Apples of gold

Or tomatoes to you and me...

I had a bit of a catastrophe with my tomato seedlings this year. Even though our neighbour had watered them when we were away, by the next morning they were shrivelled up and rather sad.

The seedlings were "Cyrill's Choice" a heritage variety saved from tomatoes grown last year. The seeds had germinated well and I was hoping for a similar crop to last year.

The tomatoes went on cropping for a long while, whereas these were about the only two sweetcorn worth eating.  I'm not going to waste greenhouse space on them this year.

I managed to salvage three of the original tomato seedlings. I don't know how good the plants will be given the check in their growth.

So to Plan B. (There wasn't one until now) Off to our favourite local garden centre to pick up some other Tomato plants. And what a number of different varieties. So much choice!

We ended up with too many for the greenhouse, so decisions will have to be made about where to put the rest at some point...

We were like "kids in the proverbial sweet shop" and this is what we came home with...

Ambrosia - a hybrid mini plum variety
Black Russian - heritage medium sized mahogany brown fruits
Sun baby - Cherry sized yellow tomatoes
Super marmande - sweet beefsteak tomatoes
F1 Totem - dwarf stocky bush variety
F1 Tumbler- Cherry tomato bush variety
Super sweet 100 - Cordon cherry tomato

So here's hoping for a good crop.

The recovering "Cyril's choice" tomatoes are in the coir pots in the centre of the image. The newer tomatoes are the bigger healthier looking specimens at the back.
 

Orkney postcards

What could be better than spending a week in Orkney visiting friends and neighbours and rediscovering the beauty of these islands. Bliss...

And as you can see from the photos, the sun actually shone (until the last day when it snowed!) The Orcadians being hardy souls were out in t-shirts. P and I (being wimpish soothers) kept our coats on!

The scenes below show the part of Stromness and Scapa Flow, the hills of Hoy and looking over to the West Mainland.
Skies always seem huge in Orkney because of the rolling landscape and lack of trees.

Everything is a bit later on the Isles. Primroses covered banks and marsh marigolds filled ditches catch the eye as does an early butterfly.

Orkney is famed for it's farming, landscape and archeology. 

I went in search of some slightly less well known sites. The fairy and the metal work were found in "Happy Valley" (see the Wind and the Wellies excellent post on that hidden gem here )

The "I  ♡ REAL LIFE" was taken at the Pier Art Centre in Stromness. The building was extended in the past few years with great imagination. The design of the building incorporated old and new with light and unusual windows framing views of the harbour. To find out more about "The Pier" have a look at their web site.

Not surprisingly the sea plays a big part in Orkney life. Here it is in it's many guises.

Scenes from Orkney shores:  

Evie beach looking over to the island of Rousay, 

The Atlantic Ocean crashing onto the rocks at Birsay 

Freya on her old stamping ground at Dingies Howie beach. I was so struck by the light and the changes colours on the sea and the land.

A montage of beach collections. Please note there are no photos of "Groatie buckies" because I didn't find any! P found two... he can spot them at 20 paces....

And if you're asking what a "groatie buckie" is, you can find out here.

That's a flavour of our flying visit (by ferry) to the Orkney Isles.

Now it's back to more everyday pursuits of blogging, gardening and getting ready for the Montrose and Hillside Open Day on July 3rd. And there are a lot of garden blogs to catch up with...

Fritillaries

I first remember seeing fritillaries growing in a meadow in stately home. I can't remember where but these delicate flowers made a big impression on me and I have tried to grow them ever since. 

We don't have the ideal conditions for them in this present garden as the soil tends to be sandy and dry but there is one part that retains the moisture with a bit of added compost and leaf mould.

First of all we have the showy crown imperial fritillaries in glorious yellow and orange making a statement in the garden at this time of year. They tend to overshadow their daintier little cousins and I've made a mental note not to plant them so close together next time. Then they can can all shine in their own right.

The Fritillary Imperialis is an ancient garden plant, appearing in Renaissance paintings and featuring in the very oldest British books on gardening. 

We only have the orange imperial version in the garden. I thought we had yellow ones too but they haven't put in an appearance this year.

These plants are unusual with their top knot or crown of fresh green leaves and orange bells suspended underneath.

All Crown Imperials have a definite scent that can be picked up some distance away.

Inside the petals are what look like teardrops. The story is that the crown imperial fritillary was the only flower that refused to bow its head as Jesus passed by on the way to Calvary, and it now hangs its flowers in shame.

These are the largest and brightest of the fritillaries but not my favourite. That accolade belongs to the charming snakeshead fritillary.

Vita Sackville West commented -

"The fritillary looks like something exceedingly choice and delicate and expensive, which ought to spring from a pan in a hothouse, rather than share the fresh grass with buttercups and cowslips"

The ideal way to grow them is in a meadow like Dave at the Anxious Gardener

We can't quite manage anything approaching a meadow so we have a few clumps of snakeshead here and there, usually at the edge of the border so that they can be admired. They come in a purple chequered pattern and also in a pure white form.

We have also tried a few other fritillaries.

This one is Fritillaria Michailovskyi. It has several bell-shaped flowers, very dark purple with a bright yellow band at the outer end of each petal.

Fritillaria Pyrenaica is a native of Spain. So what you might ask is it doing growing away happily in a garden on the east coast of Scotland?
I don't know but it seems to like it here and has bulked up slowly over the past few years. The bell shaped flowers have a subtle colouring of purple and yellow with a hint of brown.

Fritillaria camschatensis which flowers slightly later is a species from Northeastern Asia. It is much more subdued in colour and pattern than other fritillaries and seems to like a damp shady corner.

There are seemingly over a hundred different types of fritillary but most of them are not suited to growing in the open garden and require more specialist care.

A bit of dry stane dyking...

"In Orkney a Planticru is a round structure near the shore for growing kale." 

Or so I have said in an explanation about the title of this blog. Maybe I should have been less specific about the shape and more about the structure.

I came across some old photos of planticrus from our Orkney archive recently. This one is triangular...

And this one is rectangular. Not a round one in sight.

I'm still searching for a photo of a round one.... I know I've seen one in Orkney... somewhere...somewhere...

Due to a general lack of trees the way to go in Orkney (pre-imports anyway) was to build out of stone. Doing this without mortar and able to withstand the gale force winds is a real art form. The other useful characteristic of dykes especially in windy places is that the force of the wind is filtered through the dyke. With no mortar it allows some wind through but takes away some of the force.

These two walls were built by Kevin in Orkney. He also built a wavy dyke for us which alas I don't have any photos of. You can see the mix of stones cleverly fitted together. Some dykers chip bits of the stone to make them fit but that doesn't seem quite such an impressive technique to me.

 

This photo shows the meeting of the two dykes. If they had been both built at the same time there would have been through stones to connect the two walls and strengthen them. As it is the two just butt up against each other.

The round structure on the left was built by P. It has a seat running round the inside and a small window to admire the view. It was a great place to shelter form the wind. The dark slate piece was made by an artist friend. It was designed for water to trickle down the slate. 

The dykes round the chicken sheds were built by Kevin, Master dyker and are the wavy ones mentioned earlier.
 

The pattern on the floor of the circular structure  with the built-in seat and the window to spy the post van approaching.

And just in case you're wondering if I ever did any dyking, it was minimal. You do need patience and an eye for it. I helped here and there. I'm awfully good at shifting stone.

My one dyke claim to fame is this "peedie" ie small one in the foreground. It was all my own work although we later removed it to make a bigger border...

Early Clematis

Early clematis are among my favourites. At last count we had four C. alpina and two C.montana and one C.armandii. 

Who could help but admire the delicate nodding flowers of clematis alpina? The plant becomes densely covered with small buds which burst open into a perfect hanging bellshape revealling a white centre. These are followed by fluffy seed heads that carry on the interest later in the year.

All of our early flowering clematis grew up metal trellis attached to the walls. They are also equally happy scrambling through a bush or a tree.

Clematis alpina "Constance"

Clematis alpina "Blue Dancer"

Clematis alpina "White Columbine"

Clematis alpina "Helsinborg"

We couldn't grow Clematis Armandii in Orkney due to the cold, salt-laden winds. But in the present garden it's lancet, shiny evergreen leaves are bronze when young. It has almost finished flowering for this spring but often puts on a second show in a few months.

The four petalled flowers have a delicate fragrance.

I don't prune these early flowering clematis unless they put on a lot of growth and look as if they're going to take over. Then I whack them back with a pair of secateurs to a healthy bud. The only real guideline is to do this immediately after flowering. If they get too out of hand I have cut them back almost to the ground in the past.


Perhaps this tendency to put on a lot of growth in a short time and their slightly untidy habit is the reason some gardeners don't take to the early flowering alpinas.

Here's one that got away over the back wall. I'm sure the neigbours are enjoying them...

Clematis alpina "Constance" sending up long shoots. If I catch them quickly enough (before they get brittle) I twine them along the metal support. In this case I was a bit late as you can tell...

The clematis Armandii can grow up to 5m in height and with a spread of 3m. So if you're going to grow it give it plenty of space.

 

This next image shows armandii after three seasons. It's covered the wall, grown partially over an arch (put up that year to accommodate it's extra growth, then mangled by last January's gales) and then started to scramble through the ceanothus next to it.

So please don't do as I do, do as the gardening books recommended and give C. Armandii plenty of room or you may live to regret it.

Clematis alpina "White columbine" has reached the top of the roof of the garden room and is invading the rhone (guttering). It's due a severe haircut after flowering.

The clematis montana are now in bud. Here's Clematis montana "Freda" ready to put on a show at any moment.

And here is an opportunist Clematis Montana growing out of the wall in the vegetable garden. I didn't plant it but it's a very welcome addition with it's simple white flowers.

My Favourite Rose on Wordless Wednesday

Rosa Xanthina "Canary Bird"

Flitting....

Gosh,  I have missed the world of blogging. But P and I have been very busy. 

Here's a clue...

In Scotland moving house is called "Flitting". Although we're not actually at that stage yet.

It's a slow business this house selling. Gone are the days of lots of interest and a quick sale. So we have cleaned and cosseted the house within an inch of it's life. The dog and the cats are developing nervous twitches as the hoover comes out yet again and all their toys and dishes are cleared away!

But all this means that the garden has been sadly neglected. The basics have been done in the name of a sale and for photographs but seed sowing has been curtailed as has plant buying. There are no big projects just a bit of maintenance. 

Anyway the first stampede viewings are over and a bit of normality has returned so I'll be able to get out in the kitchen garden again as soon it stops raining. And there will also be time to catch up with other garden blogs!


The rest of the garden is growing apace due to the wet weather we're having at the moment.
I took some photos in between showers. Spring for me is always associated with lushness and fresh green growth. The spring flowers are a bonus.

 The magnolia and the camellias have put on a wonderful display this year. The early clematis are dripping with flowers and putting on masses of new growth.

Pots of tulips add some early colour and echo the camellia in the background. The camellia was in flower when we viewed the house eight years ago and it's still going strong.

Can you believe that we actually sat out with our coffee under the umbrella at the end of March? It was real t-shirt weather. It seems a distant memory...


So that's a quick catch-up on our garden. It sad to think that this probably be our last spring here...


The question is, would anyone out there like to buy a garden (with house attached)?

Time out..

I'm taking a wee time out from blogging.  I'm not sure for how long...

 Take care,

Janet at Planticru Notes.

One Potato, two potatoes...

Three potato, four,

Five potato, six potato,

Seven potato, more!

Bolivia  is the home of the potato. There are more wild varieties there than anywhere else in the world. In La Paz you can wander round the markets and see many different kinds of freeze dried potatoes being sold by the local Aymara women. It's a long shot, as taking photos offended many of the street sellers.

I don't know about you but potatoes are a crop that I've always enjoyed growing.
I caught the tattie growing bug in Orkney when we cleared some land and our Farmer neighbour who grew tatties gave us several varieties to try. Since then we've always found space for a row of three or four different ones.

There's still that thrill of digging up the first crop of new potatoes and eating them lightly steamed with butter. We've tried growing them several different ways. Under plastic, ridged, on a bed of seaweed etc. And in recent years the seed potatoes have always been organic.

Why organic? Organic tatties are available to buy in Montrose but only in a certain supermarket and they're not a named variety. When cooked they tend to go to mush.

The other potatoes in the supermarket are often grown locally. We see the cycle of spraying and spraying and "finishing" (more spraying). Would you really want to eat them after all that?
If you want to read chapter and verse about how many times chemicals hit your potatoes before they hit your plate there is a full description in Rosie Boycott's excellent book "Spotted Pigs and Green Tomatoes"

One of the reasons Farmers spray their crop is the dreaded Potato Blight. Not only did it decimate the the potato crop in Ireland in the 1840s but also struck the Highlands of Scotland and led to mass emigration in both countries. 

The late blight can be avoided to a certain extent by growing potatoes that mature early or by growing disease resistant varieties. As new strains of blight have developed these potatoes have been become less resistant. There is however a group of potatoes called "Sarpo" that are being developed by the Sarvari research Trust which seem to be more disease resistant as they are crossed with wild Mexican and South American potatoes.

Dave Allan who writes the gardening  column in The Glasgow Herald wrote a fascinating piece about potatoes recently. You can read about it here

Last year however we noticed marks on the tattie leaves quite early in the growing season. As we don't spray at all we cut the shaws down and burnt them. The tatties were fine but a bit immature. The Pink Fir Apple in the next photo would usually be very nobbly by the time they are ready to be harvested.

The biggest shock in all the years we've grown potatoes was the result (allegedly) of manure contaminated with the weedkiller Aminopyralid. This chemical kills broad leaved weeds in grass crops. The grass is then fed to horses and ponies and goes straight through them contaminating their manure.
Poor unsuspecting gardeners and allotment holders spread it on their borders with catastrophic and enduring effects for many vegetables but in particular the potato family.

If you have been affected (allegedly, I don't want to be sued by Dow) by this chemical or want to know more, this link is useful.
I make no apologies for showing the photo again. I've kept it small to keep the shock element down.

The shaws were distorted and the potatoes failed to grow at all.
You can see my original post here. After much research the worst case scenario was up to 6 years for the chemical to break down in the soil.
So the crop rotation is a bit strange now and tatties have never been planted in the area again. On occasions we put a couple in that bit of ground  to see if there is still distortion.

This years crop at the chitting stage.