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?
Slugs and Snails Again
Slugs and snails: can we ever beat them?
Community Gardening in North-West Leeds
Slugs and snails: can we ever beat them?
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?
Local garden centres who deliver
Here is a list of local garden centres who deliver around Leeds – useful during lockdown.
Updated 4 November 2020
The National Allotments Society recommendations on Covid19 were updated on 4 November 2020. They apply during the current lockdown.
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.