Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi
I have moved to the Highlands just outside Inverness from deepest Reading and am about 600 feet above sea level. Could anyone give me a clue as to which fruit and veg do best at this height? I'm also hoping to get a polytunnel soon.
Thanks
Mole

I don't think height is your problem - I'm at 600' and grow most things - but I'm not so sure about latitude!
Whatever you do don't believe all you are told, I think people are generally pessimistic about what (and when) is possible. Assuming you are there for the long haul, start a diary and experiment and develop your own wisdom.
I think all soft fruit should be fine but I have my doubts about top fruit - I think you'll have to look round and ask about that.
I would think all but the softest veg should be fine just somewhat later, a tunnel might bring you back close to Reading time. I have dug and sheeted over my potato bed this weekend and will plant earlies under a cloche first week in March to start eating in May. People up here thought I was mad when I started doing it but I have never lost the crop, that's what I mean about not believing and experimenting!
Perhaps somebody North of the border will give you more precise advice.

hello
I used to live on Speyside at 1000ft above sea level.
I had success with most veg but do NOT be in a hurry to plant/sow. I have had potatoes completely blackened with frost on 28th June!
I had good crops of rasps,strawberries and gooseberies.
On the veg front, I grew cabbage,potatoes,carrots & peas and beans. Crops like cougettes,cucumbers were ok under cover so your polytunnel is a great idea.
I didn't grow any top fruit but my neighbour did get good crops from his apple trees regularly.
You may be close to the coast in your new home so perhaps frost won't be too much of a problem.
If I can help any more please let me know.

Thanks Geoff and Jethrotattydrill for your advice. Jethro please can I ask which peas and beans you grew? I guess that French beans would have to be under plastic (having lost a crop in Reading in May due to a late frost) but would dwarfs be better than climbers? I grew Trout and climber Coco in Reading last year with good results, even though the summer wasn't brilliant. Is the summer long enough to grow beans for seed?
How about onions and leeks? Do they need to be covered?
Sorry for all the questions, I've lived down south for all my life so this is quite an adventure!
Best wishes
Mole

Hi MoleandRatty
Top priority get a pollytunnel up as soon as possible, It replicates the weather down south where most of the kitchen gardeners live and most of the advice applys to.
I live over by Peterhead and only a couple of hundred feet up but it gets awfully cold here for longer than most other gardeners.
Generally I grow the same as every one else but you need to be aware of late frosts so don't be in too much of a hurry to get anything in the ground.
You won't be able to grow Sweetcorn, squashes, outdoor tomatoes or any of the cucumber family, that's why you need a tunnel
Root crops are very successful for me, carrot fly is a problem but I now grow them in cattle lick pots ( about 18 ins in dia and a foot high) plenty around as I'm in the middle of cattle country.Parsnips are always a huge success I've just dug up the last of them to get the ground clear for the spring which doesn't arrive here till the middle of April at the earliest and is when I put my first spuds in
I get good crops of Cabbage, Sprouts but not much success with Broccoli but may be that's just me.
Peas do well but we are not bean people so can't tell you about them.
Onions grow well but there is always the problem off drying them off not enough heat towards the end of the season and the tunnel is too damp at that time of year to do the job properly although that's where I always put them as there is usually a lot of them and not enough room to go anywhere else
I grow my own sets by planting up a tray of seeds and bringing them on in the tray, watering and feeding until they are the size I want then stop that and let them dry out ready for next year Bedford champion is my choice though I do usually buy a net of something else as well. I also grow onion seed on in modules, I like to keep all options open. Leeks are just as easy and all the usual varieties I have tried do well.I have Garlic inside and out of the tunnel but you probably know that one of the most succesfull garlic growers in the UK is just 20 mile from you
I have Asparagus in the garden but the best place is in the tunnel, mine is 14ftx 30ft and I have two short rows of 4 plants in a row, home grown Connovers colossus.The rows are only a 18 ins apart but the amount of Asparagus I get is fantastic,
Soft fruit is a must up here, all grow very well, If you have a sheltered spot Victoria plums do very well and when you have a tunnel the worlds your lobster In the tunnel I have Nectarine, Blueberries and an Apricot.and of course a couple of early pots for a spring treat along with 6 Strawberry plants.
I have a propagator in the tunnel made from an office desk with the top built up with the kind of 2 wall plastic they use for conservatory roofs.and the heating in it is a bedroom tubular heater of 80 watts. As you can see I have mains electric in there and also water which is fed from my garage water butt 30yds away, the electric is from the garage as well. Made an extension lead using armoured cable and ran it with the hose pipe 6 inches under ground. Now waiting for dire warnings from the Elf police about safety but I just tell them that it's OK as I wear my rubber nickers when i'm spraying water around.
My don't I ramble on, anyway don't forget the tunnel get a good sized one up as quick as possible and remember whatever you put up next year it will be too small.
Arthur e

Many thanks Arthur, I spent Christmas and New Year in Macduff so I've a bit of an idea of how cold Peterhead is. Wasn't it cold just before Christmas... I've contacted Highland Polytunnels and there is one on the way!!! Also ordered a huge number of fruit bushes to go on our sunny bank, just hope the deer don't get them
We are going to have to erect the tunnel in the spot with the best aspect, then see how much soil we have as it's a bit patchy in respect of depth, i.e. ranging from about 18 inches to 2, I think that there's going to be quite a bit of soil movement to build it up. This isn't a problem really as the rocky bits I can turn into flower garden. Once we have the one polytunnel tho', I just know that we will want another. The trouble is the warmer days make you want to get going with seeds etc patience is required in wheelbarrow loads.
Best, Mole

Hi Mole,
Glad to hear that things are progressing for you.
Most of the Highlands seen to suffer from high winds and the siting of a polytunnel is quite critical where high winds are concerned.
I think you have been there long enough to have worked out where the prevailing wind comes from. That prevailing wind should flow over the tunnel from side to side, giving an aerofoil effect over the polythene, and not end on to the wind. This will prolong the life of your new tunnel by an awful lot. If you situate the tunnel end on to the wind it is for ever charging in and blowing up the polythene, billowing one moment and deflating the other, which causes stress on the polythene. The situation has very little effect on light values if any at all.
Hope this helps.
JB.