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IN GENERAL
It's been a wonderful
season. In 2013 we've had a summer that actually felt like a
proper summer should, it'll go down in the top ten best years in
living memory on the lottie. But now it's over.
I always think of autumn as
the end of our gardening season. I know that some plants grow in
winter and you harvest many crops - especially root crops such
as swedes or parsnip, after they've become "frosted". However
autumn has that "end of term" feel to it. A time for assessments,
comparisons and analysis. You will know by now what you'll never
attempt to grow again (in my case horrible bitter tasting purple
podded peas that looked fantastic and tasted awful). You'll also know what you tried that blew your socks off
- so you'll ALWAYS grow it in the future (Salad Blue potatoes
fell in that category for me - although I'm having difficulty
sourcing 'seed' potato tubers for next season). By now you've had
your feedback
from the family (no point asking friends you've given stuff away
to - they won't tell you what they really think of your
offerings, for fear of upsetting you, or perhaps - more likely -
in case future offerings dry up!).
The leaves on trees have
changed colour (unless they've disappeared in the gales) as the nights draw in & the temperatures drop.
The clocks will now go back an hour, and by 5.30pm you'll be
bumping into things in the dark on your lottie! What a
depressing thought! The sap is going back down, farmers are cutting their hedges and
everything seems to be yawning and getting ready for sleep. The
potatoes should all be out of the ground by now, your runner
beans are looking their age with toughened
pods, or have swollen pods of beans for collecting & drying for
your next sowing regime - if you collect your own. All the vigour seems to have gone out of everything
else that's still managing to grow on tick-over. Seed pods are
full, with the plants having done their job to ensure that the
embryos of the next generation have been produced as seeds. It's all a bit like that little period after a
hard day, when you've had your bath, put your dressing gown on,
curled up with your Horlicks and you're getting ready to go to
bed.
Winter is the rest period
and it's knocking on the door.
Some of us use this time between now & spring to start planning
our plots for next year and ordering our seeds early, if not,
it's getting nearer that time when you can put your feet up in
front of the fire and start writing your "wish lists" for
spring. Assuming you're not plagued by a conscience that you
haven't tidied your plot up for another year. Or that the autumn
sown broad beans or onion sets that you promised yourself you'd
get around to planting hasn't been done! We ALL have those
moments - that's where the wet weather comes in handy - to blame
it for for our little procrastinations! But it's not a sin! The
main point of growing veg. is to get enjoyment out of it, not a
guilty conscience that makes it a chore (says he whilst carrying
a hod full of guilt on his shoulder!!).
SOME
OF MY ALLOTMENTS SITE NEWS
Up and
down the UK it's the the season of the Annual General Meeting
(AGM). Not everywhere of course, but the majority of allotment
groups find this time of the year to be an ideal opportunity to get
down to their AGM and to make that annual members assessment
gleaned from reports from their chair, secretary & treasurer of
what's transpired and been achieved over the last year and
what's planned for the coming twelve months. It's also possibly
the time for the 'musical chairs' game of all change of the
personnel at the helm - which usually lands the same players in
the same chairs for another period due to the great work they
achieve and everyone's appreciation of the conscientious work
they put in - pending deaths, retirements, resignations or
demonstrations of toys being thrown out of prams! Unless that is
you come to our neck of the woods.
We've
just discovered that our current chair, the secretary & our
treasurer have all gone AWOL in mid term! Nothing wrong with
that (after all every one of us have our own little personal
crosses to bear and sometimes we have to make decisions based on
our own personal pressing circumstances). The problem arises if
you throw in the towel without telling all the other members and
without calling an Extra Ordinary General Meeting meeting to
rearrange things and sort out the mess.
Our
allotment association here, being slightly "different", does
things VERY differently. To quoin a phrase, we've had a
situation in force where the "lunatics have taken over the
asylum" for the last two years, and as anticipated by most of us
genuine allotment growers, with past experience, the result is
that the asylum has eventually collapsed. Not a surprise really,
it never was a case of 'if' but rather 'when' it would happen.
Well it has, so all that's left to do is for those of us who
seriously care about the allotment movement is to pick up
the pieces and try to salvage what's left to rebuild the walls
of our 'asylum'. In the meantime our land owners (Ceredigion
County Council) have no point of contact with their land use
licence holders - the Aberaeron Allotment Association - no one
is authorised to make payments, goodness knows who deals with
the bank or is responsible for the members money, and instead of
giving the relevant paperwork back to the previous officials no
one has been told where our paperwork is!
It's not
just a case of unorthodox resignations. We haven't had any
general maintenance done on our site for the last two years,
we've not had a properly conducted meeting of our members , when
we have had meetings not all members have been informed, no
minutes of previous meetings have been read and no notes taken
or correspondence read. We haven't had proper independently
audited account reports presented to the membership for two
years and the official's plots are some of the worst kept on our
site - so much for setting examples to others! On top of that
some members have gone over their rent payment period & so
according to their tenancy agreements they should no longer be
members but still hold on to their plots. One member has been
taken to court for 'appropriating' another member's property
without permission and failing to replace or pay for it - he is
now the proud owner of a County Court Judgement, but still
remains a member and has a plot on the site. Two new plot
holders have come on site - they were verbally told that all
they had to do was pay £50 cash to the secretary and just get on
with it - instead of the usual £100.00 including a £60.00 bond
payable to the treasurer. Neither were given a receipt or
tenancy agreement documents. One was parachuted in from the blue
whilst not even on the waiting list! Although there is a waiting
list and some have been on there for 3 - 4 years. A shambles?
Hardly a strong enough word for it. If you want a template of
how an allotment group should NOT be run - this is it folks.
Reality
Right -
down to reality! Those of us in the minority on our site - who
take our plots seriously and conform to the general rules and
standards of the allotment community as a whole, have in the
main had a very successful year and bumper crops.
The star
of the show for me this season? The sweetcorn. Not because it
grew exceptionally well and produced lots of cobs (which it did
eventually) but the fact that it performed so well after a truly
abysmal start.
 It
got started off with lots of pampering in individual pots in the
polytunnel and I was really pleased with it's germination rate
and growth progress. When I
planted it outside - it just sulked & stayed at about 4"
(10cm) high. I
know that the problem was that long cold period we had at the
end of May and beginning of June. It just stunted & would not
budge! In fact it became an embarrassment - so much so that I
toyed with the idea of putting it out of it's misery. I was
contemplating whether to dig it up and grow something else in
the space, because it seemed to be getting nowhere and was a
waste of a precious bed. I'm glad I didn't though!
My mate
Stephen often muses about the evening we stood in judgement
about whether I should proceed with or stay the execution. The
decision was finally made after Tig (another allotment mate)
joined the deliberation & said she thought I should try some cut
off plastic bottles that she had, and suggested I borrowed some
off her
to put around each plant to give them a bit more protection; so
armed with Tig's plastic bottles I decided to give it another
week or two - the corn must have been eavesdropping on our
conversations and got frightened into life!
The result was
that it took off like a rocket with most of the plants reaching
over six feet in height and they produced some excellent cobs.
Probably one of the best crops I've had in years. The moral of
the story is 'never give up'! There's always hope where there's a
little patience and faith. To think I might have robbed myself
of that gorgeous eating experience if I'd been fool-hardy and
impatient enough to put what I thought was a no hope crop in the
compost bin. Mind you, over the years I've had the opposite
result, where I've thought to myself that a pathetic crop harvest
should have been cut short with a trip to the compost bins in
late spring!
Summing Up
Moving
on. Here's a summary of how I saw things pan out on the crop
front this season. Below are a few photos of some of my own
produce, (I would dearly love a wider inclusion of other
plot-holders produce, but I haven't received any contributions -
all readers of this newsletter are warmly invited to contribute
anything they think will be of interest or assistance to their
fellow growers - just contact me).
Space does not allow to include everything but this gives you a
snapshot of the successes this year. I've also included a bit of
crop variety background & performance notes:
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The Aeron Purple
Star runner bean that I've been breeding &
developing over the last few years came of age this
year. It started off with a cross pollinated
Polestar variety that produced rare purple podded
runner beans a couple of seasons ago. With careful
further cultivation in isolation using saved seeds
it has been found to come true, and this year I got
some other growers to trial it for me. The result
was that the seeds from the original cross
(pollinated with separate plants of the same new
variety) have all come true. So, in order to share
my new variety with others I decided to offer the
seeds for free to other amateur growers across the
UK. To make known the existence of the new bean I
posted some messages on three gardening forums on
the Internet - expecting half a dozen or so to take
up my offer of free beans to a good home, so that
the variety could be established. Imagine my
surprise when I got requests from 61 potential
growers from all over the UK with a number going to
a seed collector in Canada! Over 1,200 seeds are to
be sent out in the next few weeks. talk about making
a rod for my own back!
You can get more
information by visiting:
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/aeronpurplestar
More about this
bean further down when I compare it to the benchmark
variety - Armstrong - that I grow every year. |
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The potatoes
were well over average this year, in terms of crop
quantity, quality and size. A near perfect year for
them - especially when compared to last year!
With greatly
lowered incidences of blight due to the dry & warm
summer we had, early blight did not make an
appearance this season, and what little blight that
did strike came right at the end of the season so
the damage was very minimal. Oh for a summer like
this every year! |
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Again this year
I had a number of potato varieties, including Vales
Emerald, Salad Blue, Charlotte, Pink Fir Apple,
Ulster Classic, Pentland Hawk & a small number of
Amour.
The PFAs and
Charlotte I grow every year, the others also
performed well this year. The only one that we had a
bit of a moan about were the Vales Emerald that
displayed that annoying habit - if you're not
careful - of disintegrating when boiled. Taste wise
they were fine. The other varieties were excellent.
Especially the Ulster Classic. Tuber size of the
Armour & Pentland Hawk (both main crop) was amazing.
However the
big favourite which I had never grown before was the
Salad Blue (shown above). Not just because of it's
novelty colour attributes but it tastes fantastic.
Unfortunately it seems that JBA don't have it
available this year. Pity - it was marked down as a
'must grow again' variety. |
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Brassicas were a
a big success. This little juvenile beauty is no
exceptions (picked in a thunderstorm - as you can
see from the photo!). Later specimens picked when
they were more mature had hearts that were two or
three times the size of the one pictured opposite.
The only things
that have not made it to the same standard are the
sprouts, but that's my own fault. All the cabbage
plant family I grow under net cloches. Sprouts being
so much taller got stuck under there too long and
were forcing their way out before I lifted the
netting. No not laziness, but a fear of the late
flutterings of the cabbage white butterfly that were
still active to the end of September/ beginning of
October this fine summer. If we get a similar summer
next year the answer will be five foot high net
tunnels! |
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|
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Large cucumbers
get wasted in our house as they're often too much
for us to get through whilst they're still fresh. So
this year I grew (what I thought was) a shorter
variety. The couple of plants I grew in the
polytunnel were meant to be the 'petite' variety,
however, what actually grew were these monsters!
Obviously a
foreigner in the camp - or the seed packet labels
got mixed up! |
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A fabulous year
for the alliums! For the first time I grew Autumn
Gold - a variety that's highly thought of amongst
many vegetable growers. Size, quality and taste
seems to bear those reviews out. How they store I'll
know by the spring.
The shallots are
equally good this year. In fact they've been so
prolific we're going to have a job getting through
them - despite the 'give aways' to friends &
extended families! |
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|
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Finally, from my
crops (I've tried not to bore the reader with
snapshots of all my crop) - good ol' faithful. The rhubarb. It's like a
faithful old dog that NEVER lets me down - come hell
or high water. The weather can chuck what it likes
at it and it just ignores it all and simply -
without fuss - just grows & grows! I have a real
soft spot for it, because it's so reliable and
rewards me with masses of crops - for the return of
a little bit of muck in early winter. Shown here are
the varieties Victoria & Timperly early - both as
good as each other.
Mind you it has
the advantage over the other crops - it originates
in Siberia & grows wild on the banks of the Volga -
so it just laughs at our fractionally milder
climate! |
Comparisons
Runner Beans
Every season I
like to make comparisons between different varieties
that I've grown. In the case of runner beans, for a
long time I've made a point of comparing two
separate varieties. The winner is grown again the
following year and put up against another variety -
like a knock-out competition for veg.!
This started off
as an experiment to see which variety works best for
me. So the constant variety comparison should
eventually turn up with the best I can find (until
something new is bred and comes along to beat the
previous "champion").
For a long time
my best performing variety has been Armstrong. It
has a good pedigree. It was originally bred from the
famous "Enorma" bean, as of course was the "Stenner" bean. It's often
advertised as an "improved strain of Enorma". It's
close cousin - the Stenner bean - was bred by
Brython Stenner from Cefn Cribwr
in south Wales. For many years the Stenner was
unbeatable in veg. exhibition shows all over the UK
& beyond (and still is the standard bean of choice
for the serious competition growers), but unlike
other show varieties the Stenner & Armstrong beans
are also some of the best for the table. "Taffy"
Stenner - as he was called - bred his world
famous Stenner runner bean from selective breeding
of the Enorma bean strain. Armstrong has been bred
from the same gene pool.
This year
Armstrong was up against my very own Aeron Purple
Star. Here are my findings.
Each bean is marked out of a possible 10. Whilst
this is not a scientific trial, it does give me a
good benchmark of what works best in the soil &
climate where I grow my veg. And I HAVE tried to be
subjective and honest - despite Aeron Purple Star
being the judges daughter!
|
FEATURE |
ARMSTRONG
/10 |
AERON
PURPLE STAR
/10 |
COMMENT |
|
Germination |
8 |
8 |
Nothing
to choose between them. It was a good
germination year but they both suffered
a little after being planted out - but
recovered well. Virtually no failures. Both quick
to break the surface. |
|
Vigour |
9 |
8.5 |
As usual
Armstrong - once germinated is the first
to start climbing when planted out.
However the Aeron Purple Stars soon
caught up and is no slouch! |
|
Hardiness |
8 |
6.5 |
The Armstrong had the edge, which showed
up when the two were exposed to
unseasonal cold spells in late spring.
The Aeron Purple Star seemed to suffer
slightly more, but soon caught up when
the weather got warmer. |
|
Final height
achieved |
10 |
12 |
Both grew
well past their 8' poles. All plants had
to be stopped by pinching out the tips.
The Aeron Purple Star is the tallest kid
in the class though! It seemed intent on
going on forever. |
|
How prolific |
9 |
9 |
Nothing
to choose between them, both are very
prolific |
|
Length of pod |
10 |
8.5 |
Armstrong
had generally longer pods - it's
parentage would ensure that, being a
descendant of "Enorma". Aeron
Purple Star is
longer than average but did not achieve
Armstrong's often 16 - 18" (32 - 45cm) length
in ideal conditions. |
|
Size of beans |
8 |
8.5 |
Nothing
to choose between them really, but
the Aeron Purple Stars seemed to mature to full size
slightly sooner |
|
Stringlessness |
9 |
8.5 |
Both are
genuinely stringless. Armstrong remains
stringless, but some of the Aeron Purple
Star
started showing slight signs of
stringiness on the occasional pod with
age. However as the Aeron Purple Star
was being grown primarily to build up
seed stocks this year it's pods tended
to be picked later - so it might have
missed out because of that. Armstrong
was the main table bean for eating - for
obvious reasons - so got picked younger. |
|
Taste |
9 |
9.5 |
Aeron Purple Star
is above average in the taste category,
but Armstrong is also in a class of it's own |
|
Length of
Cropping period |
8.5 |
9 |
Armstrong
started to show signs of fatigue first.
Polestar seemed to go on slightly
longer. Both are still producing in
October, but the Aeron Purple Star seem to have a
bit more left in the tank. |
|
TOTALS |
88.5 |
88.0 |
Armstrong
pipped it - but only by the narrowest of
margins (which proves my unbiased
nature!) |
|
Colour
of pod: Aeron Purple Star starts off
a dark green, as it matures it changes
to a maroon colour and finally ends up
with dark purple (almost black pods). Armstrong
is a medium to dark green, it's pods
also darken with maturity but always
stay green - like the vast majority of
runners. Even the ones with black beans
have a green pod (like the Salford
Black).
That's what makes the Aeron Purpke Star
unique. Unlike French beans that have a
whole host of purple podded varieties,
there is virtually no runner bean that
has purple pods. |
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Potatoes
As
with a few other crops, potatoes are
usually something that I like to
annually compare when it comes to
varieties. Like many allotmenteers I
usually grow early & maincrop potatoes.
There are some that are annual
favourites - Charlotte & Pink Fir Apple
being two of them. With the others I try
to grow a selection that I've either not
grown before - or have grown in the past
but forgotten how they performed!
Many
crops display a level of quality and
success that reflects the type of soil
and the climate they are produced in.
Local variations in climate can have
quite a pronounced effect as well. Here
in Aberaeron - on the west Wales coast -
we have quite a mild micro climate, and
compared to other areas both north &
south of us, we tend to miss the worst
of the weather. In fact, it's noticeably
dryer here than it is just five miles
down the coast in New Quay & certainly
at Aberystwyth about 15 miles north.
We're in a little cove that seems to
dodge the frost and showers that usually
blow from the south west up Cardigan Bay
to the north west & visa versa during
the winter!
Our
soil is not great, it has a clay nature
(although clay can be quite fertile), so
it's heavy and tends to be water
retaining and slow to warm up. However
with time and a lot of effort (adding
humus and manure) allotment plot soils
do greatly improve as they age.
I
cultivate potatoes in the traditional
way. Trenches are opened up in spring
and a liberal amount of the magic
ingredient (well rotted farm yard
manure) is spread along the length of
the potato row trench. A layer of about
2 - 3 inches if soil is used to cover
it, so that the seed potatoes are not in
direct contact with the manure
(especially if it's a bit fresh). Soil
is then used to cover the seed potatoes
and throughout the growing season the
rows are earthed up as the haulms
progress in growth.
This
season I prepared my usual six rows.
they're about forty foot (approx. 13
metres) long. Four earlies, two early
maincrop and two maincrop. Some were
half rows - before someone picks me up
on my maths!
The
earlies were Vales Emerald, Ulster
Classic &
Charlotte, the early main-crops were Pink
Fir Apple & Salad Blue, & the true main-crop varieties were
Armour & Pentland Hawk. This is how I rate
then:
|
FEATURE |
VALES
EMERALD |
ULSTER
CLASSIC |
CHARLOTTE |
P. F. APPLE |
SALAD BLUE |
PENTLAND
HAWK |
ARMOUR |
|
Chitting/ sprouting success |
8/10 |
8/10 |
9/10 |
8/10 |
9/10 |
9/10 |
8/10 |
|
Vigour |
9/10 |
8/10 |
8/10 |
7.5/10 |
8/10 |
9/10 |
8.5/10 |
|
Tuber quantity |
8/10 |
8/10 |
9/10 |
8.5/10 |
8.5/10 |
8.5/10 |
8.5/10 |
|
Size of tubers |
8/10 |
8.5/10 |
9/10 |
7.5/10 |
8/10 |
9/10 |
9/10 |
|
Blight resistance |
6/10 |
7/10 |
8/10 |
8.5/10 |
9/10 |
7/10 |
7/10 |
|
Flavour |
8/10 |
9/10 |
10/10 |
9.5/10 |
8.5/10 |
7.5/10 |
7/10 |
|
Tuber quality |
7/10 |
8/10 |
8.5/10 |
7.5/10 |
8/10 |
8/10 |
8/10 |
|
Cooking quality |
6/10 |
8.5/10 |
9.5/10 |
9.5/10 |
8.5/10 |
8/10 |
8/10 |
|
TOTALS |
60 |
65 |
71 |
66.5 |
67.5 |
66 |
64 |
|
|
 So
that's how the spuds panned out this
season. Top marks to Charlotte
(unsurprisingly). in my neck of the
woods it's by far one of the best early
salad potato that I've grown, so it's
always top of the list. Consequently,
until I find a variety that surpasses
it, then I will continue to grow it.
Salad Blue did particularly well,
although
it's not that common on
allotments. Not a prolific cropper, it
tastes nice and it looks terrific (a
bonus is that the boffins reckon it has
a high level of antioxidants as well).
 Good
ol' Pink Fir Apple comes third. The
taste - as usual - was beautiful, with a
hint of nuttiness and although it's
supposed to be an early maincrop it
actually tastes and cooks like an early
waxy salad potato. It's right up there
with Charlotte for taste, but hasn't got
Charlotte's good looks! In fact it's a
bit of an ugly duckling and is a pain
because of it's lumps & bumps! It's an
heirloom variety that was bred around
the 1840s - long may it continue to be
around! In fact it's making a bit of a
come-back apparently, but you'll seldom
see it on supermarket shelves.
Pink Fir Apple was originally imported
in 1850 and kept solely by British
enthusiasts for decades, because of its
very fine flavour. The shape of the Pink
Fir Apples are long and narrow and
famously knobbly, often with side
growths. The skin is part pink/part
white with yellow flesh. It really is
unique.
Ulster Classic was well worth growing it
was "nice" flavoured but not quite up to
the other early - Charlotte. However, if
I was a show-bench frequenter I would be
very pleased with it. A pretty potato -
with uniform shape and a pink flush (not
dissimilar to King Edward).
Armour & Pentland Hawk both main-crop
varieties produced huge round tubers
(perfect for baking).
It's
a bit unfair to compare their taste with
the young new potatoes that are
harvested in their youth - horses for
courses. Both are worthy of growing
again.
Vales Emerald came last. Not solely
because of flavour, but it was a
mediocre spud. It didn't cook very well
but tasted quite nice (in a middle of
the road sort of way). I was
disappointed with it because I'd had my
eye on it for a few seasons but didn't
try it until this season. Perhaps my
expectations had been elevated a little
too high. Apparently it's a Charlotte/
Maris Peer cross I believe - so I would
have expected better. The Potato Council
describes it as "An outstanding early
bulking variety with attractive
appearance on the shelf and excellent
flavour. With 25% higher yields than
existing punnet varieties, Emerald is
proving to be extremely popular with
growers and retailers alike." Sorry,
I can't agree - not on my plot and in my
soil or on my table it isn't! perhaps
the key to it's popularity is
"attractive appearance on the shelf" &
"25% higher yields" and ". . . popular
with retailers". Translated that means a
favourite with the supermarkets, because
it crops well, yields are high, it's
uniform & the taste is passable - for
them it doesn't need to tick any other
boxes. |
|
OTHER ALLOTMENT &
GARDENING NEWS
A Bit of Bad News
 An
allotment holder is desperately
trying to find a new home for
dozens of rare cockerels after
she was told to get them off the
land as soon as possible.
For a year, Anita Roberts has
used a patch of land at the
Romsey and District Allotments
site, off Stourbridge Grove,
Cambridge, to house adult
Brabanters and their chicks,
alongside several other male and
female birds of different
breeds. But now the 60-year-old
has been told she can no longer
keep male birds on-site to abide
by Cambridge City Council rules,
and faces an uphill task to
relocate her “family”.
Anita, who lives in Riverside,
where she cares for her
90-year-old mother Beryl, said:
“They say this rule has been
around for a long time but it
never seems to have been
enforced so strictly.
“I think the way I use my
allotment is as appropriate as
any. I have never had complaints
about noise and people seem to
like having them around. The
birds have their own houses and
a solar powered fence which
keeps them inside and foxes
out.”
The Brabanter is a Dutch breed
of chicken originating in the
historic region of Brabant,
straddling Belgium and the
Netherlands. The original form
of the Brabanter became extinct
in the early 20th century, but
was re-created in 1920. They
remain very rare, particularly
in the UK. Anita, who is a
private music teacher, currently
has 12 adult Brabanters and 21
chicks, having bought her first
eggs last April.
She said: “It is fair to say I
am an animal lover. I used to
work at Wood Green Animal
Shelter and I also have more
hens and four cats that I keep
at home. “The birds at the
allotment are like one big
family and need to be together
but I have been told I have to
move them as soon as possible.
“I have to visit them every day
and often up to three or four
time if any need to be taken to
the vet. I am not sure where I
am going to go with them now.”
A spokesman for Romsey Town and
District Gardening Society,
which runs the allotments, said:
“This is not a decision by the
committee but rather a rule from
the council. It applies to all
city allotments.” To help Anita,
call (01223) 363626.
My Comment: This story
highlights how far some
"townies" have departed from
basic natural environments. It's
always a problem when you mix
veg. growing chicken keeping
"country" minded folk with
modern artificial environment
town dwellers. Notice Anita
Roberts' fellow allotment
growers has no problem with her
poultry - but the council does.
What nicer way to welcome in
another day than with a cockerel
crowing? Trouble is the ones who
complain just see it as another
annoying noise. So sad.
Some Good News!
Don't Think "Small" - Sky's The
Limit For Allotment Groups
Example -
Hornchurch and District
Allotments and Gardening Society
The
Hornchurch and District
Allotments and Gardening Society
has been established for over 60
years and was formed to promote
gardening interests in and
around Hornchurch, as well as
the proper cultivation of
allotment plots to produce
high-quality food locally.
This is a fantastic example of
some enterprising work by an an
allotment and gardening society,
who rather than think small with
just one independent site for
their immediate members, have
set a template for how an
"umbrella" group can not only
run one site successfully, but
can replicate that management
model to set-up other allotment
sites in the area. The secret to
their success is the way they
have established a management
system that not only runs the
sites efficiently and properly,
but the key to it all is that
they have made sure that the
allotments are properly
cultivated on each site.
Allotment groups and their
members can have a narrow self
centred outlook on what they
want to accomplish, by focusing
just on their own individual
plots on one site and just
concentrate on producing food
for themselves, or they can view
their endeavours as a means to
expand and promote the 'grow
your own fresh food locally'
allotment movement as a whole
and on a much grander and more
enhanced scale. As the old
saying goes - 'you can give a
man a fish and feed him for a
day, or you can teach a man to
fish and he can feed himself for
a lifetime'. The goal should be
to get as many people as
possible interested and involved
in growing their own food in
their own communities.
The
Hornchurch and District
Allotments and Gardening Society now encompasses
15 sites and has almost
700
members. These sites are
dotted all around the wider
Hornchurch area. This should be
the eventual goal for the Aeron
Vale Allotment Society. Like the
Hornchurch Society we should aim
to help other groups to source
land, get funding, set-up the
documentation of their group
properly and then help to manage
it successfully under the
umbrella of the 'mother'
society. But as with the
Hornchurch & District Allotment
& Gardening Society ALL
allotment plots have to be
properly cultivated. That is a
primary requirement for success.
 Hornchurch have members who are
not plot holders, who pay a fee
to enjoy the benefits of their trading huts and horticultural
supplies. The land on which
their sites
stand is leased from the London
borough of Havering under
agreement. They support community
projects and have a large
marquee at the Havering Show
each August where they mount a
display of locally-produced
vegetables, fruit, plants and
flowers. Surplus produce is donated by
their members and is made available for
purchase then towards the end of
the show the display produce is
also sold. The proceeds are donated to
Saint Francis Hospice and over
the last four years the
donations have exceeded £8,000
in total. So the effort of
growing and displaying fresh
produce not only benefits the
growers and others who are not
in a position to grow their own,
but it raises money for local
charities as well.
Members at
their Stewart
Avenue Upminster site recently
hosted BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’
Question Time.
Hornchurch and
District Allotments and
Gardening Society
Where: Various sites
in and around Hornchurch
When: Varies
depending on the place
Chairman: Maurice
Sparkes
Secretary: Janet
Dingle
Treasurer:
Robert Rand
The society is a voluntary
organisation and its management
committee meets monthly. They are confident the society
will see younger members coming
forward to take up the the reins
as the society grows &
progresses. Wonderful!
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Warmsworth allotment is pride of
community
A small oasis of green wedged
behind Sheffield Road in the
village of Warmsworth has been
used as allotments by residents
since 1952.
 So
cherished is it by today’s 80
plus allotment holders and the
wider community that the local
parish council had no hesitation
in applying for it to be
registered as a community asset.
In fact it has become the first
successful registration of a
community asset in Doncaster.
The grand title now means
allotment holders can now sleep
a little sounder as it gives the
Warmsworth Parish Council a
six-month window of opportunity
to bid for the site if the
freeholders put it on the
market.
Founder member of the Warmsworth
Allotment Holders Association,
76-year-old Walter Hartshorne
said: “I’ve had allotments for
over 40 years. When I came to
Warmsworth 12 years or so ago,
the allotment site was almost
totally derelict and full of
overgrown weeds and rubbish. The
association originally had five
committee members, with the
three active ones, whose ages
added up to 204, clearing some
of the plots – and four years
later we had it back in some
kind or order.
“We had raised and spent about
£70,000 on improvements and
after that, the plots were just
snapped up and for several years
now, we’ve had a waiting list. “
Walter, who goes down to his
plot two or three times daily,
is a keen champion of the
benefits of the allotment site
to the community and wants to
see the site safely in the hands
of the parish council and
allotments association.
“This is our green gymnasium. We
keep fit, make good friends,
help each other, have a good
laugh, and produce wonderful
fresh vegetables and fruit to
keep us healthy. We have a
beautiful community here.
“There is a fear that we could
get evicted at some stage and
that would be a tragedy.”
Warmsworth Parish Council’s
Dennis Aitchison added: “We have
offered to purchase the site
from Keylands but they have not
yet put it up for sale. We are
hopeful that if it does come on
the market, we can manage to buy
it and its future as allotments
will be secure.”
Astley Bridge plot named
Bolton's best allotment
 HAPPY
WINNERS Christine and Bernard
Fallon, of Florence Avenue
allotments, celebrate winning
the New Tenants' trophy.
LITTLE patches of home-grown
beauty scooped gongs in Bolton’s
annual allotments awards.
The three winners from across
the town were presented with
their awards by the Mayor of
Bolton Cllr Colin Shaw for
helping to create an urban
oasis.
Fiona Berry, of Florence Avenue
allotments, Astley Bridge,
picked up the coveted Fairhurst
Trophy, which is open to any
plotholder with a full-sized
allotment.
She said: “It’s fantastic to win
this award. It’s taken a lot of
hard work, so to see a
successful end result is
encouraging.”
Bernard Fallon, also of Florence
Avenue allotments, picked up the
New Tenants Trophy for
plotholders who have been
tenants for less than 12 months.
He said: “I’m delighted. I spent
a fair amount of time
maintaining it, but it’s great
when you can stand back and
admire your work.”
Michael Marsh of Nasmyth Street
allotments, Horwich, picked up
The Fred Greenhalgh Trophy,
which is open to any plotholder
with an allotment of less than
167 square metres in size.
He said: “I’m very happy. It’s
our first year it just feels
fantastic. We put in lots of
work and preparation, to the
point where our allotment was
like a jungle.Ads by Google
“I’d like to make a special
mention to my grandson Brandon,
who did a superb job on the
flowerbeds.”
The allotments were judged in
mid-July, and each winner also
received a small cash prize to
mark their achievements.
In the Fairhurst competition,
runner-up spot went to David
Urmston of Sapling Road
allotments and third prize went
to Philip Warren of Florence
Avenue allotments. In the Fred
Greenhalgh competition, the
runner-up spot went to Alan Wood
of Nasmyth Street allotments
Horwich and third prize went to
Harold Carr of Green Lane
allotments, Horwich. In the New
Tenants competition, the
runner-up spot went to Avril
Stubbs of Florence Avenue
allotments.
My Comment: What a contrast
between the mature forward
looking attitude of our friends
in Bolton, compared to the
rather backward and regressive
attitude of our Aberaeron in
Bloom organisers here. They
withdrew the best allotment or
vegetable garden section in our
competition for no apparent
reason AFTER the judging took
place! No reason was given but
we assume it has something to do
with politics entangled with
resentment of envious parties
because it would appear that the
prizes were about to be awarded
to the same growers that had won
the competition previously -
much to the embarrassment and
envy of certain parties.
Incredibly sad - especially when
you consider what message that
sort of behaviour sends out to
potential young and new
vegetable growers in the area.
ALLOTMENT bosses in Oxford say a
tenant has lost the plot – by
piling his green space with
furniture.
 Plot
holders at the allotments in Old
Marston have demanded that the
occupant cleans up by November 1
or quits. Items on the Court
Place Farm site in Oxford Road
include chairs, tables and
children’s toys.
Site secretary Tim Cann said he
was alerted to the issue a month
ago. He said: “People started to
ask what was going on as it made
a mockery of the idea of
planting and growing
vegetables.”
They have given the allotment
holder, Ali Rojob, an ultimatum
that he has to clean up the mess
by November 1 or he will be
evicted. And Mr Rojob, of
Cardigan Street, is promising to
do so. He said: “There’s no
reason for it. I was shifting
all my things from another plot.
It looks very odd but it is not
unclean or anything. It just
happens that I am new to all
of this and didn’t know a lot of
things. It can only get
better though. I accept that it
has got out of hand and will
clean it all up before the start
of November.”
Mr Cann added: “The fact he
acknowledged what everyone was
saying gave me hope that he
would sort the plot out. But
then he started bringing more
rubbish and that’s when the
problem really came to a head.”
The four-man allotment committee
this month agreed the November 1
deadline to remove items or be
evicted. “I have never had
anything like this before,” Mr
Cann said. “We’ve given him a
chance, but I think his days are
numbered.”
The plot-holder was evicted from
Mill Lane allotments last year,
Mr Cann said, but he did not
know this when he came to Court
Place Farm. Mill Lane site
manager Bill Agent said: “He was
only on the plot for a few weeks
last year before he got evicted.
“He kept coming every day with a
car full of black bags and
dumping rubbish on his plot – it
certainly didn’t look like he
was gardening. “He also had an
armchair which he put in his
plot and he piled the rubbish on
top of that.”
Chairman of the Mill Lane
allotments Masha Unkovskaya
said: “It was a stupid
situation. There was an armchair
and numerous boxes, all sorts of
rubbish, plastic bags and old
Christmas decorations. “It was
things people would normally
throw away.”
The 15-acre site at Court Place
Farm is among 36 owned by the
city council and has more than
100 plots. City council
spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We
are not aware of this but will
be investigating the situation.”
My Comment: It takes
all-sorts I suppose! Having said
that there does appear to be a
bit of confusion amongst many
modern 'new' allotment holders
that their patch - once occupied
- is something that they can do
what they like with. They seem
to forget that allotment plots
are specifically provided to
grow food on. We have some on
our site that really need a
sand-pit to play in rand have
picnics around rather than a
plot of land to grow vegetables
on!
KNOW YOUR PESTS
When we
think of a "pest" in our vegetable growing plots we usually
imagine slugs, snails, caterpillars, aphids, root flies etc. In
fact some of the more devastating pests are often of the fungal
variety.
There's
certainly good guys and some VERY bad guys in this group.
Without the good guys the whole earth would become barren,
because they have key functions in the soil's mechanisms,
without them the soil becomes useless dirt. We also eat a few -
like mushrooms - although some of those are deadly poisonous to
us! Then there's the very unwelcome ones, from potato blight, to
downy mildew and everything else in between. They tend to be
long-lived and are notoriously difficult to control, let alone
eradicate. The soil borne spores of many devastating fungi stay
put in contaminated soils. Consequently ANYTHING that's been
attacked by a bad fungi should be carefully burnt (a good
distance away or off the site if possible) and NEVER added to
the compost bin. An infected plant may look OK for the compost
bin, but spores are microscopic. The main weapon in the war
against the "bad guys" is meticulous hygiene and the careful
future use of known contaminated areas. Sometimes you have to
sacrifice an area for exclusion from growing the same type of
plants for many years.
One of the more common fungal pests on a
plot especially at this time of the year toward autumn when
humidity rises & plants are no longer putting on as much new
growth. Deciduous leaves or die-back perennials are very
susceptible. Is:
Powdery Mildew
 Powdery
mildews are a group of related fungi which attack a wide range
of plants, causing a white, dusty coating on leaves, stems and
flowers.
It is a
fungal disease of the foliage, stems and occasionally flowers
and fruit where a superficial fungal growth covers the surface
of the plant.
Very many
common edible and ornamental garden plants are affected
including apple, blackcurrant, gooseberry, grapes, crucifers,
courgettes, marrows, cucumbers, peas, grasses (the powdery
mildew fungi are major pathogens of cereal crops), Acanthus,
delphiniums, phlox, many ornamentals in the daisy family,
Lonicera (honeysuckle), rhododendrons and azaleas, roses and
Quercus robur (English oak).
Powdery
mildews usually have narrow host ranges comprising of just a few
related plants. For example, the powdery mildew affecting peas
is a different species from the one attacking apples.
Symptoms
You may
see the following symptoms:
-
White, powdery spreading
patches of fungus on upper or lower leaf surfaces, flowers
and fruit
-
Tissues sometimes become
stunted or distorted, such as leaves affected by rose
powdery mildew
-
In many cases the
infected tissues show little reaction to infection in the
early stages, but in a few specific cases, for example on
Rhamnus, the infection provokes a strong colour change in
the infected parts, which turn dark brown
-
Sometimes the fungal
growth is light and difficult to see despite discolouration
of the plant tissues, e.g. on the under-surface of
rhododendron leaves
Powdery
mildew fungi produce microscopic air-borne dispersal spores from
the fungal growth on the plant surface. These have an unusually
high water content, enabling them to infect under drier
conditions than most other fungal pathogens. Powdery mildews
therefore tend to be associated with water stress.
The
majority of the growth of most powdery mildews is found on the
plant surface. The fungus sends feeding structures into the
surface cells, greatly reducing the vigour of the plant. The
growth of a few powdery mildew species (e.g. that affecting
hazel) is found deeper in the plant tissues.
Powdery
mildews either spend the winter as dormant infections on green
tissues, or as resting structures on fallen leaves which then
release spores the following spring.
Non-chemical
control
Destroying fallen infected leaves in autumn will reduce the
amount of infectious spores next spring. Mulching and watering
reduces water stress and helps make plants less prone to
infection. Promptly pruning out infected shoots will reduce
subsequent infection. Some allotment growers have great faith in
spraying the infected areas with milk. The lactic acid
apparently changes the pH of the leaf surface, making it a
hostile environment for the mildew.
Most
powdery mildew fungi have a host range restricted to a
relatively few, related plants, but these can include wild
relatives which can be sources of infection, e.g. wild crab
apples may be sources of infection for apple orchards.
Seed
producers sometimes offer powdery mildew-resistant cultivars of
both vegetables and ornamental plants, check catalogues for
details.
More
info. on other pests will be published in future issues of our
NEWS-LETTER.
 DID
YOU KNOW?
There are at least 10,000 varieties
of tomatoes, from small cherry ones
to Ponderosa, which can weigh over
three pounds.
The tomato – first grew as wild,
cherry-sized berries in the South
American Andes. Tomatoes are the
fruit of a vine that’s native to
South America. The tomato as we know
it today was developed in Mexico.
Tomatoes are the world’s most
popular fruit! More than 60 million
tons are produced every year. That’s
16 million tons more than the No.2
most bpopular fruit — the banana.
Lycopene, a powerful antioxidant
that is abundant in tomatoes and
tomato products, is widely thought
to help in the prevention of a
variety of maladies.
Tomatoes are an excellent source of
vitamin C. One medium tomato
provides 40% of the recommended
daily amount!
"
Not a lot of people know that!"
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