Newsletter No 4
June 2015
Chairman’s Comments: This is the Committee’s fourth attempt at producing a member’s newsletter and this one coincides with our 2015 AGM. Rather than repeat the points I have covered in my Chairman’s Annual Report, I have attached a copy of the report to this newsletter so that those who are unable to attend the AGM can read it.
Secretary’s Comments: Great news from the Brackley Allotments Forum, we now have four members signed up!! and the boards are buzzing with hints, tips and piccies. Latest additions are a plant swap board and also a source of free manure, but we do need more people to sign up and join in, so please use the link on the home page of the Allotments website and have a look at least. For a lot of things it is a preferable alternative to sending out emails via the Secretary.
Treasurer’s Comments: Although it seems an age ago now, the most striking aspect of last year was the smooth operation of Rent Day in November. Thanks to the good natured patience of our members and the diligent preparations by the committee and their wives beforehand, the morning could not have gone more smoothly. A sincere thanks to you all. The Associations finances remain in a very healthy state and as you will see from the audited accounts, our bank balance has decreased by approximately £400. The main items of expenditure were for the installation of a new water supply and the tree work at Egerton which have improved that site greatly. Further work is in train at Castle and Cemetery sites but those costs will appear in next year’s Accounts. On the income side of the Profit and Loss Account, the seed orders taken on Rent Day
showed a profit of £260, thanks to the sterling efforts of Mike Cook, our secretary, and his helpers on the day. With the tools sale, the raffle and cakes and coffee stall a further £167 was raised. Again, many thanks to all involved.
Rent Day 2014: Following on from the Treasurer’s comments above the committee has also received positive feedback from last year’s rent day and most members thought it was a great success and appreciated having it in the lower Town Hall. There was still a bit of queuing as a lot members turned up at the same time and it was impossible for the treasurer to deal with everyone at once. The treasurer did an excellent job as usual and I know he was well pleased when the books balanced. There were still a few people who failed to pay their rent on time and it is not fair on the treasurer to have to chase these people. Even when he did, people still failed to turn up at his home when he had waited in for them. The committee have therefore decided that this year our rules will be applied more strictly and in view of our long waiting list, those who do not pay their rent on time will lose their plots and they will be allocated to new members.
We also received positive feedback on how much you enjoyed having a coffee morning with rent day as it made it a more sociable atmosphere with people enjoying a cuppa and a chat with friends from other sites. The coffee morning aspect pays for the hire of the Town Hall and also adds a few pounds profits for our funds. Thanks again must go to the ladies who baked cakes and ran the coffee morning.
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Paul Macer ran a small stall selling unwanted tools and old stock from the former allotment shop which raised £45 for club funds. He hopes to repeat this in 2015 and therefore if any of you have any old or unwanted tools will you please let Paul know on 702924 and he will happily relieve you of them.
The Chairman ran a small raffle with prizes kindly donated by Committee members and this made a £70 profit for Association funds which helps to keep our costs down.
Cheap Seeds: We hope that all those of you who participated in the NSALG/Kings Seeds scheme again were pleased with the way it operated. Not only were you able to purchase your seeds at about a 40% discount on garden centre prices but also the Association made a commission profit of £ 260 . Recognition must go to Colin Wills and Robert Harris who dealt with the seed orders on the day and for dealing with the distribution. They all did a sterling job. As soon as the 2016 seed catalogues are available they will be passed to the site reps for distribution to members and we will take orders again at rent day.
On the subject of seeds, over the last couple of years there have been a lot new members to allotmenting and some of them have found sheer number of seeds in the catalogue a bit daunting. The chairman has therefore come up with the following list of the most popular seeds which seem to grow well in our clay soil in Brackley and recommends them as a start point for newcomers:
Beetroot: Boltardy
Broad Beans: Aquadulce Claudia
Brussels Sprouts: Trafalgar F1
Summer Cabbage: Greyhound (pointed type), Primo (round type)
Autumn/Winter Cabbagge: January King, Tundra F1
Carrots: Early Nantes (early) Autumn King (late)
Cauliflower: Snowball (Summer) Aalsmeer (Winter)
Courgette: All Green Bush
Climbing French Beans: Cobra
Leeks: Musselburgh
Lettuce: Little Gem (small cos), All Year Round (cabbage), Lollo Rossa (lose red)
Onion sets: Sturon , Red Baron (red)
Parsnip: Tender & True
Peas: Hurst Greenshaft
Raddish: French Breakfast
Runner Beans: White Lady
Shallots: Golden Gourmet
Swede: Marian
Sweet Corn: Swift
Tomato: Moneymaker, Gardeners Delight (cherry)
Could we remind members that they can get a 10% discounts on purchases at Preston Bissett Garden Centre and on the purchase of horticultural glass at Buckingham Glass. Furthermore a 5% discount has been offered at Swallows Nursery at Mixbury and a £5 reduction on the £10 cost of the annual Buckingham Garden Centre discount card. All the above offers can be claimed on showing your Allotment Association Membership Card.
How to tackle weeds:
The RHS’s definition of a weed is a plant growing in the wrong place. Weeds are a varied group of plants with a wide range of growth forms and means of spreading and reproduction. In an attempt to help newcomers to gardening in combating weeds, we have grouped them according to their characteristics and recommended ways of dealing with them. Page 2
Annuals such as groundsel and chickweed are relatively easy to deal with and are best dealt with when young by hoeing the tops off on warm days and leaving them to die on the surface. If the weeds have got larger they are best pulled out when the soil is moist and left to die unless they have got to the seeding stage and then they should be removed.
Pernicious/Deep Rooted Weeds such as docks and dandelions are amazingly resilient and difficult to deal with. These, if cut into pieces, have the ability to grow into new plants. The best way to deal with them is to dig them up in one piece and dispose of them. Don’t ever be tempted to rotovate ground with these weeds present or you will make the problem worse. The other alternative is to use a weed killer containing glyphosate such as “Roundup” or “Weedol”. Personally, I have found that Roundup dab-it-on gel is very effective with one dab at the centre of the plant as you do not get the residual damage to surrounding plant that you do with sprays.
Weeds that entwine around plants such as bindweed are extremely difficult to control and trying digging it out is almost impossible as the roots go so deep. Spraying is often very difficult as you kill the plant that it is twisted around. One of the best methods is to place a cane adjacent to the bindweed and allow it to climb up the cane and then once you have enough foliage then spot treat it with dab-it-on Roundup gel and allow it to die back. You may have to repeat this process a number of times.
Weeds that spread underground such as couch grass, sometimes called switch. While it appears as grass on the surface, it has an extensive network of roots which spread underground. These are very brittle and easily break off and form new plants. The options for dealing with this problem is the careful removal through digging, which can be difficult and time consuming with our clay type soil or alternatively, extensive spraying with a glyphosate weed killer. Whatever method you use, you need to start the process well in advance of planting to allow any re-growth to appear in case repeat weed killing is necessary.
Weeds with tough protective surfaces, such as horsetail or marestail. These can be difficult weeds to control because of the toughened, almost impenetrable surface that is impregnated with silica. The best advice on this is to lightly crush the plant but so it remains intact and then treat with a glyphosate weed killer as the take-up will be much better.
Underground bulbils such as celandines. These have underground bulbils as a method of spreading and disturbing the plant makes the situation worse. These bulbils are attached firmly to the plant early in the growing year but loosely later on. It is therefore essential that they are dug out early in the year. Alternatively use glyphosate weed killer when the foliage is present.
Disposal of weeds: Do not be tempted to compost perennial weeds as they are difficult to break down and you may re-infest your ground when you spread your compost. Also, only compost annual weeds that have not gone to seed.
Glyphosate: This type of weed killer has been mentioned in the above article as the most effective and widely available on the market however, you should be aware that there has been some recent press publicity stating that the active ingredients may be carcinogenic. Naturally the manufacturers deny this but research is ongoing. At the time of writing glyphosate products are still available in garden centres. If any members can recommend an effective alternative to glyphosate, would you please advise the secretary and he will notify members by email or in the next newsletter.
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Site Reports:
Castle: Following the previous years hedge laying project, your committee again got into the larger tree felling and shrub cutting routine on the land adjacent to the stream. This area over many years had become very overgrown and the clearance has resulted in a large area which has latterly been used as a fire burning site. All plot holders were invited to remove any unwanted wood items from their plots to this site as a major site tidy up programme. Most responded well and additional fires have taken place. With this tidy up success we embarked on a similar programme to eliminate scrap metal, followed by glass and plastics. All would agree that things have improved but work still needs to be done on an individual basis. During the year your committee and site reps have continued with the quarterly site inspections which have created several difficult situations. Under the terms of tenancy a few plot holders were asked to vacate their plots after much considered deliberations. As a result your committee received 2 letters thanking us for our efforts and acknowledged the correctness of our actions. With vacated full plots being divided the waiting list has again been reduced. Sadly during the year we lost Keith Rogers a long standing and very supportive plot holder, representatives from The Association attended his funeral. Several small projects are being considered for future action.
Cemetery: The Cemetery Site is generally in good order at present with very few problems. The green bins continue to be overfilled and used for disposing of old veg that will readily compost on your plot. This will be the last warning as if this continues, the bins will be removed.
I would like to thank Paul Macer for recently cutting the hawthorn hedge bordering Halse Road, for making the new notice board located just inside the gate, which is excellent and for repairing the felt roofing on the site shed following the recent winds.
Egerton: The site has been immeasurably improved by the tree work and new water supply and members now have no excuse for not producing top notch vegetables on their plots! At the quarterly site inspections, several plots were identified as not being to the required standard but in the majority of cases, matters have now been rectified. Those who have not done so will be reminded of their obligations under our Rules. Most of the plots are now in terrific condition and a credit to their tenants. Since the last AGM, Andrew Neville-Davis has given up his plot and it has been taken by Denis and Emily Gow, introducing much needed younger blood to the site! We also welcomed Kerry Moore from SPM site. The green areas are being mown and strimmed regularly by Les, Phil, Bob & Graham giving the whole site a much tidier general appearance. All in all, we now have a site to be proud of! Many thanks to you all.
St Peter’s Mill: The new quickthorn hedging has really taken off this year although there has been a few losses in places, we do have some spares to fill in the gaps come the autumn. The wildflower area is now growing well and Jon’s contribution along the Mill Lane side of his plot is really coming on a treat. Not sure how many bees and butterflies we are attracting but hey it’s early days yet and the birds seem to like the black sunflower seeds that I am putting out for them. Hopefully we will start attracting some bees as they have definitely declined quite drastically on this site over the last 3 or 4 years.