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Q – If the panel were to move to Shetland, what would your new garden priorities be?

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Matt – I’d struggle with the dark winters.Ìý I’d establish a windbreak.Ìý

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Anne – Polycrub and a heat lamp

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Matthew – I’d create a garden of native plants like Derek Jarman did at Dungeness

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Q – Do trees in Shetland, such as Sycamore and Alders, benefit from fertilisers?

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Anne – If you feed too much they will be less-effective as a barrier.Ìý But I’d be inclined to give them a moderate feed in the spring.Ìý

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Matt – If it’s particularly wet in the spring then feed again later in the year

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Anne – And only feed if it looks like it needs it

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Q – In the past ten or fifteen years there has been a great increase in New Zealand Flatworms – how can we combat them?

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Matthew – There’s not much you can do

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Hazel (from the audience) – If you put them in a jar of vinegar they dissolve!

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ÌýQ – We’ve got a large-leafed border with Heuchera, Gunnera, Ligularia and a large tree fern.Ìý What else could we put in?

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Matt – Dryopteris wallichiana.Ìý Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris).Ìý Dryopteris erythrosora.Ìý

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Anne – Candelabra Primulas (florindae and japonica).Ìý Rodgersia aesculifoliaÌý

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In the feature:

Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)

Willows: Salix alaxensis and Salix hookeriana

Sitka alder

Shuttlecock Ferns

Dicentras

Ozothamnus ledifolius

Maytenus magellanica

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Q – What’s the most exotic plant you could grow on Shetland (without a polytunnel)?

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Anne – Mandevilla was my first thought (but it would need to go inside a polycrub).Ìý Clerodendrum bungei.Ìý

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Matthew – Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).Ìý

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Q – Can the team recommend a high-yielding potato that is as resistant to blight as the Sarpo varieties?Ìý Sante is my best

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Anne – You might be too nutrient-rich

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Matt – Try growing them somewhere windier to improve ventilation

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From the topical tips

Rosa rugosa

Lammas growth

Yew

Beech

Oak

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Q – Woodlice have been eating the roots of my seedlings.Ìý How can I get rid of them organically?

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Anne – It won’t be the woodlice.Ìý The seedlings will have been damaged by something else (slugs or damping off disease) and then the woodlice come in after the event

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Q – In Shetland, Bog Cotton is called ‘Lucky Minnie’s Ooh’.Ìý What are the panel’s favourite local or common names for flowers?

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Matthew – Goosegrass or Cleavers.Ìý It’s also called Stickle Brick plant or Velcro plant or Valentine’s. It has so many names.

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Anne – The common name for Stitchwort – Shimbles Snickneedles.Ìý Also, the Corky Fruited Water Dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides)

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Matt – Lady’s Smock or Cuckoo Flower.Ìý

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