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!
Winter squash is a big hit with us. Harvest time is approaching and there is the usual mayhem in the cucurbit patch. A forest of leaves but what lies beneath? While every plant has been labelled at the planting point the vines have travelled the width of the patch and well beyond laying down fruit at random intervals.
Every plant is labelled at the planting point but has developed fruit after scrambling across its neighbours. The conditions this year mean that fruit has not set reliably and the slugs have had a field day on a lot of immature fruits resting on the soil. My strategy of planting parts from a bunk bed at either end of the patch for the vines to scramble up has proved a crop saver as the fruit in the best condition is raised off the ground.
This year I have grown:
Crown Prince
Buttercup
Uchiki Kuri
Marina Di Chioggia
No sign of the last one yet - although it was grown later than the other three. I have started harvesting at risk fruit to season at home in the dry. The Crown Prince is 4.5k so harvesting and transportation from the allotment has to be done a bit at a time.
With the cold wind blowing it is time to enjoy some of the summer's stored treats: Sweet Dumplings squash. One of these is just the right size for a person...
...once stuffed and baked.
The kitchen pulley is serving its purpose as a drier of beans. These net bags are suitably positioned so that if you don't watch out you bump into them on entering and leaving. This, together with the occasional rummage ensures good air circulation. As the Barlotti bean pods dry they start shedding beans - a sure sign that they are ready for podding!
A year ago we grew winter squashes Crown Prince, Golden Hubbard and Uchiki Kuri in the school garden. When October arrived the clamour went up. Why don't you have any Halloween Pumpkins??? So this year I am happy to report that I have taken the criticism on board🙂
Another rainy day dissuades me from visiting the allotment. Instead I am tending to the plants at home waiting for their invasion of the allotment. OK these courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers don't look quite so alien when they are in the greenhouse under natural light.
There are plenty seedlings awaiting improved weather. You might spot the tomatoes which are having a temporary excursion out of the greenhouse, and there are runner beans and peas too. I have plenty of spare alliums and a whole host of lobelia just needing to be found a final spot.
Also there are some later brassica seedlings. More than enough to fill the garden, allotment and school garden!
It is a relief to get to the direct sowing. Soon I will have to reconfigure the greenhouse for the tomatoes and cucumbers.
The cucurbits have curled up, the beans have been, the lettuce is letting up - it's that time of year again. Time to take stock. What worked - and what didn't?
Worked
Winter Squash
Carrots under nets
Potatoes
Raspberries
Blueberries
Tosca onions from seed
Late season lettuces and Italian Endive varieties
No Go
Sweetcorn - Three strikes and you are out.
Spanish Flag (Ipomoea lobata) and Spanish Dancer (Linaria reticulata)- These belong in Spain and don't like the climate in Edinburgh
French Climbing Beans - no competition for runner beans. Dwarf French beans don't seem to be as sensitive. Curiously Italian Barlotti beans don't seem to be as temperamental. Mind you they are grown for drying not for pods.
French Cornet Endive varieties. Cornet de Bordeaux bolted every time.
Well winter squashes actually. Here's this year's allotment crop
The long yellow ones should be Butternut F1 Hunter, but I think there must have been a mix up with the crossing as these look more like Banana Squash or even Spaghetti Squash. I will report once it has been cut open and cooked.
Not sure whether this is Blue Uchi Kuri or Crown Prince. That will teach me to grow such similar varieties.
Size isn't everything - These cheeky Uchiki Kuri are perfectly sized and one was the first to go under the knife
