Keep your eyes peeled...

I’ve run out of potato puns, but suffice to say that this email heralds the beginning of our new season.  As well as alerting you to the exciting news that the potato delivery has taken place this week, it also includes important news about :

Seeds

Break ins, hedging and gates

Volunteering opportunities and opening hours

Poly tunnel growing space

Plant (ish) sale

 

Yes!  The potatoes and oniony items have arrived and orders will be available to collect from Sunday January 29th between 10am and 1pm (as opposed to our normal 10 -12 noon). We would ask you to collect them sooner rather than later;  we are always concerned about possible deterioration in wintry conditions.  If you did not place an order, there will still be some varieties available, although it is worth noting that we are scaling back on our total order year on year, as demand decreases.

 

The Kings Seeds orders have also landed, and are available to collect.  We achieved our target of £200 and enjoyed the benefit of half price seeds! Yay!  Additionally, we have a good selection of seeds at the Hut, although these are not quite as generously discounted!!!

 

Unfortunately, our allotment site has had more unwelcome visitors during December and January, and if you only visit your plot occasionally during the winter months it would probably be worth popping by to check that everything is ok.  There are frequent reports of the security gates being left unlocked and even wide open, and this is obviously frustrating to allotment holders who are more vigilant. PLEASE close and lock gates responsibly, and consider if there is anything that you can safely do if you see anything suspicious. As far as your own plot is concerned, the society has had a kind donation of some pots of hawthorn whips which are intended for use on the Hagg Lane allotment site in order to fill any gaps in hedging.  Please come to the hut if you would be interested in using some of these.  Free!

 

Changing the subject completely, do you think that you might be able to help us?  It has been a long road, and we are just about getting back to normal , but we are aware that the personal circumstances of members the volunteer team are ever changing, and we’re not always able to give the time that we used to in the past.  Obviously we have reduced our opening hours, although we are aware that some members would be pleased to see us open on Saturdays as well as Sunday, if it was practical.  If you are at all interested in helping, please get in touch, or pop in for a chat.  You will find us a motley crew - some more motley than others – but we do our best to be friendly and hospitable!  In the short term... we are hoping to get some working parties together in March.  Amongst other things, the society polytunnel needs a complete overhaul, and we need both brains and muscle to help dig trenches and do battle with a new cover.  Expressions of interest, please! 

 

And then...once the polytunnel is back in working order, we hope to offer growing space to people who could make use of it.  We’re open to discussion!

 

And then...last year we had many enquiries about the return of a plant sale, and lots of people called in looking for seedlings.  We know that we cannot undertake a plant sale on the scale that we used to, but we would like to be able to offer something in its place.  Anybody got any ideas?!

 

Well, that’s it for now!  We hope that you’re looking forward to the warm spring sunshine, hosepipes at the ready! 

Potato & Onion Order Form

 

Ne'er-do-wells

Unfortunately we have received reports of multiple break-ins and acts of vandalism on the Hagg Lane allotment site.  We always encourage victims of such crimes to report the event to the police because, whilst it is unlikely that anything can be done to find the culprits, it is helpful to the police to keep tabs on where crimes are committed, and to maintain realistic statistics.

If you haven’t been to your plot recently, it might be a good idea to check for damage and losses, and it is obviously helpful to keep the site gates locked, even when you are on site.

Hope that all is well with you.

Feeling chipper, half baked or making a hash of it....

The allotment year is already trundling onwards, and we are pleased to let you know that potatoes, garlic and onions have now arrived at the Hut.  Once again, our order has been reduced to reflect the quantities purchased over the last few years, and there have also been a number of crop failures to throw in.  If you have pre-ordered, please come to collect your stuff as soon as possible – we always get nervous about potential frost or rodent damage the longer they are left with us.  If you haven’t pre-ordered, and are hoping to drop by to make a purchase, we suggest that you don’t hang about!

 

We have also received the seed order from Kings, and our seed merchandiser in the Hut is freshly stocked.

 

We are still opening on Sunday mornings only, between 10 and 12 ish, working with a reduced volunteer team.  Apologies if this causes any frustration.  Please contact us directly if our current opening hours makes it impossible for you to visit, and we will do our best to help.  Obviously, we are trying to operate as safely as we can, and would ask visitors to the hut to wear a mask, and to use common sense if there seems to be a bottleneck! 

 

Look forward to seeing you soon.  Happy New Year!!!

 

Debbie, Eric, Kevin and Steve (on behalf of the wider volunteer team

Order! Order!

 ... (or so they say in the shambles that is our system of democracy...)

 

So, this long and eagerly awaited email is to remind you that it is not time to rest on your growing laurels.  Instead, you will undoubtedly be tidying away the last of this year’s triumphs in the vegetable patch, putting your beds to ... er ... bed and already planning how you will increase your yields and defeat the aphid army, in a totally environmentally friendly manner.

 

Firstly: Technology permitting, next year’s Potato Order form.  Once again we have reduced the total quantities of stuff that we are ordering, to try to match the demands of the past few years.  With this in mind, we would seriously urge you to pre-order as soon as possible in order to secure your preferences, although we will probably still be able to offer some for sale in February.  If you want, you can email your order to us, or visit us at the hut on a Sunday morning.  Onions, garlic, shallots etc are also on the list.  Ooooh, and there is a rumour that the ever-popular bucket/potato competition will be making a return.

 

Secondly: The Kings Seed order will be being placed on November 15^th, or thereabouts.  For a handling fee of £1.30, we hope to be able to offer members a discount of 50% off vegetable, herb and flower seeds, assuming that our order totals more than £200 altogether.  Your order needs to be submitted by ourselves in order to qualify and, again, you can email this to us, or beat a path to the hut.  We can build a little bit of flexibility into the date, but don’t want to repeat the excitement that we lived through earlier this year.  Please let us know if you are running late AND please contact us if you do not receive acknowledgement of your order within 14 days of sending it to us. 

 

Thirdly: We have had a delivery of Peat Free Compost this week -  Bloom and Gro Organic Peat Free 40L. It is new to the market!

 

Finally, it has been lovely to see an increasing number of visitors to the hut, and to meet new allotment holders from both near and further afield.  We look forward to seeing you sometime soon, and socially distanced cups of tea are on offer once more,

 

Get them orders in!

 

 

Seed Potato Order Form

 

It has been sow long

 Autumn planting onions and garlic

These were available to purchase from the hut from Sunday, September 12^th. Because of the unpredictability of the numbers of customers that we are getting, once again we have only placed a small order.  I’m sure that you will appreciate that we need to cover our costs and it is always a tricky balancing act making sure that we are not left with unsold perishable items.

The hut is currently open from around 10am until 12 noon. Sunday.  As usual, cash only.

 

Kings Seeds Allotment Scheme

In spite of the large amount of unwanted tension and excitement earlier this year, we are proposing to repeat our participation in this scheme again for the 2022 season! (If you partook in this rollercoaster ride of seed buying, you will understand where I’m coming from!) Kings Seeds offer a good range of very reasonably priced vegetable, herb and flower seeds, and give allotment societies a generous discount. If we collate a seed order between us that is worth more than £200 we will be able to pass on to you a 50% discount, give or take a £1.30 handling fee.  At the moment we only have one real paper catalogue between us, but I can obtain more if there is interest.  You can also view their full range on their website.

If you do decide to dip your toe in this lily pond of opportunity, please note that we are bringing forward the ordering date to November 15^th , so that we can breathe during January, February and March.... we will not be able to guarantee any discount after November 15^th .

If you would like more details as to how to order, please email or call at the hut, remembering that we will need to place your order on your behalf. 

 

Volunteers

Our team is now very much at skeleton level!  If you would like to put on weight by sharing some cake, and burn it off again immediately by heaving compost around, please make yourself known to us!

 

Compost

We now , once again, have Clover, Growell and John Innes composts, but have not been able to secure any deliveries of Peat Free Compost to date, because of both production and transportation issues.  We are aware that many gardeners are trying to avoid the use of peat, and we will be getting peat free compost as soon as we are able.