Posts by Emma Emmerson

We launched our Aquatics Department for the 2022 season over the first weekend in April. New this year is a range of lovely indoor water features, and these can all be found in our new purpose-built aquatics shop.  We are well stocked with pond plants, cold water fish, pumps, filters, pond liner, fish food, pond treatments and water features.

We have a good range of marginal pond plants and water-lilies, as well as moisture loving plants for bog plants. A few oxygenators are available too, although it is still very early in the season for these and more will be available in due course. Our new season range of coldwater pond fish is also now ready with some gorgeous fish including Goldfish, Koi and new this year are some stunning Diamond Sturgeon.

It’s still very early in the season and more exciting stock will be coming in over the coming weeks, including a good selection of oxygenating plants.

Also Available in early April:

* A new selection of “wind rockers” – charming garden ornaments that “see-saw” in the wind
* Herbaceous plant supports for perennials such as Paeonies, Delphiniums and Lupins
* Attractive wall brackets, suitable for hanging baskets and bird feeders
* Ornamental garden panels, in a “ready to rust” finish
* Garden obelisks for climbing plants
* Beautiful indoor “ladies faces” planters
* New display of Artwork in the Tearoom by Wendy Patterson
….and more.
Check our Facebook page for images of some of our new items by clicking HERE

We also have a great range of plants in stock just now – Ceanothus and Buddleias have arrived today, and we have a good selection of Heucheras, Herbaceous Perennials, Rhododendrons, Fruit Trees, Spring Pansies and Violas, Seed Potatoes, Onion Sets, Dahlia Tubers, and much more.

Our new compost area is almost complete and is now partially open and we have also had another delivery of used large black plastic tubs for £5 each, suitable for growing potatoes, veg and large plants. This will probably be the last batch of these – so don’t miss out.

The weather continues to be discouraging for the vegetable garden, but to give you something to look forward here’s a taster of what we have in stock just now ready for spring:

Seed Potatoes
An increased range of varieties are ready now, for chitting and planting out in March/April

First Earlies – Caledonian Pearl, Epicure, Pentland Javelin, Rocket, Duke of York, Sharpes Express, Organic Colleen
Second Earlies – Carlingford, Charlotte, Estima, Harry, Maris Peer, Nadine, Nicola, Sarpo Una, Lucera, Wilja
Main Crop – Caledonian Rose, Cara, King Edward, Pink Fir Apple, Organic Sarpo Mira, Salad Blue, Mayan Rose, Blue Danube, Allouette
By my reckoning that makes 27 different varieties to choose from!!

Onions and Shallots
We have the following varieties:
Onions – Stuttgarter Giant, Centurion, Hercules, Snowball, Sturon, Red Panther, Red Baron, Karmen
Shallots – Biztro, Golden Gourmet, Mikor, Red Sun, Yellow Moon, Mehnir
These are all suitable for planting outside now. Read our guide to planting onions here.

Vegetable Garden pre-packs
Now is a good time to plant all sorts of vegetable tubers and roots, and we have the following available now:
Rhubarb Red Champagne and Rhubarb Valentine
Jerusalem Artichoke
Globe Artichoke
Asparagus Pacific Purple
Horseradish

Vegetable and Green Manure Seeds
We now have a full range of vegetable seeds and green manure seeds for sowing either in seed trays, or directly into the ground, depending on the variety. Our range includes;
10 different varieties of Green manure, plus 2 mixes, – Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Crimson Clover, Field Beans, Grazing Rye, Phacelia (highly recommended for bees) Mustard, Winter Tares, Trefoil, and White Clover.
A great range of vegetable seeds, including Aubergines, 6 different varieties of beetroot, Leaf beet (Chard), Brocolli, Brussels Sprouts, 14 different varieties of Cabbage, 11 different varieties of Carrots, Cauliflower, Courgettes, Cucumbers, Kale, 12 different varieties of Lettuce, Onions (including Spring Onions), Parsnips, 11 different varieties of Peppers, Radish, Salad Leaf, 22 varieties of Tomato, French Beans, Runner Beans, Broad Beans, and Peas.
Hopefully there is something to tempt you there!

Compost and Gardening Accessories
It’s been a very hectic lately with boxes and boxes of deliveries coming in, we now have our full range of fertilisers and garden treatments now in stock. We are pleased to be stocking a wider range of “Grazers” products this year, which are an organic, harmless option to help reduce damage to plants caused by deer, pigeons, rabbits, slugs and snails, and caterpillars. We also have a new range of Growing Success “Safer Gardening” organic products to help solve garden pest and disease problems – Fungus Stop, Bug Stop and Rose Guard. Our range of slug and snail controls are all organic.

We have a full range of weedkillers, including glyphosate free options, and well as a new range of lawn care products, including grass seed, lawn weed-killer and feed, weed and mosskillers.
Most of our compost is now in stock (please bear with us while we build our replacement compost area) with the full Dalefoot range of Wool Compost arriving. Unfortunately they are unable to produce any Ericaceous compost again this year, but we do have the Westland Ericaceous Peat based version available.

We’ve just returned from a trip to Europe’s biggest antiques fair at Newark where we were  rubbing shoulders with the film crew of BBC’s Bargain Hunt.

We managed to source some vintage and unusual items for you to buy from our garden centre. Our very own “Star Buy” is undoubtedly the carved kingfisher perched on a log which we bought off the very first stall we came to. This probably dates from the 1950’s and could well be a one-off carving for a commission. It is much bigger than it looks from the photo, standing 3ft tall, so would make a real “wow” factor statement in the garden.

Vintage Items

Other purchases we made include a rare French greenhouse watering can, vintage Chinese rice/well buckets and an unusual French grain measuring bucket. The buckets could all be used for various purposes; such as holding magazines or kindling, for standing a pot plant in or just as a decorative item for the house.

For the garden we picked up a beautiful pair of vintage roosters, standing over 2 ft tall, a very disgruntled looking vintage bulldog and a small cast iron pump.  An old Indian laundry trough we sourced would be great as a water feature or small pond. The pair of vintage French bistro chairs, and two wall sconces in the form of an oriental looking ladies face are also lovely. Look out too for vintage tattie baskets and plant labels.

Modern and Stunning

We also picked up some other items that are modern, but gorgeous, such as a stunning copper bowl with an aged verdigris finish which Stephen is already imagining as a cascading water feature, and a beautiful finial roof tile with a decorative hawk, which could be mounted in the garden as a feature.

I’ve taken some photos on my mobile (below) but do come in and see them for real, as my photography skills and phone are both limited in their abilities!
Hopefully you can come in and see them, just ask and I’ll show you around our latest purchases.

Onion sets and shallots should be planted as soon as the ground becomes workable in late winter or early spring, and we have plenty of varieties in stock now for you to choose from. You may remember last year that we couldn’t get enough to satisfy demand – hopefully that won’t be a problem this season and there will be enough to go round.

Onion Sets

Centurion – one of the earliest to mature and has excellent yields.
Hercules – a mid-season variety, slow to bolt and excellent to store.
Karmen – a bright red variety with good storages
Pink Panther – a pink French onion suitable for early plantings. High yields and good storage.
Red Baron – a popular red skinned variety with good sharp flavour for salads
Snowball – probably the best white variety with a mild flavour. Excellent for pickling.
Sturon –  a best selling mid-season variety with reliable yields and stores well.
Stuttgarter Giant – another popular variety with golden skin and good yields.

Shallot Sets

Biztro – a slightly spicy flavour
Golden Gourmet – our best selling variety with a mild flavour
Mehnir – a French banana shallot with a copper skin and mild, sweet flavour
Mikor – a red French variety with a sweet flavour perfect for cooking
Red Sun – a mild red shallot
Yellow Moon – excellent disease resistance

Potato Sets

The annual Potato Day at Springwood Park in Kelso has once again fallen victim to the Covid pandemic and will not go ahead this year. We are hoping to organize some sort of alternative outdoor event at Woodside if we can.
In the meantime we have secured a range of “Taster Packs” of some unusual potato varieties for you to try. These are available just now, but it is still to early to plant outside, so store in a cool, frost-free dry place until you’re ready to start chitting and planting.

Our current potato varieties are:
Carlingford – a second early suitable for containers. Very reliable and resistant to scab
Caledonian Rose – a red skinned variety with yellow flesh and good eelworm resistance. A reliable maincrop variety
Blue Danube – this is bred by the Savari Research Trust which produces varieties with natural disease to blight and viruses. This is a high yielding maincrop variety with blue skin and white flesh
Sarpo Una – another Savari variety with excellent blight resistance. This is a reliable second early variety for salad potatoes or leave to mature for baking potatoes
Alouette – a blight resistant main crop variety with a red skin. Award winning variety for it’s flavour
Harry – a second early with white oval tubers and yellow flesh. Good for roasting, mashing and baking
Heidi Red – a maincrop variety with long tubers with red skin and flesh. Good for salads
Lucerna – a second early with high yields and excellent flavour. Considered one of the best for baby new potatoes
Mayan Rose – a maincrop variety with a red skin and yellow blotches.
Salad Blue – a vigorous maincrop potato with distinctive blue flesh with floury texture. Good all-rounder
Our “Taster Packs” are £2.49 each for a pack of 10 tubers.

Other Vegetables available now:

Globe Artichokes
Jerusalem Artichoke Fuseau
Asparagus Pacific Purple
Rhubarb Red Champagne
Rhubarb Valentine