Another Newbie

[Shirlz]

Hello - I've just bought the latest copy of Grow your own and logged onto the website and found the forum.

I'm in Aberdeenshire - anyone else in Scotland?

We keep chickens and are planning to grow all sorts of veggies, herbs and fruit - in fact, anything edible that will grow in the cold conditions and short growing season that we have up here.

Look forward to getting to know you all.

Shirlz
Aberdeenshire

[Catriona]

Hi Shirlz, welcome to the forum. Its a friendly place and very helpful. Im in manchester (although edinburgh originally) but there are quite a few scottish gardeners who are members. The most northern so far seems to be the shetlands! Looking forward to seeing you in our local, the gardeners rest - although watch out for Jaxom the axe wielding barman! Catriona

[Jaxom]

Welcome to the Grapevine

Welcome to the Grapevine Shirlz, were are a good bunch here and there seems to be a good mix in good advice from the wise owls as well as a giggle or two form others
Come and pop in to the "Gardners Rest" and you can have a glass of Carrot wine on the house.
Jax

[Lesley Jay]

Welcome to the forum Shirlz. The best forum around!!

[dni_dave]

Shirlz

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I am also in Aberdeenshire, about 12 miles west of Peterhead. This year was our first growing fruit and veg and we were over the moon with our results. There is a wide range of stuff you can grow (2 neighbours have peach trees in their polytunnels) it just depends on what you have available as shelter.

Our biggest enemy is the wind. We've put up 1m high windbreak fabric (50%) but might put up more in the centre of the plot. I read somewhere that protecting your veg against wind is one of the best methods of increasing yield. You can also harden off seedlings by stroking them apparently!!!

We have a small cold frame which we will be extending this year but no greenhouse and only limited access to a polytunnel.

We have the following, in brackets are the harvest we got:
Raspberries (great)
Strawberries (average)
Spuds (fantastic)
Carrots (fantastic)
turnips (good)
Parsnips (okay)
peas (fantasatic)
broad beans (fantastic)
cabbage (good so far)
sprouts (waiting for Xmas)
Currants (red and white both poor but first year)
Gooseberries (poor but first year)
Onions (spring and normal) (great)
Lettuce (great)
Radish (cannot fail with this!!!)
Courgette (good)
Kale (good)

If you have a trailer and a car with a towbar, we have a horse and a surplus of manure you are welcome to come and collect. There is a thread about swapping plants and seeds.

Good luck.

[andrewo]

Windbreaks

Dave,
Have similar problems with high winds round here (pennines). In the first year of our new garden the wind tore it to pieces during winter and have now had to readdress this by using fruit trees as hedges and creating 'rooms'. Have broke these down into (1) Herb room and path, (2) Fruit and clematis 'hedge', (3) Seating area and cold frame, (4) Fruit tree and raspberry hedge, (5) raised veg beds, (6) Fig tree hedge.

Slowed the wind right down but can guess that wouldn't be the case around you (however last winter we got winds in access of 90mph).

Is there any chance of you substituting the windbreak with a hedge or does it get too cold up there?

Just interested as I have been looking at property in Scotland and would like to know the kind of things a grower comes up against up there.

Andrewo
PS Welcome Shirlz, sorry to hijack Dave's response.

[sewer rat]

Welcome

Welcome Shirlz
There are a few of us from Scotland you've met dni dave - there's me (35 miles north of Inverness) then there's Caithness Gardener and Jennie who it will be hard to beat as she's in the Shetlands (Tingwall to be exact). But regardless of where we are from, everyone on the 'vine is really friendly and helpful.
Rat

[dni_dave]

Windbreak

Andrewo

Where we have the veg patch is in a fenced off corner of the exposed horses field (field is about an acre, veg patch is 20m x 14m) so we have the standard post (6'x3"x3") and rail (12'x6"x.75") fencing. That was done by professionals at a reasonable price and much better than I could have done it. On the field side of the fence we have put in rabbit proof fencing (chicken wire dug 1ft into the ground and also out into the field about 10 inches so they dig down onto it) which is really for the pygmy goats not rabbits (2 birds, one stone!).

On the plot side we have stapled/tie-wrapped the 1m high wind break. The top of the windbreak is in the middle of the top rail of the fence. It doesn't seem to have come away anywhere and we're really pleased with it. If I could do it again, I'd get the contractors to put in a higher fence (top rail currently 1.1m high) up to about 6ft, with 5 or 6 rails instead of just the 3 we have now. Then I would have put up the 1.5m high windbreak. Rabbbit fence would be the same

I think I'm right in saying that the distance you protect is 6 times the height of your barrier. So in our case of 1.1m high protection, the benefit is felt up to 6.6 metres into the plot (approx) which is near enough the middle. It is slightly complicated as the prevailing wind goes across the 14m width, so there is probably a swirl effect before the wind is blown over the windbreak on the other side of the plot.

The wind protection at the edges is fine. Buckets don't even get blown over. I have noticed that the raspberries seem to be suffering from wind burn, but I shall cut them down to 6" above the top wire in Feb anyway. The cabbages have also been blown about but I'm not sure if that's my fault as I haven't earthed them up at all.

As the veg plot is in the horses field and she can see all of these lovely cabbage, broccoli, sprouts and Kale growing, we've had to put electric tape acros the outside of the top rail as she was testing the fence by leaning on it to see if it moved. My fault for throwing the odd leaf over to her!!!. It also came in handy in keeping my father in law from scrumping all my peas and autumn raspberries.

I can't put up a hedge as the pygmy goats would just eat it. We've put in hedges for wild life where they can't get at them. I don't want hedging on the inside of the plot as there isn't enough room between beds and fence.

Our neighbour has been in their house for 30 years. He put up a 6ft wooden windbreak fence (vertical rails alternating either side of the horizontal beams so that wind can go through but the speed/energy is vastly reduced. Next to that he groes shrubs/bushes that are accustomed to some wind and on the inside of that he grows his more delicate plants. They really do have some stuff which shouldn't grow this far north. As I am not that keen on shrubs etc (yet!) I don't know specifics but can always find out. The key to growing the more exotic is a polytunnel. I can't speak highly enough about them. We don't have one, but I'd love one. Northern Polytunnels do good ones with good instructions.

You get more space for your money up here which is ideal for gardeners. I don't have the benefit of being on an allotment (sharing seeds, advice, coffee/tea etc) but then I don't get the hassles either (vandals, neighbours beds going to seed, water shortage etc).

Didn't mean to type quiet so much, it's just what comes of asking a question of someone who is keen on a subject!!!!

[andrewo]

Fantastic

Dave,
Thanks for the answer, always harder to envisage but you sound like you've got that wind in hand!

Yes, you do get more for your money up there but more importantly you get more open spaces for growing.

The last open space round me - please remember when I moved here it was semi-rural, on the pennines - is now being built on, 250 houses, makes you sick, people moved here for the countryside and now its going acre by acre, all government approved.

Another year of this and I'll be your new neighbour!

Andrewo

[sewer rat]

New neighbours ?

Andrew
Born in village, raised in town, worked in country, left country for London, thirteen years later jacked in my career, my flat and came north again though not back to Glasgow - originally to Inverness, then a further 35 miles north of that. Been here since 2002 - I urge you all to do the same - the area is beautiful, mortgages are affordable and the people are so friendly you would think they were all "grapes"
Rat

[dni_dave]

Wide open spaces

We moved here in 1997. Everyone who has come to visit us has come back. My in-laws even bought our old cottage (we are converting a steading so have been in a caravan for over 4 years - now that's cold!) as they were spending more and more time up here after they retired.

We have noticed that corners of farmers fields are being sold off for bungalows. That may slow down with the chancellor deciding to alter the tax on that sort of practise. Those sort of places don't tend to have that much land with them, and what is there will be full of the builders rubble so may take a lot of clearing to get into allotment type shape.

We go back once in a while to the Midlands to visit my Dad and my wife's sister. It takes about 2 days before we realise that we wouldn't want to go back full time. The traffic is horrendous, you can't find a car park space, the shops are all heaving, people don't smile (although Aberdonians can be very dour) and nobody has time for anyone else.

We got sidetracked a bit but that's what the vine is all about.

[dni_dave]

Real snow

Living this far north you do get real snow. This is a neighbours garden a few years ago. In 2001 we were snowed in for 10 days over the winter. Not all consecutively. Great - no work.

[dni_dave]

Fencing

Dave,
Thanks for the answer, always harder to envisage but you sound like you've got that wind in hand!

Andrewo
A picture speaks a thousand words so as I've just worked out how to post images I'll show you what I mean. You might just be able to make out the chicken wire on the other (outer) side of the fence. The windbreak we put on the inside all the way around. Wish we had gone higher. The horse looks very longingly at the cabbages. She stands by the gate when you go to go through and I know she is just waiting for the day when the catch doesn't quite make it all the way home......

[andrewo]

Fantastic

That's it, I'm convincing my soon to be wife to pack up and fly north. The snow alone sold it to me.

Andrewo

[Lesley Jay]

All that snow - wonderful!!