first warning of the season

Must be Spring. This morning I got the first warning letter of the year from the allotment officer, saying that parts of the plot are untidy and do I want a half plot. More than half the plot is in productive use and the untidy areas are being addressed. Also: I’ve got some great produce in both halves of the plot, so I wouldn’t know which half to give up. Looks like I’ll have to tidy up.

What this allotment is about…

Was talking to a friend of my partner who’s on the waiting list for an Edinburgh allotment. She might be interested in working on my plot and swapping her labour for some produce, so this post is an attempt to summarise what I’m trying to do…

• To grow tasty food. I thought I had more recipes written up; will do more in future
• To garden organically. I’m learning about composting and green manures, mulching, crop rotation etc. but I’m not going as far as buying only organic seeds. I buy manure from Gorgie City Farm & compost from Redhall so I don’t have 100% control over the inputs.
• Use the plot as an experiment. The 2 years on the plot has been the first time I’ve grown food, so I know I’m learning and making mistakes. I don’t think I’ll ever stop tinkering and trying new stuff
• That said, I’ve had most success with soft fruit. I have propagated 4 blackcurrant bushes and a few strawberry plants this year and I hope that they’ll take
• Learn about permaculture. The plot is too small to seriously use permaculture or forest gardening techniques, but it’s a useful test bed and it’s getting me familiar with working outside. I have compiled some permaculture resources here
• Understand climate change. Forecasts are that Summers will get hotter and Winters milder and wetter, so I want to garden productively on a small scale in spite of these changes, and learn techniques for their mitigation.
• Teach my daughter where (some) food comes from. I also want to make it a place she enjoys playing ‘cos I want to be working on the plot when I’m not at my part-time day job

Spuds, spam and eating for victory

Spuds, spam and eating for victory: rationing in the second world war by Katherine Knight (ISBN 9780752441887) is another book I’ve borrowed from Edinburgh library.

Part oral history, part archival studies and with some reproductions of the wartime images and leaflets, this book rattles through the issues around feeding Britain during the second world war. The book is well-written (if you don’t mind puns) and there’s an extensive bibliography and references. The case studies are important since the time when we’ll be able to get direct oral history about this period is coming to an end; and the necessity to make-do-and-mend is timely advice in this depression.

Katherine Knight has some evocative turns of phrase. As the war effort used agricultural land in the fens, other marginal land had to be used for agriculture:

war planes used the flat fields of peace, while potatoes climed the mountains to make up for the loss

Off the permaculture hook

Seems that google’s indexed better and I’ve been bumped to the second page of results for “permaculture edinburgh”, which allows some better stuff up front.

Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, Scotland has recently had its national conference (Oct 2008). The 2007 conference report is on the website, so I expect there’ll be this year’s soon. That page has links to a map of 37 Community Gardens across Scotland, which includes Gorgie City Farm, Redhall, Bridgend, and the Thistle Community Wildlife Garden in Edinburgh.

I should get in touch with Gorgie City Farm Gardening services and get some hard and soft landscaping done in our front garden. Emma Burnett (ECBA) appears to work there as Garden Project Worker.

Bah! I can’t find an RSS feed for FEDAGA.

More of that balsam…

Once you’ve got yr eye in, it’s relatively easy to spot flowering Himalayan Balsam from a bike: the plant is very tall and the colours are sufficiently different from fireweed — the other tall, pink-flowered plant that’s visible at this time of year. Shame, then, that I spotted a big stand on either side of Polwarth Bridge on the Union Canal.

British Waterways page on Himalayan Balsam. “It dies back in Autumn and leaves the bank vulnerable to erosion.”

It’s interesting because the SNH report on invasive species in 5 rivers in the Lothians notes that the plant has well-defined upstream and downstream limits. However, that’s not the context on the Union Canal which has no locks on its 30-or-so mile extent. Ewan Campbell, SNH, 0131 654 2466 is listed for further information on this project. Not found anything for BWS…

words…

Not brilliant on a blog when there’s much repeated text; fun nevertheless.

The girl has a watering can…

…and is much more helpful than when she was swinging a wee fork around. I think the broad beans can survive a dousing better than decapitation. However the poor strawberries got trodden upon; must build raised beds to keep the feet out.

the broad beans need water

Do you need watering, too?

lovely grin

All tired out

It’s been very windy but the broad beans look OK. The onions are coming along nicely, and I’ll make something nice this weekend; probably onion tarts from Nigel Slater’s Appetite or white onion soup with chorizo from Paul Merret’s Using the plot.

Survey on parks in Edinburgh

Apparently CEC are trying to decide where to spend money on parks and
they’re doing a survey at:

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/parksurvey

How to get involved in CEC parks

Update on bat boxes…

Edinburgh Biodiversity partnership info on Daubenton’s bat in Edinburgh — on the Union Canal but much further out than Harrison Park.

EBP info on Pipistrelle bat

Lothian Bat Group EBP lists Joan Carter as contact but this site indicates it’s Stuart Smith on 0131 258 1138. scotbats.org.uk is bust but the lothian bat group have a walk on 22 August 2008 at Beecraigs.

A contact form! © 2008! which leads to Lothian bat group on the bat conservation trust pages.

More from David Dodds … 3 types of bat boxes; they should face approximately South and be more than 4m off the ground and pipistrelles most common in Edinburgh.

Hmm …