Readers’ gardens
A four-acre croft in the Outer Hebrides, with veg, flowers and plants to make dyes from.
We’re having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave. Can you hear me singing? Dreadful I know. Summer has arrived in the Hebrides and it truly is a stunning place. Like all other gardeners, I’m out in the sunshine, deadheading, planting, weeding and wondering what I’m going to do with all the courgettes!
My fault I know. I bought a mixed packet of seeds, dark green, yellow, Lebanese (which just look like light green ones), round ones and pretty patty pan ones. I sowed four of each and, of course, they all came up. I’m bad at the thinning bit so they’re now taking over one side of the polytunnel and in the heat are flowering like mad.
I did the same with the tomatoes, and I just had to buy half a dozen aubergine plants that were reduced to 10p each in Tesco. They’ve perked up no end, so I think it’s ratatouille for us for the foreseeable future!
In the flower garden I’ve concentrated on hanging baskets and tall pots, mainly as we’ve had over 70 ducklings hatch, and you might be amazed at the chaos they can do in a border. However, a new enclosure is being built for them (with a pool and play areas), so my beds might recover by the autumn.
Cultivation on a neighbour’s croft clearly set some seeds free and our little wood is awash with foxgloves, which look lovely in shades of deep purple to white. Sometimes you just can’t beat wildflowers and the moor around us confirms this as it’s full of sways of bog cotton and harebells. Just bliss!