Fifteen years ago, when I first started to think about planting a garden and contemplating the possibilities of growing a few vegetables it often seemed an impossible task. My neighbour Muriel King told me anything would grow as long as you could provide protection. She meant from the salt laden easterly winds, and the predominant north westerly, and she was referring to trees and shrubs. So, my first priority was to get anything that would stand up to those conditions. I planted willow and hedging shrubs mixed with pine, spruce, sycamore, birch, beech, mountain ash, hornbeam and alders plus. Some survived and some didn’t, but after a decade I had clumps of growth and even nesting birds. My aim was not to cocoon myself in greenery since that would only lead to problems with the midges come summer time. A typical garden on the Outer Hebrides would have consisted of some well-maintained grass, and that style of gardening in exposed conditions is still visible here on Lewis. I am fortunate in not only having a good depth of soil, but also having a little protection from existing buildings and the lie of the land. My dream of a vegetable garden is to step immediately from the house into it, no fancy flower beds and ornamentation simply step directly into rational practicality, preferably visible form the kitchen window. The choice here was made for me by the best soil, and so I started a veg garden down below the barn, however from the kitchen window I do have a wonderful display of kale in full bloom. Digging was hard going since at one point I ran into the foundations of what could have been the old blackhouse plus a stone paved area. The sandy loam was free draining but with the high annual rainfall it would require regular fertilising. It was also open to the east and those brutal bitter spring winds. I managed to get blackcurrants established and a health row of rhubarb. The results were worthwhile but mixed. Pests such as cabbage root fly would devastate my efforts and one summer storm was so strong it literally blew the cabbages out of the ground. I tried not to be disheartened and rejoiced at the most minor of success. A small bowl of strawberries, the height of luxury. The provisions cupboard soon started to fill up with blackcurrant and rhubarb jam, and while French beans were a waste of time, mange tout peas if protected did quite well. There was no problem with potatoes, turnips and beetroot and my shopping trips into Stornoway became less frequent. In long dry summer of 2021 I had to water, but the results were wonderful and I was able to give away produce to neighbours. It was the first time I’d grown anything under mesh and it certainly cured the root fly problem.
So earlier on this year I started to clear new ground extending the original plot and creating more cultivation area at the back of the house. Hope is always a strong incentive when it comes to gardening, but it’s important not to set those hopes too high. I’d saved some potatoes from last year, but also bought pink fur apple potatoes for a change. April was promising and the soil easy to dig and clean, however all that changed in May. This is the peat cutting season and I was glad I’d managed to get over half done by the end of April. The rain seemed constant and then it turned cold, and I mean seriously cold to the point that the seed simply would not germinate. I searched along the rows of parsnips managing to discover amongst the weeds the odd plant, but where there should have been fifty there was five. Turnips were the same and swedes simply refused to show. I replanted but with no better results. It was simply too cold. Beetroot and chard germinated but then stood still as if in total shock. I’d planted peas, courgettes and greens inside and wondered when I could risk putting them outside. The courgettes went under plastic on the site of the old compost heap and romped away, and the cabbages went under protective mesh. By the end of the week three quarters of the cabbages had been felled, not eaten, but simply felled at ground level. On investigation I found leather jackets just below the surface. I worked a trowel through the soil and took sadistic pleasure in squishing every last one I found. I did this twice before the felling ceased. I’ve done a second sowing, but while the weather remains so cold there seems little point in rushing to plant them out.
On the fruit side the currants flowered quite well after a serious pruning last autumn. I had hoped to get more flowers lower down on the new growth but at least they didn’t get burn off like last spring. I may have a crop that merits netting this year. The strawberries up behind the house looked dead, but after cleaning and covering with a makeshift tunnel made from piping and a mattress plastic bag they soon started to recover. They have flowered and today I picked my first very small bowl of strawberries. Such small rewards are what keep my hopes up and hope along with ingenuity is much in need when it comes to gardening this far north.
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