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“The Apprentices Potager”

Designed, planned and planted by the three Horticulture Apprentices the potager is a collection of vegetables and flowers; in effect a flowering vegetable garden with origins in France….

Passion

Passiflora vitifolia a native to Central America. A sturdy and vigorous plant that soon covers a sizeable section of the Orchid and Cycad glasshouse it is growing in….

Brightness to end a poor summer

Despite the wet overcast summer the spikes of bloom on Watsonia pillansii are magnificent. Distinct in the south facing border of the Front Range this native to Eastern…

Jobs for autumn in the edible garden

I don’t feel quite ready yet to think about autumn tasks in the garden but all the evidence suggests that summer is coming to an end. I had to clear fallen leaves from some of…

Carlin peas ready to harvest

Jenny Mollison, from the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society, gave us a handful of carlin peas earlier in the year.  We dutifully planted them and I’m pleased to…

Large Ligustrum; yet compactum

There is a huge specimen of Ligustrum compactum on the hillside, striving upwards to maximise exposure to the light. It is presently covered in terminal panicles of white…

September 2012: Eye Level Agapanthus

Agapanthus grows and flowers best in soil with a high moisture content yet well drained until flowering has finished. It then requires a dryer root zone throughout late…

Look out for berries

Dichroa febrifuga is of borderline hardiness in Edinburgh. It requires a warm sheltered spot and protection through the worst of the winter to make a modest shrub ultimately…

Plots going wild

It is late August now and most of the plants are going into seed. Our plots look particularly attractive at this moment – wild, messy but also intriguing.

Sparrowhawks at the Botanics: 2012 montage

Selected highlights of the 2012 sparrowhawk breeding season at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

A scent of languid honey

A bulb from Temperate South Africa; now growing in a sheltered situation within the confines of the glasshouse borders. Here Eucomis comosa has clumped up well. The foliage…

Potato blight

Blight has struck our potatoes! This is a very common disease that has affected many crops this year because of the warm damp conditions. Healthy looking potato plants…

Something for the plate

For a month now I have been harvesting vegetables from my plot. As a result onions and lettuce reappear in my meals without a stop. I have collected…

Summer time and summer colours

Summer finally arrived to Edinburgh. With a bit of sun and heat all the plots changed their appearance. Plants shoot up and produced flowers and fruits. The whole…

Drifting disinfectant

A mature clump of Cimicifuga japonica is in full flower on the edge of the conifer walk. The scent wafting down from the long plumes these past mild…

August; sowing seeds and harvesting crops

We are busy harvesting early potatoes, broad beans and peas, salads, onions, garlic and beetroot. One of the great skills of vegetable growing is to keep your plot…

Blood on the blade

Planted in the corner of the herbaceous border is Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’. The leaves; blood red in colour from the tip down. Plant where the sun will reflect…

The Botanics, Growing your own vegetables book

It has been an exciting week for the Edible Gardening Project with the publication of our book, Growing your own vegetables. We are very pleased with the finished…

Stamp collector?

Growing in the student plots is carpeting annual awash with flower. Nemophila menziesii ‘Pennie Black’; the true species being native to California where it is found in meadows…

August 2012: Swaying in the wind

The Dierama collection growing at the Garden has this season been spectacular. Delicate and delightful images of arching fishing rods come to mind, a slight breeze causes the…