Ashford Allotments
  • WELCOME
    • About this website
  • NEWS and What's On
  • SEASONAL STUFF for this part of Kent
  • HOW DO I GET AN ALLOTMENT?
  • YOUR NEW ALLOTMENT
  • TRADING STORE and the bulk buying scheme
  • TOUR OF THE ALLOTMENT SITES
  • ADVICE AND INFORMATION
  • FRUIT & VEG A - Z gardener's notebook
  • SWAP SHOP: free stuff, stuff wanted etc
  • GROWERS CLINIC - your problems.
  • USEFUL LINKS & ADDRESSES
  • ALLOTMENT ORGANISATIONS
  • Ashford Borough Council
  • CONTACT
  • SUMMER SHOW 2015
    • Tips for showing
  • SUMMER SHOW REPORT 2014
    • SUMMER SHOW 2014
    • PRIZES FOR THE 2014 SHOW
    • "Best Plots" competition 2014
  • Other local allotments

Free 'water butts' for ABC plotholders

28/9/2015

1 Comment

 
"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.
Picture
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
1 Comment

Seeds at Wyevale are now all 50p

27/9/2015

0 Comments

 
Fill your boots folks!
0 Comments

What happens to this website now

27/9/2015

0 Comments

 
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'.

Read More
0 Comments

Thought you'd be amused by . . . 

26/9/2015

0 Comments

 

The London Vegetable Orchestra

Picture
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.
0 Comments

A new constitution for Ashford Allotment Society

26/9/2015

0 Comments

 

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


Read More
0 Comments

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

25/9/2015

0 Comments

 

Clear tomato soup

Picture
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!!!
0 Comments

Committee meeting September 23rd

25/9/2015

0 Comments

 
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.

Read More
0 Comments

Recent news of the committee of Ashford Allotment Society

24/9/2015

0 Comments

 
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'

Read More
0 Comments

Bill's Interesting Experiment With Onions

23/9/2015

0 Comments

 

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

For other onion tips click here.
0 Comments

Cheap, easy and effective guttering to save rain from polytunnels

22/9/2015

0 Comments

 
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
0 Comments
<<Previous

    This website is happy to publicise all garden-related events.
    All the news, views and information posted on this website are produced and written by the website compiler, unless it says otherwise.

    Use the CONTACT box or click on the envelope at the top of the page to send us an item you'd like to see on our news page. Use "Add Comment" to comment on a news item.
    Or email the compiler at ashfordallotments@
    yahoo.co.uk

    Categories

    All
    Allotment Tourism
    Ashford Borough Council
    Beans
    Charities
    Competitions
    Composting
    Courses
    Crime Prevention
    Crop Protection
    Derelict Allotment Sites
    Diseases
    Flooding
    French Beans
    Fruit Bushes
    Garlic
    GROWING TIPS
    Health And Safety
    Leeks
    Machinery
    Men In Sheds
    New Fruit Varieties
    Onions
    Peas
    Pest Control
    Potatoes
    Produce Shows
    Propagating
    Recycling
    Requests For Help
    Rubbish
    Seed Orders
    Seed Potatoes
    Seeds And Plants
    Shallots
    Silly Season
    Site Problems
    Special Events
    Special Offers
    Summer Show
    Tools
    Trading Store
    Volunteering
    Water Problems
    Weather Report
    Weed Problems

    Archives

    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.