If you didn’t know already, Shetland (while still being part of Scotland) is a group of islands (16 of which are inhabited) situated a lot further north than the rest of the UK, in fact on the same latitude as Alaska.
And once again we have found ourselves having to learn about another kind of climate and way of growing. Which so far has been a good experience. The climate here is neither too hot or too cold, thanks to influence of the Gulf Stream (as long as that lasts), and frosts seem to be rare, though overall it is generally colder than I’m used to. The hottest it has ever got is 24C.
The only problem has been getting advice on what plants will do well here. Most people actually believe that nothing of worth will grow here, and certainly not trees, which is why the land is best used for wind farms and sheep ranching. Which sounded ignorant when I first arrived and has since proved to be total nonsense. The abundance of peat is enough to prove that these island were once heavily forested. The only reason there are so few trees now is they have been not been allowed to regrow by greedy crofters.
Our current house, a stopgap while we find an ideal property with more land, didn’t have a garden when we arrived, just a strip of pasture around it. So I have set about changing that in order to experiment in order to be ready when we do eventually move.
Having already learnt (from hard experience) that nothing will establish in a place with extremes of weather – in Spain & Portugal it was the searing heat and aridity in summer, here the constant and often gale-force winds – unless they are able to put down their roots quickly and far enough to survive, the first task has been to remove all the rock. Digging down to bedrock (about a metre) and sieving the soil.
All the very large pieces removed have been used to create drystone walls/ windbreaks. The mid-size ones stored for later, and the smallest to top dress our 200 metre shared access track.
Two compost heaps have been established to deal with all our waste, and worked perfectly from the outset. The result of many decades of trial and error until I finally realised that less is always more. Basically everything gets piled onto an area of soil, which is protected from the wind by a border of stones around three sides (to be replaced by a proper drystone wall in good time), then simply left to break down naturally. Nothing else, no structure or base, no need for turning, no inputs. Nature doing what is knows best and in return giving us usable compost in 12 months, after which it is spread onto the garden.
Compostable waste currently includes: wood ash & soot from the wood stove, cat litter, seaweed, comfrey, kitchen waste, and all the plant material that has become too rampant. There is also one other input I am not permitted to mention, but you probably know what that is from reading about our Spanish garden.
The growing season here is very short (May-September), but this is more than made up in the extra hours of daylight we get then. In June for example, it is light enough to see for almost 24 hours a day.
So far, we have managed to get the following different foraging (medicinal & edible) plants to grow outside without any protection or attention.
They are:
Apple, Asparagus, lemon Balm, Bittercress, Blackberry, Bugle, wild Chamomile, Catnip, Chickweed, Chives, Comfrey, common Daisy, Dill, common Figwort, Foxglove, Gunnera, wild Garlic, Honeysuckle, Horseradish, Horsetail, sea Kale, Lavender, Lovage, spear Mint, wild/Shetland Mint, Mugwort, Mullein, Nasturtium, Nettle, Oak, New Zealand Flax, wild Onion, Oregano, Raspberry, Redcurrant, Rhubarb, wild Rocket, Rosa rugosa, dog Rose, Shetland Rose, Rosemary, Rowan, Sage, Sedum, Seep Monkeyflower, Selfheal, Silverweed, wild Sorrel, St John’s Wort, Strawberry, Tansy, Tarragon, spear Thistle, Thyme, Valerian, Vervain, dog Violet, Yarrow, Whitebeam, Woad.
More than enough already to provide fresh herb tea six months of the year and a wide selection for salads. Tinctures should hopefully be possible from next year onwards.
Here are some pictures of the garden, taken around 2 years ago:
swipe to see more photos
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GARDEN BLOG
october 2025
I should have started a blog when we arrived six years ago, but this was never intended to be our real edible garden. So it’s probably worth starting one now to catch up. Apologies for the somewhat random approach to begin with.
Something I am busy with this month is taking hardwood cuttings to increase the number herbs we use a lot. As there is no space for a greenhouse I’ve taken cuttings, 30-45 mm lengths of the newest growth, and using an 18″ cold chisel & lump hammer to make a hole, planted them elsewhere. It’s a very quick job, but until now has not been very successful. This year though, I think I may have cracked it, my hunch being that the change in weather from summer to autumn is the ideal time, particularly in the mornings. Watch this space to find out.
I’ve also been doing this to create more hedging/ windbreak plants. Why pay for perimeter fencing (to keep the neighbour’s livestock out), when plants will do the job for free? New Zealand flax has got to be one of the best plants for this. When we moved here I found a single plant, buried in the soil still in its pot from the garden centre. Divided that up into six tiny plantlets, which were replanted them in a freshly dug trench about 1/2 m deep. Now they are over 3 m high, 1m thick, and totally stockproof. Rosa rugosa is another. One of those has been propagated into over 100 new plants in the same period of time. In fact one plant could make thousands if only I had the room here to plant them.
books
I have mentioned various useful titles on the other pages, but if you are looking for just one or two seminal references then you can’t do better than acquiring second hand copies of these:
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Here’s a link to Ken Fern‘s website and his amazing database of edible + useful plants – https://www.theferns.info/
You might also like to visit MOUNTAIN GARDENS, which is equally as good, but with more of an emphasis on plants for medicine – https://mountaingardensherbs.com/plant-databases
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finally
Here’s a list of some interesting seed and plant suppliers I’ve come across recently (click on the links to be redirected to their websites):
*KOKOPELLI – heirloom seeds for vegetables + herbs. My all-time favourite seed supplier – https://kokopelli-semences.com
TREE SEEDS ONLINE – seeds for forest gardens – https://treeseedsonline.org
HODMEDOD’S WHOLEFOODS – heirloom seeds for peas + beans + lentils – https://hodmedods.co.uk
GREEN MANURE – seed for green manures – https://www.greenmanure.co.uk/
WELSH DRAGON CHILLI – seeds of very interesting chilli varieties – https://welshdragonchilli.weebly.com/
POYNTZFIELD HERB NURSERY – seeds + plants for herbs – https://www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk/catalogue.html
SCOTPLANTDIRECT – plants for hedging + trees + fruit + vegetables – https://www.scotplantsdirect.co.uk/
DALMORE CROFT – comfrey plants – https://dalmore.org.uk
NATURESCAPE – seeds + plants for hedging + shrubs + climbers + trees – https://www.naturescape.co.uk/
ADAM’S APPLES – fruit trees – https://www.adamsappletrees.co.uk/
APPLETREEMAN – Scottish fruit trees + plants for soft fruit + edible hedging + heritage varieties – https://plantsandapples.com
SCOTTISH HERITAGE FRUIT TREES – fruit trees – https://scottishfruittrees.com
THE FRUITFUL FOREST GARDEN NURSERY – hardy perennial edible plants – https://fruitfulforestgarden.wordpress.com
SHE GROWS VEG – seeds for edible plants – https://shegrowsveg.com
REAL SEEDS – seeds for vegetables + fruit – https://realseeds.co.uk
EARTHSONG SEEDS – seeds for medicinal herbs – https://earthsongseeds.co.uk/
A FOOD FOREST IN YOUR GARDEN – seeds + plants for an edible garden – https://www.foodforest.garden/forest-garden-seeds/
INCREDIBLE VEGETABLES – seeds + plants for an edible perennial garden – https://incrediblevegetables.co.uk
FORESTART – seeds for trees + hedging + shrubs + wild flowers – https://www.forestart.co.uk/shop/
SEEDS OF SCOTLAND – seeds for vegetables + herbs – https://www.seedsofscotland.com/
VITAL SEEDS – seeds for vegetables + herbs + flowers – https://www.vitalseeds.co.uk/
THE AGROFORESTRY RESEARCH TRUST – seeds + plants for edible forest – https://agroforestry.co.uk
*BROWN ENVELOPE SEEDS – seeds – https://brownenvelopeseeds.ie
*SEEDAHOLIC – seeds for an edible garden – https://seedaholic.com
*SEEDS IRELAND – seeds for an edible garden – https://seedsireland.ie
*SEEDIE – seeds for an edible garden – https://seedie.ie/
(* may not currently sell direct to the UK)
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How to live off-grid 