Veggies for rocky soil?

zaxdog

Hi all,

bit of a newbie to this. We have a bed in our back garden which is pretty full of stones. I've gotten a lot out on one side (mostly quartz so used them to border the path :-) ) Herbs planted there. Going to do the same to the other side but realistically wondering what will grow well in rocky soil that we can eat. 

West coast of Scotland.

Apodemus

Rocket!  Grow it as a perennial and it will keep coming back each year with very little input.

twopenny

You could try purple sprouting broccoli and curly kale.
They are pretty tough, easy to grow and keep on providing. A whole different tasty veg when they are fresh.

You could try a couple of potatoes and see what happens.

RAS

This is off my experience in 2010 when we had 2 winters with temperatures around -19 most nights and rarely above -10 in the day-time (in bold). This stuff emerged from under 60cm of snow. The cabbages also made it BUT once the snow cover went the stems rotted in the frost.

Plus the amazing allotments at Kabelvag in the Lofoten. The small provisos are; what's your wind speed like? Salt winds?

Rocket, Mizuna, Swiss Chard (try Lucellus from Lidl), landcress, Mache/Lambs' lettuce. All can be planted now and are winter hardy. Perennial Kale if you have another 50cm patch you can sacrifice, although it will grow double that. 

Look at some hardier lettuces like Winter Density. They might survive under minimal protect, otherwise sow in early spring, harden off and plant out half before the frosts stop. May be a bit late for chicories and endive this year but mustards would still come away including Giant Red Wave, Redstreaks and Golden Streaks

Broad beans; try Valenciana now for early winter crops. It's too early to sow it here and I'd use other varieties for spring. Peas next spring, although I recommend mangetout as they are prolific. And you could grow a few beets now just for colour, using the leaves, then plant properly in spring? Salad onions. 

I also grew some cutting celery from Real Seeds over winter in a cold frame last year, amazing quantities of leaf. The ribs are great for chopping finely and then using in a mirepoix, or in soups. You need 4-10 plants so would have enough seed for the neighbourhood.

And get some good sorrel. Flattened by snow, it recovers in a week to provide pickings all year.

Apodemus

Wow, RAS, I'd love to visit the allotments in Lofoten - I once sailed south past the west coast of the Lofotens, but no chance to go ashore!

But the OP only says "west coast of Scotland", which could be anything from Galloway or Ayrshire though to Lewis!

Ayrshire was traditionally the home of early potatoes in Scotland (think Jersey Royals!) - the variety was traditionally Epicure or one of the "Arran" varieties - anything from Arran Banner through to Arran Victory.  A warm wet climate which also suited dairy cattle, hence Ayrshire cows and Dunlop cheese.  Not so much snow or frost.  

For the opposite end of the spectrum, Lewis gets lots of salt spray and rain, but again not a lot of frost or snow.  Probably best for potatoes and kale!

RAS

Apodemus said:

Wow, RAS, I'd love to visit the allotments in Lofoten - I once sailed south past the west coast of the Lofotens, but no chance to go ashore!

Try putting Kabelvag in googlemaps, look for the Lofotmuseet, and street view on Storvagenveien. When I was there the site had a central fire pit and a semicircle of plots radiating from it, all tucked into a bend in the stream. They seem to have combined several of the plots looking at the layout on google and maybe replace the firepit with a hut and benches.

They grew about 15 crops including potatoes, with a broad bean between every other plant, peas, endive, lettuce, carrots and French beans under fleece, and industrial quantities of thyme. The only "fruit" was rhubarb which everyone in the Lofoten grew.

zaxdog

Apodemus said:

Wow, RAS, I'd love to visit the allotments in Lofoten - I once sailed south past the west coast of the Lofotens, but no chance to go ashore!

But the OP only says "west coast of Scotland", which could be anything from Galloway or Ayrshire though to Lewis!

Ayrshire was traditionally the home of early potatoes in Scotland (think Jersey Royals!) - the variety was traditionally Epicure or one of the "Arran" varieties - anything from Arran Banner through to Arran Victory.  A warm wet climate which also suited dairy cattle, hence Ayrshire cows and Dunlop cheese.  Not so much snow or frost.  

For the opposite end of the spectrum, Lewis gets lots of salt spray and rain, but again not a lot of frost or snow.  Probably best for potatoes and kale!

We are in Argyll looking out over the Kyles of Bute :-)

I think the ground might be too rocky for tatties and Mr Z has an aversion to kale but lamb's lettuce we both love so seeds ordered.

Woolsery

zaxdog said:

Apodemus said:

Wow, RAS, I'd love to visit the allotments in Lofoten - I once sailed south past the west coast of the Lofotens, but no chance to go ashore!

But the OP only says "west coast of Scotland", which could be anything from Galloway or Ayrshire though to Lewis!

Ayrshire was traditionally the home of early potatoes in Scotland (think Jersey Royals!) - the variety was traditionally Epicure or one of the "Arran" varieties - anything from Arran Banner through to Arran Victory.  A warm wet climate which also suited dairy cattle, hence Ayrshire cows and Dunlop cheese.  Not so much snow or frost.  

For the opposite end of the spectrum, Lewis gets lots of salt spray and rain, but again not a lot of frost or snow.  Probably best for potatoes and kale!

We are in Argyll looking out over the Kyles of Bute :-)

I think the ground might be too rocky for tatties and Mr Z has an aversion to kale but lamb's lettuce we both love so seeds ordered.

Forget the tatties. As I recall, the fishing is pretty good and fish costs more than chips!

Apodemus

zaxdog said:

We are in Argyll looking out over the Kyles of Bute :-)

I think the ground might be too rocky for tatties and Mr Z has an aversion to kale but lamb's lettuce we both love so seeds ordered.

Ah, Ok!  Very nice!  I once went with my Dad to look at a plot of land near Rhubodach, but Mum was not on-board with the project, so it never happened! 

So...warm and wet territory! 

If you plant your lamb's lettuce with the rocket and let it self-seed, you will have a salad bed that needs very little maintenance (just learn to recognise which leaves are lamb's lettuce and which are weeds!).  I have this arrangement in one of my beds purely by chance - I didn't realise that rocket was perennial and I didn't realise I'd have so much self-seeded lamb's lettuce, but they tick along really nicely each year, with just a little weeding pruning and feeding.

RAS has mentioned rhubarb, and I would definitely have that on the list.  It will cope with the soil conditions and does really well in the west.