host Carol Klein for their new six-part series filmed in Northern Ireland, BBC’s Greatest Gardens.
Ahead of the show release, Diarmuid sat down for an exclusive chat, where he also gave a tour of his stunning home and garden. From the ‘perfect time of year’ for one ‘joyful’ gardening staple, an ‘easy’ trick to avoid the garden centre and the perfect time to plant dahlias, Diarmuid has got gardeners covered.
‘Perfect time of year’ for one ‘joyful’ gardening staple to avoid garden centre
Diarmuid Gavin has shared his top gardening tips (Image: Getty)
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“Carol [Klein] was just saying that this morning, that it really is the perfect time of year for all of this [propagating plants and sowing seeds], so Carol has been talking about, in the last couple of weeks, sowing seeds, and the joy of seeing seeds germinating,” Diarmuid shared.
“So she’s talking about sowing maybe sweet pea and the fact that you’ll get the plant out of that, you’ll get this amazing kind of growth shooting off, you’ll get these flowers, you’ll get the scent, you’ll be able to cut them for the table, and then you’ll be able to collect the seed and do it again next year, without going near the garden centre.
“Gardening is very kind of democratic, if you have access to a spot, if you understand what your conditions are, what the soil is like, what your aspect is like, you’ll understand what you can grow but just having a go, I got into gardening through a neighbour.
“I was in the Scouts, and to get one of the badges, I had to germinate some seeds, and I was sent down to Mrs Flynn, who lived down the road, and she showed me how to sow cress and mustard on blotting paper, and within a couple of days it had germinated.
“I couldn’t believe that these little seeds had germinated, were growing, and from that moment I was hooked, so you’re quite right, propagating through cuttings, through seed sowing, it’s so easy, and so rewarding.”
One thing you must do with dahlias
Diarmuid Gavin will be back on screens very soon with co-host Carol Klein for new series BBC’s Greatest Gardens (Image: BBC)
Talking about planting dahlias, especially outdoors, Diarmuid said: “It’s a bit early. Might be a little bit cold in the soil. I’d start them off inside in pots and then I’d put them out.
“Dahlias are a Mexican tuber and if you think about the conditions over there, that’s what they really like. In some places you can leave them out or if you’ve light sandy soil and maybe you’re down south, you can leave them out all the time or plant them out early.
“But do you know what? That’s gardening, isn’t it? I never… even though I write the books, I never read them. I just do what I feel like doing!”
New to gardening?
Diarmuid insisted to new gardeners or those feeling daunted about where to start with their gardening journey: “Just grow something. Get out there and get your hands into the soil. Understand that the soil isn’t kind of dirt. It’s the basis of a skim of eight inches of soil over the earth’s surface means that we can live. It’s as simple as that.
“This amazing organic matter mixed with little stone, whatever, will sustain our food, our joy, our colour, and our beauty. So taking a cutting, growing really anything, taking lavender cuttings, you know, one of the easiest things that you can do, sowing some seeds at this time of the year.
“Getting a packet of wildflower seeds, taking a bit of turf off, sprinkling them down, and watching what happens from March, April on. Just incredible that in 12 weeks’ time, you can have a meadow.
“We’re so lucky with a temperate climate. We have four distinct seasons, and plants from all around the world love to grow. Not only to the benefit of us, but all the other creatures who share dependence.
“It shows us how important things like insects and even slugs and other creatures are. We’re all in this together and gardening really points that out to us.”
Greatest Gardens airs on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer on Monday, 23 March
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