John's Super Garden

With the sun beating down in the Phoenix Park on the June Bank Holiday weekend of 2024, John Dooley stood in his Super Garden with his beloved wife Liz at his side. The smile on his face was the smile of a man on top of the world. The children from Scoil Diarmada who all knew John from his work in the Parish Office chanted his name. TV cameras captured the cheers that came from the crowd. Congratulations came from new friends who had travelled from near and far to see the garden of a man whose life and love story had captured the heart of a nation. On the 4th of June 2024 John passed away. The night before he passed, John sat in the kitchen with his best friend and wife Liz. They talked about the next adventure which was to donate his Super Garden to the children of Scoil Diarmada. John’s love and passion for gardening was immense. He wanted to share his knowledge of gardens of the past and traditional gardening with the children and hoped to inspire and share knowledge of planting and growing vegetables, flowers and trees. His unique style of combining flowers and vegetables added to the beauty and creativity of his garden. When John passed, an immense amount of support came from the very many sponsors of Bloom. Bord Bia packed up every plant, flower and kerbing to bring to the farm of local business man Graham Murphy. Graham has minded all of the plants with tender loving care and we thank him for all his help. Kilsaran have also come to our aid by supplying additional concrete materials and paving for the garden. Woodies have also very kindly donated to the garden fund to refresh plants. The generosity of all the sponsors has been very much a reflection of the man John was. During the last week we in Scoil Diarmada proudly begin the groundworks to make John’s final wish come true. We are starting a fundraising campaign to help with costs which is planting, installing a poly tunnel and associated other pieces for John and Liz garden. We are asking for your generosity and kindness as we aim to complete John’s garden for the pleasure of the school community of Scoil Diarmada and the wider Castledermot community for numerous years to come.