Community Gardening in North-West Leeds
An excellent little video.
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.
Advice from LAF and NAS
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!
– summary.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 |
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.
was a huge success.
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.
– from the Yorkshire Evening Post
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.
Blight arrived in July this year. What to do when your potatoes have it.
Here are some tips about identifying blight and rescuing your potato crop once you have it.
Blight has appeared early this year because of the recent warm, humid weather. We don’t usually see blight on our potato plants in Leeds until August, but this year it has started in the last week of July on our site.
Our Annual General Meeting was held on 30 October at the Meanwood Institute.
Our 2018 Annual General Meeting was held on 30 October at the Meanwood Institute. For the official record, read the minutes. Here is a (rather long) summary.
The 2018 growing year brought us a cold, wet spring followed by a warm, dry summer, with some spectacular harvests of fruit and other crops. This year we discovered that chili powder is a good repellent for rats and squirrels on our sweet corn. Thanks to Ros Dunlevey for this tip.
The Committee met seven times this year, discussing the usual allotment business, and also organized a number of other events.
We are very grateful to Angie Willshaw, who is stepping down after four very active years as our Secretary. She has been the main driver in all of our successful projects during her time, including the new fence and gates, the communal toilet and tool shed, the senior plots, and much more, even including improvements to the public footpath along the bottom of our site.
Many thanks to John Balfour, Jenny Tennant-Jackson and Sandra and John Olive, who are also stepping down after giving generously of their time and efforts.
Our events this year included
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, and all the other jobs that need doing just to keep the allotments running.
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.
This year there were seven evictions. This is our least favorite job of all, but a necessary one. Several plot holders received warnings, and managed to improve their plots.
Security was not too bad this year. There was no vandalism, but we had several instances of sheds broken into and property stolen. On the last occasion we could not see any evidence of entry around the boundary of the site, so it looks like someone had the code for the locks. This can happen if the lock is left without scrambling the numbers. Whenever this happens we have to change the code on the locks, and then tell all the members the new code.
Please keep the code secret!
Paths should be kept clear, and ideally at least 80cm wide to allow for safe passage of people, mowers and wheelbarrows.
Ness talked us through the accounts for 2018, which showed us to be in good shape financially, with over £8K in the bank. Our takings from the plant B&B sale and show together were over £900, the best we have managed so far. She gave us a helpful explanation of how our balance seems to shift from year to year, due to the times of the accounts overlapping with rents coming in. This should be less of a problem in future.
Ness has managed to find a new Treasurer for 2019, so she can step down for a well deserved break. Big thanks to her for doing this important job so ably since 2013.
We added a bit to Section 5 of our constitution to create a new post of Letting Officer.
All officers and committee members stand down each year, but are eligible for re-election. Officers and Committee were elected for 2019 as follows:
| Post | Name | Plot |
|---|---|---|
| Chair | Joe Foster | 30 + 31B |
| Hon. Secretary | Sue Stones | 9TL |
| Hon. Treasurer | Stephan Petzold | 26B + 26TR |
| Hon. Letting Officer | Rosie Hall | 12B + 23B |
| Name | Plot |
|---|---|
| Ness Clarke | 20T |
| Mary Davies | 10BR |
| Glen Drury | 6T |
| Tom + Trina Evans-Cheung | 20BL |
| Chris Foren | 26TL + 32BL |
| Jayne Harnett | 15BL |
Best plots were judged by Brian Jenner of Hayley’s Field Allotments on 20 July. This year there were categories for full, half and quarter plots, as well as best newcomer.
| Best Plot | Name | Plot |
|---|---|---|
| Full Plot | Joe Foster | 30 |
| Half Plot | Malcolm Slade | 8R |
| Quarter Plot | Harriet Gardiner | 4BL |
| Newcomer | Leonard Cummings | 31TL |
Malcolm Slade’s plot was the best overall, so he will hold the shield again this year.
The Autumn Show, on 9 September was judged by Gillian North.
| Award | Name |
|---|---|
| Best in Show | Peter Blakey (red cabbage) |
| Overall Winner | Joe Foster |
| Joe Maiden Prize | Jo Ann Eisenberg |
Finishing the job of improving the public footpath past our allotments.
Back in March 2018, we started some work on the path alongside the allotments (part of the Meanwood Valley Trail) to improve it for the local community. The work of installing our new fence (funded by the National Lottery) had left the path a bit muddy over the winter. We did a good job but we only got half way, so in October 2018, we went back to finish the job. Once again, Leeds City Council provided two loads of stone, and we asked our friends at Morgans City Living to come and help.
Morgans staff had done some voluntary work 
for us before on the allotment site, creating the lovely coppice area and making some compost bins, so we knew they were up for the challenge.
We cleared the path of layers of mud to reveal the original stone base and spread the new stone on top. After a chilly start, we all warmed up quickly with our Sunday morning work-out – no trip to the gym was needed that day! We also cut back the brambles and nettles, and now hope that the wider, tidier path will now be fit for the winter weather to come.
After a much needed lunch break, with fried egg butties, coffee and cake (thanks Rosie!), we resumed work, this time clearing an overgrown plot, so that it can be let to new allotmenteers. The original plot began to emerge, as we cut back trees and bushes to let the light in and wake up the baby frog having a Sunday afternoon snooze. Branches and twigs were hauled up to the back of the coppice where there is a wildlife haven. The Morgans team and the allotment volunteers enjoyed working together as a team, but I think we were all glad when time was called and we could go home to put up our feet and start thinking about doing it all again!
Converting our surplus apples into beautiful juice.
There was a time a few of us remember when there were practically no apple trees at Hollin Lane Allotments. Recently, more of us have planted them, and now we have to figure out what to do with all our surplus apples.
This year (2018) we tried a new approach – large scale juicing. We hired equipment from Leeds Urban Harvest and spent Saturday 6th October up to our elbows in apples and juice. Anyone with apples could come along and make their own juice, or just donate their surplus.
We had plenty of helpers, so we quickly developed an assembly line:
By the end of the day we had made about 70 or 80 liters of delicious juice. Most of this was for drinking fresh, but some is being made into cider. That will be very interesting…
Here are some photos from the day:
And a short video of the pressing:
Another fun Autumn Show
Our Autumn Show for 2018 was held on Sunday 9th September. There was a big turnout of volunteers to set up the gazebos and tables and to tidy it all away again. At one point one of the gazebo frames looked a bit like a confused maypole dance, but it all came together in the end.
There were some really delicious refreshments (thanks to all our cooks!) and another thrilling snail race at the end of the day. Unclaimed exhibits went into the “hedge veg” box by the main gate, and quickly disappeared.
Overall points:
Best in Show: Peter Blakey’s red cabbage
Joe Maiden Cup: Jo Ann Eisenberg
Some of the winning exhibits were from newcomers – it wasn’t all just the usual old-timers.
Gillian did the judging in our usual informal Hollin Lane way, explaining what she was looking for in each class and giving useful tips about growing and showing things from her own long experience as a gardener and exhibitor.
Many thanks to everyone who helped make the day a success.
Lots more pictures in the Gallery.