Editorial

Lots to talk to you about this issue, so here goes.   

This summer we are going to hold our first vegetable show.  This is in addition to the normal judging competition which we have every year.  We are starting off with a few classes and hope that you will support this effort to show Pocklington what we do.  The venue is The United Services Club and refreshments will be available.  Lots of home baked goodies to sample!!  Your support will be invaluable to this venture we need all you champion veg growers to exhibit, if you don’t feel you can then could you spare an hour or so to help lay out tables, serve teas, clear away etc.  If you can spare any time on the day please let me know.  If it is not possible for you to either exhibit or volunteer, gather together all your family and friends and visit us on the day, have a cuppa and a chat!  Most of all let’s make this event fun.

Ed

From the Chairman

All being well your plot should now be full and the produce well established.  Plans are now at an advanced stage for the vegetable show
to be held on 21st August. Further

Information can be found withinthis newsletter.

After the recent inspection of plots it was noted that the vastmajority of plots were in good working order, well done.  I must remind tenants that in accordance with the contents of thetenancy agreement, applications must be made inwriting for the erection of all sheds, greenhouses, fruit cages andpigeon lofts.  One or two had slipped through the net, but they have been rectified.

Finally, I return to the vegetable show, this is for your benefit andif successful will become an annual event.  In the meantime let us hope for a hot summer, we deserve it after thewinter that we have had.

Stuart Walker Chairman

The Secretary

Trish Clarkson can be contacted by phone on 01759 303437 or by e-mail at pockallotassoc@yahoo.co.uk or in writing to 18 Church Lane Flats, Church Lane, Pocklington, YO42 2BL.  There is now a post-box on the secretary’s shed, plot no 39 for you to pass on anything.  Will of course only accept nice things.

The Treasurer

Claire Hamilton has forwarded this quarter’s financial report.

May 2010

Balance                       £ 3372.65

Rents                           +  245.00

Refund (rent)              -       6.75

Bank interest               +        .60

Town Council              -   500.00

Stationary                    -     26.65 

Printing                       -     33.00

Water                          -     65.84

Postage                       -     21.60

Sundries                      -     18.68 

(Secretary’s post box)

Hospitality                   -       6.50   

(Goodwill gift for account auditor)

Donation                     -      25.00 (Pocklington in Bloom)

Total funds       £ 2914.23

Yorkshire Water

Meter 1 -  (N Road HUT) Ac – 800263480  meter no - 00807916

30-04-2009      1807

Meter 2 – (S Road) Ac – 800263472 meter no – 72180057

01-05-2009                  5857

A  - actual meter reading    E  - Estimated meter reading

Reading for 02.07.2009 only for 2 months other bills are every quarter (3 months)

Top Tips – Keith’s Diary

A Job for May

Carrots prefer a deep sandy fertile soil, free from large stones. Dig in the winter or spring, to a depth of 12 inches; don’t add manure or compost as this will make the carrots fork. Try to grow carrots on land which hasn’t been manured during the past year. About 2 weeks before sowing; scatter 2 – 3 oz of a general fertilizer such as ‘Growmore’ over the bed and work up to a fine tilth.  Sow in drills ¼ to ½ inch deep in rows 6 – 12 inches apart. Try to sow thinly to avoid the need of thinning later, water well to maintain moisture helping germination, sowings made towards the end of May should miss first batch of carrot fly. Sowing can be made in March and April, use an early variety French Frame, Scarlet Horn, Nantes, and Parmex. Cover with net cloches, fleece, or poly-tunnels until harvest if necessary. Thin out the seedlings when large enough to handle and space 1 – 2 inches apart, water if the soil is dry, and thin in the evening. Firm the soil around the plants and dustbin the thinnings.  Hoe and hand weed the seedlings but once established hoeing can be a danger (Trish.)

 If the soil is stony try some stumping or rounding the varieties or making holes in the soil and filling with fine soil or compost and sowing 2 – 3 seeds in each hole and covering with soil. When seedlings are large enough to handle, thin out to leave the strongest. Carrots can be grown in various containers filled with fine compost, sow seeds thinly and cover with sieved compost, water well and place in cold greenhouse, polytunnel or a warm sheltered patio. As carrots mature, earth up the roots to prevent the top becoming green. Carrot fly is the most damaging pest, cover crops with fine netting.

A Job for June

Hopefully this month the risk of frost should have past and we can crack on with the planting of tender plants, once you have hardened them off. Squashes can be sown in a heated greenhouse in mid-April and an unheated greenhouse in early-May. Seeds can be sown in 3 ½ inch pots or cell trays filled with multi-purpose compost. Push seeds into the compost of a depth of ½ an inch, always place seeds on its edge as this will reduce the risk of the seed rotting. Keep the pots watered well and place into a heated propagator at a temperature of 15 – 18 c. Once you can see the roots through the drainage holes of the pots, they need potting into 5 inch pots. Squashes need planting out into soil which has had plenty of well rotted manure added to it, in a sunny site. Dig holes 3 – 4 ft apart and 12 – 18 inches deep, add manure and fill holes with soil. Make a hole with a trowel and plant carefully so as not to damage the stem. If you garden on exposed sites, the plants can be damaged by winds, erect a barrier made from polythene or windbreak netting around them. Water well to settle plants in and once they start to produce bigger leaves and flowers start to feed with a high potash food once a week. When plants are well established, give them water and feed - a good way to do this is to sink a 5 inch pots into the soil and water into the pot. This will encourage roots to take up moisture to help the fruits to grow. Summer squashes can be harvested when large enough to eat. Winter squashes are best harvested once the skins have set. All fruits are best harvested before the first frosts are forecasted.

A Job for July

Hopefully this time around we will have a nice summer which will mean prolonged spells of dry weather and extra work looking after our plants i.e. watering.  With the rising costs of water, the collection of rainwater from house roofs, greenhouses and sheds over the winter months is essential, especially to us with water meters. Rainwater in butts can go green, this should be used for watering established plants, but it can spread damping-off disease to seedlings if it has been stored for some time. Use a lightproof container and add lids to water butts, this can prevent green, slimy water.  Water seedlings with clean, water which has been standing in a watering can in the greenhouse to acclimatise, the use of cold water on seedlings and established plants can cause stress, would you take a cold shower?  Water early in the morning or late evening as this allows plants to take up water before it evaporates and reduces the risk of leaf scorching.  Mulching is a good way of stopping water been lost by evaporation, mulches can be produced from grass clippings weed killer free, straw, manure, or garden compost spread to a depth of 2 – 4 inch. Mulching also helps suppress weeds which compete for water and food. 

Watering Continued

Seedlings transplanted to their permanent positions can wilt and possibly die; frequent watering may be required until plants are re-established. Apply water around the base of the plant or into a water funnel next to the base of the plant, the use of empty drinks bottles with the bottom cut off and plant pots will help direct the water to the roots, where the majority of the water is absorbed by the plant. Water the soil of root crops such as carrots, parsnips, etc until they become established then only water in dry spells; allow the roots to go down looking for moisture. Watering mature root crops after rainy weather can cause them to split.  Being deprived of water in dry weather can cause them to become woody and coarse. Plants which are suffering from stress due to dryness are susceptible to pest and disease problems.

Ed’s Comments on Watering

Two things I want to cover here – the supply of 1000ltr tanks had ‘dried’ up over the winter period which was a great shame because so much more rainwater could have been harvested (if they were connected to a roof of course) to get us over this present dry period in Spring.  However ‘Sir Walter Butt’ (in disguise as Alec Cooper, plot 12) astride his trusty steed with a trailer came to the rescue.  We now have 10 more tanks delivered, thanks to Alec, Tony Sawyer and others. 

A really big thank you to Alec, Tony and helpers, we really appreciate your efforts.

Second, some tenants have voiced the opinion, why bother? I don’t see the point! is this not just a bunch of ‘greeny’ eco-warriors trying to take control?  Well no, not really, you may say you have no interest climate change or the problems experienced by President Mohammed Nasheed’s population of seven provinces, (there’s a free packet of seeds up for grabs here to the first person who tells me which country this is, where it is, why they are concerned about climate change, and what the President and cabinet did to bring media attention to their concerns.)  I will say fine, you are entitled to your opinions and I will respect them.  However rainwater is free and plants seem to prefer it.  At the end of the day it’s a choice we make.

PAA  Committee view on Rainwater Harvesting.

Up until now your tenancy has stated that permission to erect sheds,   greenhouses, etc. is subject to those structures being fitted for the collection of rainwater.  Pocklington Allotment Association assumed, and we could have been naive here, that tenants with existing structures would come on board because it was a good idea.  It has reduced our water bills and therefore means our rents remain low compared to the average for Yorkshire (and for the size of our plots).  That is why we wish all structures on the allotment site to have adequate rainwater harvesting fittings, and connections.  It means guttering on all sheds and greenhouses, connected via a downpipe to a container large enough to hold the volume of the square area of your roof space (roughly) i.e. if you have a large shed area, one or more big containers, if you have a small shed, a smaller container is fine.  You can of course have standby’s for siphoning overflow.  We don’t feel a bucket or similarattached to a 10’ x 8’ shed, or a 1000ltr tank at the opposite end of a plot from a small shed which is remotely attached by invisible guttering/aqueduct is adequate.  This scenario leads us to believe (logically) that you are filling your tank via hosepipe from the standpipe. If you have no shed, greenhouse or any structure to collect rainwater from, can you continue to be careful with your tap water usage and only use a hosepipe to fill a small dipping tank i.e. 50ltrs or thereabouts.

In six months time after the November site inspection I hope my workload will be greatly reduced by not having to write individually to the 23 tenants who still have no/inadequate rainwater collection (please!!!). 

Sorry for the rant but I hope everyone is now clear on our views, and why we are encouraging everyone to help out.

Another Approach

Useful plants for over wintering that produce a spring crop.

Leaf beet/perpetual spinach/Swiss chard plants can be over wintered and can come into growth very early providing a very useful crop of spinach leaf, in fact if you stop them flowering you can keep these plants productive for several years.  In the past I have had perpetual spinach producing for up to five years, though two to three is more usual.  Our perpetual spinach shrugged off this last winter easily and without any form of protection.

Scorzonera, usually grown as a root crop, also has edible leaves that are tender enough to use as a spinach in the spring and large roots can produce a reasonable crop for a good few weeks before becoming fibrous, this plant is actually a perennial and the leaf producing plants can be used to produce seed for the next root crop.

Leaf celery (also known as smallage) is the wild form of celery and is used as a herb and salad leaf, it is also a very good plant to overwinter producing a very early and useful crop, if left to flower it is highly attractive to hoverflies. The flavour is very good and a wonderful addition to soups.

On which note here is a recipe that uses two of my favourite perennial veg plants that produce early in the year; Lovage and Sorrel.  Lovage has a very strong flavour later in the year but the very first spring shoots are much milder, as does sorrel, the French sorrel is milder flavoured that the ordinary garden sorrel.  This soup is very simple and quick to make.

Take a handful of each of very young new leaves of sorrel and the same of Lovage shoots and chop finely.  Drop into a couple of pints of simmering good chicken stock, remove pan from the heat and let brew for a few minutes....... that’s it.

Serve on its own or with crusty buttered bread. 

Other hardy perennial plants that produce an early crop of greens are Good King Henry, Seakale, Lovage, Fennel and the various Sorrels. Seakale also produces flower shoots much like sprouting broccoli

Any of the above plants can be forced in the fashion of rhubarb to produce even earlier crops of blanched shoots.

I often have seed and cuttings so watch the swap table, or let me know if you would like any.

Have Your Say

Further complaints have come my way regarding shared path’s I’m afraid, and it appears to be very difficult to sort out.  Firstly spraying of path edges has reared its head again.  This is an attempt to prevent perennial weeds invading cropping area, however it also causes the disintegration of paths and means that someone has to pay to re-turf them.  If you are prepared to re-lay your shared paths, possibly yearly, then spray away, if however you are not prepared to replace the paths because it is expensive, then please consider another method of weed control.

Secondly a couple of tenants have approached me, both angry and frustrated.  Their neighbours are very carefully cultivating, weeding and planting up, but then comes the problem, they leave the weeds, and more importantly stones on the path.  Angry and frustrated allotmenteer then brings out lawnmower to keep both his and neighbours path neat and tidy and...............!!!!!   You guessed it damaged lawn mower.  Now I know we are all guilty of gardening away in our own little bubble of bucolic idealism, but could you please consider how your actions impact on others around you.

This last one bridges the gap between this column heading and the next one.  One of our members has twice approached committee members over recent months regarding the level of cultivation on a neighbouring plot, which he feels is not being maintained within the guidelines of the tenancy agreement.  I can assure you that this has been addressed, I have written to the tenant on two separate occasions now, after site inspections and if after the next inspection in July there is still no significant improvement they will be asked to relinquish their tenancy.

Site Report

Our regular site inspection took place on 15^th April, later than expected because we thought everyone would appreciate having the Easter weekend and some fine weather to get going.

It was great to see everyone enjoying being back in the swing, aching backs aside.  It was especially nice to see some of you back after a hard winter and some very hard times with health issues.  The Mile site looks good, you can feel the TLC and all that Spring energy, I for one feel very privileged to be part of it.

The supply of 1000ltr tanks had been difficult to come by over the last month or so, but are trickling through now – see Tony Sawyer if you haven’t got yours yet.

Round Up

Over the long dark days of winter I did some ‘surfing’ and came across some very interesting information on the therapeutic aspect of gardening.  There are some wonderfully inspiring stories out there, children with behavioural or learning difficulties who are ‘blossoming’ in their school’s garden.  Young city tycoon’s recovering from physical and mental breakdown who are now ‘putting their roots down’ in a new career in horticulture.  I also found the national charity ‘Thrive’ which deals with placements in schemes for those experiencing difficulties.  They are also involved with development and have lots of information to share you may like to give them a virtual visit if you are interested and you can of course.

See you in August- Ed