It's now high summer; the plot is in full production and providing lots of fresh vegetables for the kitchen. It's easy to meet the recommended five portions a day. The choice is from sweet corn (Early Extra Sweet ), potatoes (Winston & Pentland Javelin), carrots (Chantennay), peas (Hurst Green Shaft & Onward), shallots (Red Sun), onions (Red Baron & Setton), courgettes (Defender), cabbage (Minicole) cauliflower (Candid Charm) and calabrese (Chevalier).

Deborah Burn, formerly of the Allotment Regeneration initiative has launched a Twitter page to share media articles featuring Allotment Gardens in the UK.
The page already has a healthy number of 'followers' on Twitter, who are all keen to read news about Allotment Gardens.
To visit her Twitter page and read the media articles, all you need to do is click on this link: https://twitter.com/#!/allotmentnewsuk

Lady Road Allotment Site suffers from yet another wet summer. Good for rice but not much else...

The winners of the 2011 FEDAGA Edinburgh In Bloom Allotments Competitions are as follows:

Best Plots:

First ---- Andy Crofts and Kathy Parker (Plot 78, Inverleith).
Second -Peter Wright (Plots 11b and 19b Lady Road).
Third --- William Aitken (Plot 19 Carrick Knowe).

Best Sites:

First ---- Inverleith.
Second -West Mains.
Third --- Lady Road.

Most Improved Sites:

Pilrig Park and Ferry Road (joint winners).

Waste Wise Award:

First ---- Carrick Knowe.
Second -Midmar.
Third --- Pilrig Park.

Edinburgh based company, Nutshell return to the Fringe this year with a tale of two sisters on their allotment. Staged on director Kate Nelson's own allotment in Inverleith Park , the show promises a cup of tea, a scone and a darkly comic story. Click on the following link to access the Nutshell website for further details. "Allotment" is written by Jules Horne. http://www.nutshelltheatre.co.uk/file/welcome.html

The judges have completed their survey of all the plots entered in this year's competition. You can relax now!
However, the judging of the sites is still taking place. It will be completed shortly.

FEDAGA has received the following message. You may be interested in participating. The City of Edinburgh Council has just launched a vision/framework for a "Sustainable Edinburgh 2020". They wish to encourage our members to share their views with the Council on how best the city can develop sustainability.

By the end of May seed time was over. In a few weeks harvest will start either with courgettes or peas. Not all plants have been set out. Some of the successional sowings of brassicas are still in their Rootrainers. The leeks, growing steadily in their seedbed, will wait until the catch crop of first early potatoes has been lifted. Then the plot will be fully planted out.