ramblings of an african exile

[SelkirkAlex]

a suitable subtitle would probably be, How do people grow anything in this country?

I was taken from my native Scotland to southern africa when I was 13 and quite happily lived there for close to forty years. now returned to the scottish borders.

clearly no expert but my general gardening experience in africa, was basically give it water and occasional food, and it grows, usually quite spectacularly.

back in scotland I discovered that winter was a real thing here, not just childhood memories of wet frozen fingers and toes, but a real tangible, all encompassing force of nature.

so how do we beat it? choice of plants is an obvious one. That rapidly led to the discovery that half hardy means not hardy. spring planted onions and garlic thrived but not much else.

surely if heat is the problem then a polytunnel must be the answer. that led to another wasted season learning about ventilation, humidity and pest control on a much smaller scale but equally as nasty as their african counterparts, never mind next season I will crack it,(did I hear murmurs from the peanut gallery about best laid plans of mice and men?)

lots of tomato blossom, no tomatoes, crash course in pollination later

so now I have warmth maybe I can start earlier in the season, next crash course, seasons are as much about light and day length as warmth.

outside I got clever. Tried planting leeks , cabbages and cauliflower to overwinter and get off to a racing start in the new season. That seemed to work, they certainly raced ahead growthwise, but end of june and they still hadn't formed heads, the leeks were inedible. having a hard woody core, scratch that experiment.

in the tunnel I discovered that many of the standard british outdoor choices don't work
at the temperatures of the tunnel. who would have guessed it would ever be too hot in scotland?

so I tried things I knew would grow at those temperatures but we get back into day length and short growing seasons again, scratch plans of grenadillas, guava and pawpaw.
I am even worried it may get too warm for my tomatoes,

so I have an abundance of cucumbers, potentially nice tomatoes, runner beans and mediocre chillies, gem squashes and courgettes and a nagging certainty that I missing out on something

[Lumpy]

Well, you cannot say that it has not been a learning curve!

I would imagine that it might just take a few years to get to grips with not just the differances between here and SA but also plant types and what is suitable for your now location.

Everybody suffers the same issues hot/cold, dark/light, wet/dry and least of all bugs and slimies.

I fail far more than I suceed but that might be because everythingin my microscopic garden is shoved in and then left to its own devices - I call it my natural (bone idle) method.

[burnie]

It's taken me over a decade moving north to Scotland and I only came from Leicestershire(via Derbyshire and Staffordshire for a bit) to try and get the hang of the vagaries of the weather and don't even start me on what to wear, all four seasons in a day really can happen in pretty much every month of the year(without much excess heat however).

[lottie dolly]

Welcome to the forum SA,you will soon find out what works out,there are plenty of northern growers on here,just ask away,it all boils down to,what space,ground conditions,what you would like to grow and eat, out off things that WILL grow where you are now,what sort off set up will work best,raised beds,under cover,and finance,plus are you able to build things to save money,lots of ideas on here and the web,someone will help with idea's if you ask.good luck to you.

[burnie]

Pity we lost so many pictures on here when we got the site upgrade.

[Zelenina]

Hi Alex. I've also been trying to adjust to different growing conditions from those I was used to when I was younger so I know how tricky it can be, but it looks to me as if you're doing well. I guess every location has it's advantages and disadvantages. There's bound to be some things you're longing to grow but can't without a great deal of trouble and expense, while there are probably other things you couldn't grow easily before but now you can.

Scotland covers quite a wide range of conditions so which part are you in? (Edit: Oh, I see you said the borders) And what type of soil do you have? In general you have a shorter season than down south so you need to start later and pick varieties that mature faster. You also have colder winters so things that are winter hardy further south might not survive outdoors for you. But then you have the advantage of a longer day-length during the summer so there are more hours of growth, and probably not extreme heat or drought which can be problems where I am. I'm indoors avoiding over 30C heat now, but I'm going back out to try some more gardening when it drops to the high 20s.

There are members here from various parts of Scotland who grow most of the usual British veggies, so you could get some good advice from reading their old posts. The ones I associate most with Scotland are potatoes, swedes (which they call turnips or neeps) and kale, and there are Scottish-bred varieties of all of them. But you should also be able to grow peas and broad beans, actual turnips, carrots, parsnips, root parsley, lettuce, radishes, beetroot and chard, all outdoors.

Some parts of Scotland also have a tradition of growing soft fruit for the jam factories e.g. strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries etc.

It's largely a matter of research and trial and error with different varieties of everything to see which do best for you, or asking your neighbours what varieties they grow and what methods they use.

I've found cabbages to be a bit tricky, and haven't yet attempted caulies. But I think your best bet for greens, especially in the winter and spring, is kale. My favourite ones are Pentland Brigg and Westland Winter which are both very hardy and taste nice and sweet after a bit of frost, but Sutherland and Shetland kales are two really tough old Scottish varieties for severe conditions.

The leeks you probably left too long because they start formimg a woody flower stalk in the middle. And there are different varieties of leeks with different maturity times so maybe yours were an earlier type. .

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine SelkirkAlex
Every year we seem to get challenges growing veg, snow, wind, hail, frost or to hot but usually there's something to harvest so its not all bad. Sounds like you're doing OK

[Jay-ell]

We all have dreams about growing that sometimes don't marry up with reality. Although I doubt I'll ever get Olives and Bananas in Newcastle doesn't stop me trying.

I'm glad to see that you haven't given up but try something new each year - leeks should do fine depending on the variety, try 'Musselburgh' or check your local market for transplants which should do fine in your area. If you overwintered leeks and waited till June to harvest then they would have started to bolt. Leeks are usually a winter crop.

You could try loose leaf cabbages. As you take one leaf at a time you don't have to wait till theyhead and can harvest over a long period.

Neeps and Tatties - you seem to have overlooked them.

[SelkirkAlex]

thanks

thanks for the comments and welcomes .

the struggles continue.

outdoors I have 4 raised beds 8ftx4ft and two of 4x4, filled with bought in topsoil, an enriched veggie growers mix.

I have mobility problems and disabilities, so to avoid weeding I grow through membrane, for next year giving the cardboard stuff a try. I pulled all my overwintered stuff apart from the kale and started again with bought in plug plants in an attempt to get a crop before winter comes back. things are looking good, fingers crossed.

neeps are just too big, we are not great potato eaters so a couple of bags takes care of that. I am learning how to grow beetroot and carrots in containers.

growing autumn planted onions later this year, one of my small beds is doing well with pak choi, and wong bok, so all is not as bleak as I sounded at first. having said all that if it snows in august again, they will hear my swearing in france!

as Jim McColl of the beechgrove garden says, every day is a school day.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Beetroot and carrots not a problem unless you do what a friend of mine did with his carrots. He planted them thickly and never thinned them out, result ............screwdriver needed to prise them out the container.