Paddy Cunningham, The Garden Centre
During the first COVID Lockdown that started in March 2020, people rediscovered or were introduced to the joys of gardening. Almost overnight as we prepared for the worst possible scenario or saw the need to get out in the Great Outdoors to preserve our sanity many of us managed, with a lot of sweat and long hours, to turn sterile green lawns at our homes into patches of fertile ground for the growing of organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. The personal satisfaction was immense as we later in the year harvested our crops for the kitchen table. Our wellbeing improved thanks to this reconnection with the soil and Nature seemed to flourished as a newfound interest in planting wildflowers attracted in the insects and birds.
It was Paddy, the rest of the Cunningham family and their staff at Dangan Nurseries that provided with us with the necessary tools, the seeds, the saplings and the friendly advice that helped Galwegians undertake this greening of our lives. In business since 1979, Dangan Nurseries in 2020 was never busier as Galway became a city of gardeners,