news - Ashford Allotments

Tempting offers at Hamstreet Garden Centre

14/3/2014

Your website compiler was down at Hamstreet Garden Centre yesterday and spotted the following that might appeal:

Until 18th March, Hamstreet has 'rootgrow' mycorrhizal fungi mix at half price, £2.99 from £5.99. This is just the stuff you need when planting fruit bushes, as it helps the plant develop a much stronger more effective root system.
Click here to go to the website which explains more.

Block paving isn't something the average allotment has, but after the wet years we've had you might be wanting to have a go at the moss at home. Yeoman are currently doing a deal where, if you buy a long-handled paving brush, you get a short-handled one free. the long-handled one is £9.99 and the short one is usually £4.99. Click here for the page in their catalogue.

Hamstreet Garden Centre is part of a group which runs a 'gardening club'. In effect this is a discount card. It's free to join and you get to take advantage of their special gardening club offers. Currently the 'Buy One Get One Free' on giant tubs of pelleted chicken manure is the one most likely to tempt you to join. Well worth it, as there are different offers throughout the year.

Seasonal recipes.

13/3/2014

Have you seen our recipes section? All the recipes are seasonal, and as the website only started last autumn, more recipes will be added as the seasons pass.

We'd like to see your recipes for seasonal veg. Please send them, ideally written out in your email for easy editing, to [email protected]

Click here to go to the recipes

May I pick your brains please?

12/3/2014

This website compiler has some basic computer skills, matched by a basic computer. I can do all the usual stuff, but I need some technical advice.

To produce the posters for our Summer Show, I need to have them ready for the printer in jpeg format. I am currently using a aged version of microsoft 'Word' and it does not seem to allow me to save documents as jpegs.

Clearly there is a way to convert documents. Can anyone offer assistance? But please don't blind me with techie jargon or recommend expensive new software.

Get in touch via the website or on my dedicated email at [email protected]

Mower servicing

11/3/2014

Mark Chandler (Burton Farm Rep) writes:

I came across a very useful person the other day offering his services relating to repairing and servicing leading makes of petrol garden machinery. He also offers blade sharpening , sales and collection and delivery is available. I recently rang a number of service shops asking them for a price on servicing my petrol mower and I was staggered by the astronomic prices quoted.

Having met with this chap and had my mower collected, excellent service at the fraction of the cost quoted from professional shops, I wondered if his details could go on the website as I am sure he would be a very useful contact for people with allotments.

Leigh Mower Services

Located in Kennington, Leigh Mower Services offer competitive rates for the repair of all leading makes of petrol garden machinery. They also offer servicing, sales and blade Sharpening

Collection & delivery available
Contact Mark on 07514 720526 or 01233 663014
Email [email protected]

New at the Trading Store

10/3/2014

New rigid growing-on trays, only from the Trading Store

New prpogating trayPicture

Once you've seen these, you'll want them. New this year and sourced exclusively through Geoff's contacts, these rigid trays are the same size as a seed tray and the holes are about the same size as a 7cm square pot.

Instead of juggling clumsy plastic pots which fall out of the tray, or cursing flimsy cell-trays that tear as soon as look at them, here you have an all-in-one solution. The solid plastic will last for ages. Four generous drainage holes means nothing will sit wet, but the flat bottom means you can stand them on capillary matting and they will absorb water upwards.

We are amazingly impressed by this excellent new product, which is currently selling at the Trading Store for £1.30 each. The equivalent retail price would be £2.75. Get'em now!

Bargains at the Trading Store

8/3/2014

The Trading Store is next open on 22nd March - don't miss your chance. If you're a new member, signing up takes just a minute, then you can get your bargains.

There are just a few bags of seed potatoes left over from the orders, so if you'd like some there's still a chance. In addition, Geoff has some of the new blight-resistant variety "Sarpomira", to buy by the kilo or part-kilo, if you fancy experimenting. When they're gone, they're gone.

Onion sets and shallots are still on stock to buy by weight, but variety "Red Sun" are substandard and not fit for sale - they will be returned to supplier.

Geoff now has in this season's new product - a rigid 15-plant tray, the same size as a seed tray but with moulded holes. a definite improvement on the flimsy ones you usually get, with room for plenty of root development. A real bargain at £1.30 a tray as they'll last for years.

Click here to go to the main Trading Store page with opening times and a price list.

Gardening courses at Godinton

5/3/2014

Walled kitchen garden at Godinton

The new list of gardening courses at Godinton (walled garden shown on the left) is now out. Most of the courses are on ornamental gardening, but there is a course on growing your own food in September. Click here to go to the schedule.

Drainage work on William Road site

4/3/2014

With a winter which has been the wettest since the reign of George III, it is hardly surprising that the drainage problems on William Road site have been extremely bad. The amount of rain which has fallen on already-saturated clay soils has led to the run-off of thousands of gallons of surface water, and the clay baulks between plots have acted as dams.

It is very important that tenants think before trying to drain of the excess water from their own plots, to ensure that their actions do not lead to a legal nuisance in houses on William Road (where gardens and patios are flooding very badly).

Recently there has been an incident in which someone who was not a plotholder, but who was acting on behalf of a householder, gained access to the allotments and attempted to dig a drainage ditch across several allotments to divert water away from the house.

Plotholders should be aware that people who are not tenants are only allowed on the site at the invitation of a tenant, and that anyone else who enters the site and attempts to interfere with plots is breaking the law. (It is normal to allow householders onto the site to maintain their own boundary fences, but for no other purpose.)

Ashford Borough Council has scheduled the installation of a proper drain which will take excess water away from the site. This work cannot be done until the ground is dry enough for machinery to work on it, so plotholders will have to wait till the clay has firmed up. Until then, please do not do anything which could cause problems later.

Chance of a lifetime

4/3/2014

Just how do you rate your gardening skills?

The BBC are looking for contestants for "The Great Allotment Challenge". This is what they have to say:

"The series follows a handful of amateur kitchen gardeners as they transform a plot of earth into a patch of beauty and reveal all the wonderful possibilities that can be unlocked from allotment growing. Kitchen gardening and growing your own produce is an amazing way to live and this series celebrates that.

We're looking for contestants to feature in the series, those who have the skill and dedication and who could dig their way to victory and be crowned the winner of The Big Allotment Challenge. People who can cultivate the perfect carrot, make their green tomatoes into award-winning chutney and turn their dahlias and sweet peas into floral arrangements fit for a queen."

If this intrigues you, click here to go to the BBC website.
And here, to get more detailed information from the BBC
This is what the Telegraph has to say (with pictures)
. . . here's the Radio Times article!

"The Great Allotment Challenge will be filmed in a walled garden on the Mapledurham estate in Oxfordshire and each coupling will have four months ahead of the filmed challenges to harvest their crop, so with the series expected to air in early 2014, they'd better get digging for victory..."

As it is now early in 2014, and they are still looking for contestants, I suspect that Ashford Allotment Society isn't the only one that sometimes gets its dates wrong! Lets hope it's due to air in early 2015! Otherwise it could all be a bit of a rush . . .