Start with structure

I didn't wake up one day and decide to become a gardener. It crept up on me the way most good things do. Slowly, without really noticing, until one day you realise it's just part of who you are.

My earliest memories of a garden are at my grandmother's place. She had a gardener who would come and tend to things, and I'd follow him around, watching what he did, asking questions, getting in the way probably. I was fascinated by it. The order of it. The way things grew if you gave them the right conditions and left them alone to do their thing.

As a teenager I started mowing lawns for neighbours. One of them was Frankie Sheahan, former Ireland and Munster player, someone I looked up to enormously. He used to pay me in gear rather than money, which was worth more to me than any amount of money could have at the time. Those afternoons meant a lot to me.

Some people find cutting grass a chore. I never have. There's something about the rhythm of it that I find genuinely satisfying. That hasn't changed.

The garden has taught me a lot over the years. But the thing I'd pass on to anyone starting out is this: structure comes first. Before you think about colour or flowers, think about the bones of the space. Particularly in a new space, take your time. Get to know where the sun sets for one.

The spot where the last light hits, have a chair or a bench at least.  I was lucky early on to put in some trees and mature shrubs and planting that gave the garden structure.

It made everything that came after easier. A garden without structure is just a collection of things. Structure is what makes it a garden.

You don't need to do everything at once. Pick one thing, get it right, and build from there.

The garden taught me patience. You put the work in, you give things time, and eventually something grows. That's all there is to it.