Introducing the Polycrub
How we islanders grow veg
It's hard to believe that three months ago, we were waiting for our Polycrub to be delivered. I know exactly when it was because it arrived a few days before my birthday, Thursday 6th April. After an agonising wait, I got a call to say it was about to get on the ferry! That was it, I got nothing done until it arrived. I even cancelled a meeting.
Polycrub advised that getting it to Orkney would be no problem, it would be put on a freighter between Shetland & Orkney, bringing it to Hoy however, would be my problem. I called the shipping company here in Kirkwall & they said, if it’s Hoy you want to speak to Groats.
Groats is the shop on the island. It’s not just a shop though, it also sells heating oil and petrol and diesel. I’ve ordered a ton of topsoil & pallet of compost through them. And if you want, you can get yourself a washing machine, it’s right next to the gin! I’ve quickly learned that if I want something, go to Groats! Did I mention there’s a post office manned every day? Like I say, it’s got you covered.
So I rang Groats and got a quote as if I had a choice. I don’t know any farmers/pick-up/lorry owners who could help me out. It could only be Groats. To be fair, the cost of getting it from Kirkwall to Orkney was a fraction of the overall price. These things do not come cheap which is why I’m glad we went for the 8 metre, their economy of scale is good.
When it arrived I was a bit underwhelmed, it was a lot smaller than I anticipated. I don't know why I thought there was going to be mountains of stuff, but it is a kit. It is a flatpack. Don’t get me wrong you couldn’t put this in a car, we had several sheets of really long polycarbonate, but it was essentially one very long pallet.
It’s fair to say that neither of us appreciated the amount of prep work involved before we could even start the build. I say we but I use that term very lightly. I may have held something in place once or twice and I distinctly remember passing Erik a hammer when he was at the top of the step ladder, but other than that I didn’t nothing. Nada.
My greatest input was jumping over some of the piping, spraining my ankle and crawling back to the house on my hands and knees with the dog. So yep, super helpful Han.
In hindsight the prep could have been done beforehand, digging 16 holes at a depth of around a metre was heavy going. Or so I’m told. Many people on Instagram commented on how good our soil looked but that’s just the topsoil. Go any deeper than a few inches and it’s rubble & rocks. I tried to dig a potato bed and gave up after a few hours! So good effort Ez!
According to the instructions, the build can take between 50 to 100 hours. I have no idea how long it took, it had to be done in stages, mainly because of the weather. Once the wind picks up it’s really hard to do anything & you absolutely cannot put up the sheets on a windy day, you would fly away.
We also had a couple of weekends away which delayed things, so after its arrival on 6th April, the gable ends were done on 25th May and the windows finished on 30th. Erik put in as much ventilation as he could because it does get hot in there. I recorded 39 degrees yesterday (7th July).
And now it’s all go. I’d started some seedlings off before it was finished and I cannot believe how quickly things are coming on. Blink and you miss it!
We have courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, strawberries, peas, sweet peas, chard, various lettuce, rocket, nasturtium, Chinese leaf and spinach beet. Plus I’ve started some chamomile, rudbeckia, cornflower and nigella, because what’s a garden without flowers? Next up is radish, beetroot, carrot and a continuation of soft greens. In late summer it will be the winter greens & peas but I have heard from more than one person that they harvested the last of their tomatoes in December. Imagine!
I’ve left some of them outside so they don’t all arrive at the same time, but timing was never my thing. I fully expect the best of the crop to come in the 2 weeks we are away and have my friend house-sitting! So if you’re reading this, be sure to make me some chutney 😆
It’s all in containers at the moment. We wanted to make the most of the growing season and so our planned raised beds will be built over winter. At the moment we're using old lick tubs & drums that a couple of locals brought around for us. We got the idea of an Instagrammer on Skye who has done the same in her crub. Reusing waste and not spending a fortune on containers from a garden centre - genius.
The key now is to keep it well-watered. The next item on Erik’s list is to get water up there. He had ordered some piping but sadly the delivery company (Tuffnels) went into liquidation so there’s been a delay. I’m currently filling up our 2 watering cans at the house & taking them up to the crub. It’s repetitive and time-consuming but at least it’s giving my arms a bit of a workout in preparation for my next Tough Mudder.
And before I go, it would be rude of me not to let you know the crubs name. I was finding that crub was being interpreted as crab on my Instagram captions and so I asked for name suggestions. And we have a cracker…
Doug the Crub – I’m going to make a sign
Looks spectacular and think of the delicious chutney you’ll have when you get back from holiday! 😂