FESTIVE POT PLANTS

FESTIVE POT PLANTS

As autumn slowly passes by and winter approaches gardening activity slows down as daylight is in short supply and it can be a wee bit nippy outdoors. So we turn our attention to indoor gardening and the coming festive season to make sure there will be some home grown or even bought in plants to decorate our homes.

Garden Centres cater for the festive demand by buying in quite a range of flowering plants as these will make excellent gifts for Christmas for the keen gardener. This is often the starting point, but then we want to see if we can keep the plant growing so it will flower the following Christmas.

Azalea indica

Plants such as hyacinths and amaryllis can be bought in as bulbs in late summer so there is plenty time  to get them growing ahead of the festive season. Getting hyacinths to flower at Christmas is quite a challenge as the bulbs need to be prepared for forcing then planted in pots or bowls in bulb fibre in August. They need a period of a couple of months of dark and cool conditions so the roots can grow but not the tops. Slowly bring them into warmer conditions, (but not too warm) with good light from November onwards. The flower spikes may need support with canes and twine. After flowering keep the plants growing, then harden them off and find a spot in the garden for them as they will flower for many more years.

White Phalaenopsis orchid

Amaryllis bulbs are best planted shallowly in good compost about eight weeks before Christmas giving them good light and warm conditions to get them growing. Once the flower spike emerges it will need support and will continue to flower for several weeks. After flowering keep the plant growing right through till late summer then dry off the bulbs to ripen them up so they can initiate flower buds for the next year.

Poinsettias are very popular and one of my favourites, but I always buy in as they are not expensive and difficult to keep dwarf and require a period of induced short days to initiate the coloured bracts.

Poinsettia

The Christmas cactus, Zygocactus truncatus is one of my must have festive flowering plants. They usually flower just before Christmas, and can be retained to flower for years to come. If they get too big then take a few cuttings and start all over again. As they are of the cactus family they can survive for long periods without watering, but give them a drink if you see any signs of shriveling.

After flowering keep them dry till late spring, then water to encourage some growth. However this growth needs to ripen up so let them go dry once again from late summer till early winter.

Azaleas grown for indoor flowering can be very attractive and are another plant to keep for several years. They are best grown in a cool spot outdoors with dappled shade and do not let them dry out. Bring them indoors in late autumn once the buds begin to swell up. They can remain in flower for several weeks.

Sophie ties up the Amaryllis

Cyclamen flower in autumn to winter. Grow them as cool as possible outdoors but dry off the corms in summer to let them go dormant. They will start to put on leaves in autumn, so start watering and keep them cool.

Phalaenopsis orchids come in several colours and are the easiest of orchids to grow with large flowers that last for a couple of months. They need special orchid compost to hold the plants upright, but produce aerial roots outside the pot which absorb moisture from the air. As they grow naturally in rain forests give them a warm moist atmosphere away from direct sunlight. They just love a light warm shower room. Repot them every two to three years.

Wee jobs to do this week

Drying off begonia tubers

The summer flowers are now finished but some like tuberous begonias can be kept to flower year after year. Cut back the tops to a few inches of ground level then lift and remove as much soil as possible before drying off the tubers in a warm and airy place. Once completely dry the tubers can be cleaned up and stored in trays in a cool but frost proof place.

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LARGE PLANTS FOR IMPACT

LARGE PLANTS FOR IMPACT

We try to create beauty in our gardens with flowers, shrubs, trees, beautiful lawns, meandering paths leading to quiet tranquil spots where we can relax away from our daily stresses. If we have a big garden we have more scope for our creative abilities so we can have one part of the garden a complete picture for a few weeks before another area has its day. However if our garden is just a normal small patch we may have less scope but we can still make it eye catching even if just for a short spell. I see numerous gardens all around my location in Dundee’s west end where the gardens come alive every year with one plant catching the eye for two to three weeks. Early on in the year I look out for a specimen of

Anna relaxing by rose Gertrude Jekyll

Rhododendron praecox, followed by other Japanese azaleas. Another garden has a fence and pergola smothered in the pink Clematis montana. At the same time I see one garden with bright red eye catching phlox. I was so impressed I found out the variety so I could buy some for my own garden. Other notable plants that catch the eye include a large Yucca filamentosa in full bloom, a mature Azalea Klondyke at least twenty years old and now very dramatic and a garden with one large tub filled with scented pure white oriental lilies in mid summer.

Berberis darwinii

The deciduous azaleas do not grow massive so can suit even the smallest gardens but in time as they mature they can create impact. Similarly there is any amount of Rhododendrons in a range of colours and sizes to suit all gardens, and the bright pink Camellia Donation is a real winner.

Looking back over the year other plants that gave me the wow factor included a Lilac Michel Buchner, the common but still very impressive Forsythia intermedia, Berberis darwinii, Philadelphus virginal and Beauclerk, a deep blue Ceanothus thyrsiflorus. Another good shrub to grow as a specimen is Cornus kousa chinensis with layers of white bracts in early summer.

In my own garden I grow several outdoor Fuchsia Mrs Popple that flowers continuously from early summer till late autumn. They are very easy to grow, and as the foliage comes down to ground level weeds are not a problem. They can be cut down in a very bad winter such as in 2010, but the crown and roots survive so the plant grows away again in spring.

Philadelphus

In mid summer the shrub roses can provide an impressive display with my favourite being the old variety Ispahan with bright pink flowers and very healthy foliage. Another brilliant pink shrub rose with a gorgeous scent is Gertrude Jekyll and for an impressive red climber Dublin Bay is hard to beat. If you have a lot of space try Mme Alfred Carrier with scented double white old fashioned flowers, but as she can easily put on several ten foot shoots each year she does need room.

Phlox

Polygonum baldschuanicum and Solanum crispum are another two climbers that need space, but if given the room they can be very impressive. I have a specimen vine, Vitis vinifera Brant on a south wall, grown for its autumn colour, but also loves to grow at great speed. I curtail this growth with summer pruning (complete removal) of sideshoots so the vine can put its energy into swelling up its wee bunches of grapes rather than masses of green leaves.

One shrub often grown against a north wall is the Pyracantha Orange Glow, the Firethorn, which gets covered in orange berries in autumn and into winter. It provides a food source for the blackbird and they often nest in the bush as the numerous thorns give it protection.

In autumn we look for plants that give us dazzling autumn colour and the Japanese Maples are winners having a wide range of varieties and also good colour on stems in winter.

Sango Kaku growing to nearly ten foot tall, is one of the best.

Wee jobs to do this week

Calluna H E Beale

Autumn is a good time to trim back some low growing shrubs like Lavender, Erigeron and heathers which have flowered in summer but benefit from a trim to keep them stocky. Cut as far back as possible as long as there is still some growth buds left on the cut back stems. The plant will then strengthen up these buds so they can get through the winter and be ready to grow in spring. Do not cut back Calluna H E Beale as it is still flowering or Erica carnea which flowers in late winter.

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TOP FRUIT REVIEW

TOP FRUIT REVIEW

The last of the apples have now been picked as we approach the end of October, so while crops are fresh in our minds it is good to review the past year to see if we need to make any changes for 2017.

On the east side of central Scotland our climate is usually drier than the west and warmer than the north, so varieties grown should reflect this. By and large it has been a brilliant year for fruit, with good pollination in spring, followed by strong healthy growth. This gave a great fruit set that needed a lot of thinning to leave us with a heavy crop of large fruits.

John picks some Discovery apples

Summer was warm and dry but Scotland never seemed to catch those heat waves that troubled the south of the country, then in autumn we got a few gales that brought down a lot of early apples.

The Oslin, also known as the

The Oslin

Arbroath Pippin is my first apple to crop, ripening in August, but it flowers very early so fruit set was not good, then a damp spell in mid summer caused a fair bit of brown rot. My second early apple Discovery made up for the poor crop of Oslins. Size was brilliant and they kept us in apples throughout September and October. Red Devil follows on in mid October with Fiesta getting picked at the end of October. This year Fiesta apples are huge and ripened up just perfect, but Red Falstaff looks like it will hang on the tree till early November.

My James Grieve apple tree had been grafted with several other Scottish Heritage varieties a few years back and these have now come into cropping, so this year I will be sampling some Lord Rosebery, Park Farm Pippin and Pearl. They were picked in mid October and now in store to ripen up for a couple of weeks before tasting.

Scottish heritage apple Pearl

My cooking apple Bramley surpassed its self with the heaviest crop ever.

It was the pear tree that was this year’s disappointment. I have a large tree grafted with Conference, Comice, Beurre Hardy and the Christie, but although it was covered in blossom in spring I only got four pears. Harvesting was not a huge operation. I am planning to reduce some growth in winter and graft another couple of pears such as Beth and Concorde onto them next April.

Other pear trees at City Road allotments have fared a lot better with good crops of large pears.

Plums were in short supply as this is my first year after planting a young Victoria plum tree to replace my mature plum infected by silver leaf disease. It flowered in spring so I allowed one plum to mature just so I could still get a wee taste of plums, but hope to get more in 2017.

Peach Avalon Pride planted last winter has put on good growth. This variety is said to be resistant to peach leaf curl which kept devastating my other peach Peregrine and had to be removed. Peregrine in a good year would give me good crops, but climate change was just not in its favour.

Avalon Pride did get some peach leaf curl disease but not enough to affect growth, so I look forward to seeing some Scottish outdoor grown peaches next year.

Cherry Cherokee was another winner as it just loved our spring and summer. The tree is grown on the dwarfing rootstock Gisela 5 so it is easy to keep height down to a manageable size for picking.

This was a very busy year so I never got round to netting my tree, but still I lost very few cherries to the blackbirds. Blackfly infestations on the young shoots was a problem, but some summer pruning of young shoots reduces the problem and helps keep the tree small.

Scottish Heritage apple Lord Rosebery

Figs also had another great year, cropping from mid August to mid October giving me over 140 ripe figs.

Wee jobs to do this week

The tomato crops are now finished, so after the last ripe ones have been harvested and the green ones also picked to be left somewhere to ripen up, the old plants can be removed. However as we are in a cold greenhouse there is still enough warmth to grow a crop of winter lettuce, some rocket leaves and some winter hardy spring onions. Once all the old plants have been cleared up fork over the soil lightly, firm it and rake it level. Add some fertiliser and plant young salads sown in trays a few weeks ago. These should keep us supplied with salads for the next few months.

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PLANT SOME SPRING FLOWERS

PLANT SOME SPRING FLOWERS

The beginning of October should be the time when autumn kicks in and summer becomes a pleasant but distant memory. We get used to our unpredictable weather patterns in Britain, so we just enjoy it when it’s good and make the most of it when the cold, rain and gales blast across the land. Gardening in early October has been very pleasant picking apples in brilliant sunshine, then cleaning off our onions in the sun prior to winter storage. Afternoon tea breaks are still out on the patio, and as we relax knowing that this late warm spell wont go on forever we think and plan ahead to next year for both the spring and summer flowers.

Planting wallflower

The spring bulbs for tubs and borders have all been ordered and these will all get planted before the end of this month, provided the summer flowers are well past their best so they can be removed. We all like to try out new ideas, so this year one large red geranium growing in a sheltered spot in well drained soil will be left alone to see if it can survive the winter assuming a wee bit of global warming will look after it. Cuttings from other geraniums will keep my range going for another year and provide some colour for the house once they root and put on some growth. Petunias and fuchsias never had a good year, as there were too many cold days for the petunias and too many gales for the fuchsias.

Iceland Poppies

Tuberous begonias had a fantastic year however, so they will be lifted, cleaned and dried off for winter storage in boxes in a frost free garage. Once all my summer bedding flowers are removed I can get down to soil improvement with some fresh compost in tubs, baskets and borders, plus a sprinkling of fertilizer to help establish my spring flowers.

Wallflower Cloth of Gold which I grew from seed sown in June are now ready to lift and plant in my largest tubs and some borders. These will be planted with tall tulip Apeldoorn between the plants to give a very bold display.

This year I have also sown some Sweet Williams and Brompton stocks for a different spring and early summer display and the stocks have a marvelous scent that I look forward to.

Wallflower

Polyanthus and the blue flowered Myosotis will be bought in from local garden centres as well as spring flowering pansies. Remember to select the correct tulip for colour and height when planting underneath the lower growing spring flowers. Red Riding Hood, Peach Blossom and other dwarf doubles are all good for height.

My spring flowering hanging basket get pansies planted in them with a few pushed through wee holes in the side to try and cover the whole basket with foliage and flowers. I make up my baskets with a lining of black polythene (an old compost bag turned inside out) then fresh compost added to the top but allowing space to water. Once planted and established I usually keep them in my cold greenhouse over winter but harden them off for going outside by the end of March. I don’t put tulips in my baskets, but a few crocus or snowdrops give some early colour at the end of winter.

Spring hanging basket

Iceland poppies are another of my favourites as they come in a wide variety of colours, put on a great display and are very easy to grow as a biennial. Sow them in summer, then line out in rows to bulk up before transplanting in autumn into their flowering positions. They can also be grown in containers if ground is not available.

These flowers also have the advantage to me as an artist as they are brilliant to paint onto canvas, and everyone just loves poppies.

Wee jobs to do this week

Most herbaceous plants have now finished flowering and are due for a rest through autumn till next spring. This is a good time to cut back and clean away all the old leaves, supports and any weeds.

Where clumps are getting too big they can be lifted and divided taking the strongest plants from the outside of clumps and replanting them into soil that has been cultivated and enriched with some compost.

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REVIEW OF THE SOFT FRUIT SEASON

REVIEW OF THE SOFT FRUIT SEASON

The crops have now all been harvested, apart from some blackberries, autumn fruiting raspberries, and perpetual fruiting strawberries, so it is a good time to recall how they performed so we can plan next years fruit season. If we intend to change some variety of fruits or just try out new ones now is the time to be ordering them for planting in the dormant season or early spring.

Anna brings in some fruit

Looking back over the year and comparing it with previous years it has to go down as one of the best fruit years for a long time. We have been eating fresh fruit from May onwards and still find raspberries, strawberries, a few brambles and figs. We have several months of jams ready, the freezer is packed and I have numerous demijohns bleeping away with some fantastic blackcurrant, red currant, Saskatoon, Aronia and gooseberry homebrew for sampling in three years time.

Aronia Viking

Success in fruit growing is not just about good growing practice, but also good choice of varieties coupled with favourable weather over at least two years. Many fruit bushes initiate fruit buds as growth ripens up in the autumn provided there is reasonably dry and sunny weather. Wind and a few cold nights are helpful, and if this is followed by a mild winter punctuated with several really cold snaps, most plants will just love it. Some plants such as the currants need a more prolonged cold spell than others, and saskatoons had a really great year after the severe winter of 2010.

This year over in the east of Scotland, it has been dry and warm for a long time, though we seem to have missed the heatwaves coming up from the south. Rain has remarkably kept falling over nights, but drying up in the daytime.

Strawberries started to ripen up at the end of May from Elsanta grown under a low polythene tunnel, followed by Elsanta in open ground then my two later varieties Symphony and Florence. Just as these were finished my perpetual strawberry Albion started cropping and still crops as I write. Albion has large bright red fruit and a good flavour, but needs to be left on the bush for full ripening otherwise it can be a bit hard. Another new variety Colossus has been making a lot of growth, but not one berry this year. 2017 could be its year of stardom.

Raspberry Polka

Raspberry Glen Fyne has been very consistent over a long season with a great crop, and the newer Glen Dee just recently planted is making some good canes for fruiting next summer. Autumn fruiting Autumn Bliss keeps the season going into October, but two new autumn fruiting raspberries are now being tried out. Autumn Treasure starts to crop at the end of September but fruit is large and delicious. Polka starts at the end of August and again the fruit is much larger than autumn Bliss and both the new varieties are a lot less prickly for picking.

I am trying a new (primocane) blackberry Reuben, now in its second year said to fruit on canes grown in the same year. My canes only grew four feet and flowering has just started, but as we are now in October I don’t hold out much hope for a crop this year. Last year the canes flowered in November, and then just shriveled up. Maybe this variety is just not suited to our Scottish climate.

Blackcurrant Ben Conan has had a brilliant crop of large sweet berries, but my new variety Big Ben is a wee bit sweeter and berries even bigger. Both are brilliant blackcurrants.

Saskatoons gave me a massive crop that I struggled to use so the local blackbird helped me out plus a few other allotment plot holders. Just as well as the blueberries were the odd ones out with a poor crop of small fruit. Is it the weather or the soil?

Wee jobs to do this week

Taking geranium cuttings

As geraniums and Impatiens come to the end of the summer flowering season now is the time to look ahead to next year and take some cutting to root now and over winter as young plants on a windowsill or frost free greenhouse. Take impatiens shoot tips about 3 to 4 inches long, removing lower leaves and dibble them into a shallow flower pot in free draining compost and water them in. Geraniums are best snapped off at a leaf joint and treated the same. Both these plants are easy to root and grow and most likely will flower in late autumn as a colourful house plant.

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REVIEW OF THE SUMMER VEGETABLES

REVIEW OF THE SUMMER VEGETABLES

The summer harvest of vegetables is well under way and now is a great time to reflect on progress. We can look back on a fairly decent summer with always just enough rain to keep plants growing and at times it has been quite warm. The promise of really hot weather blowing up from the Continent on at least three occasions kept us waiting patiently to ripen up the crops, but it never quite got that far north. Afraid this is nature so we cannot blame Brexit or the Tory Government.

Tomato Sweet Million

The first crops to pick in spring were my overwintered mixed lettuce with the star performer Lollo Rossa, a beautiful crinkly red cut and come again variety with great flavour. This is marked up for growing again in 2017.

Early potato Casa Blanca was getting lifted as a salad potato in mid June with 1.5 lbs on the first shaw. This increased to 2.5 lbs per shaw by the end of June. The flavour is fantastic, so this variety is again a must for 2017. My other two salad potatoes, Charlotte and Gemson were fine, but could not compete with Casa Blanca for flavour, and Gemson size was very disappointing. Talking of size, the variety Amour gave a huge crop of very large spuds, and Sarpo Mira was not far behind and although this was a bad year for blight and blackleg Sarpo Mira was the last to get affected.

Runner bean Enorma

Early peas Kelvedon Wonder and maincrop pea Hurst Greenshaft are probably as old as me, but have been so reliable, (just like me) and prolific that I keep growing them every year.

This year I tried Dwarf French Bean Compass. It was very prolific but the beans were small and thin though very tasty. Runner bean Enorma is still a great cropper.

Onion Globo gave me a big crop from one packet of seeds, but the humid weather brought on a fair bit of white rot where ever the bulbs were too close together. However these are now dried off and ready for storing in my cool garage to provide enough onions to last till the end of March.

Scottish weather and soils seems to be perfect for courgettes and no matter what variety I grow there is always much more than two people can use, even though Anna tries them fried in butter, in risottos, soups, in pasta and lasagna where thin slices of courgette replace the pasta to give a very tasty and healthy dish.

Pumpkins swelling up

Pumpkin Hundredweight just like the courgettes is having a great year. Four plants is giving me at least eight large pumpkins which just keep growing and will be huge by the end of October when they get cropped just ahead of Halloween.

Sweet corn Sweetie Pie has been a bit disappointing with very few cobs full of corn, so next year I will try a different variety.

Standard beetroot Detroit and Boltardy are hard to beat for reliability, but this year I tried the long rooted type Cylindrica. Very pleased with results giving a beetroot shape which I am told is easier to work with in the kitchen, and flavour is excellent. Swiss chard Bright Lights is still a favourite.

Swiss chard Bright Lights

All my cabbage, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and Swedes have to be the clubroot resistant varieties as the soil is totally infected. This however limits the season of use especially of cauliflowers.

In the greenhouse both cherry tomatoes Sweet Million and Sungold have been outstanding with massive crops of delicious sweet wee tomatoes, but my maincrop Alicante suffered an attack of bacterial wilt and the crop was lost by early September. Looks like I will have to replace the soil or go back to growbags next year.

Wee jobs to do this week

Winter lettuce Vaila

Plant out winter lettuce Vaila, Valdor or Arctic King sown a few weeks earlier in trays or direct into the soil in a well prepared seed bed. My more successful methods were to choose a sheltered spot adjacent to a south facing fence. Last winter my over wintered row of lettuce was in mid plot with no protection, but then we got a very mild winter so lettuce just loved it. Lollo Rossa appeared in a batch of mixed lettuce leaves and was very much appreciated with brilliant colour and flavour.

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PLANT A FEW SPRING BULBS

PLANT A FEW SPRING BULBS

As summer gives way to autumn, now is the time to skip thoughts of winter and start to plan for the spring garden displays. Hopefully notes were taken last spring as the weather was in our favour and bulbs from snowdrops to crocus and then daffodils to tulips had their best show for years. It was relatively dry and warm without being too hot so the spring display lasted for weeks, but as always although we meander around enjoying the colourful flowers, we always find areas for improvement.

In my case some areas of crocus were fantastic, but the drifts can be enlarged into new areas. One large rhododendron got too big so will be removed and replaced with dwarf azaleas and underplanted with crocus. This will give more colour for a few years till eventually the azaleas take over, and the crocus can be shifted to a new home.

John planting a few tulip bulbs

Another area with a palm tree, Cordyline australis reaching for the sky, is now ripe for an under planting of bulbs as the older leaves around the base are withering and will be removed. This palm sits adjacent to a large drift of yellow flowered saxifrage at its best in March, so I will plant a drift of early flowering tulip Scarlet Baby to add a touch of red alongside the yellow saxifrage. As this display has its day it is followed by another show elsewhere as my yellow Doronicums come into flower in April. These were under planted last year with some deep purple Triumph tulips Negrita, but I will add to the show with another triumph tulip Ile de France, a blood red colour. Hopefully they will all flower at the same time; at least that is the plan.

Apeldoorn and Golden Apeldoorn tulips

The tallest tulips with the largest size of flowers have always been the Darwin Hybrids with the red Apeldoorn and yellow Golden Apeldoorn the two most spectacular for a dazzling display. I have a drift of these in several locations, but will buy more to make the drifts larger and create an impressive flower power border.

Tulip Abba

Flower tubs around patios and entrance door ways get planted up with wallflowers, polyanthus and pansies. Good tulips to go with my Golden Monarch wallflower are the Fosteriana type Red Emperor and the pure white Purissima. When warm humid spring weather coincides with the flowering of Purissima the scent is brilliant, but it is not guaranteed. I purchased a whole range of scented tulips last autumn, and not one lived up to the catalogue description, but maybe the weather was to blame; who knows.

For tubs planted up with low growing polyanthus, myosotis or pansies I use crocus in between otherwise the tulips would

Tulip Monsella

compete for space, and some will get a planting of hyacinths for colour and scent that is guaranteed.

Even in these times of mild winters we still like to see the first signs of spring, and this is usually when the snowdrops appear, which with our unpredictable climate can be anytime from late December onwards. Snowdrops are followed on with the aconites flowering in February to March.

Other less prominent bulbs but always very welcome are the blue flowered Anemone blanda and the Chionodoxa, Glory of the Snows. Every garden should find space for these beauties.

Anna picking the last Rhubarb

Drifts of daffodils and narcissus fill the gap between the early bulbs and the tulips so they allow the show to continue without any breaks.

Two colourful favourites with blue flowers are the grape hyacinth and bluebells, but use carefully as they can be very invasive and will want to take over the whole garden.

Wee jobs to do this week

It is still possible to take another picking of rhubarb, but as the growing season is just about over only pick a few leaves so there is plenty of foliage left to build up strength in the crowns for the next year. Rhubarb has now come back into fashion, as health conscious people realise just how healthy this product is. It is packed with vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and proteins. It can be used fresh in pies, stews, crumbles and mixed with saskatoons or blackcurrants for a delicious jam, and any surplus can be frozen for future use.

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Art Exhibition "Summer Colour and Nostalgia"

A HEALTHY SCOTTISH DIET

A HEALTHY SCOTTISH DIET

There was a time when everyone had a garden or allotment to grow food, as money was tight and a packet of seed could go a long way. Being almost self sufficient saved a fortune, but we were never fully aware of the health benefits at that time. As wage levels rose and working hours decreased we found ourselves with time to spare so the range of leisure pursuits grew to satisfy this demand. Unfortunately gardening became a bit out of fashion as space was needed to park a car or two, and most of our food was available in supermarkets, much of which was ready to eat so less time was needed in the kitchen.

Anna picks a feast of summer berries

Nothing stays the same for long, as knowledge through travel, television, the internet and magazines broadens our horizons. Manual labour is being lost through technology, so slowly the nation is getting less fit and putting on a wee bit of weight. This has been recognized as we now get bombarded with ways to keep fit and eat healthy food, and programmes on cooking are now a major industry. As we are still in summer many folk will have been abroad on holiday and looking for a break from the kitchen, so salads will be high on the menu, and even when you go out for a meal we tend towards the Mediterranean diet as it is quick and tasty and has a great reputation as a healthy way to dine.  It includes plenty of fresh salads, ripe tomatoes, olive oil dressings and a range of fruit in season, plus nuts for variety and oily fish high in omega 3 oils.

Early salads under tunnels

Looking back over the years, I have come to realize that I have been unconsciously on this diet for a fair time, but thought it was a Scottish diet, not Mediterranean. In younger days our true Scottish diet did have a fair bit of fish suppers, and chips appeared on a daily basis to accompany the pies, bridies, mince, beef burgers and sausages (we liked to have variety,) but as we did a fair bit of manual labour and in our spare time we were always active so gaining weight was never a problem. Today we may not be quite so active, but with more knowledge on good foods and superfoods combined with a great cook in the kitchen the diet has evolved. The first changes happened a long time ago when a TV show highlighted what gastronomic delights from the abattoir went into various meat products, so sausages, mince, beef burgers got dropped, and pies and bridies became a low priority. Then a surgeon attending my art classes had done a study on the affects of sugar on humans and gave me his thoughts. I immediately stopped taking sugar in coffee and tea and even omitted my spoonful of honey in my porridge. My weight went down by ten pounds within one year. Chips were next on the endangered list when I accidentally set the chip pan on fire. The kitchen is no place for a man with artistic and gardening skills. However I soon found that chips could be replaced with salad potatoes (Casa Blanca is a favourite) and baked potatoes from the larger Sarpo Mira and Amour spuds, and now we have been exposed to so many other exotic food dishes the Scottish chip is becoming a rarity.

John picks early apple Discovery

Having a garden, a greenhouse and allotment means that with a wee bit of forward planning you can have fresh fruit, vegetables and even salads just about all year round. A good range of nuts (unfortunately not home grown) are now added to many dishes, such as walnuts with our salads and I mix ground almonds, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and walnuts into my muesli in the morning as well as adding at least three different fruits. This is seasonal fruit though at present I have autumn raspberries, perpetual strawberries, blueberries and ripe figs to last through till late autumn.

To replace our fish suppers we have now turned to trout as it just needs 2 minutes each side to cook on a pan with some Scottish rapeseed oil rich in Omega 3 oils, and served with beetroot, French beans and some salad potatoes.

Clover green manure

Wee jobs to do this week

Late blight and a wee bit of blackleg caused potato foliage to wither away sooner than intended so the last of the crop of Sarpo Mira has been lifted. There is still time to use this land for a green manure crop to grow through autumn and be ready to dig in during winter. This helps to break up the soil and add humus.

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EXOTIC GARDENING

EXOTIC GARDENING

The gardens we create are very much an extension of our personality, and if you have been around for a year or two you will see massive changes in what we grow. Gone are the days when the ornamental border was mainly geraniums, antirrhinums, marigolds and asters with an edge of alyssum and lobelia and vegetables were mainly potatoes, turnips, swedes, peas, cabbages, lettuce and radish. Exposure to foreign holidays and the influx of immigrants of all nationalities bringing over their own variety of food has widened our gardening horizons, and as we all love to experiment with something new, the range of plants grown continues to expand.

Cordyline australis

When my horticultural career moves took me to the south of England I discovered runner beans, leeks, courgettes and pumpkins, and thought I was really innovative, but life (and gardening) moves on so now the range continues to grow. We have heard so much about climate change and global warming that we in Scotland tend to think of it more as an opportunity than a disaster. We have always had our share of rain, but now we get warm rain and often into winter instead of snow so plants previously considered too tender for our climate are being given a trial. Provided the weather behaves itself these tender plants can give us many years of service, but however there is always that one off rogue year like 2010 when winter returned with a vengeance, temperatures plummeted and the deep snow lasted for months. The following spring most gardens had lost a lot of tender plants, such as outdoor fuchsias, Cordyline palms, date palms, Agapanthus, and my special Leptospermum Red Damask. Plants have a very strong will to survive so I never give up on them. The Cordyline palm died down to ground level but then new shoots emerged two years later. It is now ten foot tall with five main stems. Agapanthus and some Canna crowns all died out so they got chopped up and added to the compost heap. The Cannas came back into life a year later and the Agapanthus three years later. Bad winters seem a distant memory so we continue to try out a few exotics and keep our fingers crossed. Next spring I may even have another go at growing the date palm as it makes a great specimen plant.

Peach Peregrine

Up at City Road allotments our plot holders are quite keen to try their hand at a few exotics, so sweet potatoes, Oca, sweet corn, Cape Gooseberries, Goji berry, Honey berry and Kiwis can all be seen somewhere. Success of these new crops often depends on getting a decent summer  with sunshine and warmth, a wee bit less rainfall and then a good warm dry autumn like we always got way back in tattie picking days.

My own garden experiments continue with figs, peaches, cherries and grapes.

Figs are my success story as one bush will give me well over a hundred figs ripened over several weeks so there is never any glut of crop. Picked as soon as the fruit droops and given one or two days to ripen indoors they are just perfect. So far I have picked 35 in August.

Cherry Cherokee is now cropping with enough fruit for both me and the blackbird, though the main pest of blackfly on the shoots requires an insecticide spray in early summer to control it.

Grape Rondo

Peaches can ripen up outdoors in Scotland if grown on a warm south facing wall or fence, but the peach leaf curl disease can be devastating so I am now trying partially tolerant Avalon Pride.

Grapes outdoors and in the greenhouse still depend on good weather. My Seigerrebe grape was ready in mid August, so I have one demijohn brewing away quietly. This variety has loads of bunches which require thinning, but the grapes are small, though they are very sweet with a strong Muscat flavour. Outdoors only Regent and Rondo have a good crop and Rondo is ripening up now, but my Brant still gives over a hundred small bunches of black sweet juicy ripe grapes in October.

Wee jobs to do this week

Onions drying off

Lift onions that should now be ready for drying off before getting cleaned up prior to storing. They are best laid out on a hard surface above ground level in full sun so the foliage can dry off and let the bulbs ripen up. It can take about two to three weeks before they are ready for roping or removing all the dried leaves and storing them in nets.
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