Expert gardener Peter Dowdall says one of the most common mistakes homeowners make in their gardens can end up costing thousands. From planting the wrong hedge to knowing when to start sowing seeds, he shares the questions Irish gardeners ask most — and the advice that could save you money.
12:17, 12 Mar 2026Updated 13:05, 12 Mar 2026
Expert gardener Peter Dowdall at the Chelsea Flower Show
If you’ve ever stood in your garden, typing a simple gardening question into Google only to be met with 10 different answers, you’re not alone.
For Irish gardeners, that confusion can sometimes lead to costly mistakes — including one common error that expert gardener Peter Dowdall says can end up costing homeowners thousands.
It’s exactly that gap in reliable, locally relevant advice that he hopes to address with a new AI-powered tool offering guidance rooted firmly in Irish soil.
Rather than replacing expertise, Peter’s aim was to replicate it. The result is Ask Peter – a free online chat function trained on his own articles and more than 30 years of professional gardening experience.
“This is totally focused on the Irish climate, the Irish conditions, with my experience, which is based obviously on ecologically and environmentally sound gardening practices. It takes into account Irish laws, Irish wildlife regulations, all these kinds of things,” he says.
“You go to my website, theirishgardener.com, and then into the Ask Peter box. Then you type in your gardening-related question, and it will answer!”
Who is it for?
Since launching the tool, Peter has noticed a broad mix of users – from seasoned gardeners fine-tuning their approach to complete beginners looking for reassurance.
He hopes it will particularly help those who feel intimidated by gardening culture. “I know from working 20-odd years in retail garden centres, when customers walk into garden centres, you can see they’re just nervous. They don’t know all the names, and they’re put off by the terms.”
Because the chat is private and judgement-free, it allows people to ask basic questions without fear — something Peter believes could encourage more people to give gardening a go in the first place.
“It’s intended to say, ‘Okay, what you need for your lawn is an organic kind of biochar-based lawn food that weed controls’, so you can go to the garden centre and know what you’re looking for.”
Your Top Queries Answered
Peter has been tracking how people are using the chat and says certain themes come up again and again. Many gardeners want to know whether it’s the right time to plant, whether seeds will grow in shaded spaces, or how to manage hedges in a way that supports biodiversity.
At this time of year, one question dominates: is it too early to start planting? His answer is absolutely not in fact, After the long, slow months Peter says March is when gardening season really kicks off.
“March is really the New Year for gardeners because it’s traditionally the start of the gardening season,” Peter explains.
“In winter the gardening jobs can be very forgiving. If you put a job off for a week or two, it really doesn’t matter – there’s very little growth. But from now, the growth is happening nearly in front of your eyes, so if you put something off you can miss a window.”
One of the biggest opportunities this month is starting plants from seed indoors, laying the groundwork for a colourful and productive summer.
“March is the perfect time to start off a lot of plants from seed indoors,” he says. “Everything from your summer bedding plants — or if you wanted to sow a lot of vegetable plants — can be started now with a view to planting them outdoors in the summer.”
Gardeners thinking ahead to summer colour can also begin planting bulbs and tubers now, including dahlias, gladiolus and tuberous begonias — small jobs that will pay off in a big way later in the year.
Pruning is another area of uncertainty, particularly in late winter. If you’re worried you’ve missed your window, Peter says not to panic – as long as you know what you’re dealing with. “Pruning something at the wrong time of the year, you’ll probably never kill it, but you might just sacrifice flowers. You could certainly prune back plants that flower late in summer.”
Peter’s biggest gardening ‘don’t’
If there’s one mistake Peter sees time and again, it’s hedge planting – specifically, choosing the wrong plant for the wrong place.
“I would say planting the wrong hedge in the wrong place is quite an expensive mistake to make. A plant might only be €20, but the hedge could be thousands.”
It’s also not an error that’s easily undone. “The answer really is to make sure you do your homework before planting. So if you’ve got wet soil or it’s very lively, or whatever, you need to make sure that you are checking that you don’t just pick the first plant that you like the look of in the garden centre. You need to check which plants are going to be the most suited to your conditions.”
If you have a gardening query or a question that you would like answered instantly, Ask Peter on theirishgardener.com/pages/ask-peter
This interview originally appeared in the February issue of RSVP Magazine.
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