Try a taste of the Exotic

TRY AN EXOTIC FRUIT     

The Scottish climate is very favourable for growing a wide range of both soft and top fruit but this range can be extended if we have the benefit of a south facing wall in a sheltered location. We all love a challenge, and trying to get a crop from a plant everybody knows needs a warm sunny climate really tests your gardening skills. We have heard so much about climate change and global warming that we begin to believe that the weather might just warm up and we can then contemplate growing those plants usually confined to the south of the country.

A few years ago I started trying out a range of different grapes on my allotment to see if our climate has now warmed up sufficiently to find a good cropping grape. The allotment plot has great soil, a south facing slope and excellent drainage. I have cultivated it quite deeply over the years and added plenty of manure and compost. What could possibly go wrong.

All the grapes grew vigorously, though training and pruning kept them under control, but where are all the grapes. Maybe I have not yet found the right variety, though more likely this global warming is just a political myth, or it has not yet reached Scotland. The climate has certainly changed. It is more predictable than ever and extremes seem to be normal. We did get a heatwave a few years ago but what about this year. It will be remembered for the long cold severe winter followed by severe spring gales, thunder storms and a cool wet summer with very little sun.

However, we shall continue to experiment with the more exotic fruits just in case climate change brings in a wee bit warmer weather once in a while. Last year I got over forty figs and a dozen peaches. That made all the work and effort well worthwhile.

I can take advantage of warm south facing walls and fences around our house which sits on a south facing slope, but unfortunately we do not have shelter being exposed to the prevailing winds.

Grapes

My first range of grape varieties were just not suited for growing this far north, but I am now trying out one called Solaris recommended for more northerly locations. This time it has the benefit of a south facing fence. The ornamental variety Brant grows and fruits extremely well on my south facing house wall. It produces about 100 small bunches of black sweet juicy grapes in early September. It is the success of this one that makes me feel they will work if I can get the right variety.

Figs

I first tasted a Scottish grown fig about forty years ago. A farmer friend near Montrose grew them in his garden and was delighted to be able to offer me these exotic fruits. I had never tasted a fully ripe fresh fig just picked from the bush. It was absolutely delicious, so I have had a fig tree in the garden ever since.

They are very easy to grow, and normally quite hardy though last winter put that to the test. They suffered a fair bit of die back in spring with a loss of most of the fruit buds. However growth soon resumed with great vigour, though this year I am down to a handful of fruits.

Brown Turkey is still the best variety and growth needs to be restricted by growing them in a slab lined pit about three feet square with plenty of brick rubble in the bottom for drainage. I train mine on a south facing wall to give them the warmth to ripen up the fruits. Watch them very carefully as they ripen as in our wetter climate botrytis can be a problem when you leave the fruit to ripen to its deep purple brown colour.

Peaches

Another fruit that needs the warmth of a south facing fence or wall. My peach Peregrine is very hardy and growth was unaffected by last winter. In fact the long winter was a distinct advantage since flowers did not appear till quite late when danger of frosts had passed. However there was a distinct lack of pollinating insects so my sable brush was used daily to help pollination. The flowers did not look very strong and cool conditions did not help fertilisation, so one by one the flowers failed to set and fell off, apart from one. It will not take very long to bring in this year’s harvest.

However this will give me more time to concentrate on my other life as the artist as I am now enrolling for my autumn session of evening art classes.

Cape Gooseberry

This fruit from Peru is grown as an annual from seed and often with the protection of a glasshouse. Some people have had success in growing it as a perennial cutting it back to the crown in winter. Glasshouse space is often at a premium with grapes, tomatoes, and cucumbers so I grow mine in the shelter of a south facing fence. The soil is deep, rich and well drained so plants can grow quite vigorously. I let them branch as a wide bush so they do not need staking or pruning. The fruit may not ripen up till well into the autumn, but be patient as when the Chinese lanterns produce their orange berries the wait will have been well worth it. Make sure you get the type Physalis edulis as it has the biggest berries.

Goji berries

This new fruit grows in Tibet, China and Mongolia and is related to the potato. It is a vigorous bush growing up to eight feet tall and may fruit in its third year. The orange red fruit are very high in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. This has been used in their promotion as a superfood, but is largely unsubstantiated by scientific research. The ripe fruit must be harvested very carefully to avoid damage to the fruit which is then dried in the sun like a sultana.

My climbing bushes have not yet fruited, like so many others who are trying them, but one gardener did get a crop from them. Unfortunately it was not to his liking so the bush got dug out.

Maybe next year I will get the chance to put them to the test.

Kiwi fruit

This will only grow successfully outdoors in this area in a very sheltered warm position. They are quite vigorous and some varieties come as separate male and female plants, though there are now varieties such as Jenny that are self fertile. Keep growth under control by pruning similar to grapes.

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Exotic Fruit

EXOTIC FRUIT  

I am constantly amazed at just how far life has changed in my short lifetime. My grandfather had spent a lot of his childhood in India as his father was in the British army posted abroad. I had always loved fresh fruit, but that was mostly an apple or a pear if you felt like going upmarket. He really missed his guavas and mangoes. There was not many of them around Dundee at that time, though they were starting to appear on supermarket shelves in tins. However as a kid I did get spoiled a wee bit when he produced these exotic fruits called bananas. Now that was special, then later in life my older sister discovered pomegranates and went in for them in a big way.

My path in life was being determined for me. After a spell as a gardener, then learning the value of experimentation with new crops while at the Scottish Crops Research Institute, followed by a period working on commercial fruit farms, I developed a strong interest in fruits to grow and eat.

Raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants were easy, and delicious, but common. An apple tree was a must have plant, but getting the right variety for this area took a bit of research. Similarly pears and plums got purchased just as soon as I had a big enough garden. In these early times my exotic tastes only embraced a slight venture into the less common, such as blueberries, gooseberries, brambles and red currants.

Nowadays cheap travel, television and the internet have opened our eyes and taste buds to the huge range of exotic fruit to sample and where ever our climate and soils are favourable we can try growing them.

Gardening is about having a bit of fun, trying the unusual in the hope for a bit of success, and if it doesn’t work, then move onto another plant worthy of a trial.

Over the years, I have tried figs, peaches, outdoor grapes and autumn raspberries and strawberries and now it is the turn of cherries, saskatoons, aronias and goji.

Some fruit has been tried but discarded as the fruit was just not very pleasant, such as Lingonberries and Cranberries.

Let us look at some of the better ones.

Grapes

These have always been considered a greenhouse plant in Scotland with Black Hamburg being the most popular and successful variety. It is very easy to grow provided you keep it pruned properly throughout its growing period. It does not need any heat so is perfect for the cold greenhouse, but make sure you give it plenty ventilation to prevent any build up of mildew or botrytis. The grapes are large, sweet, juicy and picking continues from September till December, but they do have pips in them. If you prefer a seedless grape try the variety Flame which has red grapes, is very sweet and although the grape is smaller than Black Hamburg, the bunches are bigger. Another seedless variety is Perlette, a white grape. The vine is quite vigorous so keep it well pruned.

I had hoped that global warming would have given the Scots a warmer climate so I can try some outdoor grapes, but all we seem to get is a lot of warm rain all summer. I have tried several grapes outdoors, but with no success so far. After five years they get grubbed out.

However I don’t give up too easily, so this year I am planting the outdoor variety Solaris against a south facing fence.

I grow the ornamental variety Brant on my south facing house wall. It is very successful with a regular one hundred bunches every year. They are small, but the black grapes are very sweet and juicy. These get used for a delicious sweet grape juice for immediate use or it can be frozen.

Figs

This is another plant that really needs a warm spot to ripen its fruits, so a south facing location is advisable. It can grow large so is best planted in a prepared pit lined with slabs to restrict root growth. It will then concentrate on producing fruit. Brown Turkey is the usual variety. There may be a bit of botrytis if the summer is very wet, as the fig prefers a hot dry ripening period.

Peaches

Another plant for the south wall as it needs a lot of sun and warmth to ripen up the fruits. Our last two hard winters are good for the peach as it has delayed the normally very early flowers, thus they are less liable to get caught by a late frost. They need hand pollination with a sable brush, and two sprays of fungicide to control peach leaf curl. Summer pruning helps to remove excessive foliage and allow the sun onto the fruits. I grow the variety Peregrine very successfully, so far.

Cherries and Goji

These can grow very well in Scotland, but it is too soon to report on them. My Goji is in its third year, so may fruit this year. My cherry is the variety Cherokee grafted onto a new very dwarfing rootstock called Gisela 5 which I will train as a fan on a south facing fence.

Saskatoons

I have been growing these now for seven years and the Scottish Crops Research Institute has had them for about forty years so it is well established that they can grow very well in our climate. They will grow in almost any soil. The fruit is very similar to a blueberry but the Saskatoon grows faster and crops a lot heavier. The black berries which are very high in antioxidants, are ready in July, and can be eaten fresh or used for jams, pies, compote, summer puddings, or even used for wine making. Although relatively unknown in the UK, their popularity is spreading and ten years from now they will be as common as the blueberry.

Chokeberry

This is said to be the healthiest plant on the planet because of the extremely high levels of antioxidants in the fresh fruit. However it is a bit astringent if eaten raw, so the fruit is best used in jams, compote, pies and smoothies. It just loves the Scottish climate, so there are several growers already growing them in this area. They are not troubled by any pests or diseases and our soils seem to suit them perfectly. They can be grown as a single bush or even as a hedge.

Autumn fruiting raspberries and strawberries

Raspberries and strawberries may not really be exotic, but by growing them early and late it is pure bliss to get that first strawberry in May, then keep enjoying the perpetual varieties that fruit up to October. Autumn rasps are also a luxury that is well worth the effort.

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Winds of Change

IMPACT ON GARDENS FROM GLOBAL WARMING

Childhood memories of sunny summers getting burnt on Broughty Ferry beach followed by hard winters when we could ice skate on the roads, (very few cars around) and have plenty of snow for sledging, snowmen and igloos, all belong to my generation. I was not able to offer my young family the same fun as they grew up with a lot less snow visible and although the summers seemed fine there was a lot more wet days if your holiday was at home.

However there was always the extreme conditions of a very cold winter, six foot snow drifts, local floods you will not forget, and every ten to fifteen years a very hot summer.

My gardening career started during the 1959 summer heatwave as an apprentice gardener in Dundee Parks Dept. working in the Howff cemetery. A glorious three months ended when the rains came in September and flooded the Howff and many other places.

Gardening activities force you to work with the weather so you become aware of weather patterns and how they change over your lifetime.

Date Palm

I was working in Darlington Parks Dept during the 1976 heatwave. Our main bedding displays relied on geraniums and petunias which could not have been better. We won the Regional Britain in Bloom Award. However the heatwave had other effects, especially on the greenfly pests. Farmers in east Anglia were applying high levels of nitrogen fertiliser to increase grain yields. This also gave a lot more leaf content which combined with the hot summer caused breeding greenfly to reach plague proportions. Once they had devastated East Anglia they took to the air to find new pastures. A drift extended from Kent to Newcastle and scientists estimated the weight to be in excess of 200,000 tons of greenfly.

That summer I was on Scarborough beach when the sky darkened from the sea and expecting a thunderstorm got quite a shock when the plague of greenfly arrived.

Hitchcock could not have done it better!! The sea and sand turned green and everyone ran for cover. The following year there was a mini plague of ladybirds which had been feasting on the greenfly.

Gardens, farm crops and the outdoor natural landscape will all be affected as global warming changes our climate. Future generations will need to adapt to climate change as this generation embraces the changes, assesses the impact and takes steps to alleviate the problems.

Changing weather patterns

The UK has always had a different local climate for different areas, being affected by proximity to the sea, and the gulf stream, hills and mountains, built up urban areas, winds and geography. The south is generally warmer than the north, the west wetter than the east, but extreme weather conditions can affect any area with tornadoes in the Midlands, hurricanes in the south and flooding just about anywhere. Counting 2010 we have had four very wet years following the record breaking heatwave of 2006. June was truly flaming, but then the rains came in July and hopefully when you read this it will have stopped. However the south of the country has been basking in a glorious heatwave with gardens desperate for water. My garden hose has not been used for four years.

Mild winters have seen the snowdrops flower a month earlier than normal followed by other spring bulbs all early. Grass cutting always started first week in April, but now it is more likely to be mid March and the season finishes, not when the grass stops growing but when it is too wet to put the mower over the ground.

The Good

Fig Brown Turkey

Gardeners love to try out new plants and now with a warmer climate the time is right to experiment with those exotics we admire from holidays abroad.

There is a whole range of palm trees worthy of planting from the cabbage palm, Cordyline australis to the date palm, Phoenix canariensis and those colourful Bougainvillea's might one day become common in UK.

It may be normal to grow our tomatoes outdoors rather than under glass and sweet corn could become a major crop.

Already I am having success with peaches and figs and some types of outdoor grape vines and as warming continues it is quite possible that Scotland could have numerous vineyards especially as it may become too hot for their success in France.

Pete Gottgens is prepared to be a leader in this field by establishing a vineyard on the banks of Loch Tay with his experience of growing grapes in South Africa. He hopes for success by choosing an early variety, Solaris suited for a northern location. We may no longer have very cold winters, (last winter being an extreme one off), and our summers may be getting warmer, but that is tempered with the prospect of a wetter summer and less sunshine hours. Scotland's first vineyard will be a barometer for the future. Gardeners will be encouraged to experiment with a range of grape varieties grown in more favourable locations with less incidence of rainfall and more sunshine hours.

In time, cherries, nectarines, apricots, citrus fruits and dare I say bananas and olives could well be grown on our Carse of Gowrie.

The woodland landscape could see more sweet chestnuts, walnuts, and eucalyptus.

The Bad

A climate that progressively gets warmer will affect many of our trees e.g. beech does not like dry soils. Herbaceous borders, rhododendrons, azaleas and lawns require moist soils so could suffer from too dry conditions. Soft fruit including raspberries, strawberries and blueberries would struggle, but saskatoons can tolerate drier conditions.

Many fruit plants require a period of winter chill to set fruit buds without which the following years crop is greatly reduced, e.g. blackcurrants.

Sweet Corn

It was always good gardening practice on allotments to complete winter digging before Christmas leaving the surface rough to allow frosts to break down the soil surface, but with mild and wet winters good digging opportunities are few and far between. In spring a poor soil surface restricts the germination of seeds.

Plum trees flower so early that there is often not enough insects around to pollinate the flowers thus reducing the crop. I do not mind hand pollinating my smaller peach tree every day with a fine sable brush in March, but the plum is twenty feet tall. Forget it !!

The Ugly

The changing climate not only affects plants, but also animals, insects and diseases.

Mild wet winters and wetter summers up north give rise to the spread of damping off, blight, root rots, scab and mildew. Potato blight can be problematic so make sure the variety has some tolerance or resistance to it. Similarly roses are suffering badly from black spot, rust and mildew so only grow those varieties strong enough to withstand an attack.

However the root rot, phytophthora has many types that affect many different plants and could become a major problem in gardens as well as raspberry fields.

Two generations from now could see a massive change in the horticultural and agricultural landscape.

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Healthy Summer Eating

SUMMER FRUITS JUST GET HEALTHIER

Last week I ran over a few thoughts on the raspberry and strawberry for a true taste of Scottish summer. This week I will also include others a bit less popular, but definitely far more healthier.

My only omission will be rhubarb as it is not a fruit, but we use it as such in jams, crumbles, and stewed for puddings and it ranks as high as most others as a delicious health product.
   

                                                    New SCRI Glen Fyne rasps

Black, red and white currants

These fruits are very high in both vitamin C and anti oxidants. Ben Connan, Ben Lomond and Ben Dorain the latest newcomer, were all bred at the Scottish Crops Research Institute and are heavy croppers and disease resistant. Blackcurrants make fantastic jam and are great in a summer pudding mixed with other soft fruits. If you have enough bushes and can spare the fruit, blackcurrants make a brilliant dessert wine.

Prune blackcurrants immediately after picking as this helps to ripen up the young shoots which will crop the following year.

I also grow Red Lake redcurrants and White Versailles white currants, though there are many more fine varieties. Red and white currants are excellent additions to summer puddings, or lightly stewed and sweetened for adding to morning muesli or Greek yoghurt with honey. They also make fantastic wine.

Gooseberries

New varieties have emerged with resistance to mildew and SCRI hope to have a red fruited thornless variety available to the trade in a couple of years time.

Invicta is a superb dessert and cooking gooseberry, but picking is a nightmare. The bush will draw blood, but the fruit which is quite sweet, is heavenly eaten when ripe straight off the bush. Grow on a leg and remove all low growing branches too close to the ground and keep the centres open to assist picking.

Remove any sawfly caterpillars as soon as you spot them or they will very quickly defoliate the bush.

Brambles

Blackberries are no longer a prickly problem when picking and pruning as most new cultivated types are thornless. They are perfect on a wall or shed or can be trained in rows along support wires. Flavour, fruit size and thornless stems as well as disease resistance has been bred into newer varieties such as Loch Tay and Loch Ness both from SCRI. Sweetness and aromatic flavour have been bred into Loch Maree, the latest newcomer.

I'd love to say they were my favourite, but Helen which crops in early August has seeds so small the fruit makes a perfect jam. No need to strain off the juice for making jelly.

Pruning to remove all the old fruiting wood can be done any time after fruiting, then tie in all the new young shoots which will fruit next year.

Blueberries

A mid to late summer soft fruit easy to grow if you have a moist but free draining acid soil or use containers with an ericaceous compost. Some varieties have very large fruit like the popular Bluecrop. Eat them fresh or in juices.

Soils can be made more acidic by incorporating leaf mould from pine woods and giving a dressing of sulphur chips. I give light dressings of acidic fertilisers such as sulphate of ammonia, sulphate of iron, and sulphate of potash.

They will need netting from birds during cropping.

Saskatoons

Also known as Juneberry these fruiting forms of Amelanchier are the latest new fruit bush for a health conscious diet. They are high in vitamin C and many minerals as well as being very high in anti oxidants.

They are very easy to grow on most soils, have few pests or diseases and give a very heavy crop of black sweet berries great eaten fresh, or used in jams, yoghurt, pies, summer puddings and make an excellent wine.

I started picking my first berries in early July and will continue till the end of the month.

At present they are fairly unknown but becoming quite popular as word gets around. They will be on show at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival from 3^rd to 5th September.

I have created a special Saskatoon page on my website www.johnstoa.com detailing my experience with them over the last six years.

Other fruit

Figs grow and ripen perfectly in Dundee trained against a south wall though I have given my Brown Turkey variety a restricted root run in a sunken pit. My young bushes about four years old will give me about twenty delicious fruits in late summer.

Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa is grown very successfully around Dundee as our mild moist climate suits it perfectly. It is rated as one of the healthiest fruits on the planet, due to its very high levels of anti oxidants and vitamin C. However, although it is too astringent to be eaten raw it is perfect for blending into juices, smoothies and health drinks.

Goji berries are worth trying as a novelty, but they have been a bit over hyped with stories of living a very long life if you eat a lot of them daily. My two year old plants have still to show a berry, but I am patient. Grow them as a climber on a wall or fence.

Outdoor grapes are worth a try. I grow Brant on a south wall getting over one hundred small bunches of black sweet grapes every year. I keep growth in check with summer and winter pruning as they are very vigorous.

I am also trying other outdoor varieties on my allotment plot but as yet global warming at City Road allotment site has had no great impact.

In a later article I will mention my outdoor peach, plums, pears and apples.

Fruit for the Future

The Scottish Crops Research Institute held an open day on 15^th July to show the direction and findings of recent research with raspberries, blackcurrants, blueberries and brambles.

Studies have started on berry crops on the effects of global warming which reduces the chilling time during winter dormancy. A cold period is necessary for most fruit otherwise flowering capacity is reduced the following year.

A programme of blueberry breeding is underway to find varieties suitable for Scottish conditions, having large healthy fruit, free from pest and diseases fruiting over as long a period as possible so local growers can meet a huge market demand which at present is met with imports.

New varieties of raspberries have large sweet fruit with an aromatic flavour cropping over a longer season. In a tasting session the varieties Glen Fyne and Glen Magna were absolutely delicious.

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