It's been a long time and you would be forgiven for thinking I had abandoned my blog - or even my plot. I can assure you the latter is not the case. With all the events, good and bad, of the last year something had to give and it turned out to be the blog. Another consideration is that I have always blogged from my laptop at home. My smartphone is so much more transportable and fine for accessing information wherever you are but not so handy for generating considered content.
Without further ado here goes.
Maincrop Rooster Harvest
The first picture shows the potato crop in all its verdant glory on 22nd July. I had already dug up my first earlies but these are 2nd Early Charlotte, Maincrops Rooster and Pink Fir Apple. All cropped heavily with larger tubers. This was a big surprise because the Edinburgh spring was so dry and I did not water at all. When the rain arrived it was enough to bulk up the crop. Special mention goes to Rooster which in the previous year had been a disappointment as the tubers failed to reach baking potato size. This year we have baked potatoes on a regular basis and plenty more in store. The apples that appear in this shot also remind me what a fantastic year it has been for them too. This tree was bought as a 'ballerina' but not pruned as such since planted at the plot. Elsewhere on the allotment site the James Grieve really had a mast year. I have bought a dehydrator and have been drying apple rings for weeks now but still have plenty more wrapped in newspaper in boxes and bags!
Now if the potatoes performed better than 2024 then the carrots (which failed for me that year ) restored my confidence in 2025. I sowed more than was reasonable to compensate this year and doubled up with a late sowing where the new potatoes were grown more in hope than in expectation. Guess what: It is feast not famine.
Carrots Late
Parsnip and Carrots
I have been going big on climbing beans in recent years and set up three wigwams again this year. In addition to Runners I grew Berlotti beans and Greek Gigantes for drying. I will be scaling up the production of these next year as we use all we can grow and surprisingly home grown dried beans are actually tastier and better in texture than the shop bought which one suspects might have been harvested years and years ago.
Beans X3
Another late season sowing that came up trumps was the mangetout Oregon Sugar Pod. Not sown until July these came up trumps in September. Others have hailed this variety as a surefire success and I agree it is a winner.
Oregon Sugar Pod
Another banker on the plot in recent years has been Winter Squash. They need room as they ramble promiscuously but if you hem them in they will clamber upwards. Buttercup, Uchichi Kuri, Crown Prince are all winners. Six plants, a dozen fruit, is more than enough for us particularly as the need shelter from frost and rain in order to last throughout the winter.
Winter Squashes
One final curio for 2025: The plant below is Blue Fenugreek which I have photographed in flower as this is the only blue bit of it! Native to the hills and cuisines of the Caucasus you will need to grow this if you want that authentic flavour. I can confirm it grows very happily in the Edinburgh climate!
