A Year In Redwood

It is hard to believe that Bloom In the Park is 6 years old!  And that I’ve been to all 6!

In the good old days of working Monday to Friday, I used to take the Thursday or Friday off to go along… and was always blessed with good weather.  There was one year that I even managed to go twice in one weekend.

This year I was invited to attend on the Friday as part of the a Food Bloggers Picnic organised by Bord Bia and was terribly disappointed not to be able attend.  From all reports it was a fantastic event…. fingers crossed for next year.

Eventually, because of a clash of various events, we finally got to Bloom on the Bank Holiday Monday.  And thankfully, we were lucky again with the weather.

It has kind of become a tradition….. my brother’s family come too… his daughters (now aged 8 and 10), love to come along …. their favourite part of the day is the craft village and each year the wonder is what they will be able to get involved in.

This year they loved the hay rope making.

However, the highlight was the silk flower they got to make – which their very good Mum had to travel back to Bloom after 6 to collect!  (Well done, Mum!)

Another fun aspect on the day was taking part in the Guinness Record breaking attempt!  GIY Ireland were determined to break the record for ‘the most people planting seedlings in one place’.  The record, I believe stood at 995…. and I believe, we achieved over 1200 on the day! We were all given small lettuce plants to plant up….. one 8 year old with us had her plant almost totally eaten before it got to be planted up!!!!

Good fun…. and all looking ridiculous in our ‘Woodies’ hats!

We did spend some time wandering around the Food Village – well you have to!  The highlight of that was the Irish Caviar…. trout caviar from Mags at Goatbridge – it is absolutely delicious!

And then there were the gardens…. here are some photos of the things I loved.

So now I gloat a bit….. there was a lot of purple and lilac going on in the gardens….. which, of course, means I am a trend setter 🙂  I painted our garden furniture lilac and purple last summer…… so now what colour shall I go for next??

Our visit to the Starberry Paradise, is where I learned the most!  I now have the trick to growing Blueberries successfully!  I’ve tried unsuccessfully before, but am now ready to go give it a try again.  These bushes were 50 years old… I love the structure of them.

Did you get to Bloom?

What were your favourite bits?

Oh, and don’t forget, there’s still time to get your name into the hat for a copy of The Chef and I…. just leave a comment here.