Gardening

We have a lot of new plants in stock for the weekend including hardy geraniums and rosemary, which many of you have been requesting. Even though the weather is disappointing we are very busy in the plant centre with new arrivals of soft fruit, hydrangeas, bamboos and our biggest range yet of bedding plants.

Hardy Geraniums

We’ve been struggling all season to get hardy geraniums in stock. A combination of a cold spring slowing down plant growth and a reduction in production both in 2020 and this year due to lockdown, has lead to plant shortages. However we’ve now managed to get some hardy geraniums for you to enjoy – choose from Johnson’s Blue, sanguineum Album and Brookside. Next week we’re expecting even more varieties to come in. Sign up for the regular emails for up to date stock information.

Herbs

So many of you have lost herbs this spring, with almost all local gardeners saying they have lost their rosemary plants. This weekend we will have another batch of Rosemary available after being without for a couple of weeks. Other herbs include Basil, Mints, Tarragon, Lemon Verbena, Thymes and plenty more.

Water Gardening

We have a good range of water plants currently in stock including oxgenators, marginals, bog plants and water lilies. Our beautiful selection of water lilies includes pygmaea varieties for small ponds and larger varieties in a range of colours for larger ponds.

We also stock barley straw pouches for clear water, aquatic compost and baskets for re-potting water plants, and aquatic plant fertilizer for feeding existing plants.
We’ve just had another delivery of coldwater fish – our selection now includes: Goldfish (Comets), Blue or Golden Orfe, Shubunkins and new this week Koi Carp and Ghost Koi.  We also stock a good range of fish food, fish treatments and nets for catching them up.

This coming week is a big one for us as Spring arrives and new stock of plants are arriving daily. I’ll be sending out emails as and when stock arrives, so if you would like to receive this information please sign up to the newsletter if you haven’t already done so.

The current varieties of ornamental trees for sale are listed below. Please note some trees we only have 1 per variety, so once its’ gone that’s it. Our garden centre is temporarily closed due to Government Covid Restrictions, so please phone in all orders on 01835 830315 and have your card details ready.

Acer griseum £44.99 (Paperbark maple)
Acer pensylvanium £44.99
Amelanchier Snow Flakes £44.99
Amelanchier Ballerina multistem £125.00
Betula dalecarlica £54.99
Betula jacquemontii  £54.99 (White stemmed Birch)
Betula Snow Queen £54.99
Castanea sativa £44.99 (Sweet Chestnut)
Cedrus deodara Klondyke £49.99
Fagus Dawyck Gold £65.99
Fagus Dawyck Purple £65.99
Ilex argentea marginata £42.99 (self-fertile female holly)
Ilex aquifolia £42.99 (Common holly)
Ilex Handsworth New Silver £44.99 (self-fertile female holly)
Malus Crimson cascade £49.99 (Weeping Crabapple)
Malus Golden Hornet £39.99
Malus Gorgeous £49.99
Malus Indian Magic £49.99
Malus Royalty £49.99
Physocarpus Diablo (tree form) £52.99
Prunus amanogowa £49.99 (Flagpole Cherry)
Prunus avium £44.99
Prunus padus £44.99
Prunus Hokusai £49.99 (Classic Japanese Cherry)
Prunus Jaqueline £44.99
Prunus Trailblazer £44.99
Prunus tibetica £44.99 (Snalebark Cherry)
Sorbus aucuparia £49.99 (Native Rowan)
Sorbus Croft Coral £49.99
Sorbus Eastern promise £49.99
Sorbus Glendoick Spire £49.99
Sorbus Red Bird £49.99
Sorbus Sunshine £49.99
Sorbus Rose Queen £49.99

Special Offer Alnus glutinosa were £44.99 now £29.99 – last years stock and needing to be planted out.

Also in Stock

We have had a new delivery of seed potatoes and onion sets. For vegetable and flower seeds please ‘phone us with your list and we will put together your order.

We have a full range of compost and fertilisers for you to start preparing the garden for spring.

To order any garden centre item including trees, compost and seed potatoes please call 01835 830315 and have your card details ready for payment – we can then make a timed appointment for you to safely collect your order. We cannot accept orders via email or social media – phone orders only please.

**Please don’t just turn up for garden centre items- we cannot serve you at this time and there is no access to the plant centre**

Add some colour to your life with our spring flowering bulbs – £2.50 each or any 5 for £10.

• Anemone blanda Blue
• Chionodoxa luciliae Blue, Pink or  White
• Crocus Cream, purple, or yellow
• Dwarf Daffodil Rip Van Winkle, February Gold, Jetfire, Minnow or Tete a tete
• Daffodil WP Milner
• Fritillaria uva vulpis or meleagris (Snake’s Head Fritilliary)
• Hyacinth City of Haarlem (Primrose yellow), Delft Blue, Miss Saigon (violet purple) or Pink Pearl
• Dwarf Iris reticulata Cantab, Harmony or JS Djit
• Muscaro armeniacum (Grape Hyacinth)
• Scilla white or blue
• Tulip Calypso, Candy Prince, Flair, Kikomachi, Purissima, Purple Prince or Tarda.
• Winter Aconite

These are all suitable for planting directly out into the garden or into pots and tubs, or you could bring them indoors to brighten up your home.

New spring flowering bulbs this week

• 6 pack of dwarf daffodil Tete-a-Tete  £5.99
• Carry packs and pots of bluebells – £4.99

Compost Update

In stock now:

• Multi-purpose Compost with Added John Innes £6.99
• Ericaceous Compost £7.99
• Tree and Shrub Planting Compost £7.99
• John Innes Numbers 1,2 & 3 £4.99
• Standard growbags £3.25
• Organic Farmyard manure £5.99
• Decorative Mini Bark £6.99
• Dalefoot Wool Potting Compost £7.99 (Peat Free)
• Dalefoot Wool Double Strength Compost £8.99  (Peat Free)
• Dalefoot Wool Tomato Compost £7.99  (Peat Free)
• Dalefoot Wool Compost for Salads and Vegetables £7.99  (Peat Free)
• Dalefoot Seed Compost £5.99  (Peat Free)
• Dalefoot Lakeland Gold Claybuster £7.99  (Peat Free)

New Horizon Peat Free Multi-purpose Compost will be with us next week, so we can take advance orders for that. If you have already ordered this, we will phone you to let you know when it comes in.

As all Scottish Garden Centres are currently closed to visitors, please use our Call & Collect service to order all bulbs, plants, seeds, seed potatoes and compost  –
01835 830315

Some of our deliveries for new gardening stock have arrived earlier than expected, so we  are pleased to be able to take telephone orders for delivery or collection. There is no access to the garden centre at present, so we can only accept phone orders: call 01835 830315 – please leave a message if there is no answer. The grocery shop remains open daily, 10:00 to 16:00

Seed Potatoes:

We now have the following available at £3.99 per bag (apologies that we can’t split bags at this time)
Arran Pilot – 1st Early with white flesh and a firm waxy texture which holds its shape when cooking
Duke of York – 1st Early with a dry mealy texture. A very popular variety for Scottish growers
Epicure – 1st Early which matures early and makes renowned “new potatoes”
International Kidney – 1st early also known as Jersey Royal
Pentland Javelin – 1st Early waxy new potato for salad use and boiling
Rocket – 1st Early which matures early and has good disease resistance
Sharpes Express – 1st Early with pale lemon flesh which is excellent boiled as a new potato
Organic Colleen – 1st Early with good natural disease resistance making it suitable for organic gardening
Charlotte – 2nd Early which is our best selling variety, suitable for a wide range of uses, and is well known to all cooks
Estima – 2nd Early and one of the most popular all round UK varieties, makes good baking potatoes
Nadine – 2nd Early – one of my favourites for picking early for new potatoes or leaving longer for a good all-rounder

Vegetable Seeds:

Our 2021 range of vegetable, herb and green manure seeds is now in stock. There are too many varieties to list, so the best thing to do is to call on 01835 830315 and tell me your list and I’ll let you know what varieties we have and will pull an order together for you. Please note that I’m still waiting for my delivery of onion and shallot sets but hope these will be in soon.

Fruit trees:

Fruit trees are going to be very difficult to get hold of this year, but I’ve managed to get hold of a batch to keep us going for a while:
Apple Bramley
Apple Charles Ross
Apple Katy
Apple Discovery
All apples are on a M26 semi-dwarf rootstock

Damson Merryweather
Gage Cambridge
Gage Oullins Golden

Pear Conference
Pear Concorde
Pear Catillac
All pears are on a QA semi-dwarf rootstock

Plum Czar (St Julian A)
Plum Opal (St Julian A)
Plum Victoria (St Julian A)
Plum Victoria (Pixy)
These are all lovely looking trees and are ready to be planted out, once the ground conditions improve.

Compost

Our new season delivery of compost is due in next Monday (weather permitting) and I have ordered a bigger load than usual so that we don’t end up running out like we did last year. Demand is likely to be strong again this year, as we are all champing at the bit to get growing and get gardening, so I’m happy to take pre-orders. I know it seems early for items like growbags and seed compost, but I do recommend purchasing in good time so that you’re all ready to make a start once spring arrives.

We will have:
Peat free multi-purpose compost
Multi-purpose compost with added John Innes
Ericaceous compost for acid loving plants
Seed compost
Dalefoot Wool seed compost (Peat Free)
Farmyard Manure
Growbags – 2 different sizes
Dalefoot wool compost (peat free)
Dalefoot wool compost tomato planters (peat free)
Dalefoot wool compost for salads and vegetables (peat free)
Vegetable compost
Tree and shrub planting and potting compost
Decorative mini bark
Composted bark for mulching
Soil Improver
Lakeland Gold Claybuster

In addition to logs and kindling  we have extended our sustainable fuels to include coffee logs and eco-friendly firelighters.

Eco-Friendly Firelighters

Many of our customers have been requesting these, so we are now stocking eco-friendly firelighters from manufacturer Dr Heat. These are made out of a grass called Miscanthus, and combined with waste candle wax, they make super efficient firelighters. Here is some information about them:

Miscanthus is a high yielding grass grown specifically for energy production. These crops are grown  in Somerset and harvested in the Spring when they are naturally ripe. Therefore, reducing the need for further drying, and removing the use of fossil fuels to do so, unlike some other wood firelighter products on the market.

Each tonne of Miscanthus burnt, in replacement of coal, will prevent the emission of up to two tonnes of carbon dioxide. An additional benefit of growing Miscanthus is its ability to actively sequester carbon within the crop’s roots.

Miscanthus is recognised as the number one energy crop by the biggest power producers in the UK, as a carbon neutral replacement to coal.

• High dry matter yield
• Efficient use of available nutrients
• Efficient water usage due to deep rooting
• No recognised pests or diseases
• Requires no Pesticides or chemical fertilisers

Coffee Logs

Coffee logs  are made from waste coffee grounds collected from cafes across the UK, and turned into compact “logs” with a long burn time, intense heat and good flame, along with a slight coffee scent when you open the bag. These are for use on closed stoves and burners only and are not suitable for firepits or open fires.

The Grocery

Our fresh batch of fruit and vegetables has just been delivered, along with stock cupboard food items, such as curry sauces, naan breads, brioche baguettes and rolls, driied mushrooms (NEW), gnocchi, basmati rice, olive oil, granulated sugar, local honey, free range eggs, polenta, semolina, organic oatflakes, lentils, split peas, dried fruits and chocolate ginger and much more. We also have frozen ready meals available too, just in case you fancy a break from cooking!

January is the time for marmalade making and we have Seville oranges in stock now.

Call & Collect Update:

As I’m sure you are aware, all garden centres and cafes across Scotland are currently closed, and new restrictions have now been put in place for collection services. However I’m pleased to say that garden centres and plant nurseries are still permitted to offer collection services, and you can still place your orders by calling 01835 830315 10am – 4pm daily (just leave a message on the answerphone if no reply). Please note that I cannot accept orders through social media, so phone calls only please for all garden centre products, including wild bird feed, RHS Wildlife Flower seed mixes, and our fabulous SHOWA range of garden gloves. Don’t forget you can collect items when shopping for our groceries too.

I’m sure that you’re all still reeling from the weekend’s shock announcement that tighter restrictions will be in place throughout mainland Scotland from Boxing Day, meaning that all non-essential shops, pubs, and cafes must close, along with other businesses.

The good news is that Garden Centres have been reclassified since the initial March 2020 lockdown, and are now in the list of essential shops, which means that Woodside Plant Centre can stay open!

The bad news is of course, that our delightful tearoom must close from Christmas until restrictions are lifted again. Currently we do not plan to offer a takeaway service as we feel that this would have very limited appeal in mid-winter, but we will keep this constantly under review, and we may change this decision if we feel that there is sufficient customer demand.

For now though, it is “business as usual” until we close for our Christmas Break on Christmas Eve, so do come along this coming week to support us. Here are our revised opening times.

Until Christmas Eve, our tearoom is offering the usual range of soups, sandwiches, fresh scones, cakes, baked potatoes, pigs in blankets rolls, mulled non-alcoholic wine, and hot and cold drinks.

Our Plant Centre is well stocked with Christmas decorations, wild bird food (and we’ve just had a delivery of feeders too), garden tools, garden ornaments, and plants. Don’t forget that we stock a good range of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as dried food products. Our current highlights are – pomegranites, fresh cranberries, figs, chestnuts, Pink Fir apple potatoes, Conference pears, red cabbage, Bramley apples, chocolate coated peanuts, raisins and ginger and much more. Shopping for food at Woodside is a much nicer experience than supermarket shopping, particularly at this time of year, so do come and have a look at what we do.

With only a few days left until Christmas, we thought you might appreciate some last minute Christmas shopping ideas (or even better you could treat yourself!).

 Emma’s TOP 10 Present ideas for 20201.

1. Encourage wildlife into the garden with a Ladybird & Insect Tower £12.99
2. Bring some colour into the home with a deep red Amaryllis £8.99
3.  Get ready for propagating in the Spring with a Wooden Cold Frame Kit £79.99. NEW at Woodside
4. Add a feature to the garden with a Cast Iron Fairy – prices from £39.99 – £132.99
5. Enjoy watching the birds bathing in a Birdbath – various styles available from £29.99
6. Get out and about wearing one of our cheerful and comfortable Facemasks or Snoods from £4.99. A very 2020 gift!
7. Keep the children busy with our Kids Garden Tools from £6.99. Our range includes spades, forks, trowels, hand forks and rakes
8. Appreciate some winter flowers in the garden with a Hellebore (Christmas/Lenten Rose) from £14.99. All our Hellebores are either flowering now or have plenty of buds.
9. Plant up a Slate Planter with flowers of your choice – planters start at £12.99
10. Get digging with a really good Spade – £19.99 & £22.99

Hopefully this will give you a few ideas for that last bit of Christmas Shopping for this year.

This year the plant centre will be open between Christmas and New Year as we will be getting a delivery of fresh vegetables on the Tuesday. See all our opening times below.

We are now getting geared up for the Christmas season here at Woodside with our Christmas display ready for you to enjoy. We will also be making fresh wreaths and will be selling Christmas trees towards the end of this month. If you visit us from south of the border, sorry but we ask you not to visit us during your national lockdown, you can however pre-order and collect in December. Details of how you can pre-order wreaths and Christmas trees will be sent to everyone on the mailing list just in case we have another national lockdown in Scotland too.

In the Garden

Many of you will be preapring your garden for next year and we have plenty of items in stock both to brighten up your winter garden and to plan ahead. Highlights include:

Lily of the Valley – we sell these as bare-rooted “pips” at £3.50 each. A vey nostalgic plant that lots of people associate with their childhood
Asparagus – now is the time to plant asparagus crowns
Dogwoods – these are really coming into their own now, as they are at their best in winter when the brightly coloured stems can be seen. We have two varieties – Cornus alba sibirica, with rich red stems, and Cornus Midwinter Fire, which is a shorter variety with bright orange stems.
Liriope muscari Big Blue – evergreen grass like foliage with unusual blue flowers each summer
Penstemon Blueberry Taffy – still in flower even after all this rain.
Forsythia Lynwood – we struggled to get enough of this classic spring flowering shrub earlier this year, but we now have plenty
Viburnam tinus Gwenllian – an attractive  winter flowering evergreen shrub
Amelanchier Ballerina – these are available as a large multi-stemmed shrub, certain to make a quick impact. £125.00 each, but well worth it.

Gardening gifts

Whether you want to treat yourself or buy for your gardening firends, here are just a few ideas:

Gloves – we have the full range of Showa gardening gloves ready for all your winter gardening tasks.
String and twine – finally we have managed to source a good range of twine – it’s been as scarce as toilet roll this year!
Felco Secateurs – these are the “Rolls Royce” of secateurs and we have Model 2, 6, 7 and 9 available as well as the folding pruning saw and new to us this year, the Felco sharpening tool.  A perfect Christmas present for the gardener in your life.
Amaryllis Growing Kits  in red, pink or white. Great Christmas gifts and light enough to post.
Microwavable wheat bags to ease aches and pains after a long day in the garden. These are available in a variety of designs so you’re sure to find a suitable one.
Face Masks,  this year’s “must have” fashion accessory, are now available in some new designs including tartan, Highland Coo, snowflakes and holly berry. We now also stock snoods, which are suitable to use as a scarf, headband or face covering ,and these have a pocket within them to fit a face cover filter for extra safety and protection.

As you can see we’ve had an invasion of rabbits! Luckily not the living breathing sort, but attractive garden ornaments to bring a smile to your face. We’ve also now got back in stock birdbaths, slate planters, statues, chickens and ducks. These are all lovely additions to the garden and would make welcome Christmas gifts.

Bird Food

A couple of years ago we stocked locally produced bird cake pillars made with ground corn. I’m pleased to say that Adam, who makes them, has gone back into production with them again, and we have them back in stock. They were really popular when we had them before, both with customers and with our hungry wild birds, and with the weather turning chillier and the nights drawing in, the birds will be grateful for the warming energy boost that these fat pillars offer. They are priced at £9.99 for a pack of 2. We’re also well stocked up with all kinds of bird food to help our feathered friends keep condition over the autumn and winter months that are ahead of us. Remember our bird seed mixes don’t contain corn, so you’ll not get a lot of wastage and mess.

Garlic Doocot

Our first delivery of this Scottish bred and grown variety sold out in record time! More has arrived today, along with some lovely garlicky food items, such as mayonnaise and oatcakes. Our planting garlics are £1.50 per bulb or 3 bulbs for £4. Each bulbs contains on average 5 cloves which are planted individually. You can find full planting instructions on our website here.

New in the Tearoom

Now it’s getting colder we are offering hot jacket potatoes in the tearoom to either sit in, take home or take out into the garden. We still are only able to have limited indoor seating due to social distancing measures, so please be prepared to sit out under the shelter of one of our gazebos. You may want to consider putting on an extra jumper to deal with all this sitting out and outdoor queueing that we have to do at the moment!
We’ve also started to do bacon rolls from 10am – 12pm each day. Perfect to set you up for the day ahead.