news - Ashford Allotments

Free 'water butts' for ABC plotholders

28/9/2015

"I had one of those, but the wheels fell off!"

The joint Working Group of plotholders and council officers has been looking into the cheapest way of providing plotholders with waterbutts.

Since the roll-out of the new bins scheme, rather a lot of brown garden waste bins have lost their wheels. One very clever person realised these would make ideal waterbutts, complete with mosquito-proof lids.

Reps have been contacted to find out how many water-butt bins their sites can use. Delivery of the bins is anticipated soon. Plotholders will be able to fill the bins by hose or connect them to gutters from sheds and polytunnels. A tap kit, fitted to the bin quite easily, can be bought from DIY centres.

If you would like to know more about this plan, talk to your rep or, if this is not possible, send your query to the Allotments Officer at the council, Eileen Law at eileen.law@ashford.gov.uk

Seeds at Wyevale are now all 50p

27/9/2015

Fill your boots folks!

What happens to this website now

27/9/2015

Mrs Winston has informed me that she does not want Ashford Allotment Society to use this website at all any more. She says the Committee of Ashford Allotment Society will be, at some time in the future, setting up its own new website.

For now, I have decided this website will carry on independently from Ashford Allotment Society, run by me as an individual. The alternative would be it just vanishing, with nothing to replace it. If you would like to see more about how this came about please click on 'read more'.

Thought you'd be amused by . . .

26/9/2015

The London Vegetable Orchestra

this is not a spoof (well, only a bit). To see more click on the pic for their website, or watch the Youtube video. It is music, but not as you may previously have heard it.

A new constitution for Ashford Allotment Society

26/9/2015

If you are a member of Ashford Allotment Society, you need to read this. Click on 'read more'

Tomato crisis? You may not have come across this but in Belgium it's a real traditional favourite!

25/9/2015

Clear tomato soup

Above: click on the pic to go to Raymond Blanc's poshed up version of clear tomato soup. For more recipes search 'clear tomato soup'.

The basic recipe is simple. You chop up the tomatoes and any herbs (these vary from recipe to recipe - chervil or dill are both good, as a change from basil) in small batches. Then you strain the mix through muslin, taking care not to squeeze the pukp through.

The soup could be served hot or cold, and the left-over tomato pulp can be turned into pasta sauce!!!

Committee meeting September 23rd

25/9/2015

Below is the post about the committee meeting which went out earlier in the month. The Chairs proposed changes to the rules are near the bottom. To read the post, click on 'read more.

Recent news of the committee of Ashford Allotment Society

24/9/2015

If you are interested in recent developments in the committee of Ashford Allotment Society, including the Chair's plans for a committee website and the proposed changes to the rules, click on 'read more'

Bill's Interesting Experiment With Onions

23/9/2015

Not everyone has problems with basal rot of onions (also known as white rot), but once the spores are in your soil the problem recurrs and makes getting a crop next to impossible. There's no chemical treatment available for basal rot, and the period of rotation needed to clear the ground of spores is at least seven years (ouch). If you are afflicted, you may wish to try the same experiment as Bill.

Last autumn, Bill put all his onions sets in the ground on a pocket of proprietory bagged compost (just the usual multi-purpose). The aim was to improve drainage - however, the result was a superb onion crop with no basal rot.

It is possible that keeping the base plate of the onion away from the contaminated soil prevents the disease from getting a grip. Certainly worth a try. The cost of the compost is slight and anyway it will go towards long-term soil-improvement.

Not sure if your problem is basal rot? Click on the pic to go to the RHS article.

For other onion tips click here.

Cheap, easy and effective guttering to save rain from polytunnels

22/9/2015

A plotholder has sent me the link to this video. It shows how to use cheap tile support edging to create a cheap, easy and effective rain-water guttering on polytunnels. This is at a fraction of the price of proprietory products sold for the purpose. You will have to be patient with the video but when he gets there it's worth waiting for.
Tile-edge rainwater guttering for polytunnels