Just a tip, collect your banana skins and egg shells and dry them at home then put them in the oven to make them really dry. After, grind them and sprinkle on your allotment which will make the soil potassium and calcium rich ...You can also buy some seaweed natural fertilizer from ebay and sprinkle together with your banana, egg powder..Seaweed has been used as a soil improve for centuries, particularly in coastal areas. Seaweed contains several useful plant nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and magnesium.

Hi, lovely people.

Jenna cant make the 13th

I wont make it on the 16th as a job has come up.

I will be around 12 tomorrow if anyone is around...

Nilufer thanks for the advice

Have a good day!!

Hi Kim and everyone... For the Big Dig, it's useful to bring gardening gloves and small tools if you have any. There are never enough! You might want to mark the handles of your small tools with a felt-tip pen so that you are sure to get them back at the end. Thanks for your tip, Nilufer. I thought it was especially useful for people who don't have room for a compost heap - and it makes some highly transportable fertiliser for people to bring up to their mini-plots. See you all at the weekend. Maggie

Thanks Maggi! Will do. See you at the Big Dig! Cheers, Kim

Dear Maggie,

Thanks for your advice and I am looking forward to the big dig on Saturday - what time are people planning to come along and start digging!

All best, Julienne 

WEAR YOUR WOOLIES!

Hi everyone, Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Forecast is for it to be dry in the morning, thank goodness, but only 9 degrees. Bring gardening gloves and small tools if you have them. Kim, we definitely have a mini plot available for you now. Best, Maggie

PS Planning to start at 11.00. Richard, the Park Manager, is organising free coffee and snacks with the cafe. 

Yes, a really fun and productive day. Thanks for organising, Jenna. I'm not sure whether we know the intentions of Kate or Jacob and Eve. Your plots look good, K and J and E, so imagine you're still involved this year. Will you be able to get along next Sunday at 3.00? Would be good to see you or hear from you... Maggie

PS Also Leo - Would be good to see you next Sunday or hear from you. See comment below. Maggie

Hello All, this is Ana (Spanish) who joined the group last Saturday. Thank you because I had a really good time! I will see you next Sunday at 3pm. Ana

Thanks Jenna. I would love to have a look on Sunday. Phil saw that the extra bag of wood chips is up by the plots now. We will be there at 3.00 to help move it onto the paths. Hope to see some of you up there. Maggie

Hi Everyone,

Just to say I shall have some plants to distribute the Sunday after next, May 15th, if anyone would like any. I should have both courgettes and squash to spare. Shall we have a garden together in the early afternoon, maybe at 2.00 or 2.30 on Sunday 15th? How would that be for others?

All best Maggie

Nothing this weekend as far as I know Helen. 

Message to Kate and Jacob and Eve: Can you let us know via the website whether you want to continue with your plots or whether we can re-allocate them to new people who want to join in?  All best, Maggie

Great that you're still with us Kate. I thought you were as I can see the plot has been worked on. Just needed confirmation. Hope to see you soon. Best Maggie

Hi Jacob and Eve,

We haven't seen you and your plot has got a lot of grass and nettles growing among the spinach. Can you confirm whether or not you want to continue with it this year? This is the third time of asking. If we don't get a reply this time we will assume you have moved on and re-allocate the plot to one of the people waiting. Hope all is well with you. Best, Maggie

Hi everyone,

I have courgette plants to distribute to anyone who would like a few. I can be up on the allotment any time next Sunday. Let me know if you would like to meet me there for a handover. Maggie

Hi Maggie, hi everyone.

we have been away recently because my dad died unexpectedly. Sorry to be out of touch

we have decided that we are not able to keep up the plot at the moment. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to join in and good luck to all the gardeners this year.

Best,

Eve

Really sorry to hear about your Dad, Eve. Sorry to see you go as well but thanks for letting us know. All best, Maggie

WATERING

We finally have a new tap and we can use the hose when we need to. Here's how...

1. Get tap top from shed - it's hanging on a nail on the right-hand side - and fit it on the tap (outside the toilets, if you don't know it.)

2. Pull the hose out from under the door next to the tap and push it on to the tap fitting.

3. Unwind the other end of the hose. It is curled up outside the gates that lead to the yard outside the cafe kitchen. Make sure there are no kinks.

4. Go back to the tap and turn the water on.

5. When you have finished, put the tap top back on the nail in the shed. (Very important, otherwise the whole thing will fall apart again!)

This being a community garden, it is really nice if people hose  vegetables on other plots as well as their own when the have the hose out. And don't forget the runner beans on the tennis court fence. I planted them out yesterday and hopefully we will all get some beans later in the summer.   Maggie

PS I still have some courgette plants to spare. Post here if you would like one or two and we can meet up in the park to hand them over. Maggie

Hi Maggi,

Very exciting news about the hose! Though with the current weather, we might not need it for while ;)

I would love to take a courgette plant off your hands if possible, though I'm away this weekend. I'll be around the weekend of 21/22nd.. I often visit during the week after work as well, so I'm not sure if that might work better? Otherwise I can always collect it from the shed!

Cheers
Kim 

I am away for a couple weeks from the 20th, Kim. I could do Wednesday or Thursday next week early evening if that would work for you. Maggie

Hi Maggi, 

If you've still got courgette plants to give away, I could do this Thursday around 6.25pm. Unfortunately I've not go much leeway with timings as I finish work at 5.30pm and I've got a rugby game at 6.45pm! Do you think that could work?

And Jenna, I should be around on Sunday the 29th of May for the next dig together, so that would be a good day for me. 

Cheers,
Kim 

Hi Kim and Jenna,

I had three courgette plants left and they are tucked in behind one of the bunches of chives in the long narrow bed closest to the cafe. Can you divide them up between you?

Hi Jenna,

I'm confused about whether we have a plot waiting for a new member, now that Ana has dropped out. Is there someone else, or are you continuing with the plot until you go, or is it free if someone else asks? Maggie

Hi Everyone,f

If you're thinking of watering, can you review the instructions I posted before you go to the park (or save them somewhere handy on your phone)?  A park-keeper said someone had been asking him for guidance and told me off for not telling you the key was hanging in the shed etc! Maggie

Re May 29th, I am still on holiday, Jenna. I can come in June if you suggest a further date,although my hand op will mean I can't do much. Meanwhile, can we/you try collectively to keep the beans I've planted on the tennis court wire netting watered? They are for everyone.... Maggie

Hi Maggi,

Thank you for the courgette plants! I will pick one up on Thursday when I swing by. Jenna, I already have another courgette plant growing on my windowsill at home so am happy to take only one and leave the other two for you.

And when I water my allotment I will water the beans too.

Cheers

Kim

Hallo all,

I've put some squash plants in the plot that Kate can't manage after all, so that it's used until the next new member comes along - I'm sure it won't be long. If you could also give them a bit of water if it's dry while I'm away, that would be great. Kim, if you and Jenna don't have space for all three courgette plants, you can always put on in the 'spare' bed as well. Best Maggie

Jenna, Sunday 26th June is good for me for garden together as long as my daughter doesn't have her baby early! Time? Maggie

Hi Maggi, 

I think there might have been some confusion about free plots - mine is the one next to Leo's and when I went yesterday a squash had miraculously appeared! Haha. I'm happy to keep them in there since nothing much else has taken, but just so you know going forward!

x Kim

Sorry about confusion Kim! (and glad you're happy with the squash plant. 

Thanks for your kind offer, Helen and Daniel. I have had my hand op now and well and truly out of action - they say two months before I lift anything or the tendon may snap! So if anyone has the hose out at any time, I'll be extremely grateful if they could water my two plots - one next to the path leading to the tennis hut and one long thin one adjacent to the back cafe courtyard - and also (and especially) the runner beans now starting to grow nicely on the tennis court wire netting fence. 

I will be there on 26th June at 10 to at least say hallo. All best Maggie

Hi everyone. Hoping I'm not the only one showing up at 10.00 tomorrow for Jenna's last 'garden together'. Can anyone else make it?  Best Maggie

Great garden together, albeit sparsely attended. Thanks for organising, Jenna, and all the very best for your return down under. I will hold the fort for now but am hoping someone else will take it on next year. Helen and Daniel are thinking about it...

I have sent an email to Queens Park expressing disappointment about the shed door situation - no key for us and not even an email to say they were changing it. 

Mick, I have weeded and planted up your strip by the fence as you were obviously unable to get round to it. (I think you were about to move house last time we spoke, so imaging that's the reason you haven't been around.) Hope that's OK with you. All best, Maggie

Hi Everybody!

For those of you who haven't discovered it, the tools are back in the (new) shed and watering is easy again. Get the tap and connector off the nail on the right in the shed. Connect the hose up at the tap next to the cafe toilets, heave the hose over the fence and off you go. Phil and I did a massive water at the weekend and now it's raining but the time will no doubt some again...

Hi again!

Some of have grown some things you could be eating! Fausto and Claire, you have lovely broad beans that need picking (or they will be too tough). Kim you have a couple of courgettes ready - good to pick them before they turn to marrows. And loads of people have chard or lettuce they could harvest.

Happy eating!

Maggie

Hi yet again!

I'm trying to make sure as many people as possible have a chance to have a go at having a plot. Can I ask you to post promptly if you find you no longer have time to keep your plot planted and weed free and I will offer it to someone waiting?

You will be welcomed back and given priority if you decide to take a break, so it's fine to give your plot up if it's becoming a burden ask to have one again (not necessarily the same one) when you have more time in the future. Maggie

GARDEN TOGETHER?

Can anyone make either Saturday August 13th or Saturday August 20th at 11.00? 

Maggie

Hi Maggie, I am sorry i cant make it, I will be in Turkey no matter what happens with coup situation, pray that all will be normal. I have not been able to water since you said we could, I find the hose situation very complicated, maybe we can do it together sometime in september..

Hi Everyone,

Spring is suddenly here and there's a lot going on at the allotments.

We have permission from the Park to expand the site and create some new mini-plots. We are hoping to extend our membership to some refugees, via contacts with Salusbury World. We need the Park to do a bit of work and I need to make some funding applications for materials, so that's going ahead now.

Hope you are all happy with this. Responses welcomed!

Also, can I ask you as usual to confirm whether or not you want to continue with you plot this year? People sometimes move away and don't tell us or get too busy to continue and we don't necessarily know. So PLEASE can you reply either way, via the website, so that I know whether or not there are plots to allocate to people waiting?

All best Maggie

Hello!

I wondered how I went about getting on the waiting list for an allotment?

Many thanks!

Like this, Kirsty. You are now on the waiting list...

Maggie

Hi everyone,

Nice to see the chat active again, means we are all springing up.

Great news about the expansion.

Happy to continue with the plot and looking forward to catch up with you all...

BEst wishes

Thanks for your replies Helen and Fausto. Can the rest of you let me know via comment wall whether or not you want to continue as soon as poss, as we have people waiting for vacant plots.

All best, Maggie

Hi Maggi, 

Looking forward to the spring! Great idea about the plot extension too. I would definitely love to keep my plot, so I will see you all at the next garden together, whenveer that might be?

Cheers

Kim

Hi Maggie,

Please can we continue with our plots. Looking forward to seeing you at the garden together.

thanks,

kate

Hi All,

I'd like to continue with my plot this year,

looking forward to a garden together to kick-start the year.

Thanks,

Mark