Gardening

Compost

Well after another busy week selling plants for home delivery, our stock of compost is already dwindling, despite a huge delivery last week,  and I have had to place another order. We still have plenty of growbags, vegetable compost, tree and shrub planting compost, ericaceous compost (for acid loving plants) composted bark and manure. New this year is alpine compost – so don’t forget to ask for some when ordering rockery plants from us. We still have some multi-purpose compost left and more is arriving soon. We have sold about 6 months of compost in two weeks!

Vegetable seeds

We have plenty of most varieties in stock and we’re happy to pull together an order of seeds for you.

Scatter Gardens

This popular range of seeds is back in stock with us. It’s a great way of creating a wildlife friendly garden space and each box of seeds costs £8.99 each or 2 boxes for £15. Simply prepare the ground, scatter the seeds, and watch the garden grow! Choose from:

• Ultimate Wildflower Mix
• Classic Meadow Mix
• Woodland Shade Mix
• Bee Friendly Mix
• Cornfield Annual Mix and
• Fragrant Annuals Mix.

Seed Potatoes

We still have seed potatoes in stock and it’s the prime time for getting them planted out now. Our varieties are:

• First Earlies – Foremost, International Kidney (Jersey Royals)
• 2nd Earlies – Estima, Wilja, Nicola and Maris Peer
• Maincrop: Markies, Kerrs Pink and Pink Fir Apple.

They are all £3.99 per 2kg bag which probably has around 30 tubers per bag. We are unable to split bags at this time.

Bedding Plants:

We currently have the following ready: (Packs of 6 plants £3.50 per pack – 4 packs for £12)

• Violas: Yellow Jump Up, Purple Babyface, Pink Halo, and Mixed. Limited numbers now available
• Pansy: Clear yellow, Deep Orange, True Blue, Pink Shades and Mixed. Plenty of pansies available.

(Packs of 12 plants £3.50 per pack – 4 packs for £12)

• Lobelia: Upright Blue, Cambridge Blue, White Lady and Rosamund (Pink)
• Lobelia: Trailing Mixed, Fountain White, Fountain Blue, Sapphire (Lobelia sold in packs of 12, but are the same price, so excellent value for money and you can mix and match lobelia, pansies and violas to get your 4 packs for £12)
• *NEW THIS WEEK:* *Packs of bedding Geraniums – 4 per plants per pack £3.99 each – 4 packs for £15* Our geraniums are now available in white, red or mixed, and are one of our most popular bedding plant lines.
• Individual Geranium plants – £2.75 each – 4 for £10*
• Ivy-leaf geraniums (trailing) suitable for baskets and tubs: Burgundy Bi-colour, Pink, White or Red.
• Zonal geraniums- These are the ones with lovely variegation on the leaves as well as attractive flowers, and are perfect for containers or as a houseplant. Madame Salleron, Lotusland, Frank Headley or Mrs Pollock
• Tub and Basket Plants £2.50 each – let us pick out a selection of 6 for £12* Lysimachia aurea Ivy silver or gold; Nepeta variegata Felicia blue; Diascia pink or orange – looking really lovely in flowe;r Helichrysum silver or gold
• Trixies – 3 in 1 plants suitable for easy planting of hanging baskets and tubs. £3.99 each* -Cherry Kiss (pink mix) Blueberry Parfait (blues and pinks) Ayers Rock (hot colours)

Please note that we cannot take advance orders for any plants not in stock, as we cannot guarantee supply. Don’t forget to protect all your bedding plants from the frost – it’s still chilly out there at nights.

Vegetable Plants

If you fancy having a go at “Grow Your Own”, or are already an experienced grower, we have a good range of baby plants for you:

• Tomatoes – our range may include Shirley, Moneymaker, Alicante, Ailsa Craig, Beefmaster, Golden Sunrise, Floridity, Gardener’s Delight. There are £1.75 each – let us pick out a selection of 6 for you at £10 for 6. (Give yourself a pat on the back if you spotted my pricing error for tomatoes on the email last week!)
• Vegetable Packs- these are in packs of 12 and are £3.50 each or 4 for £12. Our selection may include Leek Musselburgh, Onion Ailsa Craig, Onion Bedfordshire Champion, Rocket, Cabbage Durham Early, Cabbage Advantage, Cabbage Ormskirk, Red Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Pea Sweet Horizon (mange tout), Pea Kelvedon Wonder, Broad Bean, and Sweetcorn. We also have Curled Parsley and Coriander in packs of 6 plants at the same price, and packs of 12 Kelsae Onions at £6 per pack.
• Other Vegetable Plants –  We also now have ready Pumpkin, Winter Squash, Sweet Pepper, and Chilli Pepper. These are sold as individual plants.

Fruit Plants

We currently have ready:

• Blackcurrants – Baldwin or Ben Lomond £6.99
• White Currants £6.99 Red Currants £6.99
• Pink Currants £7.99
• Blueberry – Darrow, Jersey, Pink Lemonade £9.99
• Gooseberries – Hinnonmaki Green or Red, Careless £7.99
• Loganberry £7.99
• Jostaberry £7.99
• Raspberry – packs of 5 potted plants £8.99 – Glen Prosen, Malling Leo, Autumn Bliss and All Gold
• Rhubarb – Champagne, Glaskins Perpetual or Victoria £7.99
• Blackberry Bedfordshire Giant £8.99

Herbaceous Plants:

These are our own home grown plants and some of the best plants for this week are:

• Heuchera Marvellous Marble and Coral Forest. Really full pots and highly recommended
• Nepeta Walkers Low and Six Hills Giant (Catmint)
• Knautia macedonica Red Knight
• Geum rivale (in bud), Lady Stratheden and Mrs Bradshaw
• Hardy Geraniums Johnson’s Blue, Orkney Cherry, Dreamland and Westray
• Actae Chocoholic – a really magnificent plants with dark foliage and tall spires of white flowers in late summer/autumn. Used to be called Cimicifuga
• Sanguisorba Tanna
• Aquilegia William Guiness – black and white, just like a good pint!
• Potentilla Miss Wilmott and nepalense Ron McBeth
• Campanula perscifolia White or Blue
• Polemonium Northern Lights or Lambrook Mauve
• Circium rivale
• Astrantia Roma
• Eryngium Jos Eijking and Blue Lagoon.

Prices range from £6.99 – £8.99 for most herbaceous plants

Penstemons

We are really pleased to offer some of the best hardy penstemon varieties, all as home-grown plants at £8.99 each:

• Raven (dark purple)
• Snowstorm (white)
• Garnet (red)
• Sour Grapes (pinky blue)
• Firebird (scarlet)

Roses

Available just now are:

• Flower Carpet Roses – long flowering period, easy to grow, disease resistant, the only thing they lack is fragrance, but you can’t have everything! We have the following colours £9.99 each: Pink Supreme, Red Velvet, Amber, Sunset, White, Scarlet
• Classic Shrub Roses £12.99 each: All fragrant and looking full of vigour Compassion (Apricot) Maiden’s Bush (Blush pink) Comte de Chambord (double pink, very fragrant) Cardinal de Richelieu (Purple) Felicia (Silvery pink)
• Climbers and Ramblers £14.99 each: Albertine (Pink) Golden Showers (Yellow) Galway Bay (Pink) Penny Lane (Pale yellow) Crimson Cascade Maigold (Warm yellow/orange) Dublin Bay (red)

Shrubs:

Highly recommended this week are:

• Syringa Palibin – dwarf lilac only growing to about 150cm. £11.99
• Physocarpus Diablo £9.99 – a really good foliage plant
• Hebes – Caledonia £10.99, Purple Pixie £10.99 and Nicola’s Blush £8.99
• Ceanothus – Italian Skies and Concha £11.99
• Ribes King Edward £10.99
• Forsythia Weekend £8.99 – very large plants for the price and full of cheerful flowers
• Hydrangea petiolaris £11.99 – this is the climbing form
• Photinia Red Robin £11.99 Beautiful plants
• Portugese Laurel £8.99
• Also new this week is Phygelius Devil’s Tears – a very under-estimated fuchsia like plant with tubular flower in late summer. £8.99 each

Rockery Plants

We have just had a fresh delivery of these, and the current selection includes masses of aubretia, saxifrage, alpine phlox, violas, sedum, armeria (sea thrift), dwarf aquilegias and more, and there is lots of cheerful flower colour. They are £4.50 each or let us select 3 for £12 for you. These are perfect for small garden spaces, rockeries, alpine troughs and containers and brilliant for instant colour. Don’t forget to ask for alpine compost for planting.

The office is currently unmanned, so please don’t email or Facebook orders. Other correspondence will be picked up at some point, and your messages of support and thanks are much appreciated even if I can’t find the time to respond individually.

Thank you so much for supporting Woodside, and I look forwards to welcoming you back on site as soon as we are able to re-open and operate safely. It’s just not the same here without you!

Keep safe and keep gardening……. Best wishes from Emma, Stephen and Laura

Plant deliveries are now coming in regularly and recent new arrivals include:

Hellebore orientalis Victoria – a beautiful form with deep maroon flowers and creamy yellow stamens which are carried high above the foliage so can clearly be seen. Try planting in one of our Courtyard range of Errington Reay pots for a really spectacular display.

Primula Red Lace – We’ve had “Gold Lace” in many times before (and have got it again this year). Red Lace has slightly larger flowers and they are a reddish maroon colour, tinged with a yellow edge, giving them a really old-fashioned appearance similar to Victorian auriculas, but much easier to grow.

Daphne transatlantica Eternal Fragrance – as the name implies this is a very sweetly scented Daphne with pale pink flowers in spring and summer. It’s not the cheapest of plants, but in the right spot will flower for weeks on end giving excellent value for money compared, for example, with a bunch of cut flowers.

Prunus Okame – a small ornamental cherry tree or large shrub which is one of the earliest of all the cherries to flower. It has lovely pink flowers and is hardy and easy to grow. Our plants have been grown in a shrub form rather than as a single stemmed tree.

Sarcoccocca confusa – one of my all time favourite plants, this is sometimes called  “Winter Box” because of it’s box-like leaves. It is a winter flowerer and has masses of tiny very scented flowers which smell strongly of honey. I’ve one of these just near a path in my own garden, and the smell of it on a sunny winters day is just remarkable.

Cotinus “Old Fashioned” – we had this lovely shrub in for the first time last year, and I know some of you were disappointed to find it sold out. It’s back in stock again, and although it doesn’t look like much at the moment (Continus are one of the latest of all shrubs to come into leaf in the spring) it will have lovely pink new growth, which will then turn a bluish-green for the summer, and finally bright pinkish red autumn foliage.

Phlox White Admiral – do you remember the eye-catching thigh-high white plant up near the tearoom last autumn? So may of you asked after it, and I’ve now got some plants ready for sale. It is a really robust bright white Phlox which is easy to grow and gives a wonderful display from late summer and into mid-autumn each year. It’s unusual in that the white is so bright and clear – many white plants can be a bit dull and tinged with pinks or greens, but not this one!

Known as the Kelsae Onion, it was bred in the 1940’s by Alfred Breed senior at Mertoun Gardens near St Boswells and then passed on to his son Alfred Breed junior (known as Alfie) in the 1970’s. Alfie sold it on to Sinclair McGills of Kelso (now known as Mayfield Garden Centre) who in turn sold it on to a branch of Mr Fothergills seeds who raised the seed at a location in Italy.

Crop failures in Italy over recent years has put the future of the seed into jeopardy, but thanks to local enthusiasts, the original strain of the seed has been kept going. Bert Duncan, who ran Newton Don Nursery for 28 years, is one of these growers, and thanks to him and other like-minded vegetable gardeners we have managed to get enough seed to produce plants for sale here at Woodside.

Exhibition Type Onion

It is a very large exhibition type onion, and enjoys slightly damper conditions than most onions so is ideal for our area. The large onions don’t always have the best of flavour, but can still be used in the kitchen once you’ve won your prize for the biggest onion at the Kelso Flower Show!

Where To Buy

If you fancy giving it a try you’ll need to reserve your plants in good time, as stocks are limited and always sell out quickly. Plants are usually ready in April for planting out in the garden then. For information of how to grow them, check our guide

Phone us on 01835 830315 to reserve plants.

Well, our thoughts are now turning to the new gardening season ahead of us, and we are getting lots of exciting new stock in.

To Buy This Week: Vegetable Plants, Hellebores & Bulbs

I’ve had a busy week this week, as Christmas has been finally “put to bed” and I’ve been getting the shop all ready for the spring season.

Although I enjoy the Christmas trading period I always feel a sense of relief when I can get back to being a garden centre again, and we all look forwards to getting fresh stock of plants in.

We now have our full range of vegetable, herb and green manure seeds all available, and one or two vegetable seed varieties really caught my eye.

Vegetable Plants: Cauliflower, Squash & Sprouts

Firstly a couple of club-root resistant varieties of brassicas – Calabrese Monclano and Cauliflower Clapton, which should prove to be useful for those of you who are unlucky enough to have club-root in your garden soil.

I also spotted a variety of squash called vegetable Spaghetti, which I remember my dad growing when I was a child back in the 70’s, probably with limited success. It’s now back in fashion again, and perfect for those of you who have a polytunnel or greenhouse to grow it in.

Look out too for an unusual sprout/kale cross called Flower Sprout Petit Posi, which has purple open sprouts with a frilly top. From the picture above it looks pretty enough to grow in the flower garden, and should be hardy enough for our Scottish Borders weather, so I might give it a go this year.

One of the first things to think about in the garden in January is your fruit trees and bushes. If you are looking to plant them, now is the perfect time. We have a good range of fruit bushes available in the garden centre, including raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries and currants.

Fresh stock of fruit trees are also available and ready for planting now.

Fruit Tree Pruning Course

If your fruit trees are established now is the time to prune them. This can sometimes be a daunting task, which is why are running a Fruit Tree Pruning course on 26th January.

Limited places are still available, so if you’d like to book a place please call Woodside on 01835 830315. This is a very popular course giving detailed information on pruning a whole range of fruit trees and bushes, and it’s also “hands-on” meaning that you get to practice and gain confidence with your pruning technique.

Bare-Rooted Plants

If you have ordered bare-rooted plants from us we should have those available the last week of January (weather depending), so we’ll phone you when they are ready for collection.