Edinburgh Topography

 

A New Years walk along the Fife Coastal Path offered this perspective on our home town of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth.

To the left is Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano that looks like a recumbent lion. Next to that are "The Salisbury Crags"  This escarpment was quarried for building material for neighbouring  Holyrood Palace in the 1300s. Quarrying continued until .banned by Act of Parliament 1831..

The next feature is Edinburgh Castle, only visible because of the weather conditions, highlighting it in front of the Pentland Hill massing to the right of the picture. The Castle sits atop a volcanic plug.  When the ice sheet moved across this landscape from right to left the volcanic plug persisted and left a ridge a mile long tailing off behind it: the High  Street or Royal Mile, as can be seen from this vantage point.

I have since come across a reverse view I took recently.  In this case Fife is across the water in the distance.  The Royal Mile from Castle to Holyrood is the backbone of Edinburgh Old Town.

The Sound of Moosic?

 

 

On the Pentland Hills above Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat, the Firth of Forth and the Kingdom of Fife in the background. 

First Day of Sowing

It's always a joyous day when you sow your first seeds of the year. And here they are: Two rows of broad beans: Aqua Dulce and the Sutton

Broad Beans

These Jerusalem artichokes are soup pot escapees. I only dug them up a couple of weeks ago, but the best ones have been returned to the plot in a new location.

Jerusalem Artichokes

After my disaster with parsnips grown in root trainers I have reverted to my usual technique of sowing Tender and True direct.  Alongside I have sown an experimental row of  Turnip Rooted Chervil. Last year I sowed these in autumn and they came to nought, so here's hoping a spring sowing of fresh seed will produce some results.

Parsnip and Chervil Root - and Autumn Planted Alliums

The autumn sown garlic and onions (plus some weeds) are just beyond the new sowings in the bare soil.

n.b. I have made sure that all my sowings have been clearly marked and labelled  (see white markers) this year.  No repetition of this schoolboy error for me.