Obituary for my garden

[Humerous Vegetable]

I woke up this morning to find my garden devastated yet again by last night's wind, daffodils flattened, branches of shrubs and trees broken and new growth burnt off. My greenhouse was in bits,spread over nearby fields, and all the carefully raised seedlings and cuttings gone.
So I've finally decided to admit defeat, after spending large amounts of time and money trying to improve what was a weed-infested, overgrown bit of Caithness. It's not possible to have a decent garden up here, so I'm off to order a load of gravel tomorrow.

[Angela]

I'm really sorry to hear that, you must be feeling sick when you've put a lot of effort as well as money into it.
it's just sad when plants are destroyed, for whatever reason.:(

[trinkie]

What a sad day for you, you must have been devasted at such a sight.
Last week I was horrified to find a slug had eaten all of my Sweetpea seedlings.
But yours is a more serious problem. Can you not start again ?
Keep to low growing plants and use plenty of windbreak.
Look around and see what thrives in Caithness... dont expect to grow an English Cottage Garden ! Even in Orkney the other year I saw some very nice gardens growing quite happily - or so it appeared to me at the time.
Mind you I can talk - here I am in the south with a gravel garden !! and I love it. There's not much colour, but I have grasses in different greens, and hardy cyclamen seem to be happy enough. I have Sedum along the edges and a nod in the direction of a hedge - but the wind does not let it mature, so it struggles each year. It's very dry and I do not water in the summer. I gave up growing daffodils a long time ago.
Ask around among neighbours what you should be growing - and then ask for cuttings if they have something which is surviving - you have worked so hard on your patch it would be sad to stop now.

Good Luck
Trinkie

[r.rackstraw]

Please don't give up, Humerous Veg.
We have a bad climate here but success is possible with a bit of shelter.
There are greenhouses made by Hartley that will stand any Caithness wind - at least our 2 have over many years.

[Victoria]

are those the big bubble wrap type ones r.rackstraw?

They have them at the hydropinicum

[stratman]

H.V. I Can't help wondering if you gravelled your garden or if you have got the bug back?

[Victoria]

yes - i've been wondering about this myself!

[Tilter]

HV, I hope after a day like today you've decided not to give up after all.

Try breaking your garden up into bits. We live on a windswept hillside, but our garden's pretty much OK because it's broken up into different "rooms" - seems like everyone who ever lived here did a bit of walling or fencing or trellising here and there, and we never take anything down - just add to it. We do have self-pruning trees though..... And just pick up the blatted daffodils and stick them in a vase.

Our greenhouse is a Rhino. Expensive but worth every penny. Tiles fly off the house roof - greenhouse stays intact. Touch wood. I probably shouldn't have said that-tempting fate etc.

[r.rackstraw]

victoria
Hartley greenhouses are not 'bubble wrap'. Just conventional aluminium and glass but very robust. Also not cheap unfortunately.

[Jeemag_USA]

I woke up this morning to find my garden devastated yet again by last night's wind, daffodils flattened, branches of shrubs and trees broken and new growth burnt off. My greenhouse was in bits,spread over nearby fields, and all the carefully raised seedlings and cuttings gone.
So I've finally decided to admit defeat, after spending large amounts of time and money trying to improve what was a weed-infested, overgrown bit of Caithness. It's not possible to have a decent garden up here, so I'm off to order a load of gravel tomorrow.


I feel for you, you have to learn to garden to the climate and then you'll get by fine. Daffodils are a waste of time, they are too flimsy and too tall and skiny if you don't have any shelter. Anyone who lives in an exposed are of caithness where you are suffering flat winds, I woud suggest first surrounding your garden in some kind of cover, cut willow switches perhaps and plant then close togehter around your garden. It is possible to have nice gairden in Caithness.

My garden however has been devasted this year, Indiana seems to have a perfect garden climate with warm spring, hot summer warm fall and a normal winter. But this year spring started out norla and got pretty hot, up to 85 C, then all of a sudden we have one of the coldest aprils on record and the frost and snow came back and we even had high winds which we hardly ever get wind of any kind here, everything was in full bloom but now bushes and trees and plants have their leaves shrivelled up and died! Its crazy, a reverse effect of global warming I expect? :~(

[Humerous Vegetable]

Hi fellow pruners and weeders. No, I didn't bury everything under gravel,despite the temptation. I guess I was feeling sorry for myself, but we were on greenhouse number 2 since we moved here a few years ago now - the last one was guaranteed Caithness-proof......but sadly not. I can't afford to replace it again, so no more delicious freshly picked tomatoes and cucumbers then. I do have windbreaks, I only grow dwarf daffs and tulips now, so I do try. But thanks for all the support and encouragement - gardeners are the best people.

[stratman]

I am really glad you have not lost the bug all together and hope you can think of ways of raising crops that you wish. I am trying a few ideas this year at Groats and shall report back next year. Good luck to you HV.