A series of vegetable garden workshops is about to take place in Orkney. Moray gardener Ed Bollom is coming north to visit garden groups in Westray, North Ronaldsay and Stromness ahead of the growing season, with much practical advice.
His aim is to encourage greater self-sufficiency in growing your own vegetables, and the workshops cover everything from planning your plot, choosing suitable vegetable varieties and nurturing your crops, to composting, soil improvement and dealing with extreme weather.
Ed started his career studying sustainable horticulture in Somerset and over the years has worked in historic gardens all over Britain. He was for five years senior gardener at Highgrove House, growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and cut flowers for the future King Charles III. On moving to Scotland, he spent ten years building up one of the largest kitchen gardens in Europe at Gordon Castle in Moray, and he now runs a gardening and design business with his wife Anna in Fochabers.
He will be visiting North Ronaldsay on Thursday 27 February, with the visit coordinated by the North Ronaldsay Trust; Stromness Community Garden on Sunday 2 March; and Westray on Monday 3 March through Westray Development Trust. Details of the island events are available on local posters. For the Stromness event, which is at 1 pm, there are a few additional spaces – contact stromnessacg@gmail.com.
The visit has been made possible by funding from Orkney Islands Council’s Crown Estate Community Led Development Fund and Cooke Scotland. It has been organised by Orkney International Science Festival following the success of a talk and workshop by Ed in last year’s programme. He highlights the benefits of growing your own food as something that can be done by everyone.
“It’s a wonderful way to improve your diet, stay fit and healthy, reduce your carbon footprint and of course reduce your dependency on the supermarkets and global supply chains. It’s the same whether you have a large back garden or a smallholding or a polycrub, or whether you just have a few raised beds and some pots – you can do it, and now is the time to get off to a flying start for the spring!”
