Bird Evensong

 This soul was singing their heart out as I was heading home from the allotment - regardless of the traffic!

An Edinburgh Circuit

 Yesterday we found the weather was good enough for our "town-country walk".  The view below would have our home in the middle of it - if it wasn't for the Craiglockhart hills in-between.

The walk is inside the Edinburgh bypass but feels like the countryside because of the Braid Hills. These are the foothills to the much larger Pentland Hills range which starts on the other side of the ring road and cast an evening shadow over Edinburgh's southern suburbs.  To the north is Edinburgh Castle Rock and Arthur's Seat and the accompanying Salisbury Crags, evidence of volcanic activity in a bygone geological era.

It is not all ridgewalking by any means.  There is farmland to meander through and woodland too at other stages of the circular walk around the perimeter of the Mortonhall and Braid Hills  Golfcourses.

A veritable escape from the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shopping (on Amazon).

The Allotment in November

 

I think you can agree things are looking a bit forlorn on my visit to the allotment today.  I keep wondering  "Who is that"  before remembering that the sunflower is being left for the birds. It is all that is left of the beans and cucurbits (and I think it came in with the plants having originally come from the birdfood at home).

One area still very much in production is the "Other Roots" which is mostly given over to carrots (under environmesh netting) because we eat so many of them over the year and they taste so much better than any you can buy.  We haven't even finished harvesting half of them. as we pick them as we need them.  I do hope we will get away with leaving them in the ground over winter.  The net helps - and I will supplement that with straw if severe frosts are forecast. 

Carrots under netting

The rest of the "Other Roots" are parsnips and scorzonera squeezed in at the end.  These happily don't need protection.  Celeriac had to be squeezed elsewhere (with the cucurbits) as space had run out! 

Green tops of "Other Roots"

The Allium area only has leeks left. They have been intercropped with late lettuces, some of which are still on the go - along with the weeds.

Lettuces and Leeks

Harvested lettuces and leeks - and beetroot

Something else still on the go, by design, is curly endive - Pancalieri.  I tried these last year tying a string around each plant to blanche them.  It worked fine but some insects got wise to my plan and took up residence.  So I am being a bit more relaxed (lazy) this year and I have left the rosettes unrestrained.  They make great lettuce soup.

New this year is chicory.  Rossa di Traveso (I think) is the one that has worked out best.  Time will tell if they reach edible proportions.

Rossa di Traveso heads

A mention for the more traditional brassica patch.  The small plants are Spring Hero cabbages I am overwintering.  There's plenty broccoli, sprouts and kale for the winter too, provided the pigeons don't gain access under that net.

Brassica Patch

So even though it is looking murky and winter is approaching there is still the prospect of more to come from the allotment.

The view from the end

Now here's a song for my sunflower:

The Late Show - October Wildflowers

 When things quieted down at the allotment at the end of September  I was glad that I would have more time to invest in my renewed interest in wildflowers. But guess what: It's not just vegetables that stop growing, the rest of the vegetative world also goes into hibernation once  days shorten, temperatures drop and the wind and rain arrive.  I do have a whole load of snaps taken over the summer that I can review over the winter months but today I am sticking to wildflowers that piqued my interest in October. A floral last hurrah

First prize has to go to Wood Sage.  The rugose leaves form a rosette only to be outshone by a spike of creamy yellow flowers leaving an architectural tower of seedpods. I found plenty of it growing on a hilltop near me.  Quite odd for a "wood" plant.  

Wood Sage  - Teucrium scorodonia

Then I discovered an intriguing white patch with a definite pink tinge in a wayside ditch:  Pink Purslane whose leaves are described as like those of the Ace of Spades.  5 divided and deeply notched petals had me mistaking this for a chickweed at first.

Pink Purslane - Claytonia sibirica

Along the same lane I spotted some dramatic nodding heads.  The leaves are those of Herb Bennet (Wood Avens) but the flowers are entirely different.  Colloquially known as Billy's Buttons this is Water Avens 

Water Avens - Geum rivale

There is a cross between Wood Avens and Water Avens: Geum x intermedium.  The flowers of the cross are more colourfull and more open.  It grows in cracks in the pavement nearby.

My next October flower was definitely a vetch, but which one?  Narrow-leaved Vetch fitted the description.  Flowers in pairs, uniform in colour (concolorous!) Auricles (ears) either side of the main stem where leaf stalks branch off.   

Narrow-leaved Vetch - Vicia sativa ssp nigra

Last on my ramblings is another plant with nodding flowers.  Could this be why it is known as the "mourning widow"?  With such dramatic flowers it is a pity that they are always pointing downwards.

Geranium phacum 

Also known as Dusky Cranes-bill this was on a farm lane - right beside a cottage garden it had, no doubt escaped from.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing some of nature's late show of  colour.