Gale force winds, salty air, downpours and rabbits – the challenges faced when making a John O'Groats herb garden
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A John O'Groats woman has defied the odds to create a safe haven for herbs in the windswept landscape of her far north home.
Carole Whittaker says she had no intention of making a garden until she saw the work carried out by Dunnet Bay Distillery (DBD) to grow herbs for its botanical gins.
"If they could do it, I thought, so could I! I have designed, built and planted several herb gardens," said Carole.
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She says that the DBD herb garden is protected by a massive headland and Dr Hannah Miedema, the gardening expert and research distiller based there, also uses geodomes to protect some of the plants from the biting winds of the far north.
"We live on another big headland. The Pentland Firth is to the northwest, and the North Sea to the southeast – the opposite of protected. We live in the teeth of gale force winds often barrelling up the brae and thrown up the cliffs off which stand Duncansby Stacks. It's generally a very windy place all year round."
Together with her husband, who partakes in much of the hard labour at the site, she started growing her own vegetables in 2016 using raised but unprotected beds. "We soon learned to protect them from the wind, and also the rabbits."
The couple had taken plants from their previous home and used these to start off their present herb garden – a series of segregated beds connected by a maze-like path system.
"The perimeter fence was quick to build, and raised beds built against it helped to anchor it against the winds. But it took two more years to clear the ground which was a mess of builder's rubble, rocks, heavy clay and stubborn perennial weeds, and to build the inner raised beds."
They used dark green windbreak fabric attached to wooden fencing to create walls for the individual sections and repurposed old plastic bottles to fit along the walls as an effective windbreak. "The wood is stained black. I find the effect a bit art deco, which I like very much."
The beds are terraced and the paths gravelled with scalpings of local stone. Carole looked at what grew locally and already had some of the herbs which included sweet cicely, sweet rocket, red campion, elecampane, wild angelica, Scots lovage, lady's bedstraw and comfrey. She added wild plants that had a long tradition of herbal use in the Highlands, such as meadowsweet and wild garlic. Others just appeared naturally as the site was prepared, including dandelion, sorrel, nettle and hedge garlic.
Carole says it is very much an ongoing experiment and while some plants do not survive there are others which get through the winter with a helping hand by "taking them into our home-built lean-to greenhouse". She has come to understand the effects of the climate on the plants and by trial and error has made adjustments as she goes along.
"We often have spring and summer drought but autumn can bring us months’ worth of rain in a few days, all at once, at a time plants are dying back and less able to cope with the wet.
"It never gets extremely cold here. We do have frost and snow but not hard degrees of either." The pH of soil is carefully adjusted for certain plants and others are fed with seaweed meal or spent hops from the local brewery. "These condition the soil. I also make my own garden compost," she adds.
"No animal products are ever used. I encourage birds and almost all of my plants are single-flowered, so benefiting the pollinating insects."
Carole says that the winds are laden with salt and many plants, deciduous broadleaved trees and shrubs, are unable to cope. It does mean, however, that she can grow maritime herbs, such as sea holly, sea kale, oyster plant and roseroot. Scurvy grass once blew in on the strong winds and has been there ever since.
"Not all of what I am trying to grow will cope with our challenging local conditions, and I have already been considering what to grow instead if necessary. I still have more plants to get.
"Because we have fields with animals in around us, I am careful that what I grow is not toxic to them, and check regularly with the crofters to make certain."
Carole and her husband retired to their home at John O'Groats and say they have no intention of setting up a business to supply herbs. "I am thinking of opening the herb garden under the National Gardens Scheme perhaps, and to visitors by appointment."
