Category: New

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.

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.