MISTY ISLE DEDICATED GARDENERS’ EPISTLEJULY 2018

www.skyegardeningsociety.org.uk

CONTENTSLetter from the President 2 Editorial 11Inverness’ Best Kept Secret

3 Spring and Summer Show

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This Edition’s Culinary Delight

5 Forth Coming Events 15

Young People’s Corner 6 Classic Books 16Growing Potatoes Part 2 8

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Members

The society has had a very busy period over the last couple of months and it was nice to have a short break.

Firstly we had the Spring Show and AGM. Our first visit to Minginish Hall went very well. It is such a light and sunny space with a modern, spacious kitchen. Thanks to everyone involved in setting up and taking part in the show.

Our second event was the Plant Sale which we ran in parallel with the Open Gardens at Braes. This was also a success, judging by the numbers attending and the total sales achieved

from the purchase of plants. We will certainly consider further plant sales alongside community garden events. Thanks to our set-up team and congratulations to the Braes gardeners for a successful weekend. I understand that

donations for the Brain Tumour Charity totalled over £600.

Thirdly, we were invited to attend the Clan Donald Gala Weekend and three of us (four counting Lindsey’s husband!), Lindsey, Janice and I created a display for the Saturday. Well really, it was Lindsey who provided most of it, including her Mint

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Quiz. A garden voucher went out to the winner. Thanks to Lindsey and Janice.

On 27 June we received a guided tour of the Botanic Gardens in Inverness, followed by a visit to Abriachan Garden. What a fabulous day it was and such a shame that there were only eight people to appreciate it.

On a final note, the Flower and Produce Show is to be held in the Venue at Portree High School on 25 August. This is another first for us and I hope to see you there.

Rose Hill

INVERNESS’ BEST KEPT SECRET

We could not have asked for a better beautiful summer’s day when the eight members set out from Skye to visit Inverness Botanic Gardens and since I had not visited the gardens before I was unaware what a magical place it would turn out to be. I must admit it did not start well as the gardens are not well signposted, but after a few wrong turns we managed to find them hidden behind high walls amongst a confusion of play parks, sports facilities, car parks with the entrance fronted by Cobb’s café.

After a well-earned lunch in Cobb’s café we were met by our guide Toni who, to start the tour, gave a brief history of the gardens. I was surprised to find that the gardens were owned by Highland Council and run by Highlife their commercial arm. The gardens are roughly divided into three areas - The Walled Garden, The Grow Project and The Secret Garden.

Toni then gently guided us through the maze of green houses, gardens and fish ponds. The variety and numbers of plants that were tucked in the green houses had to be seen to be believed. Healthy and tightly packed they made for a wonderful display. Had there been a few colourful South American birds

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flying around, it would not have surprised me to see David Attenborough wandering around. Carp in various sizes from small to large and fat swam lazily in the ponds.

We left the main garden and, after passing under the shade of mature trees, we entered the area of the gardens that housed The Grow Project and the Secret Garden. The Grow Project is operated on behalf of the National Health Service and is specifically designed for people with learning disabilities who manage this area of the gardens on a daily basis. The garden is well designed and productive and also reaches out to schools and the wider community with Polli:Nation, encouraging the planting of wild flower seeds to encourage pollinators.

It was a very, very hot day and we were beginning to wilt, but the glory of the gardens awaited us in the Secret Garden. A vast wild flower/grass meadow lay before us and it was in full

bloom and breathtakingly beautiful with smooth grass paths dividing the meadow. Monet's painting of a field of poppies came immediately to mind. The variety of flowers and grasses were extraordinary.

Throughout the tour as we ambled and wandered Toni, who had extensive knowledge of the gardens, responded patiently to our many questions. Without a doubt her input contributed greatly to what was a wonderful experience. We left the gardens reluctantly, but full of ideas and memories.

The Gardens run a year-round programme of events. Entry is free with donation boxes at the door.

A special mention for The Tree of Tranquillity which is a quiet grove dedicated to the needs of those affected by the loss of a baby. SiMBA.

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POLI:NATION and Wild 25 Project to encourage the planting of wildflower seeds even in urban areas.

Scotia Seeds - who supplied the seeds for the Wild Flower Meadow. Telephone 01356626425. www.scotiaseeds.co.uk,

Ann Reeves

THIS EDITION’S CULINARY DELIGHT

Sugar free oat biscuits; this recipe was promised to a number of members who attended this year’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

Ingredients:

6oz butter 8oz self-raising flour4oz rolled oats Small soft mashed banana3oz raisins 1 egg beatenmilk to mix

Method:

1. Rub together the flour and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Add the rolled oats and mix in.

3. Add the banana, raisins and beaten egg.

4. Mix to a stiff consistency adding milk if necessary.

5. Take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture and form into a ball.

6. Place onto a greased baking tray and press down into a round about ¼'' thick.

7. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool and enjoy!

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YOUNG PEOPLE'S CORNER

Word Search

Hello again. Summer is here for this issue of the Midge and therefore I have devised a word search with summer flowering shrubs. Shrubs are plants that tend to have 'woody' main stems and are usually perennial, this means that they come back year after year, as long as they are in the right conditions.

Maybe you could look around your garden at home or at school and try to identify which plants are shrubs.

There are the names of twelve shrubs hidden in the grid. They may be written back to front, going up or down, or diagonally. Good luck and the answers are at the end of the Midge.

R X H S U B Y S I A D AH E A T H E R Z I O K IO P H B I L U T Q A J SD V C E R A M Y I Z X HO L H O F V K L I L A CD D S Z R E O E W Q I UE E J I A N H G S R L FN B W S G D M J U R Z YD K O A N E X W E P O CR T M G W R B H O F U GO K Q E R O S E M A R YN G A I E L D D U B P Q

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An Activity for the summer

As summer is here you will have noticed that there are many summer flowers are in bloom, looking glorious and cheerful. I think it would be nice if we could save some of their beauty for later in the year, when flowers tend to die back and will not come again until next year.

A good method of saving flowers is to press them and then use them to make cards, pictures, or collages.

Drying flowers in a press is a simple operation, but if you do not own a flower press arrange them carefully onto a piece plain paper and carefully cover with another piece of paper. It is important that the flowers do not overlap each other. Now place into a heavy textbook, then weigh the book down with a heavy weight such as more books, or even some bricks! Weeks later, your flowers should still be colourful, just as exquisite as they had been growing in the garden.

1. Harvest flowers when they’re dry

Harvest flowers on dry days. The drier the flowers are, the better they will press, so the best time to harvest flowers for pressing is in the morning after the dew has dried or in the early evening before it returns. Never harvest flowers when it’s raining. If possible give the flowers at least a day or two to dry out after an extended summer rain before picking them, or pick them on their stems and keep inside in a vase of water until the flower head is dry.

Flowers that contain less moisture press the best. Fleshy flowers such as Begonias will become mouldy within a few weeks. Some flowers may lose their colour so choose flowers that have a strong, strong colour.

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Flowers can come from your garden or grow wild. Remember though just to pick the flower head off gently, you do not want to destroy the plant.

2. Flowers that press best

Do not disturb the flowers for at least a month. It is hard to resist the temptation to peek, but past experience has taught

me that taking a peek before a month has elapsed can rip the flowers apart. Also, at that stage, they tend to wrinkle when closed back up.After a month has passed, open the press and inspect the

flowers. Beautifully pressed flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colours grace the pages. Now it is time to use them to decorate cards or make pictures, while others will find homes on Christmas ornaments and candles. The good option is to paint or draw a picture and glue some of the flowers onto it: or use the flowers to decorate plant pots and jars.

Maybe it could be entered into the summer show at the High School on the 25th August?

I hope you enjoy this activity and have a wonderful summer enjoying all that nature has to offer.

Jo-ann Cherry

GROWING POTATOES Part 2 - GROW A RAINBOW!

Home-grown potatoes are probably the easiest crop of all to grow - freshly dug from your own plot or pot, they are full of flavour and quite unlike store bought imposters! The unusual colours, shapes and sometimes intriguing names of the

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“heritage” varieties (classed as those varieties which are no longer grown commercially), only add to the sense of “adventure” in cultivating these rare gems. Many of the varieties are of Scottish origin because, despite having a challenging climate for growing most garden produce, we do have the ideal climate for growing potatoes – or “tatties” as we like to call them here!

Flavour is the key to why we grow heritage varieties – it is for me anyway! Not for them the conventional bland, same colour/ size/shape zombies proffered in over-plasticised supermarket packaging - we are talking vivid colours, knobbly textures and individual histories with each forkful! As Lucy Carroll, co-founder of Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes of Northumberland and Ayrshire, says: ‘From the outside the potatoes don’t look very pretty, and some people are put off by that. But the insides are beautiful.” Because their shape, disease resistance, colour, texture etc don’t make them easy to grow or process on a commercial scale they have fallen out of favour with our large scale growers. However, if you value taste from your potato, these are the varieties you should be growing. Apart from the obvious taste and texture bonus, there is also the knowledge that we are planting a bit of history and, in a lot of cases, conserving that history, because each of these wonderful varieties comes with their own story, developed over centuries by passionate, small scale growers who put taste first.

Some of the older and rarer varieties can be difficult to source and potato blight and other diseases can be a problem that the home gardener has little to fight with, but I would advocate that you persevere and, if blight is a problem in your area, concentrate on growing first and second earlies which can be lifted before the worst wave of blight arrives in August.

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Speaking “Spud” - it is best to order your seed potatoes as early as possible. Because of the difficulties and shortage of suppliers, there is a limited amount of seed available. Due to this “difficult” supply situation, some small growers may be tempted to save seed from one year to the next but this is not a good idea unless you can store them in pristine and optimum conditions. Potatoes are classified according to when they are lifted:

First earlies produce useable tubers in 100-110 days after planting

Second earlies in 110-120 days

Early main crop after 120-125 days

Main crop after 125-140 days

Salad potatoes have firm flesh after cooking, as opposed to floury, so they remain whole when used cold in salads.

First early potatoes should be ready to lift in June and July, second earlies in July and August, main crops from late August through October.

These are some of the wonderful names of heritage potato varieties - Epicure, Belle de Fonteney, Sharpe’s Express, Duke of York, British Queen, Kepplestone Kidney, Dunar Rover, Edzell Blue, Arran Victory, Majestic, Highland Burgundy, Shetland Black, Yetholm Gipsey and many more! The “Potato Book” by Alan Romans (an enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable grower) is a must read for the potato enthusiast and is still available from Amazon.

There is a grower outside Aberdeen (Maurice Innes) who grows more than 500 varieties, just because he loves doing so. This

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wonderful photograph is of some of his varieties which were on display at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2016. Now that is what you call a passion!

Suppliers:

Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes, Tiptoe Farm, Cornhill on Tweed, Northumberland, TD12 4XD, Tel: 01890 883060.https://heritage-potatoes.co.uk

Potato House UK (Skea Organics Ltd), East Mains Farm, Auchterhouse, Dundee DD3 0QN Tel: 01382 320453www.potatohouse.co.uk

A number of other vegetable seed suppliers carry a small stock of various varieties.

Calina MacDonald

EDITORIAL

Since the issue of the spring edition of the MIDGE Alison and I managed to slip away for ten days to Menorca with a view to escaping the extended winter weather we were all experiencing and to catch a glimpse of sun whilst we were there. I would like to say it was blue skies and sun for the duration of our visit, but my assertion would not stand if tested. Sun tans were achieved but it was home from home with respect to the wind and rain on a couple of days. Early June and the vegetables in the apartment’s garden were a sight for sore eyes - in some respect it was a depressing sight when viewed against the vegetables I had left behind in my own garden. It all goes to demonstrate once again how important the weather is to the growth of plants, vegetables etc. in our gardens. This was bought home in spades when we returned home to discover where the sun had been in our absence and the phenomenal growth that had taken place in the garden due to the good

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weather, with the exception of the onions and leeks which are still struggling. The need for an extended period of pruning has been noted in our garden activity diary for this winter.

I am pleased to advise that our Black Night buddleja came back from the dead but unfortunately the cytisus battendieri (pineapple tree) did not survive.

It is so good to see the garden looking so healthy, with the vibrant colours of the lilies contrasting with varying shades of green, purple, black and red foliage of the trees and shrubs. With the annuals and perennials beginning to come into their own it does generate that “good feel factor” when walking round the garden. I hope your gardens are producing similar responses for you. Given it

flowers around once every five years the icing on the cake was finding one of our Yucca in full bloom, see picture. The second Yucca had started to produce a flower stem but unfortunately had failed,

probably due to being too close to the other Yucca and the recent dry conditions.

What is most enjoyable is that all gardens are different in terms of their size and content. This was admirably bought home to me when visiting the Braes’ gardens during their Open Day. The gardens could not have been more different, but each was a testament to their owner’s commitment. They were a joy to see. I hope this all bodes well for this year’s Summer Show.

Tom Smit

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SPRING AND SUMMER SHOWS

Spring Show

As the President noted in her letter this year was a first for the Society in that it would be hosted in a new venue, the Minginish Hall. That this came about was due to the persistence of one committee member, Janice Page, who championed the venue in committee last year. I must admit I had a few reservations on the hall’s suitability, given that our normal venues in Broadford and Dunvegan both had two halls in which to host the Show and AGM and I suppose I was happy with them having managed the two events in both of them over a number of years. I suppose one is always comfortable with matters that have previously been tried and tested.

Having previously attended several events at the Minginish Hall I was familiar with its facilities and there is no doubt that it is a splendid hall, but would it accommodate the needs of both the Show and AGM and equally important would members and the public be prepared to travel to the hall. Following a visit to the hall I was pleased to report to the Committee that the events could be staged there and it would be unreasonable to pre-judge numbers attending. In addition Ron Johnston had agreed that, in addition to judging at the Show, he would provide a stall selling spring plants etc. The Committee unanimously agreed.

Unfortunately Ron Johnston was unwell the day before the Show and on doctor’s advice had to withdraw from his role as judge and would not be able to provide the stall as promised. I am pleased to report that Ron is back to his old self. On behalf of the Committee I would like to thank David Maclean once again for stepping in at short notice at act as judge at the Show. Also a big thank to Jo-ann Cherry who agreed to replace Jess Donaldson, who could not attend the Show due to a family wedding, to act as the young people’s judge.

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It was agreed by all concerned that the Spring Show was a great success. The quality of the adult entries was such that the judge felt compelled to address Show to praise the exhibitors accordingly. Despite this compliment, for the second year in a row, the young people’s exhibits from Broadford stole the Show. Unfortunately, there were no entries from other schools, but the Committee is striving to change this.

The three adult winners were:

First Place Mary Jean Haldane

Second Place Joy Lumb

Third Place Alison Smit

At this point I feel obliged to offer the three adult prize winners my unreserved apology for not fully recognising their individual achievements on the day. With respect to Joy and Alison I failed to notify the President of their

success and subsequently no announcement was made and no rosette award made. In similar manner Mary Jean was not awarded the “Gardening Voucher” and rosette when she received the “Primrose Trophy”. With my experience of managing the Spring Show it should not have happened and I have no excuse, please accept my apology.

With the success of this year’s Show the Committee have agreed to include The Minginish Hall in our venues for hosting the Spring Show. As a result each venue will host the Show once every three years. The next Show will be held in Dunvegan.

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Summer Show

This year’s Show, which will be held on Saturday, 25 August, is fast approaching and due to the closure of the Community Centre will be held in “The Venue”, in Portree High School. Other than the change in location the Show will contain all the features normally associated with Show.

The one change exhibitors will notice is the new “Class” numbering system. Each “Class” is prefixed by the “Group” number, with the first “Class” in the “Group” commencing with the number 1. The Summer Show Schedule contains full details.

Like the Spring Show, “The Venue” is a new venue for the Society. Having visited “The Venue” to ascertain its suitability, I believe that with the seat array in their closed position, the layout of the Show will remain the same, but please be prepared for small changes that may be required. It is planned to have exhibitors access “The Venue” directly from the car park area at the right hand side of the school.

The Summer Show will be my last for the Society. I have enjoyed my time as Show Convener, some moments more than other, but it is time to hand the reins over to an other(s).

Tom Smit

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

25 August: Annual Flower and Produce Show in “The Venue”, Portree High School. Entries to The Venue between 10.30 a.m. and 12.15 p.m. Open to the public from 1.30 p.m.

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20 September: Visit to Dunvegan Gardens when half-hardy plants are at their best. Meet in the car park at 2.00 p.m.

6 October: Lunch, Quiz and Plant Exchange at Viewfield House, Portree at 12.30 p.m. £10.00 per person. Like the bad penny, Tom will return as Quizmaster!

17 November: Workshop: Baskets with Plants at Aros. Detailsto be confirmed.

Further details of all events will be forwarded in due course.

Alison Smit

CLASSIC BOOKS

The following books are available for a donation.

The Growers Guide, produced for CEEPI Ltd in 1989

Garden Plants of the World, Don Ellison 2002

A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, RHS 1998

The International Book of Trees, Hugh Johnson 1973

If you are interested in obtaining one or more of the above books please contact me on 01470 532747 or at tom.smit471@btinternet.com

Answers for the word searchDaisy Bush, Rhododendron, Heather, Fuchsia, Rose, Lilac, Sage, Gorse, Magnolia, Lavender, Rosemary, Buddleia.

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