The kitchen garden is open

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The award winning boutique hotel One Pery Square has been busy this summer developing itโ€™s newest project, a kitchen garden. Nestled in the courtyard of this cosy stylish hotel in the heart of Limerickโ€™s Georgian quarter, the garden has been developed since an idea hatched last winter with local food writer and horticulturalist Valerie Oโ€™Connor. Chef Alan Burns and the hotels proprietor Patricia Roberts contacted Valerie to uptake the challenge and having recently completed a two year diploma in Organic Horticulture at An tโ€™Ionad Glas in Co.Limerick she is keen to highlight the possibilities of growing your own food in the urban environment.

โ€œThis is a really exciting project as it brings elements of rural and urban together in a small space like a hotel gardenโ€.
The garden has a raised bed with a bumper crop of Anyas, Jersey Royals and Nicolas, but theย  tomatoes are still green due to a lack of sun this year and the peas, runner beans and cabbages have done really well according to the team at the Pery No1.
All the crops are grown organically and the waste from the kitchen is composted in the gardens own composter. There has been a great response from diners when they get a steak sandwich with rocket that weโ€™ve just picked from our own plotโ€, says chef Alan Burns. โ€œFor itโ€™s first year the project has been a great success, and a learning experienceโ€.

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