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Congratulations to us all

30/11/2014

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From worst to first
Ashford Borough Council has won the title of 'Most Improved Authority' for it's recent re-organisation of recycling. As some of you may have noticed, prior to the new bins system Ashford was the worst in the country at recycling, so there was plenty of room for improvement. You'll appreciate however, that  'Most Improved' isn't the same as 'Best' and there is still room for further improvement!
Despite the initial moans from some, and some early teething difficulties, the new system has been a great success and we should congratulate all those at the Council who worked their socks off to get everyone onto the new system as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Picture ashford's new recycling system
Click on the pic for more details of the recycling system.
One heck of a job!
The bins roll-out was handled by the same department which deals with allotments - a sensible reason why, for a while, it was sometimes difficult to get small allotment matters sorted with allotments lower on the list than all those ratepayers moaning, asking daft questions and generally getting confused (and that was just our family!). The other reason why things have been tighter is of course, that allotments like everything else have had their budget drastically cut. We were very lucky that as part of the re-organisation of the department, we again got a dedicated Allotment Officer; and I use the word dedicated in both senses!
Pumpkins on the compost heap after Halloween Picture
Meanwhile, the council couldn't have achieved its targets without householders being prepared to learn the new system and sort their rubbish like good sensible people. I'm sure there's room for improvement there too.
Above: But the best way to recycle is to compost!

Daft statistics
But what about gardeners who recycle all their non-meat organic waste? Well, idiotically, we make the statistics look worse! Putting all your garden waste out in a brown bin (which of course costs you money to do and the council money to process), looks better on paper than composting it yourself, thereby saving ratepayer's money as well as fossil fuels. Of course, home-composting is the greenest solution of all, but it never appears in the calculations. Congratulations to all those who help the environment by composting, it's just a shame we don't get any formal credit for it.

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Sheds for men!

17/11/2014

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A new project in Kent, based on a very successful experiment in Australia, aims to give men who have moved from a busy, active life to one where they feel they have nothing useful to do, or have lost the camaraderie of their working lives. Take a look at these websites and see what you think.  Let us know what you think of the project!

Look at the following websites (click on links)

Kent sheds project
About Groundwork, the charity doing the organising
The Live It Well leaflet on Kent Sheds, which you can download
The Mens' Sheds Association website

You'll see on further reading that though the project is primarily aimed at older men, some projects also welcome like-minded female members and younger lads.

You can also see the Kent Sheds leaflet below.
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A possible break-through with leek rust?

14/11/2014

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Picture
We thought leeks like this were a thing of the past due to leek rust, but . . .
the answer might just be LIQUID SEAWEED
Forgive me if you already know this (and if so, why didn't you tell us?) . . .
Last year we fed our leeks with a liquid manure for high nitrates. Despite spacing them well apart and picking off affected leaves, the damage from rust was extreme.

Leek rust is always worst in wet years, and both last summer and this saw the heavy rain which spreads the spores.

Consulting an 'expert' at a Northern leek show, we were told to spray with dilute washing up liquid. However, I did notice that this expert's leeks were also badly affected by rust, so it couldn't be that effective!

After reading everything I could lay my hands on, we went for the following experimental policy:
  • Watering, whenever possible, in the morning (NOT the evening) so the leaves dried off and didn't sit damp.
  • No high-nitrate fertiliser, just balanced poultry manure when planting.
  • Regular feeding with seaweed extract (Maxicrop, available from the Trading Store) with a sprinkler so it coated the leaves as well as soaking the roots.

Result? The best leeks we've had in years and very much less rust!
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Ashford Allotment Society Pumpkin Show report

2/11/2014

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The pumpkin show was a modest affair, and there are definitely allotmenteers out there who would have won bottles of wine, vouchers for seeds and other goodies if they had brought their pumpkins and squash along!

The pumpkin show was judged by Kirsty Cato with help from Vivienne Lawson as one class was very close. Tony Fagg as Show Secretary wished to compete so stood aside as judge.
Picture
Heaviest pumpkin (on the right) was brought by Brian Harvey, and weighed in at 85lb2oz. Alan Burbage came second with 61lb4oz, and Tony Fagg won 3rd place.
Picture
Alan Burbage won 'best shaped pumpkin' with this 59lb beauty, which would have won 3rd in the 'heaviest pumpkin' class.
Picture
Michael Hoban won best carved pumpkin (top right), Anna Rooker won 2nd (bottom), and Fiona Holman won third.

Picture
Gilda Puckett won 'two squash' with this matched pair of 'Crown Prince', a nip and tuck decision against Tony Fagg's entry
Gilda also won '3 different squash, one of each' (yes, that's me, it was embarassing) and donated her prize of £10 worth of Thompson and Morgan vouchers to Tony for the sake of fairness.

There were no entries in the classes 'Heaviest Marrow' or 'Ugliest Squash', so you all missed out there, folks - the prizes were there for the taking if you had come along.

Prizes included bottles of wine and vouchers for Thompson and Morgan Seeds, vouchers for Tuckers Seeds, and bulbs and garlic kindly donated by friendly local nursery Harringe Plants on the A20 at Sellinge.
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Missing emails

1/11/2014

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We have incorrect email details for 2 members - Steve Squires and Nicola Carter. This means emails to you are bouncing back. Please email us at ashfordallotments@yahoo.co.uk to correct our records!
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Pumpkin Show today (Sat 1st Nov)

1/11/2014

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If you have the chance today, bring your pumpkins and squash to the Pumpkin Show. That includes your children's carved pumpkins left over from last night's party! The Trading Store at Westrees Allotments on Quantock Drive will be open from 10am for entries, and prizes will be awarded just before 2pm. There are prizes to be won, or just come along and see what others have grown.

SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL DETAILS BELOW!
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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.

    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.
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