At some time in a gardener's life we have to move on and leave the place that we have worked and cherished. I thought this would be a good opportunity to look back at Sandesquoy, our garden in Orkney.
We lived in Orkney for 10 years almost to the day, arriving and leaving at midsummer. Like most houses and gardens in Orkney we lived near the sea. The views from the house over Deer Sound were breathtaking and we often photographed magnificent sunsets and misty days. We were also privileged to see the Aurora Borealis commonly known as "The Merry dancers" on a few occasions.
Our house had been a farm and was renovated before we moved in adding a conservatory at a later date. This is how it looked from the air in about 2001 prior to us building a wall alongside the polytunnel and planting more trees as a shelter belt. The field in the top left was also part of the property.
When we first came to live here the only part of the garden that existed was the vegetable garden with a low wall round it. It hadn't been used for many years and was full of couch grass and nettles. We cleared everything by hand at Sandesquoy not discovering the joy of mini diggers and the like until late-on in the process.
This is how the established vegetable garden looked in about 2003.
Some of the produce from the garden. We did think about getting a stall at the local farmer's market but never quite got there.
We also had a polytunnel, a keider house and cold frames with original lights given to us by an Orkney friend.
Unfortunately the Polytunnel was blown down not once but twice. We replaced the poly the first time (try finding a still day to do that in Orkney!) and it happened again after we left. But it did give us the opportunity to grow sweetcorn and peaches (I think we managed three) and have a tremendous crop of raspberries. You can grow them outside but the size of the fruit and scale of the crop is smaller.
The best advice that is always given to new gardeners in Orkney is to establish your wind break first before you try to plant anything. Did we do that? What do you think?
Consequently we probably lost more plants than I care to remember. The ones that do best cope with the salt laden winds and these can be ferocious! A wind break of trees and/or shrubs makes an enormous difference in lessening the impact of the wind. Walls are all very well but can cause a solid block and even more turbulence on the inside of the wall. Dry stane dyking is the order of the day in Orkney. And because there is no mortar between the stones wind can be filtered though. The seasons are also shorter in Orkney which does make a difference to plantings.
The conservatory was about 7m long and was warm enough especially in the summer months to grow passion fruit and strelitzia (Bird of Paradise plant) After a while it began to look a bit like a jungle...
Outside we repaired the dykes and built new ones to make raised beds. Fortunately there was a lot of stone on site and when we had used all of it we got some from various neighbours and recycled. I was in my Gertrude Jekyll period and this is the hot border. On reflection probably it's warm rather than hot.
Eschscholzia californica (California poppy) add a dash of colour.
More raised beds this time in a curve with steps leading to the vegetable garden.
The rock garden outside the conservatory.
The herb and annual borders.
Astrantias have always featured in our gardens.
The main border with
Hardy geraniums "Ann Fokkard" and "Kashmir White" with
Sedum spectabile.
More hardy geraniums (is it or isn't it Johnson'e Blue?) eryngiums and allium.
The bark path through the bog garden. There is a stream to the left that is hidden from view.
Primula Florindae in the bog garden.
I can't resist finishing with a misty view. It was part of what made this garden so special. I hope you enjoyed sharing the memories.
