Cherokee Trail of Tears Greek Gigante Soup Beans Barlotti Beans Runner Bean In full flush 9th August  Starting out June 1st Greek Gigantes podded This year I have had a bit of a go at climbing beans. I always grow runner beans. Barlotti beans have become a fixture too, grown for drying in the pod and storing until needed in the following 12 months.  Two novelties this year have been Greek Giant Soup Beans (or just Greek Gigantes beans) and Cherokee Trail of Tears.  The Greek beans are white butter b ..read more

  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 ..read more

  Forget the Holy Trinity planting scheme (Sweetcorn/Climbing Beans/Squash) I'm going for the 4 Apostles - hopefully not the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. For the record the 4 wigwams are Greek Soup Giant Beans, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Barlotti Tongues of Fire and a mixture of Runner beans (Scarlet Emperor, White Lady, Painted Lady)  ..read more

  Easter is upon us and my shed building project is soaking up all my gardening time.  This is the current state of play. I have sown two rows of carrots and one of parsnips. Also a row of asparagus. It will be potatoes next. My shorter term project is to bake HXB.   ..read more

 This is the earliest I can recall seeing one of these on the loose! (20/02/24)  Given that we had a frost last night it may be regretting it's early emergence ..read more

Starting the plot tidyup, right in the corner is a clump of Jerusalem Artichoke ready for harvesting.  The soup lived up to its reputation. Sweet tasting, and active on the lower gut.  Next door the rhubarb won't be long to first harvest ..read more

This is definitely one for the record.   Whether you take the view from one end ... ...or the other The plot is looking very barren just now.  But I need this for comparison purposes later in the year. The fruit cage has the nets removed to guard against snow damage and last year's pumpkin and bean patch is looking particularly sad. On the plus side there is not much weed growth yet!  Time for a mulch and a fabric mulch! Also there are some brassicas still hanging on.  The Purple sprouting broccoli will be another month until it gets into production mode ..read more

  We love our birds and keep them in food all the year around.  Right now the goldfinches are away, but the blackbirds have returned to their winter quarters.  Because the normally reliable crab apple crop was so poor this year we have supplemented their supply with apples and more recently pears (which they love!).  The sparrows have been muted in the cold snap but there are always pigeons, jackdaws and magpies who swing by to mop up the day's supply.  Another bird that has got wise to the congregation js this sparrowhawk.  Just the other day a pigeon was tak ..read more

  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 ..read more

 A whole patch of the sky went green at sunset this afternoon. By the time I stopped driving and found a vantage point it had diminished somewhat  but was still visible at the centre of the shot above.   The phenomenon of the green flash refers to the sun going momentarily green at sunset and I guess this related as the sun's refracted light is being projected onto some clouds in addition to the red, orange and yellow light frequencies that are more usual.  In a less analytic sense - it was pretty weird ..read more