Garden breaks

From the Kitchen Garden: Hazel Trees and Yellow Catkins

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The large hazel trees around the Torridon grounds look fantastic in their hanging tresses of yellow catkins.

These are the male flowers and the dust of their pollen, released by the wind, is what fertilizes the tiny red female flowers.…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Amongst the Heather, Winter Dreaming

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I was scraping away a covering of snow from some of the heathers on our island bed at the front of the hotel and I thought to myself I have seen other animals that do this. Reindeer and bison work…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Snow Thoughts From Hibernation

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The Torridon garden is covered in snow now, several inches of it and frost has been biting deep into the ground. Some plants will spring back from this but a few trees might succumb to the weight on their branches…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Jerusalem Artichokes, Winter Staples

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We have a large border crop of Jerusalem Artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) in the Torridon kitchen garden. They were originally planted to create a windbreak and can be very effectively used in this way. They are closely related…

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From the Kitchen Garden: The Big Burn, Looking Toward the Winter Solstice

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Earlier this week the largest full moon of the year hung above Liathach providing some pre-dawn light. On the morning of 21 December it will be the Winter solstice following the longest hours of darkness and turning to greater length…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Avian Visitors From the North

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Today we had our first real frost in the Torridon kitchen garden. We have had some really fine clear blue skies whenever the wind swings to the north and in recent weeks Nordic visitors have come on the wind; whooper…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Kicking Through the Fire Leaves

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Autumn can be as much about fire as melancholy and we certainly raked and shifted a big variety of golden fire last week. Guests driving from Inverness to Torridon will find the birch and oaks offering an amazing colour spectacle…

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Dapper Dippers: A River Runs Through It

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The Torridon Hotel estate grounds have lots to offer keen birdwatchers. With the mix of woodland, burn, cattle pasture and seashore, there is always something to see. Autumn is an especially good time. Birds emerge more into the open after…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Seasons, They Change

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Although the season is drawing to a close in the Torridon kitchen garden, we still have a number of crops available for the kitchens: spinach, kale, radicchio, chard, carrots, and winter crops of Brussel sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes and kales to…

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From the Kitchen Garden: Red Deer in the Morning

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If you want to have a garden at Torridon you have to enclose it with a barrier to protect against damage from deer. This can be quite a task, requiring a fence at least two and a half meters high.…

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From the Torridon Kitchen Garden: Out of the Blue

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In between the many jobs to be done in the kitchen garden, I have been collecting flower seed for next year’s plants. We grew a bed full of wildflowers this season and now the seed heads are ripening. Corn cockle,…

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