July 19th 2010

The dry weather just about hung on for our annual award presentation and BBQ on the 18th. It was a bit cooler than of late but it did not spoil the enjoyment of the afternoon.

The Best Newcomers awards and Best Scarecow awards were presented by Dave Makepeace and the Best Kept Allotment Awards were presented by Paul Morrish Chairman of Thornbury Town Trust. We are very lucky that the Town Trust are not just excellent landlords but they very generously make these awards each year.

Photos of the presentations are on the Photo Gallery. I am hoping to have some photos of the BBQ to display soon.

July15th 2010

 Today was a very important day for Thornbury. It was the day that the judges for the regional heats of Britain in Bloom looked around our town. The town looked at it's best in spite of the heavy showers that occured at regular intervals. Sue Aitken and her team of volunteers have been working their socks off to get everything right for today and they certainly have made the town look wonderfull.

The judges visited the allotments late in the afternoon and were greeted by Dave Makepeace and several other members. The children from Gillingstool school were also on their plot. Special mention must go to Mike Harrisons grand daughter Charlotte who rushed from the Sibland School garden in Rock Street back to the allotments to show the judges how she helps in the shop on Sunday mornings. Ray and Dave took the judges to see this years number one plot, Merv Touts, and they were impressed by the plot and Mervs water capture system.

The judges indicated that they were pleased with what they could see and they were told about this web site and our recycling scheme. Let's hope that we have helped toward another Britain in Bloom success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 12th 2010

It has been a busy couple of weeks at the allotments. As well as trying to keep the crops watered we have been preparing for the Best Kept Allotment Competition and the NGS Open Day.

The Best Kept Allotment was awarded to Merv Tout, full details will be found on the members page along with details of other winners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Open day was another resounding success. On an afternoon when the sun beat down on us we had over 250 visitors and we managed to raise £1250 for the NGS charities. Money was raised on the gate and by selling plants and produce and tea and cakes. Our visitors seemed genuinely impressed by the standard that the allotments had reached and the quality of the crops in spite of the dry weather.As well as visitors from around the Thornbury area we had a couple who were on holiday from Ireland and others who had travelled from Wiltshire and Somerset. I hope that they found the journey worthwhile.

 

 

June 17th 2010

Lovely weather continues in Thornbury and the growing conditions are just about perfect. Lots of strawberries are being picked at the moment which really makes it feel like summer. Broad beans are a great early season vegetable and the people who sowed their beans before christmas are picking now.

I am continuing to have problems with cabbage root fly as are other plotholders. The fly lavae nibbles at the roots and kills the plant. I have now made some collars to put around my replacement plants - I should have used them to start with.

June 5th 2010

We have had quite a dry spell recently and the watering has continued although rain has been forecast for the next few days. Allotmenteers have quite a tough time fighting off all of the different things that affect the crops. We have netted against rabbits and pigeons, put fences up to keep the badgers off, use many and varied remedies to deter slugs and yet we still get hit by other things. Last year the potatoes and and tomatoes suffered with blight and this year there seems to be an outbreak of cabbage root fly. Cabbage root fly decimates brassicas by laying eggs at the surface near the stem of the plant. Little grubs hatch out and munch their way through the stem and the plant dies. Unfortunately because of EU regulations it is not possible to buy the powder that we used to use to deter the pest and the only way to fight the fly is to put collars around the plant stems. I have some collars but forgot to use them hence I have no purple sprouting!

It is this constant battle with nature that makes life so interesting and it gives a satisfying feeling when prize winning crops are grown.

May 25th 2010

I hope that I am not being over optomistic in saying that it looks as if summer is here. The last few days have been scorchers with temperatures in the high twenties. Down on the plots most people are busy with the watering cans as the soil is very dry although some gardeners insist that only hoeing is required. The ground is so hard and dry that it needs a good soak prior to putting in new plants and we now have the opportunity to put in all the plants that we have been holding back for fear of frost.

As usual at this time of year we are amazed at how quickly the plot fills up, there never seems to be enough room to grow everything that we want. The asparagus has gone mad in the warm weather and has to be picked almost every day and it is surprising how quickly the salad crops are filling out.

The first sweet pea flowers have made an appearance and the perennial flowers are taking over from the spring blooms. We appear to have more new plotholders this spring than is usual but they are all doing a splendid job and hopefully will be eating their own produce in the not to distant future.

May 5th 2010

I am sorry that it has been so long since the last update but hopefully things should be back to normal now and I will try and update regularly.

The weather has been fairly good lately although the wind is cold and dries the soil very quickly. Dry soil has been a big problem as we have had the water turned off quite a few times owing to a leaky water trough. This has been fixed and there is more about it on the members page.

Water is very important at this time of year as everyone is busy sowing seeds and putting in plants. As usual we are all eager to get things started and lots of seeds were sown when the soil was too cold which has meant poor germination. A local garden centre tells me that they think that this years growing season is 3 weeks later than normal.

The spring flowers and fruit blossom have looked a real treat this year. The flowers and blossoms were later than normal and have not been hit by March frosts and winds, this should lead to bumper fruit crops - unless something else gets them.

We have had a few plots change hands recently and hopefully the new plotholders will have been busy as the judging of the 'Best Newcomers Plot' takes place soon.

The asparagus season has started and quite a lot of this unusual veg is grown at Daggs and by the end of May most people have had enough of it! Not much else being cropped at the moment except the last of the winter cabbage, leeks and purple sprouting. It wont be long before the salad crops are ready, a few weeks of sunny weather should see everything shooting up and the allotments covered in a blanket of green instead of the browns and greys of winter

 

March 9th 2010

At last I have been able to get to the allotments. The weather during the day has been bright and sunny although we are still having hard frosts at night. The ground remains frozen until well into the afternoon but despite this plotholders have been busy digging, spreading compost and getting ready for planting. Broad Beans that were sown before christmas have suffered in the cold wet weather but there is still plenty of time to sow more seed and onion sets can now be put in as they can stand the frost. At home it is very tempting to start seed sowing but I think it is still a few weeks too early umless you have a heated greenhouse. I have sown my chilli seeds and they are on a south facing window sill in the house. I would like to sow my tomato seeds in the same way but I am only allowed one window sill!

February 24th 2010

I last wrote that the snow had thawed and things looked none the worse for their frosting. Last week we had more snow and this time it was very large flakes of wet snow and it has done a lot of damage. The cage in the photo below is now a mess of tangled poles and netting as the weight of the snow caused it to collapse and lots of fruit cages have either collapsed or had the netting split. I have not been able to get down to see the damage for myself but hopefully the weather will get warmer soon and some damage repair can take place.

The AGM takes place tonight, it is usually well attended but a lot of members are suffering with colds and flu so numbers may be down this year. I am unable to attend but my trusty messenger Ray will no doubt give me full details tomorrow.

Some good news of sorts. James Gregory (ex secretary) saw a fox wandering through the plots the other day. This will be good news if the fox likes the taste of rabbits. There are more rabbits than a fox could eat but it would be great if the natural food chain could reduce our biggest pest.

January 18th 2010

The snow has thawed from around thornbury and plotholders are already back tending their plots. There is plenty of winter vegetables to harvest, leeks, parsnips and all types of brassicas which are looking none the worse for their recent frosting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although I still have not been able to visit the allotments I am told that Dave Makepeace has been busy putting the fence along the south wall to try and keep the rabbits out. Let's hope it works. The cold spell should also have killed off some of the unwanted bugs that seem to reappear year after year.

Another annual event in the gardeners calender has just been reached. The seed potatoes are now available and can be put to chit. care has to be taken to keep them free of frost but I am sure the time will fly by between now and the end of march when they can be planted. Now is also a good time to plant broad bean seeds although I usually bring mine on in pots ready to plant out in late February. For really keen gardeners tomatoe and chilli seeds can be sown in propogators to get an early start to the season but the plants will need to stay on a warm light window sill until April.

January 9th 2010

A belated happy New Year to all. Unfortunately I am having a few health problems and have been unable to update this site as often as I should. I have also not been able to get to the allotments recently however I have been getting updates from friends who have ventured out.

At the moment Thornbury is in the grip of the most severe weather that we have encountered for about twenty years. We have had a prolonged spell if sub zero temperatures plus about 9" of snow.This may seem of little significance to residents of Siberia or Alaska but we are just not set up to cope with these conditions and we cannot get hold of dynamite to get our parsnips out of the ground.

Since November a couple of things of note have occurred. A large ash tree in the playing fields next to the allotments has fallen over (it may have been the weight of snow on the branches) and landed across some of the plots in the bottom corner. Fortunately no damage was done to any crops or sheds and Dave Makepeace has been busy with his chainsaw clearing it. We also had another series of shed break ins although nothing appears to have been stolen.

On the wider front it looks as if Margaret Powell will have some of the pressure taken off her from people wanting allotments. A farmer in Oldbury on Severn has kindly allocated one of his fields for use as allotments. A total of 136 plots are available and this should more than satisfy the local needs. The coordinator for these allotments is Pete Mainstone a well known local ex policeman who I am sure will do a stirling job. Hopefully we can get together and assist each other in a common cause. People wanting an allotment should contact Pete, unfortunately I have no contact details but I am sure our Town Information centre will be able to help.

Hopefully it will not be too long before my next update and I am hoping to find a 'volunteer' to take some photos of the allotments covered in snow.