Category: Announcements

Sunday, 12 September 2021.

Refreshments from 11:30, “pay as you feel”. Donations of cakes and savouries welcome.

Snail racing from 11:30. Bring your own competitor, or choose one from our racing stable.

Members only this year, because of the pandemic. All entries from plotholders are welcome. This is intended to be fun, not a ‘professional’ show or one for ‘expert’ gardeners.

Entries

Entries accepted between 12.00 and 1.30pm. Cost is 20p per entry for the first ten entries. Additional entries are FREE.

All produce must be grown by the plotholder.

Maximum of 3 entries per class for each exhibitor.

All exhibits shown as multiples should match. Please be ready to state variety if known, as this is helpful for others.

Schedule

1. 3 white potatoes
2. 3 coloured potatoes
3. 3 runner Beans
4. 4 French Beans
5. 4 pods of peas
6. 3 onions, white or red (3 of the same colour)
7. 3 shallots
8. 1 cabbage
9. 3 beetroot
10. 2 leeks
11. 2 sweetcorn
12. 1 marrow
13. 3 courgettes
14. 3 carrots
15. 1 squash (any variety)
16. 3 different salad vegetables
17. 3 medium tomatoes
18. 3 apples
19. 1 dish of soft or stone fruit
20. 1 display of mixed produce in a container not larger than 12 inches x 12 inches
21. 1 vegetable monster
22. 1 exhibit of fruit or vegetables not elsewhere in the schedule
23. Novice class, for the Gillian North Award: if you have never entered before, please select 3 things which you have grown on your allotment and present them beautifully.
24. 1 jar of jam (this will be tasted by our team of volunteers)
25. Joe Maiden Cup: 5 sweet peas + 1 potato + 1 other vegetable of your choice.
26. Best in Show

Prizes to the value of £10 for overall points winner, and for the best exhibit in the Show, will be awarded at the Annual General meeting.

Tips for showing

Peter Blakey has kindly put together some tips for those who are new to exhibiting vegetables. The judging is done according to the guidance given by the RHS in The Horticultural Show Handbook.

• French Beans: Straight. Fresh. Pods with talks. Even length. Good colour. No outward sign of seeds.
• Runner Beans: Long. Uniform. Straight. Good colour. With stalks. No outward sign of seeds.
• Globe Beetroot: 60-75 mm in diameter. Taproot in place. Foliage trimmed to about 75mm.
• Cabbage: Fresh. Solid heads. 50mm of stalk.
• Carrots: Fresh. No sign of side roots. Foliage trimmed to about 75mm.
• Cauliflower: Heads  fresh and solid. 50mm of stalk.
• Courgettes: About 150mm, long 35mm diameter.
• Leeks: Clean, Firm, Long barrel.
• Marrows: Fresh. Less than 350mm long. Tender.
• Onions (large exhibition): Over 250gm. Large. Well ripened. Thin necks. Intact root plates
• Onions under 250 gm:  Firm. Thin necked. Blemish free bulb.
• Peas: Pods long, with stalks. Well filled with tender peas.
• potatoes: About 175-225g. Few eyes. Clear-skinned.
• Squash: Young. Tender. Well matched.
• Sweet corn: Fresh. Well set, including the tips. Straight Rows
• Tomatoes (medium): Approx 60mm diameter. Ripe but firm. Calyces attached.
• Tomatoes (small): Less than 35mm diameter. Calyces attached.

Here is an interesting article in The Guardian about coping with slugs and snails in our gardens. Can we ever win? Can we even just break even?

Here is a list of local garden centres who deliver around Leeds – useful during lockdown.

The National Allotments Society recommendations on Covid19 were updated on 4 November 2020. They apply during the current lockdown.

Here is an excellent little video that explains how washing with soap and water kill viruses, including the COVID19 virus. It even explains the 20 second rule with a clever experiment – all in less than four minutes.

Here is some advice from Leeds Allotments Federation about coping with the corona virus emergency on your plots.

Follow Government Advice at all times, and remain at a distance of at least 2 metres from other allotment holders. Don’t gather in sheds. Use hand sanitiser or soap & water as you enter and leave site. (We can’t supply this at the moment due to the panic buying). Be mindful of other allotment holders who may need help if they can’t get to the site regularly. If you are displaying any of the symptoms associated with Coronavirus stay away from the site until you are clear & if you decide to self-isolate for 12 weeks let your committee know via email/text so they know you won’t be around for a while and won’t hassle you over your plot not being cultivated.

Please be respectful if people don’t want to engage in conversation and don’t go onto anyone else’s plot unless they invite you. This is a situation which is changing daily and we need to ensure our own and other people’s safety.

The National Allotment Society also has a page about Covid 19 Emergency Measures which has a list of important precautionary measures.

Keep well!

Our 2019 Annual General Meeting was held on 25 October at the Meanwood Institute.  For the official record, read the minutes.  Here is a summary.

Chair’s Report

The 2019 growing year brought us a cold, dry spring and wet summer, with an early appearance of potato blight in July. Some fruit crops were very good. Rats and squirrels were a big problem, and many corn crops were completely wiped out.

The Committee met five times this year.

Sue Stones has stepped down as Secretary. Big thanks to her for all her excellent work and creative input.

Our events this year included

• The plant B&B was on 3rd June and was a great success, the quality of plants was again excellent.
• Our autumn show on 8th September, judged by our own Gillian North.
• A visit from Moorlands School on 25th September.
• An apple juicing day on 28 September.
• Several work parties:
  • Erection of our communal poly tunnel,
  • Bonfires,
  • Work on the coppice area.

Volunteers do a lot of important day by day work around the allotments: cutting grass, maintaining the hedges, looking after the composting toilet, letting out plots, collecting rents, maintaining our web site and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram presence.

Trustees’ Report

The Trustees do three plot inspections each year on about 1st of March, June and September, with three follow up inspections six weeks after. The committee meets each time to decide what to do about any problem plots.

There were 5 inspections between March and September, looking mainly at Health and Safety and Cultivation. There were 4 evictions. Several plots improved after warning letters.

Security: There were several break-ins, though the new fence and gate seem to help. It seems likely that leaving the code unscrambled is the cause of the break-ins, so it is important to remember to scramble the code.

Paths should be kept clear, and ideally at least 80cm wide to allow for safe passage of people, mowers and wheelbarrows.

Treasurer’s Report

Election of Officers and Committee

All officers and committee members stand down each year, but are eligible for re-election. Officers and Committee were elected for 2020 as follows:

Post	Name	Plot
Chair	Joe Foster	30 + 31B
Secretary	Jayne Harnett	15BL
Treasurer	Stephan Petzold	26B + 26TR
Plot Letting	Rosie Hall	12B + 23B

Ness Clarke	20T
Mary Davies	10BR
Glenn Drury	6T
Tom & Trina Evans-Cheung	20BL
Chris Foren	26TL + 32BL
Giles Foster	20T

Prize Giving

Best plots were judged by Brian Jenner of Hayley’s Field Allotments on 13 July. This year there were categories for full, half and quarter plots, as well as best newcomer.

Best Plot	1st	2nd	3rd
Full Plot	Ros Dunlevey, plot 37	Joe Foster, plot 30	Peter Blakey, plot 13
Half Plot	Chris Thirkill, plot 14B	Malcolm Slade, plot 8R
Quarter Plot	Jayne Harnett, plot 15BL	Jessica Johnson, plot 3BL	Ben&Sophia Hepworth, 38BL
Newcomer	Jessica Johnson, plot 3BL

Ros Dunlevey’s plot was best overall, so she holds the shield this year.

The Autumn Show, on 8 September was judged by Gillian North.

Award	Name
Best in Show	Rosie Hall (leeks)
Overall Winner	Rosie Hall
Joe Maiden Cup	Jenny Tennant-Jackson
Novice	Jessica Johnson

AOB: Rachael Munro-Fawcett presented some of her recent photographs from Hollin Lane Allotments.

Our apple juicing day on Saturday 28/9/2019 was a huge success. There were barrowloads of fruit there at the beginning – so much that I thought we couldn’t possibly get through them all in one day. But then lots of people turned up and set to, and we finished early. We estimate that we made over 100 liters by the end of the day. Fantastic!

There are some photos on our Gallery page.

One of our communal huts was burnt down in 1995. Here is a report from the Yorkshire Evening Post of 6/9/1995. Since then we have greatly improved security on the site, but occasional problems still occur.