Spring Newsletter
Annual Membership Renewals
All renewal letters were sent out in February. Alison Springate was collecting rent in the Shop at Holcroft Road on 17th March and Sue Dawson will also be there on 31st March. They look forward to seeing you. It’s also a great opportunity to visit the Club Shop.
As stated in the letter, all payments must be received by 1st April 2019. If you say ’you forgot, as busy at work’ – so are we....!?!! The volunteers who coordinate the renewals process do this in addition to their full-time jobs. Please respect that and ensure your payment is made within the time frame. No one will be chased this year. As stated in the renewals letter, any late payments will incur the additional cost of fifteen pounds for the Joining fee as your membership will have deemed to have lapsed. Do take advantage of the bank transfer option if that is more convenient.
Club Shop
Seeds, compost, netting and groundcover sold by the metre off the roll, fertilisers, gloves and much more! Don’t spend petrol driving to garden centres, shop local at your club shop and support your Club! All proceeds are reinvested into the club. We have now started to use funds raised to pay for contractors to cut the grass around some communal areas and unlet plots to make the sites more attractive and release the burden on volunteer members.
Big thank you to all the volunteer members who run the shop each week. If you would like to help out too do get in touch.
What we really need is another Shop manager to order new stock, organise the rota, bank the proceeds, etc, etc..! Again – do get in touch if you would like to get involved.
Open February to November, Sunday mornings 10am to midday.
Seed Potatoes and Onions
Seed potatoes, Onion sets and Shallot sets are available in the shop now. The potatoes are in loose sacks for you to weigh and purchase in multiples of 1 or 2 kgs or more. They are available on a first-come first-serve basis. The varieties available are:
Earlies: Swift, Pentland Javelin
Seconds: Charlotte, Nicola
Maincrop: Desiree, Picasso
Shallots ‘Golden Gourmet’ and Onion ‘Sturon’ are sold loose too.
HTC Repairs & Maintenance
This year’s repair & maintenance programme starts in April, again focusing on clearance of unlet plots to bring them back in to use. The following items were prioritised this year:
2 Plots at Crabtree to be cleared and covered.
2 plots at Holcroft North to be cleared and covered.
4 plots at Holcroft South to be cleared and covered.
Entrance and boundary area to Holcroft South cleared and sown with grass to create lawn entrance.
1 plot at Marquis to be cleared and a grass path created around it.
Soil mounds and rubbish to be cleared at Riverside and an overgrown area cleared and grass sown to create a communal area.
All items are scheduled to be completed by contractors by the end of April.
New rules
A copy of the up to date rules was emailed to everyone in February, which included the following 4 new rules:
A maximum of one-third of a plot may be planted with fruit trees.
Each plot must have a compost container of plastic or wooden construction. It must be located within the plot, not on the surrounding grass paths.
No soil mounds are to be created on plots. Non-compostable items must be removed from the site or burnt.
The grass paths surrounding your plot and the main path in front of your plot must be regularly mowed or trimmed. All plot holders are expected to contribute to the mowing of the main communal paths.
The reason for having a cap on the amount of fruit trees is to ensure plot holders are present. We had a few plots where the plot holder would pretty much just turn up at harvest time, but plots should be used and enjoyed all year, grass paths cut, and assist with cutting the main grass paths too. It is unfair to expect others to do this.
We have spent a great deal of money to clear historic soil mounds on plots over the past couple of years, often finding all kinds of rubbish within them such as carpet and metal – even radiators.. Having a Compost bin on plots ensures no new soil mounds are created, and it is very clear that it will be used to create compost to go back on your plot.
Fruit trees
If you are planting new fruit trees - remember the rule that dwarf stock only are permitted and they must be planted well within the plot so as not to encroach on boundary paths and neighbouring plots. This is to ensure trees do not affect your neighbours if they grow too large or are not pruned regularly and those left by vacating tenants do not cause maintenance issues for volunteers.
Dwarf stock is labeled as 'M27 Very Dwarf Patio tree' or 'M9 Dwarf tree' at garden centres. M26 is Semi Dwarf and is not permitted as it will grow too big at over 3m.
M27 are max height 6 ft/ 1.8m and M9 are max height 8ft/ 2.4m.
If you find you have already planted an M26 stock prior to the rule being implemented, the best thing to do is to cut the leading stem to ensure it stays within the height permitted and prune regularly. M26 stock can be used to create espalier trees though.
Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean less productive. The fruits of these smaller trees can often be larger, and of better quality, than larger trees plus the ease of harvest (no ladders required) as well as general upkeep – it’s a no-brainer! Dwarfing trees are also quicker to come into fruit You would quite naturally assume that a vigorously growing tree will start to yield more quickly than a slower, dwarf one. The reverse is true! Because larger rootstock trees do just that in the early stages – they grow a lot, but don’t necessarily think about actually bearing fruit for 3-4 years, or sometimes more. More Info on this link:
https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/article/complete-guide-to-dwarf--miniature-fruit-trees/
Inherited fruit trees not of dwarf stock are to be pruned annually to a maximum height of 8ft/ 2.4m. This helps to ensure your allotment neighbours light is not affected. You will need to prune before the blossom appears, so if you have not completed this job already, it’s a job for this week.
Native Hedge at Pickford Hill
The Woodland Trust has a scheme where they grant tree and hedge saplings to schools and community groups twice a year. We applied last year for Native Hedge Saplings to create a boundary hedge at Pickford Hill allotments alongside the boundary with Porters Hill Park. We were successful and they were delivered in November. Steve Millington kindly dug some trenches on a plot at Holcroft and heeled them all in for the winter (no mean task..!) while we organised a contractor to do the preparation work over the winter. The saplings were planted last week and they look great. Plot holders have helped with moving bark from the bark store to mulch the hedge and it is going to look really smart. Big thank you to all involved.
Composting
Everyone must have a compost bin on their plot. Not on the side or rear paths, but within the boundary of your plot. There are no communal compost areas. Any non-compostable items should be removed from the site and placed in your wheelie bin at home, or burn woody items and dried perennial weeds in an incinerator or on a small burning area on your plot. Waste, grass cuttings or rubbish must never be placed on unlet plots – always take your rubbish home with you and use grass cuttings in your compost bin.
Advertising
Please take a look at the club Facebook page – we now regularly post pictures of plots and articles of interest, it is a really easy way for us to communicate with you and the public.
It is really helping spread the word that we are here, pictures of cleared plots reach potential new tenants easily, and our pictures on posts are easily shared. Please like the page and share with your friends and other Facebook groups.
You can also post pictures yourself on the visitors posts section.
Flyers have been professionally printed in both A5 and A6 size and posters continue to be placed on notice boards around the town. Please ask if you would like some so you may leaflet drop in your road. There are some in the library too.
Farmers market
In January 2018 we had our info stall at the farmers market, it was freezing but fun!
We are having another stall this year, on 26th May, we are hoping it will be warmer then, and we will be drinking Pimms instead...Hope the strawberries and mint will be ready.
Machinery and Grass Cutting
The lawnmowers and strimmers have all been serviced this winter ready for you to use now the growing season has started again. Please remember it is your responsibility to cut the grass paths either side of your plot and the main path in front of your plot. It is also a shared responsibility between all to mow the main paths. Keeps the site looking nice and inviting for all. If you need any advice on how to use the Lawnmower or strimmer please ask your site rep or Andrew Cowie our machinery assistance member. Contact details at the end of this letter.
Community Plot at Holcroft South
Plots 18a, 19 & 19a at the centre of Holcroft South have been taken on by Louise and Helen who are running a community plot called Plot 31 - Community flower farm. Members of the public will be attending their gardening club sessions on the plots on Tuesdays. HTC and the Club have given special permission for this scheme to be at Holcroft and Batford Memorial Hall is also helping in that they offer them a room to use on rainy days if necessary. It's a real community effort and we wish them every success. They have been super busy transforming the blank canvas of the plots that were all cleared and covered last year after being out of use for some years. Even digging in the snow..!! There will be lots of cut flowers being grown as well as vegetables, so the centre of Holcroft will be in bloom this year, providing plenty of pollinators for everyone.
So if you know of anyone who does not have the time to have an allotment of their own but would like to garden, do let them know and they can contact Louise Dillon for more details on flowers@plot31.co.uk.
Committee members and site reps
Huge thank you to all the Committee members and Site reps who volunteer their time to help run the club. Lots have been going on in autumn and winter from organising a new kitchen to be fitted in the shop after a water leak, organising plumbers, turning water off for winter and recording readings, Stock checks in the shop, Accounts, Lettings, covering unlet plots etc etc..! As you know the club is run on a devolved basis and relies on volunteers, so if you would like to get involved do please get in touch.
What to grow/do now
The often asked question... Spring – heaps...!!!
Plant your potatoes that you have been chitting, and with other veg - maybe sow varieties you can’t easily buy in the shops this year - grow coloured carrots, and golden beetroot has a sweetness you don’t get with standard purple beetroot and beetroot ‘Chiogga’ has stripes all the way through, lovely sliced raw in a salad in the summer. Grow some cut flowers, hardy annuals can be sown from March, and will encourage the pollinators, look great on your plot, and even better in a vase at home!