Allotment Tales 27-08-2026

Slight autumnal mistiness – but mild and settled, with today’s activities reflecting subtle seasonal changes.
We completed our FEDAGA order for tatties, onions and leeks, sharpened a few tools and pruned the “Jump-Over” apples back into “Step-Overs”.

Harvesting was the main task. The beans are pumping out produce. We filled a bucket of runners (Firestorm) French beans (Cobra) and dwarf varieties (Purple Teepee and Ferrari).

The apples are keen to fall now so good to act to avoid bruising, as windfalls will not store. We filled another bucket, this time with Snow White style Discovery apples, better eaten fresh as they don’t store well either. Other varieties picked included James Grieve; Hawthornden; Charles Ross and Adam’s Pearman. This last one is a slightly later, russet style apple which does store well. We have 3 cookers – Grenadier, Lanes Prince Albert, and Lord Derby. Sadly, both the cookers and Victoria plums have been prone to a nasty fungal disease this year. It’s important to remove and dispose of infected fruit asap to avoid spread. Despite this, we filled 4 punnets with lovely juicy plums and plucked some enormous cookers.

Our carrots have been a bit stumpy this year, but crunchy and sweet nonetheless. We’re trying to remember to harvest with one eye on the FEDAGA/Caley “Grow and Show” show, next weekend at Saughton Park. We’ve high hopes for a chosen courgette, which is rapidly transforming into a marrow and will focus next week’s activities on choosing produce to enter.

Have a go! (or else you’ll find yourself scanning the tables, thinking “mine were as good as that”) . The excitement of taking part alongside fellow enthusiasts is the main pleasure.

Last weekend, we hosted The Caley’s “Harvesting, Storing and Preserving” workshop. This was an opportunity to get some hands-on experience, get tips for keeping precious crops as fresh as possible for as long as possible and to share allotment highs and lows. Though small in number, it was a great morning, enjoyed by all.

Jobs for next week: Prepare produce for the show; keep up with the apples; thin and use roots; dig more 2nd early tatties; harvest more kale and cabbage; mow, weed and water as required