Category: Announcements

Here is an article by George Monbiot on soils, and how we might nurture them in order to keep producing food in years to come.

The Pesticide Action Network has produced a useful guide to gardening without pesticides. The link for the download is about 2/3 of the way down the page.

A researcher in America has found a highly effective, non-toxic and cheap slug bait. Is bread dough what we have been looking for all these years? Why not try it and see? But don’t let the rats reach it!

25th October, 2021 on Zoom

Present: 15 members. Apologies: 5 members

Minutes of 2020 meeting

Minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a true record. Matters arising :

• Rents will stay the same for 2020-2021 (£72.00 p.a.) but go up for the 2021-2022 year due to inflation.

Chair´s and Trustees´ Reports:

• Trustees inspections and Committee meetings occur at the beginning of March, June and September, with follow ups after a 6 week interval. Giles Foster agreed to be a Trustee after the tragic loss of Chris Thirkill. Two people were evicted. There were some outstanding plots this year and generally the standard is quite high, perhaps thanks to Covid.
• We had several events:
  • the May Plant Bring and Buy sale was a success although only open to plotholders.
  • The Autumn Show was also a success thanks to Eric Wells who stepped into judge.
  • There were a couple of work parties to tackle the brambles growing over the footpath which can be quite dangerous for horse riders. A big work party began to clear the path at the top of the site where there are many overgrown bushes/trees.
  • Apple Day, where we used our new scratter and apple press.
• Rats are still a problem that needs a concerted effort from everyone. Poison will not work on our site so we must make it unattractive to rats by not leaving food sources available to them. Rats love windfall apples, corn and sunflower seeds so these need to be removed as soon as the rats have found them. Also compost bins need to be made rat-proof with the wire mesh available from hut free of charge. AGREED: As this is a health and safety issue the Trustees will regularly take note of where there is food for rats and name and warn the plotholder responsible.
• Paths: narrow and uneven paths are a problem between plots. A work party is needed to fill in ruts and cut back overgrown fruit bushes. If brambles are arching across a path, anyone can cut them back. Paths between plots should be 80 cms wide and the main paths 2 meters.
• The stone retaining wall has collapsed in places on the top path and we can get three quotes for repairs to be carried out. We believe the Council will pay for this work.
• Security: we have not had many break-ins and only a few complaints about fruit being taken. Remember to scramble the code on the locks when arriving and leaving the site.

Treasurer’s Report

Damien submitted the Treasurer´s Report for Rachael, which showed a healthy balance due to the generous bequest from Gillian North.

Water rates are high and we should find out why there has been such a large increase. Is there a leak?

Discussion on how to identify payments for hut supplies and Joe agreed to create some standard forms. Jenny T-J suggested a docket book with 3 carbon copies would be a simple solution.

Polytunnel lettings were not all being recorded and this needs to be addressed for the coming year.

The accounts are being audited by Yvonne Oughton but the accounts as submitted were accepted by the meeting.

Plot Letting

Rosie stated that we have 125 people on the waiting list after a questionnaire from the Council reduced the list by 10%. There were three quarter plots ready to let and people at the top of the list will be offered these plots. Hollin Lane has the longest waiting list for plots in Leeds and is also the site that has reduced the plot size the most.

Elections:

All stand down, but are eligible for re-election.

• Chair: Joe Foster
• Secretary: Jayne Harnett
• Plot Letting: Rosie Hall
• Treasurer: Rachael Munro Fawcett
• Committee (need 7)
  • Ness Clarke
  • Mary Davies
  • Louise Allen
  • Chris Foren
  • Giles Foster
  • Jo Ann Eisenberg
  • Stephan Petzold
  • John Balfour.

AOB:

Autumn Show Rules:

Discussion about the rules of entry and the meeting agreed that at the next show only one exhibit, per class, per person would be permitted. There were no entries for the Joe Maiden cup this year and we discussed changing the description. Agenda item to be discussed in the Committee as well as the entry description for the Gill North cup.

Gillian North Bequest:

Discussion and suggestions were put forward for the money Gillian North left to HLAA which will become a communal resource. Some suggestions:

• Replacing the hut (shipping container). Need planning permission for larger concrete base?
• Mechanical Shredder.
• Electric grid, or solar panels and battery storage.
• Communal strimmers.
• Better communal seating area.
• Polytunnel staging.
• Solar panels: Lidgett Lane Allotments have solar panels and it was agreed that James, Giles, Joe and Rosie would arrange to see how they work on site.

Coppice Wood:

The coppice wood is in a bad way with bindweed taking over. It was suggested that members be encouraged to ´adopt a tree´ and take care of it by clearing the area around the tree. A tree could be twinned with the plotholder’s plot. Agreed to email membership outlining this scheme.

Toilet Fairy Co-ordinator:

Jenny T-J agreed to take over from Angie to manage the rota and recruit new fairies. Joe will put the rota on the website and call out for new volunteers.

Seed Orders:

Many copies of the seed catalogues have been taken but few orders received. The deadline is this weekend. Rosie will send out a reminder.

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.