A Kiwi in Scotland growing her own botanicals for fabric printing.

On their visit to Scotland, New Zealanders Sarah and her husband decided a change was needed, so they spent the following 12 months planning their move and finally setting in Auchencrow, South East Scotland (just north of Berwick upon Tweed, and less than 10 miles from the windy east coast.

When living in New Zealand Sarah’s husband built a glass greenhouse. So, when they moved permanently to Scotland a greenhouse was on the shopping list. But given the location, notorious for storms and high winds, it needed to be strong and sturdy as well a high performing as Sarah had a plan.

Sarah has several specific requirements for here new growing environment; Ease of maintenance, Value for money, Strong to withstand storms and Highly durable.

In addition her other requirements included; Raised beds for ease of access, to grow a range of Winter Salads, Silver Chard, Tomatoes, Chillies and other produce through the winter. Sarah’s main objective is to grow trees and plants for her botanical fabric printing, some of which are grown from seeds. For this it is important that the leaves are well looked after and are able to grow in the best possible environment as this makes it much easier for the printing process.

As Sarah elaborated “If I did not have such a fantastic Keder Greenhouse then I would not be able do my botanical printing, it provides the best possible environment’. Here is an example of some of Sarah’s botanical fabric printing.

With this requirement in mind, and after extensive research, and talking to a number of local people it became quite clear, the best greenhouse would be a Keder Greenhouse. The deciding factor was one of her new friends, who also has a Keder Greenhouse, who told Sarah ‘It will do everything you need it to do, last for over 25 years and it will survive the 140mph+ winds and storms we experience every year. Also, if you move you just take it with you, they are great. Excellent value for money’.

Contacting Keder Greenhouse early in 2020 an order was placed, a few months later and Sarah took delivery of her Keder self build kit in July. ‘It was really straight forward. My husband and I assembled it over 2 days. The instructions and supplied video and their YouTube videos explained things well, and the staff at Keder were very helpful when we had the odd question”.

In November 2021, when the Keder Greenhouse had been up for 17 months, Storm Barra hit South East Scotland causing the Met Office to issue warnings of extreme conditions, including high winds (70mph+ and snow fall of over 10cm in places).

A number of large trees were blown down in their garden, which took a while to clear up. While a number of local glass greenhouses and polytunnels were seriously damaged Sarah did not have to worry about their Keder Greenhouse. “It had not sustained any damage!” As Sarah explained “While there is chaos in the garden, the Keder Greenhouse remains a sanctuary for us’. So many of our neighbours are now having to replace their glass greenhouses and polytunnels, as they were destroyed by the storms, they have been visiting us to examine our Keder Greenhouse!” she continued.

Designed and engineered in the UK (rural Worcestershire) for over 25 years, Keder Greenhouse manufacture the best and strongest protected growing environments for crops and plants. This highly cost-effective superior alternative to traditional glasshouses or polytunnels is not only safer, and far longer lasting, but is substantially more durable, stronger and versatile, withstanding 140mph+ winds, rain, sleet, hail and snow. To see more about our the Keder Greenhouse range click here.