The garden as a great love

Angelo Dorny (1990) was fascinated by gardening as a child. His grandfather taught him the first tricks of the trade, later Angelo went on to study agricultural farming and horticulture and garden design. He also thought he would become a chef, but his greatest love remained the garden, that inexhaustible source of inspiration, fertility and peace.

Angelo has become a household name in Flanders and the Netherlands; he has helped thousands of people make their garden dreams come true with his website, social media, magazines, lectures and books about tomatoes, flowers, chickens and cooking with fresh vegetables.

'I consider it a privilege to be able to inspire people. It's all very exciting, the first time, but don't be put off by all the jargon. I hate rules and finger-pointing. Yes, it's better to leave chemical junk on the shelves and I will always applaud making sustainable choices, but the essence is that you get to know nature. The rest will follow, I am convinced of that.

When you see 100 bees going crazy on the flowers of Nepeta - I'm just saying - you can see for yourself what a poison-free garden can do. My motto: 'I'm just doing something.'

Even slow down

Angelo personally experienced that gardening is not only fun but also healing. In 2019 he had to slow down due to burnout and depression.

'I haven't been in my garden for a year. Then I started raising chickens - I had been raising special breeds for a while as a teenager.

Now I had time for it again, and the love for chickens brought back the love for gardening. Chickens were perhaps my salvation. That, a daily pill and the love of friends and family.'

Angelo is married to Stijn, has 2 dogs and a dozen chickens and chicks. There is a couple of hedgehogs living in the garden who, together with a handful of frogs and toads, attack the snails.

Today, tens of thousands of people follow Angelo Dorny on Instagram and Facebook , many more are inspired by his books and popular YouTube channel . Angelo can help you on your way too.

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