The gardening talk by Tanguy was most informative. He told the members how to lay out a vegetable plot incorporating flowers and lawns and good shelter in the form of a mixed hedge. Of interest to most people was the recipe for nettle fertilizer, so nourishing for plants, easy to make and at the same time ridding the garden of weeds.
Tanguy and his wife Isabelle moved from the Brie area near Paris to Durrow, Co. Laois in 1995. Tanguy was the head gardener at Castle Durrow for seven years where he renovated and organized the old walled garden.
They now have a one acre plot laid out as a kitchen garden where all their vegetables and herbs are produced. What makes Tanguy’s vegetable plot different is that flowers are used as part of the crop rotation system. This must make for a beautiful and practical garden. He runs organic gardening courses where he uses raised beds which are easier to tend and warm the soil and he even shows how to make weeding easy and kept to a minimum.
As Tanguy is a naturally gifted teacher, extremely approachable, and makes learning to garden in the traditional way a very pleasurable experience. It was a most interesting evening.
Check out this website for further information: www.dunmorecountryschool.ie