Growing your knowledge in Waterford

I have a bucket list of places I’d like to visit – one of them is the social enterprise Grow in Waterford.

But as I am lazy by default, I need a reason to travel. That reason came about last week when Mr T and I stayed at Faithlegg House (in case you are tempted, it is so worth it) – if you don’t want to stay, make sure to pop in to buy some of their homemade produce, especially the tapenade and whiskey marmalade (both jars are already empty).

On the way back home, we passed Grow and I can finally tick this place off my list. As we had delicious breakfast in Faithlegg, we didn’t bother with the restaurant but took our time wandering through the different areas of the garden.

First off, I fell in love with their teak glasshouse – what a beauty! It was a medium size which would be large enough for me and Mr T (since he is the head gardener – I am the beneficiary). It will take a while before I am getting a teak Georgian style greenhouse but one can dream.

The garden is divided into different areas like the herb garden, kitchen garden, school garden and TV garden. Two large polytunnel contained beautiful tomatoes in rainbow colours, peppers and more.

The composting corner was very interesting (I know, I am weird) as they use a food waste composter. The café places all food waste into the composter and woodchip pellets are added to create the perfect mix of nitrogen and carbon. It takes a few weeks for the food waste to break down and move through the composter before it is put into maturing bins for two more months. The organic compost created is then added to the vegetable beds – a complete circular economy that adds zero food miles to the café.

A beehive, wormery, bird houses and wood trail complete Grow headquarter. The café has lovely outdoor seating and their menu changes daily depending on what the garden is offering that particular day (don't worry, it’s not all vegetables as meat from local suppliers is also available).

I spent quite a while in the shop – an interesting selection of cooking and garden books are on offer as well as a great choice of seeds. Everything in the shop is environmentally friendly and focused on reducing waste in general – I was rather proud of my restraint (I just bought a ‘few’ items).

Grow also offers courses which are a great start to learn about growing your own food. A good friend of mine, Agnes, has an amazing polytunnel and outdoor beds were she grows a wide selection of vegetables with everything looking immaculate – not that I am in the least jealous (honestly, I am not… okay, I am!).

But since I am lazy by default (I think I mentioned that before), it will take a long time before I am anyway near Agnes’s professional setup – but it always gives me great pleasure visiting her.