Newton Garden, a winter update

Newton Garden last May

Many of you will know that we started growing our own vegetables, salads and herbs at a Georgian walled garden on the outskirts of Edinburgh in 2017. Fred has been working hard to bring a beautiful, but rather neglected, garden back to life with the help of the owner Mary. Last summer and autumn both restaurants were using an impressive amount of produce grown just a few miles away. Here’s a quick update from Fred, who’s been busy preparing the garden for this year’s crops.

Full winter is upon us but we are not on strike at Newton Garden! We’ve been spreading about 3 tons of composted manure, a ton of mushroom compost and 3 tons of mulch on existing beds, and we’ve made 5 new beds. Our new composters are in place and the nursery is ready to welcome our new seedling trays in the greenhouse in a few weeks. 

We still have lots of leeks, cabbages and lettuces in the polytunnel, as well as in our outside raised beds. And there’s still a fair amount of chervil, winter purslane, rocket, dill and mustard leaves to be picked. 

This winter was our first one growing lettuces and it has been a learning curve. I have high hopes of achieving a year-round supply of herbs and leaves for both restaurants – and it seems that will soon become a reality. We are only on our second winter, but I’m confident this year we will make it work! The summer too looks very promising. We’ve created new beds over the winter, doubling our growing space, so we should have a good, regular supply. 

This will be my third summer at Newton Garden, and I’m more enthusiastic than ever. There’s a lot to learn, but it’s satisfying in so many ways. I’m really looking forward to tasting this year's results. More news soon!