A COLOURFUL BORDER IN THE SHADE

A COLOURFUL BORDER IN THE SHADE      

Nearly every garden has a corner or border in deep shade, or ground under trees that presents a problem of just what to do with it. Its attractiveness and success can depend on your level of gardening knowledge or research. Today the internet can just about solve every garden problem once you learn how to search with text, images or even video.

There is no need to have a dull corner just because the area is shaded. A wee bit of research will reveal a host of plants suitable for all kinds of shade, flowering all year round, or having bright or interesting foliage. The shaded border provides a good challenge to test our gardening skills.

My first experience of tackling a shady problem was back in the early seventies when I bought my first house in a village called Bromyard in Herefordshire. It had an eighteen foot tall thorn hedge down one side separating our garden from the farmers freshly ploughed field and also spoiling my view of the Malvern hills. Being a lot younger then with more brawn than brain, the hedge was quickly dug out and I acquired a nice pile of potassium rich woodash. How was I to know that forty sheep were to escape from another field and wandering around the grassy field headland soon found my garden. I had not yet erected a fence. Early one quiet Sunday morning they all piled in just as the wife was trying to hang up her washing. I can still hear her screams. I think I got a bigger fright than the sheep. We were both fresh from the city (St. Mary’s) and did not know much about country life.

Next to the hedge was a forty foot oak tree casting shade over a large section of garden and I did not really know what to put under it. I had a strong spade, a sharp saw and any amount of horticultural energy so that tree was destined to follow the hedge. However the sheep episode made me think again, so the tree was spared and I had to apply my training to select suitable plants for this dry shaded area.

That summer we got a long hot spell and I spent many a pleasant hour in the shade of my oak tree.

Dry shade and wet shade

That area was a dry shaded area especially once the tree developed its canopy and the foliage absorbed any soil moisture available. Also the canopy tends to direct falling rain to its perimeter so the ground around the trunk is often quite dry. Some improvements can be made by removing some lower branches from the trees and adding compost or used growbags to the soil and cultivating it in lightly. A bark mulch will also help to retain some moisture.

Shaded areas can also be wet if there is no sunshine getting in to dry up the ground, or the garden is at the bottom of a slope or subject to poor drainage. Improvements can be made again with compost, or putting in some drains provided you have somewhere to take the water.  Each situation will demand a different range of plants. Plant selection will also need to consider exposure to frost, wind, drainage and type of soil as well as density of the shade.

Types of plants for shady borders

Some plants are happy in deep shade while others need some dappled sunshine, and many bulbous plants such as snowdrops, chionodoxa and anemone blanda get full sunshine in late winter and spring under the canopy of deciduous trees then die down and go dormant when the canopy closes over. This contrasts with Cyclamen hederifolium which flowers in late summer and autumn under trees then produces its leaves in autumn to enjoy the light when the trees are losing their leaves.

Variegated shrubs such as Euonymus fortune and Lonicera Baggesons Gold can really brighten up a shady border, but as the variegation reduces the plants green chlorophyll and ability to grow they are better in partial shade.

Many evergreens from holly, laurels and dwarf conifers to skimmia will grow happily in the shade.

Dry shade

Euonymus, mahonia, lonicera Baggesons Gold, most cotoneasters and epimediums will all thrive, and for ground cover some sedums and the variegated Lamium White Nancy is very eye catching. Japanese maples like dappled shade.

Wet Shade

Provided the ground is not a bog choose from a wide range of cornus, kerria, cotoneasters and skimmia, and as long as the moist ground drains ok choose some of the flowering camelias, rhododendrons, azaleas and pieris. For ground cover try trilliums, variegated ivy, hostas, bergenias, colombines and astilbe. Bamboo and New Zealand flax are also quite striking in form.

Some shade loving plants such as the Himalayan blue poppy like a moist but free draining soil.

Dundee Botanical Gardens

Many examples of shade loving plants and all with labels to identify them, in both dry and moist soil can be seen in Dundee Botanical Gardens, and if you visit the gardens you can also pop in to see my art exhibition running from today, Tuesday 19^th October to Monday 31^st October.

As a special treat on my opening day I will be offering a free glass of my new Saskatoon wine produced from this years berries. Although less than three months old it is very pleasant. It will improve after one year, and be a lot better after two, but will really be fantastic after three, if any bottles reach that stage. I think this may be the first Saskatoon wine produced in the UK.

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Autumn Clean Up

AUTUMN TIDY UP      

Gardeners, farmers and growers all need to pay close attention to the weather to determine the best times to carry out tasks. Soil cultivation, weed control, planting and sowing all need the right conditions and 2011 has proved that we can get it wrong very frequently. There has been no normality about this years weather, but I remember last years autumn was so wet and the winter so early that there was no chance to get the winter digging completed by Christmas. So this year I thought I would make an early start with the autumn clean up, land cultivations and other autumn seasonal tasks.

The end of summer in the garden for me is marked by putting my sun lounger into storage, normally in the middle of September. This year it had been so little used that it went into storage at the beginning of the month. How many people expected the summer to arrive at the end of September and run into October. However, it is brilliant to be enjoying lunch on the patio in warm sunshine and still marvel at the last of the flowers still determined to bloom while they can, and I can casually plan my autumn clean up.

Planting and sowing

Spring cabbage April was sown a few weeks ago and after struggling through attacks of slugs, caterpillars, vine weevils and pigeons are now ready for planting out. They will need to be strong as they will face more attacks from rootfly maggots, more pigeons and clubroot. However the net will protect them from pigeons and I have collars to go around the stems to prevent rootflies from laying eggs next to them and hopefully my rotation will keep them a fair distance from any clubroot infected areas.

Land left vacant after harvesting sweet corn, salads, French beans, broad beans and my early strawberries will be green manured with a sowing of clovers. I had previously used mustard as it is fast and effective, but is also prone to clubroot so not good for a healthy rotation.

Saskatoon berries harvested in early August were crushed and washed to extract the seed and remove the flesh which contains germination inhibiting hormones, then placed in the fridge for six weeks. I usually place the seed between two sheets of moist kitchen roll to prevent them drying out, and keep checking them for moisture levels and botrytis. They have now been sown in cellular trays and placed outdoors in a cool shaded spot for the winter. I will protect them from mice and birds.

Harvesting and storing

Onion Hytech harvested a few weeks ago has dried out just nicely so I have now roped them for easy storing in the garage. I am amazed that my one packet of seed produced so many quite large onions in a very wet and cool summer.

Apples are being harvested as they ripen. Discovery and Oslin have both been picked and consumed as they need to be eaten fresh. Red Devil have been picked and stored in a cool airy garage, but my Fiesta, Red Falstaff and Bramley are still hanging on so there is no rush to pick them.

My Pear tree has been grafted with two new varieties (Beurre Hardy and the Christie) though I left one branch of Comice and one of Conference to draw up the sap which helps the grafts to grow. Comice was wiped out by scab in the wet weather and Conference foliage was shredded in the gales. The tree decided it could not afford to ripen my lovely crop so the fruit all fell off.

Weeds and leaves and compost

This is the last chance to tackle the weeds before winter. Annual weeds, eg groundsel can be composted before it sets seeds, but bin any perennial weeds.

Leaves have started to fall very early. This is not an early autumn but more the result of bad weather conditions earlier in the season. Many trees such as Whitebeam have lost all their leaves without any autumn colour. All these leaves can be composted. My mature eucalyptus tree has been shedding leaves all summer, but still managed plenty of regrowth, so hopefully it will be strong enough to face the winter.

Straggly shrubs and roses

This is a good time to prune or tie in those shrubs that have grown straggly. Many climbing roses have put on excellent growth which will ripen and flower next year so get them tied in before the winter winds begin. Pruned shoots can be shredded and composted.

Lawns and paths

As the grass growth begins to slow down in October it is a good time to start any lawn renovation work to keep it in good health. A nice level well maintained lawn is an asset that enhances the appearance of beds, borders, trees and houses, but for an area where kids can play in and even make their daisy chains, it does not need a high level of attention as long as it is not liable to flooding.

However if you wish the golf fairway to bowling green standard you can achieve that effect with a wee bit of work to create a free draining, close mown, (in stripes) healthy but not too vigorous, deep green sward, free from moss, disease and weeds.

Kill out any moss with a dressing of lawn sand or water on a week solution of sulphate of iron, (one heaped dessert spoon per two gallon can). I also use this to kill moss on tarmac drives or other paths. The dead moss will turn black, then after a few weeks rake out the dead moss with a springbok rake. The moss can go on the compost heap. Now aerate the lawn by spiking with a hollow tine aerator or a garden fork pushing holes four inches deep every six inches or so. These two tasks are quite hard work, but keep going. Now put on a top dressing and brush it into the holes. This is also hard work but both you and the lawn will recover and be better next year. The top dressing will have a slow release fertiliser to feed the grass throughout the winter.

You will most likely need a wee malt whisky.

Next year in spring check for weeds and spray as necessary. If the lawn is strong and healthy you should not be troubled by diseases such as red thread, fusarium patch or fairy rings.

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Autumn is for apples

AUTUMN IS FOR APPLES      

Autumn has appeared and the Scottish apple harvest has started at a fast pace. We may not have a high acreage of commercial orchards yet, (if any), but there is a massive interest in planting apple trees from the small garden scale to small estates, schools, edible landscape groups increasing the biodiversity and in renewing old orchards.

There is a resurgence of interest in trying to achieve a healthy lifestyle by getting a plot of land or garden to grow some fresh fruit and vegetables. The smells, tastes and flavours of home grown produce picked when fully ripe and consumed within a few seconds to a few hours is an experience to savour. Supermarket produce just cannot compare.

Many varieties of top fruit grown extensively in Scotland are now almost extinct. Renewed interest in our heritage has focussed on retrieving whatever remnants of this industry can be found and bringing them back into production. These old varieties had a flavour to die for, but may have matured unevenly, maybe not handled well with mechanised harvesting and packing equipment and liable to the occasional blemish, so went unloved by the major supermarkets. However people are now buying from farmers markets and the small grocer so heritage apples can supply these outlets and give the discerning public an apple to enjoy.

 

Apple, pear and plum orchards once flourished in our fertile Carse of Gowrie supplying local markets, but trade is now done on a global scale with fresh apples and pears coming into supermarkets from all over the world. This trade is driven by profit with appearance, marketability, cheap to produce and good shelf life given higher priority than flavour, texture and fragrance.

I can understand why young kids take no pleasure in eating an apple a day if it was not home grown. For the last five months all my apples came from the supermarket as I am only self sufficient in apples for seven months, ie. end of August to end of March.

The first apples ripen

However at the end of August my first Arbroath Pippin, also known as the Oslin was ready. It was sheer heaven with a very distinctive aromatic flavour. They must be eaten frequently as they do not store well, so I only grow a small batch. These are quickly followed by another early, Discovery, and again a very tasty and distinctive apple. James Grieve is very popular in Scotland, but I cannot say it is one of my favourites.

Fiesta will soon be ready then Red Falstaff and then my best late for storage is Red Devil. Do not eat this one fresh from the tree as it takes a few weeks of storage to be at its best.

Last spring I grafted three new varieties (Pearl, Park Farm Pippin and Lord Roseberry), onto my old James Grieve and they have all taken beautifully, so I look forward to next year when maybe one of them may give me an apple or two.

The apple crop this year is excellent. The spring was good so pollination was perfect, then the wet summer gave us good growth and big apples. The crop needed a serious thinning just after the June drop in mid July. However wet weather increased the incidence of brown rot, then more gales dropped a few more apples, but I still have a huge crop. Just a pity we couldn’t get a bit more sunshine to sweeten up the fruit, (they would be perfect for the supermarket)

No pears this year

Last year was so wet, (almost as bad as this year) that my Comice pear tree got totally infected with scab wiping out the whole crop as well as the foliage. It had to go, so I looked around for a good flavoured pear that had disease resistant leaves. Glendoick Garden Centre came up with an excellent Beurre Hardy and well known horticulturist and fruit grower Willy Duncan came up with The Christie. Grafts from these two have now replaced most of my Comice with growth so strong and sturdy that I think they will fruit next year.

I covered the topic of grafting last March, and archived it on my blog (scottish artist and his garden blogspot) for anyone interested in trying it out to replace a poor variety with a good one known to do well in this area. It sounds very specialised and technical, but is amazingly easy as the small grafts are just itching to leap into growth at any cost. It is hard to fail, even with my broken pen knife, a plastic supermarket bag cut into strips to tie them with and some Vaseline to seal the cut ends if you can’t get grafting wax. Just make sure the sap is rising (usually about flowering time) so the bark can separate easily when cut to allow you to push the graft in.

Scottish apple events

Megginch Castle is host to a guided tour by local apple expert Andrew Lear showing visitors around an old orchard being revitalised. Megginch was home to The Bloody Ploughman apple, named after the tragic incident when a ploughman was caught stealing some apples to feed his starving family. He was shot on the spot dropping his apples. An apple tree grew up from one of the seeds producing an apple with blood red skin. You can also see some excellent heritage pears including Black Worcester, Catilac and Jargonelle. Tour begins at 2pm on Wednesday 5^th October as part of the Carse of Gowrie Orchard Festival starting on the 1^st October 2011.

Scottish Orchards run by John Hancox aims to promote apple tree planting in local communities and schools to give youngsters the opportunity to plant, grow, harvest and taste fresh home grown Scottish apples. Mini orchards are being established in schools all over Scotland including our own Kingspark School. More information at www.fruitfulschools.com

Abundance Edinburgh is a group of volunteers taking action on food waste. They arrange the harvest of apples and other fruit from gardens or the wild then some get converted into jams and chutneys for redistribution to local charities.

Scottish cider is now being produced locally at Cairn o Mohr with apples harvested from the Carse of Gowrie and another cidermaker, Thistly Cross,  has started up in East Lothian making award winning ciders blending local harvested apples with strawberries.

The future for Scottish grown apples looks very rosy.

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Chrysanthemums

CHRYSANTHEMUMS      

Although the summer is now well and truly behind us, September is the peak season for garden chrysanthemums. Most gardeners can find room for a few of these plants in the garden or allotment, and if you have some spare glasshouse space after the tomato crop you can extend the season into November or even December in a mild winter or with some added heat if frost threatens.

The starting point for most folk is the admiration for those magnificent blooms on display at a flower show, or growing on some ones allotment, especially if they are showmen and are just about to take the paper bag off a flower that is ready. Everybody wants to know what is under those bags. Then, can the grower be persuaded to part with a cutting knowing that you just might end up being a competitor. However those first few cutting are very special and get maximum attention lavished on them as you try to grow them to the highest standard. There is always a but, and as you do not have the years of experience of the serious competitor, your results are brilliant but not yet quite ready for the show bench. However they will make excellent cut flowers for the home.

Once the bug gets under your skin and you grow for exhibition, this hobby is very demanding of your time, but the end results can be very satisfying.

Other chrysanthemum enthusiasts may be quite happy to grow for garden and allotment display and cut flower for the house.

Types of chrysanthemums and season

If you are an exhibitor you will need to be aware of the official classification to enter your blooms in the right category for showing, but if you just want to grow them for garden display and cut flower you do not need to get bogged down trying to sort out the differences between a reflex, incurve, spray, anemone, fantasy, single or whatever else you find in the chrysanthemum catalogue.

However, whether you buy from the specialist grower such as Woolmans or Harold Walker, or get a few cuttings from a friend, keep the type and name recorded as you will need to know its season and whether it gets disbudded or not.

There are several excellent chrysanthemum growers who can supply collections of one type or another so every year you can try out something new, keeping those you really like, but discarding the rest if they don’t meet your needs.

The first blooms usually come from the early outdoor  chrysanthemums in late August and September. These can be incurved, reflex, or sprays.

These are followed by the October flowering varieties of incurves, reflex or singles usually as sprays which will all need some weather protection in a cold greenhouse.

The November and December varieties will also need protection and also some heat if cold weather prevails. The October to December flowering plants can be grown outdoors in pots or baskets planted in soil all summer then brought into the greenhouse in mid autumn.

Chrysanthemums are also grown as pot mums as a house plant flowering all year round. Flowering is controlled by adjusting the light level duration with polythene blackout curtains, and growth is kept dwarf with a chemical growth retardant. The amateur gardener does not have access to the growth retardant, so although many people retain the pot plant to grow the next year, it will revert back to its normal height and may not be suitable as a pot plant. However some height restriction can be achieved by frequently pinching out shoot tips to make it branch, though this has its limits.

Propagation

At the end of the season plants are cut down to six inches and the stools dug out of the ground shaking off the soil then boxed up in fresh potting compost. These can be overwintered in a cold frame or cold glasshouse as long as it is fairly frost free. They are hardy, but don’t push it.

I had a lot of plants in 2010, so left many in the ground to overwinter. None of them survived and even in the cold glasshouse many died out as the winter was long and cold. Keep the stools on the dry side, but add some water if necessary to keep them alive. Start them into growth in January or February. Take cuttings about two inches long from the stool and dip them in rooting hormone and dibble them into pots boxes or cellular trays in a free draining rooting compost. Place this in a warm light place but not in direct sunshine. They should root and be ready for potting after three weeks or so. Pot up in small pots, then larger pots in a soil based compost. Plant out in late spring.

Growing

They can be grown in well manured soil spaced at fifteen inches apart and staked individually with a cane. If you grow a big batch it is quicker to grow them in a two foot wide bed and secure them with a roll of six inch weldmesh or wire fencing. This is held tight between four posts and raised as the plants grow. I plant mine at one plant in each square and do not pinch out the tips to allow one flowering shoot per plant.

If you grow sprays you do not need to disbud, but if you want one large single bloom you need to disbud leaving just the one terminal flower bud to develop. Remove side shoots as well as flower buds.

Keep them fed, watered and weeded throughout the growing season

Pests and diseases (some)

Chrysanthemums can be prone to attack from a wide range of pests and diseases, but the main ones are greenfly, slugs, leafminer and earwigs and the two main diseases are white rust and mildew.

In modern times with very few chemicals left on garden centre shelves, the answer is vigilance and good growing conditions.

On a small scale it is possible to spot and remove most pests before they do any significant damage, and fungicides containing myclobutanil, available for rose problems will help control diseases, but any leaves affected by white rust should immediately be removed.

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Autumb bulb planting

AUTUMN BULB PLANTING     

As the long hot summer becomes a distant memory, (well, you have to dream a wee bit) and temperatures begin to drop, the first signs of autumn appear as maples and birch trees begin to colour up. Instead of contemplating the onset of yet another serious winter, we leap ahead to next spring as we anticipate the garden in all its glory as the spring bulbs we are about to plant come into flower. It is the masses of spring flowers starting with the snowdrops and aconites then one type after another as the days warm up that keeps our spirits and hopes high. This year will be the good one and maybe we will get more than just four continuous days of really good weather.

I will have to rely on my bulb planting for my main spring displays as the wallflowers are very poor this year and my Forget me nots, Myosotis, got devoured by slugs at the seedling stage.

The garden is already packed with bulbs, but there is always room for a few more, or to replace losses. The mice have been digging up my snowdrops and crocus, and the daffodils are getting eaten away with narcissus fly maggots.

Bulbs can be planted underneath deciduous shrubs, in flower beds, tubs, window boxes, in between herbaceous border plants, and rock gardens. They can also be grown in pots, some forced to flower early for displays in the house, then once they have finished, planted in the garden to flower another day.

Flower beds and tubs

Spring flowering wallflowers, pansies, polyanthus, myosotis and daisies are always enhanced when interplanted with suitable bulbs. The bulbs need to flower at the same time as the bedding plants and grow to the right height. Tulips are the favourite, though hyacinths are also perfect in tubs, window boxes and beds close to entrances and windows where their perfume can be enjoyed.

Choose tulips carefully with the taller Darwin hybrids eg. Apeldoorn, for wallflower, but use single early types, eg. Bellona or Couleur Cardinal, or dwarf doubles eg. Peach Blossom, Carnaval De Nice or Red Riding Hood with low growing bedding plants such as pansies or polyanthus.

The Fosteriana group are quite early and Red Emperor and Purissima are large headed and very showy.

Many other types such as the triumphs, lily flowered, parrot, fringed, and paeony are very attractive but may be too late to go with bedding plants. These are perfect on their own in borders.

Crocus hybrids can be used in tubs and borders with low growing spring bedding, but will provide a display before the bedding plants flower. After they flower, if the leaves begin to obscure the bedding they can be removed and replanted elsewhere in the garden.

Borders

There is bulbs suited to every situation from rock garden to shrub border, sun to shade and some like it dry and others happy in a bog garden.

I tend to go by the season then plant each type in the most suitable location.

The first bulbs to flower are my snowdrops then aconites. These may come in early February in a mild winter. At that time of year it is nice to view the garden from the warm comfort of the house, so I like to have these bulbs planted in front of my patio window so I can enjoy them when I take a break from the easel or the computer chair.

Snowdrops are very accommodating and are happy in full sun or shade. They are excellent in deciduous woodland where they can flower, then grow, mature and die down for the summer as the woodland canopy closes in. It is best to divide and split up overcrowded drifts immediately after flowering as they transplant readily at a time of year when there is plenty moisture in the ground.

Crocus can also be planted under trees, but need sun to open up the flowers. The crocus species tend to be about a week earlier and have smaller flowers, but they naturalise easily and soon form large impressive drifts. Cream Beauty and Blue Pearl are my two favourites.

Narcissus February Gold usually flowers in March in Dundee unless we get a very mild winter, Then other narcissi have their show before the large trumpet Golden Harvest, King Alfred, and Ice Follies have their display. These taller bold flowers will mix well with the Fosteriana type of Tulip such as Red Emperor which flowers at the same time and is a similar height.

Blue is very popular in spring with Anemone blanda, the grape hyacinth Muscari and the bluebells as well as the Chionodoxa, commonly known as Glory of the Snows.

Most spring flowering bulbs start to grow after flowering then die down to have a period of dormancy over the summer months. However there is always a few that buck the trend.

Autumn crocus, also called Naked Ladies as it flowers in September and October when there are no leaves around, is really a Colchicum and quite a different plant family from the crocus. Although a very attractive garden plant be very careful as every part of it is extremely poisonous. Many deaths have occurred when people have mistaken the bulbs for garlic and used them for cooking.

Some crocus species do however flower in autumn and the most significant one is crocus sativus grown for the production of saffron using the gold coloured flower stigmas.

Cultivation

Most bulbs are not too fussy with soil as long as it does not suffer water logging. I give my drifts in shrub borders a thin mulch of well rotted compost in autumn then let the winter rains and worms mix it into the surface. You are unable to cultivate deeply as most bulbs are near the surface.

After flowering collect and spread any seed as this will grow and help the drifts to naturalise.

Forcing bulbs

The flowering season can be brought forward with hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and crocus by planting them in pots in September, keeping them in a cool dark place for about ten weeks or so then slowly introducing them to the light. Once they start to green up and grow keep them cool but frost free and only give them some warmth just before flowering when they are then ready to be brought indoors. Best keep the mid day sun off them or they may go over too quickly.

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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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