Gardening

[sandnesspeats]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anybody is interested in gardening,to help each other with the Shetland gardens when to start, what to grow in any particular area.

if any body is interested please post and see what happens

cheers for now

rob

[Girzie]

Willows, japanese rose, flowering currant, daffodils, tulips, rhubarb - these are the easiest and most common. Almost anything will grow here - if you give it enough protection. What did you have in mind?

 

I can give you cuttings of most things in the garden.

[khitajrah]

Gosh, this isn't a very long thread!

 

We've just started gardening this year. We don't have a very big plot to work with, and in fact most things are going to be grown in behind the house in tubs and tyres until we get a willow-wall-wind-break-thingy established in the front garden.

 

I've been looking at the sowing times on seed packets and wondering how they could be applicable to Shetland "seaons". I'm pretty sure the "sow outside in March-April" applies to the English March-April and not ours! I have no idea when these seeds should be planted outside!

 

Also, I was speaking to someone the other day who mentioned a seed swap that they used to do somewhere. When you get a packet of seeds there is often far too many for one garden, so it might be a nice idea if folk wanted to swap others for seeds that they have. Anyone up for it?

 

We're going to try growing those upside down tomatoes in hanging baskets this year too. Has anyone got any experience with them?

 

Girzie - I'd be interested in some of your cuttings, if you still have them available.

[paulb]

We were told to sow on the first of May to avoid the late frost in April. We ignored it last year and lost our runner beans.

[daveh]

khitajrah - I belong to the Shetland Horticultural Society and we are having a plant sale at Tingwall Hall at 11-00am on May 16th. Some good things at fair prices there if you can make it. Also, you will get good tips from the various growers in Shetland who usually attend.

You can also join the society there, should you wish to do so.

[Fjool]

Last week I got my garden tidied up after winter; lots of leaves and stalks for the compost heap; pruning and raking done. Last year's nicely matured compost spread into the planters and sprinkled a little over the lawn. A new heap is started and already half full, but that will compress down quickly. Sprinked a few random seeds into a sheltered test patch of new compost to see how they turn out... if the birds don't eat them.

 

It all looks much tidier now and everything is sprining back to life.

 

My wife even got the garden shed tidied up yesterday and it's possible to get at the mower once again.

 

[tarotangel]

We're just staring with the garden noo getting everything tidied up. It's so good to have a garden again. Wir back garden is for veg and the front one is for Flowers.

 

Ooh plant sale at Tingwall sounds good will see if I'm able to get there.

[trowie246]

I'm on two projects at the moment, our own garden and the school garden. We got our own garden sorted last year and sowed some carrotts and lettuce but we were too late getting them planted and it wasn't a success.

 

My dad gave me some tips - sow/plant mid-May time.

 

If you are growing lettuce sow some one week then some more the following week, so they don't all come at once.

 

If you are growing carrotts sow them in the second last row from the edge of the plot and set a row of onions in the outside row. This is meant to help prevent carrott fly? Hope this makes sense.

[sandnesspeats]

hi,

Great to see you all talking at last, I was about to give up about people helping each other in their gardens,tips events etc.

Took a while but here we are.

I do have a tip if you grow roses but not sure if hover flies reach the islands.

Here goes, If you grow poached egg plant aroung your roses which suffer from greenfly your greenfly will be vastly less, you see the poached egg plant attracts the hover fly which feed on aphids so eradicating the greenfly, but as i say not sure if it is up here.

Good tip about the carrots and onions together help each other,also if you grow carrots in raised beds or large tubs carrot fly don`t reach that high, I grow mine in a tub every year with no probs,great crop every year.

Have fun in your garden.

[paulb]

Were wanting to get into the garden but there are some geese with other ideas.

[Malcolm]

As yet we haven't set aside an area for veggies etc, but I am hoping to set up a poly-tunnel if and when money becomes available (Not on a great wage ).

 

Also I am hoping to try potato tubs using old pallets, tyres etc too.

[CrunchieSquirrel]

My gardening is very crap, all I do is leave the garden alone!

[khitajrah]

We just borrowed Organic Crops in Pots from the library because our front garden is much the same - hardcore!?!? An LHD tub washed up on the beach is our first pot - that's going to hold the strawberries currently sprouting on the bedroom windowsill.

[Ghostrider]

An LHD tub washed up on the beach is our first pot - that's going to hold the strawberries currently sprouting on the bedroom windowsill.

 

Not if LHD find out.

[Queenie79]

This might be a silly question but can you grow totties from ones that we should have eaten but have sprouted?

 

Going to try carrots again in a tub and try cauliflower and brocolli. They grew really well in a tub last year but were ready to eat when we were on holiday... Arrrgh!

 

I seem to get excited about things growing and then we get a big blast of wind and everything gets ruined!