news
Add the ‘Wow’ Factor to your Garden
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.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Onions, shallots and potato sets now in stock
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
Autumn Tree Planting
With darker evenings and farmers busy harvesting, our thoughts are turning to autumn tree planting. Autumn is fast approaching, it is my favourite time of year and a busy one for gardeners.
The late summer and autumn are the perfect seasons for getting trees established. Here at Woodside we bring on some of our own trees from British sourced stock and also work in partnership with Frank P Matthews tree nursery – a multi-award winning nursery which supplies top quality container grown trees to many UK planting projects. As you can see from the photo, this is a huge operation consisting of propagation greenhouses and polytunnels, nursery beds and fields and fields of trees. The lake you can see to the left of the photograph is their reservoir for all that watering.
Autumn Tree Planting Tips
We are now taking advance orders for autumn trees and if you click HERE you will open our list of container grown fruit and ornamental trees that are available this autumn. I’ve indicated rootstocks when appropriate for fruit trees, and pot sizes for the ornamentals, as well as the price. Some of the items are available just now, and the rest will be due in late August/September. If you would like to order a tree from the list please call 01835 830315 and have your card handy to make a payment. Alternatively email me emma@woodsidegarden.co.uk with your order and leave your phone number so we can call you back for payment. We’ll then phone as soon as the trees are available for you to collect, or we can arrange delivery.
Don’t forget to:
- stake and tie to secure your trees against wind damage
- feed trees with bonemeal
- help the roots establish with Rootgrow
- use planting compost for sites with poor soils
- use tree guards if you are plagued by rabbits and hares.
Autumn and Winter Bedding
Autumn and winter bedding plants will be arriving at Woodside soon, along with our biggest range of bulbs yet – lsign up to our newsletter to receive the latest updates.
Job Opportunities at Woodside
We are currently recruiting for these two job opportunities:
Kitchen Assistant
Working a shift pattern of 3 days on and 3 days off (with flexibility to do extra shifts when required). Duties include preparing light lunches, making sandwiches, icing cakes, baking scones, making soups and quiches, clearing tables, washing dishes and cleaning.
Plant Centre Assistant
A part time position to include some weekend work. Duties include till operations, customer care, answering phones, plant maintenance, off loading deliveries, pricing up goods and everything else involved in a busy garden centre. Multi-tasking abilities essential!
Both positions require excellent levels of fitness. If you are interested, call Emma on 01835 830315 for a chat. If I don’t pick up the phone, just leave a message.
Latest Plants in Stock
We are an independent plant centre, so we like to treat our customers to some specialist plants – ones that will make their garden stand out from their neighbours. We also stock plants that will survive our Scottish weather – very important given the recent late cold snap. Here are a selection of the more unusual varieties we currently have in stock:
Japanese Maples
These beautiful little trees will enhance any garden and look good in pots, as well as in borders, near water features and in oriental inspired plantings. Our plants are coming into leaf and are hardened off so can cope with the current cold weather.
Acer palmatum varieties:
- Emerald Lace
- Trompenburg
- Dissectum
- Enken
- Osakazuki
- Jerre Schwattz
- Red Feathers
- Bloodgood
- Garnet
- Katsura
- Acer conspicuum Red Flamingo
- Acer shirasawanum Aureum
- Acer shirasawanum Jordan
Bamboos
Gorgeous full potfuls of plants. We have four varieties available just now:
- Fargesia angustissima
- Fargesia Rufa
- argesia robusta Pingwu
- Fargesia Jumbo
Water Lilies
If you are visiting our new aquatics department and are wanting to plant up your pond, we also have good choice of water lilies for both large and small ponds
- Gonnere (White)
- James Brydon (Red)
- Marliacea Chromatella (Yellow)
- Mrs Richmond (Pink)
- Odorata sulphurea (Yellow)
- Pygmaea helvola (Dwarf Yellow)
- Snow Princess (White)
- Vesuve (Red)
- Xiafei (Red)
- Attraction (Red)
- Charles de Meurville (pink)
- Sioux (Pale Pink)
- Albatross (White)
This is just a small selection of the range of plants we have in stock, so please come and browse, if you are not sure we are always happy to advise you.
Pond Supplies
One of the most rewarding garden features is a pond, and we now have everything you need to build a brand new one, or to improve an existing one. Enjoy the sound of running water with a fountain or waterfall, encourage wildlife with our range of plants and water treatments and relax watching your ornamental fish.
Pond Supplies
As previously reported we now have an aquatics department here at Woodside. We stock the Oase range of pond pumps to suit a range of features, from a solar powered pump for small ponds and barrels, to large pumps to create a stream or waterfall, and everything in between. We sell Gordon Low Greenseal liner by the metre, so you can buy as much or as little as you require to suit your design. For existing ponds we have a range of water and fish treatments including organic barley straw pellets to keep your water clear. Look out too for “Water Bombs” which are a bacteria filled capsule which will kickstart your filter system to create a healthy habitat for pond fish and wildlife. We’ve just had a fresh delivery of water plants, including water lilies and oxygenators to enhance your pond.
Ornamental Fish
NEW for this weekend is a range of pond fish, including Sarasa Comets, Golden Orfe, Shubunkins, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench and Goldfish, and we also sell fish food to keep them happy and well fed! Garden lighting helps you make the most of your evenings in the garden and our range is suitable for submerging in the pond or for lighting up other garden features. Stephen is our resident expert in all things aquatic, and he is happy to take appointments for you to come in and discuss your requirements. – just phone in first to check his availability.
We are looking forward to a very busy Bank Holiday weekend with plenty of plants in stock and the tea room open. If you want to book or want to speak to Stephen please call us on 01835 830315.
Due to limited internet access and spending time with our customers at Woodside we may miss any messages via social media. If we don’t answer, just leave a message and someone will get back to you.
Tea Room Re-opening on 26th April
You will be delighted to know that the tea room will re-open for sitting in on the 26th April in line with the Government timetable. Due to social distancing measures we will have limited capacity within the tearoom, so we are happy to accept bookings for indoor seating from the 26th onwards. There is plenty of space outdoors for sitting in the garden, and we have spread out the picnic tables to give you all more room. You can also bring your own folding chairs if you wish.
Take Away Service
In the meantime our tea room is open for takeaways, so you can enjoy soups, sandwiches, cakes, traybakes, scones, and hot and cold drinks, as well as daily specials such as pork pies or quiche. As the takeaway service has been so popular, we will continue be continuing to offer this service to customers even when the indoor space is open.
Tea Room staff required
We are looking for a new member of staff to join our hard-working tearoom team. Ideally we would like to recruit someone with cafe experience, but more important is the ability to quickly adapt to learn new skills, good customer care qualities, flexibility to work any days required and a cheerful manner. You’ll need to be available to work regular shifts which will include both some weekdays and weekends, and have a willingness to cover for holidays and staff sickness. A good level of fitness is also a requirement – you’ll be on your feet all day! If you are interested give me a call on 01835 830315 for a quick chat with either myself or Helen and we’ll take it from there. If we are busy, the answerphone will pick up – please do leave a message with your name and number so we can call you back.
Aquatics Department Now Open
We were delighted to be able to open to the public again on the 5th April and to be able to launch our new aquatics department in the walled garden area. You can now buy pond pumps and filters, coldwater fish food, pond plants and oxygenators, pond treatments and pond lighting. Pond liner should be in stock by the end of this week and coldwater fish will be available later this month.
Birdhouse Tearoom
The tea room is now open for takeaways, so you can enjoy our delicious cakes, scones, traybakes, soups and sandwiches with hot or cold drinks.
We have some plenty to tempt you in the plant centre too: roses, peonies, rockery plants, trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, herbs, climbers, seeds and much more. Don’t forfet our stoneware, including statues and bird baths or our Errington pots and planters for added interest in your garden this summer.
Grocery Store
Following the success of our grocery shop over the last 6 months, we are now committed to keeping this opne daily. Items include fresh fruit, salads and vegetables, frozen ready meals, lentils, split peas, organic stock cubes, naan breads, curry sauces, dried fruit, nuts, free range eggs, local honey, dried mushrooms, brioche baguettes, oatmeal, polenta, semolina, gnocchi and much more.
Remember that we get freshly baked sourdough bread every Wednesday and Saturday.
We still have to stick to the rules regarding Covid-19, so please:
- Wear a face covering in all indoor areas
- Maintain 2m social distancing
- Sanitise your hands on arrival
Please be patient with us – you may have to queue during your visit as we will be limiting the amount of people in at any time. We also have two new members of plant centre staff, a new till, new products and a new lay-out, so things will take a bit of getting used to!
We are very pleased to be welcoming you back to Woodside, and we hope you have a relaxing, enjoyable and safe visit.
Garden Centre Opening on 5th April
Good news at last! The Garden Centre will be re-opening on 5th April, so we are now busy making sure that your return to Woodside will be the best possible experience. We have been busy unpacking new stock for some weeks now. To allow us to fully prepare, the call and collect service will be ending on 31st March. However the grocery shop will be open every day, including all the Easter weekend. From 5th April we will also be offering a takeaway service from the tea room for drinks, cakes, scones, sandwiches and soup. Our summer opening hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm will also start on 5th April.
Garden centre stock
We are delighted to be offering an extended range of potting shed essentials this summer – these include the new range of bamboo pots and seed trays – an excellent sustainable alternative to plastic plant pots that will last approximately 5 years and are then compostable. Another new product are the Vigoroot planters – these are fabric planters that enourage vigorous rooting, helping them be resistant to harsh weather, pests and diseases.
We have also had a delivery of pots and planters from Errington, Reay and Mims and it will be so much easier for you to chose the perfect pot once the garden centre has re-opened. Last year we introduced a range of Green Man wall plaques which were so popular we have extended the choice this year.
We have some excellent starter shrubs in stock as well as rockery plants, bedding plants, bulbs and seed potatoes.
If you would like to receive regular updates on new stock as it arrives, plus offers, please sign up to the newsletter.
Our Grocery Section
As our regular visitors will know we have added a grocery section to the plant centre. We sell a great range of fresh fruit and vegetables and we have a delivery twice per week. The selection is seasonal, so may include, potatoes, leeks, celeriac, parsnips, carrots and onions – all perfect for warming soup. We also have broccolli, sprouts, beetroot, squash and salad items available and apples, pears, bananas, oranges and satsumas.
Our grocery section also includes local honey, free range eggs and stock cupboard items such as nuts, dried fruits and pulses.
Christmas deliveries
There always tends to be a bit of a rush to get fruit and vegetables in the run up to Christmas. We will be getting a delivery on both Tuesday 22nd and Tuesday 29th, so you can stock up for the two holiday weekends.
Our grocery section means that you can get your weekly fruit and veg shop at the same time as you do Christmas shopping for gardening friends, treat yourself to something fort he garden and pop in for a Christmas lunch. If you are hardy you can even meet up with another household in our outdoor seating area – blankets are provided!