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This is probably one of the most indepth interviews I’ve ever done. I don’t think there’s any apparent reason to that but, that I usually ask the questions or I’m there as as garden person to speak of horticulture.
As a by the way, you can get this interview in all good podcast stores and via CLN Podcast in iTunes, which means you can grab it on your mobile phone.
above: Miriam Cotton of West Cork Garden Trail with Peter Donegan.
This interview first aired on Clonline Radio based in Clonakilty, West Cork.
Together with interviewer Moze Jacobs we discuss pretty much everything from how my interest in gardening and horticulture grew, from growing plants under my bed and getting it entirely wrong (aged 5) all the way to studying horticulture and to my first awards for landscaping and design.
We also talk about the very wonderful West Cork Garden Trail, the people who created those gardens and just what it means to create something so very beautiful in the great outdoors and why.
The Sodshow is Ireland’s only full time garden radio show and podcast. (Jason) Borne way back in 2011, it has twice been awarded Ireland’s Best Podcast; and for those who may not be aware I am one of the hosts, alongside the very talented Brian Greene.
For the first time in almost 250 shows and heading towards its 5th birthday it was suggested that I be interviewed; but not by Brian.
On a slight side note, I still make gardens. 😉
Press play below……
In 2001, aged just 24 (about to be 25) I started Donegan Landscaping.
My good friend Eoin of Directing Media has wanted to interview me for sometime. The publishing of this short interview video coincidentally coincides with my 15th Birthday in business. There is a longer version. But I’ll leave that for another day, for now.
Thank you all. For everything.
X Peter
Horticulture Connected, Ireland’s Hort Trade Magazine, Summer 2015 Edition.
Peter Donegan talks with Editor Barry Lupton.
Generally speaking, most industry folks agree that gardening coverage on TV and radio in Ireland is pretty poor and this has a negative impact on the market for goods and services. Ask those within media circles why it is so, and it all comes back to the same factors: production costs, scale of the potential audience and the need to generate ratings using the lowest common denominator. If you want gardening on TV, it better come with sex, violence, emotion, upset and scandal.
But all is not lost. The downward pressure has produced a knowledge vacuum and a necessity. Necessity precipitates creativity. Thankfully, one industry figure is adressing the issue.
Peter Donegan is well known in the fields of horticulture, construction and design. Owner and operator of Donegan Landscapes, he established his name with a series of dramatically imaginative show gardens in the early days of Bloom in the Park. Like many in the design and construction sector, Peter felt the full force of the recession and took steps to contract his business to see it through the lean years. But he didn’t just hunker down, he saw an opportunity to redirect his energy online and to address the poor level of gardening media coverage.
The Sod Show was created in 2010 following a suggestion from a friend that he build on his existing gardening blog with a weekly radio podcast through Dublin City FM. And the rest, as they say is history. A burgeoning audience, multiple awards and an interview list which includes people from every corner of horticulture, the Sod Show has become an important component of Irish gardening media. One which continues to grow in both audience and influence.
I was delighted to meet up with Peter recently to get the back story on his success with the Sod Show and his plans for the future.