Farmer-turned-gardener takes silver at Bloom

Navan farmer James McConnell is celebrating on the double after winning the RTE garden design series, 'Supergarden', which earned him a place at the Bloom Festival, and then going on to win a silver medal at the festival in the Phoenix Park for his 'Urban Idyll' garden design. It all began with a visit to Woodies DIY that lead James to his double victory. He was browsing the aisles of Woodies when he came across an entry form for the televised competition, sponsored by Woodies DIY and Growise. He has no formal training in the area of garden design and his plant knowledge and design skills are self-taught. He describes his style as classical and he prefers to use structural planting to hardscaping materials in a garden. James, a sheep farmer based at Churchtown, Navan, has always had an interest in gardening and garden design and has put a lot of work into creating beautiful and functional spaces in his own garden and for friends and family. Married to Olivia with a teenage son, Jack, his television appearance was the first time that James has been called upon to design a garden for a client. His clients were brothers Art and Aodán " Coileáin, who live in Artane in Dublin. Art is the chef of the household and wanted a bountiful vegetable bed to keep his pantry stocked all year around. Aodán has a collection of unusual pets: he has 10 pet ducks and he needs a garden that will cater to their needs. But Art and Aodán did not simply want a functional garden; they wanted to see a sweep of lawn and lots of colour and flowers in the garden. The long rectangular garden measures seven metres by six metres and gets great sunshine throughout the day. In the existing garden there is a very old apple tree, perhaps over 100 years-old, and Art and Aodán were keen for the tree to remain. There is also a wooden house for the ducks and a small pond, both which were in need of rejuvenation. James was given the brief to create 'a living garden' for Aodán's 10 pet ducks, which harnesses rain water and also accommodates a vegetable bed to supply Art's kitchen. James's design incorporated Victorian elements with the ordered vegetable beds and terracotta rhubarb forcers, and he describes the wooden garden furniture as 'Amish' in style. Wooden cladding encapsulates the space, creating privacy and a warm back drop to the carefully chosen planting. He used different shades of 'duck egg green' to unify the space, a colour that is distinctive but subtle. James's approach to garden design is a 'less is more' strategy and he prefers to see the same key plants, with carefully chosen colours and textures, repeated throughout a garden as he believes this has more impact than a large selection of different plants. Ray Colman, CEO of Woodie's DIY, said that James McConnell really stepped up to the challenge of creating a living garden for the RTE show. "James's attention to detail, workmanship, plus his vision is distinctive and commendable. He really created a 'supergarden'. He spent a lot of time recreating his entry for Bloom and achieved great success with a silver medal up against some of Ireland's top garden designers." The lawn turf for the McConnell garden was supplied by Summerhill Lawns, run by the Cribbin family in Summerhill. Summerhill Lawns was also involved with the gold medal-winning large garden 'Gin and Tonic', and 'The Californian Courtyard' by Russell Shekleton of Dunsany-based KHS Landscaping Ltd, which won a silver medal in the small gardens category. Kilsallaghan-based Jane McCorkell took her third gold medal at this year's Bloom with 'The Rain Garden' for the SAP group. The concept for 'The Rain Garden' developed from observing the constantly changing climatic environment, and the increased need to conserve water. The concept of harvesting water can be adapted to any garden. Her courtyard styled garden is suitable for a townhouse, roof garden and internal office garden. The garden has been designed to capitalise on rain water run off management, thus enabling water conservation. Water is collected from the roof and the hard surfaces in the garden, and it flows to an underground 'rainwater harvesting unit', and can then be used internally and externally in a variety of ways.