Ten years ago owners Andy and Mary Doyle saw the enormous potential of turning what heretofore was a waste product of the country’s saw mills, into a lucrative, saleable product, suitable for both the local and export market.

Bark was regarded by the saw mills around the country as a waste product, which actually cost them thousands of pounds each year to dispose of.

“I worked for Wicklow Woods at the time and in 1987 we started bringing logs back to the house, just to see what we could do with them,” explains Andy.

“We had heard that people were beginning to use bark on flower beds, so at the start we just bought a few tons to see how we’d get on,” he added.

“It went so well it was soon all over the back of the house and we didn’t really have the room for it any more,” laughs Mary.

Also involved in the business is the couple’s son, Andrew, who remains an important member of the staff having been there from the very beginning. The environmentally friendly ‘90s was an ideal time to start the business for this completely organic product which is mixed with peat or used as a peat substitute on gardens in an effort to save natural bog land.

In 1989 the couple bought a one acre site just down the road from their family home, which ironically is in a townsland known as Woodside!

They began trading from the site in 1990 and quickly built up a large clientele.

“In 1994 we were lucky enough to purchase an additional three acres,” adds Andy.

Woodside Garden Products now employ 10 full time staff with 3 part time staff making up the team of lorry, loader and fork lift drivers, bagging and screen operatives.

Indirectly Woodside Garden Products also creates employment by using local haulage contractors to transport their products.

The bark begins its life as a by-product in saw mills across the country, from softwood trees mainly Sitka Spruce and occasionally pine. From the saw mills, Woodside Garden Products hire haulage contractors to bring the bark to their site on a daily basis where it is piled for between 8 to 10 weeks.

The bark is then screened off and graded into the products required. Woodside Garden Products have three types of grades available - fine grade, mini chip and medium chip. Each of these grades has a variety of different uses.

The fine grade tends to be used on garden rockeries while the mini chip has become popular in playgrounds, proving safer for children and not as dirty or messy as sand.

Among Woodside Garden Products clientele is The Office of Public Works, Dublin Corporation and a number of State bodies, plus private individuals right around the country. Their products can be found on all major works carried out throughout Ireland including public parks and a number of stately homes.

Their bark products are also bagged and sold in garden centres and are becoming increasingly popular as a decorative feature in gardens, while also helping to protect the plants and keep down weeds.

Seventy per cent of Woodside Garden Products are sold on the export market which adds to their production of between 800 and 1000 tons a week, resulting in an amazing 200,000 bags - each bag containing approx. eight litres.

An additional 300 tons per week are sold at Woodside Garden Products in bulk to larger companies and gardeners.

The company also supplies fine wood chip to stud farms and race courses all over the country. The Curragh, Punchestown and Naas, in fact all of Irelands race courses, use Woodside Garden Products fine wood chip for their all weather gallops as do many of the country’s top stud farms.

“At the beginning we got a small grant from the Enterprise Board to start up the business, so his year we entered the competition for the award. We had to show our figures for the last three years and our turnover,” Andy says.

Woodside Garden Products will now go forward to the national final, where they hope to repeat their success.