BERNICE HARRISONon alternatives to movies and the mall
Thanks to the Green Schools initiative many children will know a great deal more about growing flowers and vegetables than their parents. With the start of the school holidays and the more spring-like weather, this weekend is a good time to get planting, whether you have a window box or a garden. Be more adventurous than mustard and cress and choose plants that you don’t have to wait too long for, such as radishes, which are ready to eat within a month of sowing, or lettuce, which should begin to sprout within 12 days.
Start with a trip to a kitchen garden to see vegetables and herbs growing. There are inspirational examples all over the country. Portumna Castle’s, in Co Galway (090-9741658, family admission €8), has been restored based on the original 17th-century design.
More attainable examples are at the National Botanic Gardens, in Glasnevin, and at Airfield House and Farm (Upper Kilmacud Road, Dundrum, Dublin).
If you do get to Dundrum, visit Airfield’s newest arrivals (left), lambs born on March 9th, although if spring lamb is on your Easter Sunday menu, it might be best avoided.
On the first Saturday of every month (that’s today) the public is invited to meet the Phoenix Park gardeners (10.30am-12.30pm) in the Victorian kitchen walled garden beside the visitor centre.
Public transport is available to the walled garden via the Phoenix Park shuttle bus, which starts and finishes at Parkgate Street and runs every 30 minutes.