Blog Archives

No room for raspberries? Marshalls offer an answer.

29/11/2013

Marshalls Seeds are advertising a variety of raspberry which is grown as a clump-shaped bush with no prickles. "Glen Coe", which was new in 2011, fruits from mid-June to the end of August and has wine-purple fruits. Marshalls claim a high yield from a single bush and say the flavour is intense.

Click here to go to their page. It ain't cheap, mind!

If this new variety lives up to the hype, it is attractive to those who have the new breed of micro-allotment currently being dished out by Ashford Borough Council. In an ideal world, ABC would assign more land to tackle the 280-odd people on the waiting list for plots, rather than subdividing plots till they are too small to be of much use. On the other hand, some people only want small plot and would welcome a few raspberries even if they couldn't justify a whole row.

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Christmas Arts Fair at Godinton

26/11/2013

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Click on the pic to go to their website.

Your last chance to see the garden, including the very lovely walled kitchen garden with its allotments, before they close everything down for the season. The Art Fair is held in the ground floor of the house so you get a sneak preview of the interior too.
29th November - 1st December, 11am - 4pm, entry free.

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Seed varieties to look out for

25/11/2013

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Even if you think you've already ordered your seeds, there's still time to add some or try a new supplier. Here's a few that might interest you . . .
D T Brown has a new courgette "Alfresco", with an improved flavour (they claim) and pale green fruits - easier to spot amongst the foliage and less likely to surprise you with an unsuspected giant marrow. Not cheap at £2.29 for 10 seeds, but it is an F1 hybrid variety, and they're always dearer. I shall be growing "Tromba" from Franchi Seeds (also available in garden centres), which is a trailer and takes up a bit more room but really did me proud this year. £1.99 for lots of seeds.

Crop from Tromba in mid September - this is what I had left after giving them away to 3 different people. And that is a giant colander, folks. I'll be growing it again, as the flavour is very good.

Asparagus after only a year? That's what Suttons are promising with new variety 'Ariane'. Well, ish. They say sow in March 2014 and harvest the first spears in August 2015, which I make 17 months. How much you get, and whether it decreases the crop you'll get the following year, is something they don't say. Good news for impatient gardeners though! Again, at £2.99 for 10 seeds, it's not cheap.

Not black just very dark green

Last year Plants of distinction were offering an improved form of the 'Cavolo Nero' or "Black Kale" (it's a very dark green), specially bred for the British climate. I note it isn't on their website this year, so it looks like they've dropped it. I've always had very good results here in Kent with the ordinary "Nero di Toscana" from Tuckers, which is £1.60 for 1000 seeds, as opposed to £1.75 for 50 seeds from Plants of Distinction! This is our family's favourite kale, which tender sweet leaves and much less of that sulphurous twang which kids find so difficult to warm to. Search online and you'll find some Italian recipes using it with pasta.

Tomato Blight is always a problem in a mild, damp year. "Losetto" is a very blight-tolerant variety; it may still get blight, but will carry on cropping. A bush variety, it's available from Mr Fothergills, Nicky's Nursery, and Thompson & Morgan

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Godinton open this weekend for charity

22/11/2013

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Click on the pic to go to Godinton's 'events' page

Godinton House and Garden is having an extra opening today and tomorrow (Saturday) in aid of the typhoon appeal. Tea and cakes will be on offer in the tea room, and all money raised will go to the appeal. Support them, and get a look at the garden in its autumn colours.

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Flooding update

22/11/2013

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From Gilda.

The William Road flooding problem is now being dealt with by Helen Wilson at Streetscene (the same contact details as for the allotments.) She takes the matter very seriously and is actively pursuing a solution.

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Your chance for 15 minutes of FAME

19/11/2013

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Ashford wellbeing and mental health hub, the LiveItWell centre, are looking for someone to appear on a brief video for their website, talking about the benefits and delights of having an allotment. Their campaign is called Six Ways Of Wellbeing. Miranda will be filming and the campaign is running for a year, so there's no especial need to do it when the weather is really parky! Their website is www.liveitwell.org.uk, and they have a facebook page at http://ow.ly/qXzJu

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Seed shed opening

18/11/2013

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There is one last opening of the Seed Shed in 2013, on December 14th, 10am - 2pm.

There is still time to get, and plant, autumn onion sets "Shakespeare" and garlic "Early Purple Wight", at bargain prices.

This is also your last chance this year to stock up on fertilisers, weed-proof membrane (the stuff you can't get in the shops, but ridiculously cheap with it) and all the other goodies the seed shed has to offer.

First opening in 2014 will be January 18th. Go to the Seed Shed page (click here) for the full opening times.

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Allotment Forum Meeting

12/11/2013

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The next meeting of the Ashford Allotment Forum will be on 25th January. Items for the agenda need to be received by the Secretary by 4 weeks before the meeting, so if there is something you need to raise, think about it now and get going. You may put items forward for discussion to go on the agenda. You should initially put these forward through your allotment rep. If there is a problem with this (some sites don't have a rep), I can forward messages to the Secretary Carol Ridings through this website. Click here go to CONTACT US

Allotmentholders may attend the meeting as observers but any questions or points can only be made through your rep.

I will be asking Carole Ridings what happens in cases where there is no rep or the rep does not attend.

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More on that flooding

12/11/2013

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The water just keeps coming. Southern Water are being sadly unorganised and dismissive. Today 2 contractors came out and told our local correspondent Gilda Puckett

All the water filling the allotments and flooding the back gardens of 8 properties in William Road is the rain water running off from 2 back gardens on Musgrove
The drain under these 2 back gardens isn't blocked, and if it is it is the responsibility of the council, and anyway there is no drain under these gardens, all the water goes into drains on Musgrove.
The maps Southern Water have, and which they were discussing with your correspondent, are all wrong
The only reason the water is backing up into the back gardens is that the ditch is too silted up, so the water which is flowing out of the pipe from another drain (I wonder if that one exists?) is backing up and coming up 2-3ft higher up in those gardens. Out of a drain which is, of course, neither blocked nor collapsed.

Bring me my rifle and canoe, I'm going shooting crocodiles!

I may have got some of the details wrong but that was the gist. The good news is that two willing and resolute chaps from Landscape Services are out there right now with a mini-digger, clearing the ditch, so we'll see . . . .
Meanwhile, the
allotments still look
like this.

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Flooding at William Road allotments

6/11/2013

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FROM Gilda Puckett
Today, Weds 6th, Steve Parish from the council's drainage department came to William Road allotments to assess the cause of the catastrophic flooding which has inundated plots here.

The water is running across the plots like a stream, and flowing from there into the back gardens of houses on William Road, which are badly flooded. The water finally empties into the drains at No 24, on the lady's patio!!!
The problem appears to be caused by a blocked or collapsed culvert in gardens on Musgrove, backing onto the plots.

This culvert is designed to take the rainwater runoff from the whole of Musgrove and perhaps streets beyond, via an open land drain at the back of the Co-op field, to a 2ft6in diameter storm drain under William Road. Instead, almost all this water is running across the allotments, causing considerable damage.

Steve Parish is taking the matter seriously and pursuing it with Southern Water, and is also looking into getting the surface drain on the Co-op field cleaned out. Within a short period of his visit he has confirmed Southern Water have listed the job and should have someone investigating within the next few days. I will post progress reports on this page as I receive them.

It is very disappointing that, due to staff sickness and leave, the department which deals with allotments has not been able to send anyone out to actually see the scale of the problem.

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<<Previous

No room for raspberries? Marshalls offer an answer.

Christmas Arts Fair at Godinton

Seed varieties to look out for

Godinton open this weekend for charity

Flooding update

Your chance for 15 minutes of FAME

Seed shed opening

Allotment Forum Meeting

More on that flooding

Flooding at William Road allotments

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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.

Categories

Archives

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.