(New Series, programme seven /final)
Wednesday April 16th 2025
RTÉ Óne
8pm
HOME GROWN returns to RTÉ One with a brand new third series celebrating Irish horticulture.
Industry advocates and presenters Kitty Scully and Colm O’Driscoll once again travel the country in this popular series, searching for stories that highlight the very best in the Irish horticulture industry.
HOME GROWN series 3 explores everything from innovative growing techniques to the extraordinary people shaping Ireland’s green spaces, profiling small producers, and highlighting the generosity of community gardening for a good cause.
This seven part series also goes behind the scenes at Ireland’s largest horticulture festival Bord Bia Bloom, highlighting the resilience and ingenuity of Ireland’s horticulture industry, looks at the intrigues of creating habitats for animals, and explores many other stories that inspire growth and connection.
Programme Seven (final programme):
Protecting Ireland’s Borders
Kitty begins this final episode focusing on Ireland’s efforts to protect our borders against plant pests and diseases .She starts at Dublin Port, where she explores the critical work of Ireland’s Horticulture Border Patrol. Meeting with the Department of Agriculture’s Plant Health Division, she first speaks with Assistant Agricultural Inspector Jamie Maguire who introduces her to the meticulous processes in place to prevent the entry of pests and diseases. She then goes to the border control point at Dublin Airport where Assistant Agricultural Inspector Ciarán Cullen explains the importance of biosecurity and how he and other inspectors act as the frontline defence to safeguard Ireland’s biodiversity and plant health at the airport and mail centres around the country.
The Rise of Organic Growing in Ireland
Colm heads to Offaly to meet one of Ireland’s largest organic growers, Philip Draper of Coolnagrower Organic Produce. They discuss the growth of organic farming and our ability to achieve the target set out under Ireland’s Climate Action Plan, which is to have 10% of land farmed organically by 2030. Colm also speaks with Úna Wycherley from The Organic Growers of Ireland about the movement’s impact on sustainability and food security.
Brilliant Ballybunion: Creative Horticulture
In Kerry, Colm explores the “Brilliant Ballybunion” project, bringing the village community together in a Climate Action Fund 2024 initiative to grow food, protect habitats, and express creativity in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss. Colm meets Rena Blake of The Barna Way Farm, ecologist Dr.Joanne O’Brien, artist and film maker Lisa Fingleton; and collaborators Danny Houlihan and Antoinette O’Sullivan who tell Colm about how much the community has gained from the project.
Generations of Women Shaping Glin Castle Gardens
Kitty visits Glin Castle in Limerick to uncover the horticultural legacy of the FitzGerald women. She speaks with the wonderful Olda FitzGerald, author and widow of Desmond FitzGerald, the 29th Knight of Glin. She shares the castle’s rich gardening history with Kitty, and talks about the generations of women who have shaped them. Current owner and landscape Architect Catherine FitzGerald walks Kitty through the gardens, explaining how each generation has added its own layer to the gardens’ design and legacy, ensuring that the gardens of Glin Castle are a sanctuary of natural beauty and historical significance.
Home Grown is produced by InProduction TV & Scéal Creative Ltd. and is sponsored by Bord Bia
Press enquiries: TVPR
Pauline Cronin 087 2629967
Presenter comments about season 3 and bios are below.
Colm says:
“Horticulture is such a diverse industry and the full spectrum of this diversity is portrayed this season, highlighting the far reach of horticulture and the important role it plays in our society. I got to see the important therapeutic role horticulture plays in the inspiring ‘Field of Dreams’ project, while I also witnessed how horticulture can be used as a rehabilitation tool in one of our country’s largest prisons.
” Last season we saw how vulnerable Irish growers are to weather extremes, so it was interesting to visit Met Éireann to see the work they are doing to bring advance weather warnings to growers sooner, to help them cope with our ever changing climate. I also visited several enterprises that are bringing us new technology and innovations that aim to improve the sustainability of the industry. From autonomous driving tractors to carbon sequestering fertilisers, the range of innovation is inspiring.”
Kitty says:
With twenty years experience in Ireland’s horticultural sector, and my third season working on HOME GROWN, I continue to be amazed by the industry’s ongoing growth and innovation. This season the sheer diversity of horticulture in Ireland truly stood out. From the grandeur of historic castle gardens, meticulously maintained for generations, using time honoured techniques, and inspiring inner city parks landscaped using repurposed materials; to cutting edge rooftop gardening projects harnessing AI driven robotic weeding technology to maximise efficiency and shorten food supply chains.
“The series highlights not only how horticulture shapes our daily lives, through food, public spaces and biodiversity, but also how every citizen plays a role in protecting and enhancing this dynamic, yet often overlooked, industry.
This season is a powerful reminder that horticulture is woven into every aspect of our world.”Kitty Scully, Bio 2025
Kitty Scully is a well-known organic gardener and local food advocate. Growing up on a mixed organic farm in Co Laois, she picked up a love of eating and growing good food at a young age. She nurtured this inherent passion with a formal education and by working on organic farms and gardens around the world. An MSc in Organic Horticulture is her highest paper accolade but her practical achievements go far beyond. Kitty has had a diverse career in horticulture to date – from managing a market garden for nuns in North Cork, to spearheading the evolution of the kitchen gardens in Airfield Estate; writing for national papers and co-presenting garden shows on RTE, ‘Home Grown’ being her most recent.
She currently writes a regular column for The Irish Garden Magazine and The Farmers Journal. She also co-ordinates the Organic Growers of Ireland Network and is Head Grower on a private estate in her home county. Kitty is a natural communicator who regularly gives talks, lectures and teaches workshops on gardening using organic methods. Kitty’s energy and enthusiasm for growing, learning and talking about all things soil based is endless.
Colm O’Driscoll Bio 2025
A dedicated exponent of organic horticulture and craft gardening, Kildare born Colm O’Driscoll currently works as head gardener of Lismore Castle gardens in Co Waterford.
A Graduate of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Colm has enjoyed a diverse career gaining experience in many sectors of the horticultural industry including, landscape, retail, nursery stock, and organic food production.
Colm strives to innovate and introduce new and exciting plants while adopting sustainable methodologies, an endeavour that is clearly seen from his regular contributions to The Irish Garden Magazine, and through his lectures and workshops.