Ed Bollom is a man who knows a thing or two about gardening and horticulture. Having worked in many famous gardens including Osborne House, Chatsworth House and Highgrove, he was also instrumental in transforming the massive walled garden at Gordon Castle from eight acres of emptiness into an award-winning oasis, growing more than 350 varieties of plants to produce, not only food, but gin, cider, aromatherapy oils and beauty products.
Inspired by a love of the outdoors, Ed’s interest in gardening and food production began informally as a teenager through helping his parents in their garden in Devon. The satisfaction he experienced from this work led him to enroll in a sustainable horticulture course, and then on to working as a beekeeper for a year – a random but richly rewarding experience.
He landed his first gardening job as an assistant at a local school – just him and one other gardener, a knowledgeable mentor with a wealth of experience. It was during those early years, quietly learning the ropes and getting his hands dirty that he truly fell in love with the craft.
That passion led him to a prestigious three-year apprenticeship with the Professional Gardener’s Guild, inspired by the old tradition of the journeyman gardener. He spent each year at a different historic garden, immersing himself in hands-on learning from seasoned professionals.
Historic houses
The journey began at Osborne House on The Isle of Wight, Queen Victoria’s former residence, where he worked among formal terraces with sweeping views over the Solent. From there he moved to The Garden House in Devon, a much smaller 8-acre plot, bursting with rare and unusual plants – a hidden gem for any horticulturalist. In his final year he stepped into the grandeur of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, one of Britain’s most iconic estates.
Those three years of full-time practical experience shaped his foundation – a true gardener’s education built, not in a classroom, but in the soil of some of the UK’s most inspiring gardens.
Following a stint working in Maidstone, he received a job offer from Highgrove, the private residence of King Charles (then Prince of Wales). The long-time head gardener of the walled garden was retiring after 30 years of service and they were looking for someone to take over as the estate’s vegetable grower. Ed was chosen for the role.
In this position he was in charge of the walled garden, the orchard and the nursery, overseeing the production of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables – all destined for the Prince of Wales and his guests. From juicy peaches and ripe figs, to tender baby carrots and heritage potatoes, everything was attentively grown, hand-picked and carefully packaged to be sent to the Prince of Wales wherever he was in the world – a taste of Highgrove fresh from the garden directly to his table.
A northern walled garden
Towards the end of Ed’s 5 years at Highgrove word started to spread about an ambitious new project underway in the Scottish Highlands – Gordon Castle Walled Garden. The plans were being drawn up by the renowned designer Arne Maynard.
The walled garden at Highgrove was one acre and there were three of us looking after it, and we were hard pushed, so when I saw the plans for Gordon Castle – eight acres of walled garden, stretching 165 metres by 185 metres, I thought it was absolutely mad. It was one of the biggest in Europe and at that time it was just an empty field, a totally blank canvas, but there were elaborate plans for 3 kilometres of paths and 600 fruit trees.”
Six months later Ed and family headed north, moved into a house on the estate, and Ed took up the position as deputy head gardener. Work started from scratch, digging, planting and building which, over the following seven years, transformed Gordon Castle’s walled garden into a horticultural and business enterprise.
Trying out rock dust
Like most seasoned gardeners, Ed understands that good soil is everything. He knows how to care for it, nurture it and bring it back to life – but he is not one to chase every new trend that comes along. So, when food writer Liz Ashworth approached him in 2023, near the end of his time at Gordon Castle, singing the praises of volcanic rock dust as a miracle soil enhancer, he was intrigued, but cautious.
Skeptical but open-minded, Ed eventually agreed to a small experiment: one row of potatoes treated with volcanic rock dust. To his surprise those potatoes produced a slightly better yield than the others. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was enough to make him raise an eyebrow.
Later that year, Liz took a batch of those very potatoes to the Orkney Science Festival where she carried out a blind taste test. Pitted against spuds grown in untreated soil, the volcanic rock dust potatoes quietly stole the show. The majority of tasters picked them out as having the better flavour. It was a small experiment but the results added another layer of intrigue to Ed’s curiosity.
The following year the experiment was repeated, but this time with tomatoes grown in a more controlled greenhouse environment. Once again samples were taken to Orkney for a blind taste test. And once again the results were clear: the tomatoes grown with volcanic rock dust came out on top, praised for their richer flavour. Was there something in this rock dust after all?
Since then, Ed’s curiosity has only deepened. He now suspects there is real science behind the results. His working theory? The mineral-rich rock dust helps nourish the soil’s microbiome, fostering a healthier underground ecosystem that, in turn, supports stronger more flavourful plants. What started as a cautious trial has grown into a genuine fascination and possibly the beginning of a much bigger story beneath the surface.
These photos show progress of carrots grown in three different ways. The left-hand one in each is with ordinary conditions. The one on the right is grown in soil with some commercially available volcanic dust mixed in. The middle one has soil with some Orkney quarry dust, from Cursiter Quarry. Ed Bollom’s growing them for you to sample at the Carrot Tasting on Friday 5 September. For the first photo he used a loam-based potting compost, and in the second photo it’s his own garden soil. The third one shows three tiny carrots to check on progress. Do you see any early differences in the photos?
Carrots and quarry dust
This year the experiment takes a new turn with carrots as the crop in question and a local twist on the source of the rock dust. Instead of using only volcanic rock dust, the trial will also include dust from Orkney’s Cursiter Quarry – a by-product of the thousands of tonnes produced there each year. Long before volcanic rock dust became a trend, local farmers were already spreading Cursiter dust on their fields, convinced it improved the quality of the grass their cattle grazed on.
Now that old belief will really be put to the test. Participants in the experiment will each grow three pots of carrots: one in regular garden soil, one with the addition of Cursiter rock dust and one with the addition of volcanic rock dust. The goal? To see whether there are measurable differences in plant health, crop yield and – most crucially – flavour.
For Ed it is the flavour and nutritional aspect which matters most.
So many of the health issues we have today are connected to our diets having a low nutritional value. You just won’t get micronutrients and all kinds of trace elements if you eat hydroponically grown food like a lot of our fruit and vegetables are today. Encouraging people to grow their own is one way to ensure healthy eating.
The first thing I say when I run gardening workshops is that the secret is in the soil. Looking after the it is fundamental to any kind of gardening whether productive or not – look after the soil and the plants look after themselves. A lot of people know about gardening but I think it is really important to teach them a sustainable method. Also, it encourages people, and children in particular, to understand where their food comes from so they can make better decsions about what they buy from the shops and understand what is good quality and what isn’t.”
A message for Orkney
Food security is a topic Ed believes we can’t afford to ignore.
We all learned a bit of a lesson during Covid. For a few days the shelves were bare and we suddenly realised just how fragile our global supply chain really is.”
In Orkney that vulnerability has always been part of life. As one of the last stops in the supply chain Orkney is used to delays, whether caused by storms, ferry disruptions or larger crisis.
Historically most people in Orkney had their own vegetable plots growing what they needed. But in recent years the convenience of supermarkets has made that tradition less common. A big part of what Ed advocates is about reviving that culture – encouraging people to grow just a bit more, connect with others doing the same, and create a stronger more self-reliant food system.
If people grow even a little of their own food it is completely decentralised and more resilient to disruption. And Orkney is an amazing place to do this. The soil’s incredibly fertile, there’s no shortage of organic matter from cattle and seaweed and now there’s access to local rock dust. Everything you need is already here. It’s a brilliant place to grow your own.”
Bollom Gardens, run by Ed and his wife Anna, is based in Fochabers and carries out work around the north and north-east of Scotland.
Mary Leonard began her journalistic career on The Orcadian. Since then she has lived and worked in different parts of the world. She now lives in Edinburgh where she works as a psychotherapist and counsellor and continues to enjoy writing.
