Page 44 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

Annual
Garden Visit
– The Isle
of Bute
This year, the Scottish Branch organised a garden visit to the Isle of Bute, off the west coast of Scotland. We met at the ferry terminal, at Wemys Bay, in time for the ten o’clock ferry to Rothesay. Waiting to meet us on the island was our host for the day, Niall Currie, along with Bruce
& Rhona Begg and Dugald McDougall.
A private bus was at hand to take us around the various gardens for the day in addition to a couple of cars, courtesy of Niall Currie and Hoss Martin.
Our 1st stop was Ardencraig Gardens, which is maintained by Agyll & Bute Council ( acquired in 1970). After some amazing reversing skills by our bus driver, we hopped out of the bus who’s door was perfectly lined up with the garden opening. This small, beautiful garden included fuchsia, dahlia and bedding displays , as well as a large selection of more exotic plant species within the numerous glass houses. The gardens also had a few aviaries and we enjoyed seeing the variety of plants and bird life in the sunshine. We also had the opportunity to marvel at Mark McCormack’s large exhibition onions in one of the garden’s polytunnels and were amazed by the size of these large onions in such small individual pots.
Next stop was to the Mount Stuart Kitchen Garden, approx.. 5 miles from Rothesay. This garden is owned by the Mount Stewart Trust and the extensive walled garden was home to several
Alan Yates admiring the parsnips
vegetable plots and flower beds, laid out
in patterns, with most finished off with a neat box hedge. Some plots contained a nice mixture of both flowers and vegetables to give a lovely display. The greenhouses contained mainly tomatoes grown on a diagonal cordon. An extra treat was to drive through the extensive woodland and see the magnificent main house.
A spot of lunch at the Kingarth Hotel just
as the heavens opened and the rain came down (well, this is Scotland !) , however, thankfully perfect timing as we boarded the bus to travel back towards Rothesay for our final garden of the day, the sun came out once more.
They say we always leave the best till last and a visit to Niall Currie’s Garden to see how he grows his fabulous vegetables was certainly that. What a treat. I could not
44 Simply Vegetables
Mark's onions
Mount Stewart