Southern Allotments

Newsletter

W EED IT AND R EAP

April 2010

For newsletter queries/ contributions contact Judith on judithandbarry@tiscali.co.uk.

For site queries contact Martin on martin.oldham1@ntlworld.com or Phil on phil.boyd@ntlworld.com

Inside This Issue

Celebs on Site! Celebs on Site! 1

Free compost 1

Call to Allotmenteers 2

Notice Board 2

Seasonal recipes 3

Hedge planting 3

Sowing 4

Allotment kitchen 4

Bee lines 5

Help for new plot holders 5

John Leech (MP for Withington) visited the site
on Sunday 11 April to … Here he is inspecting Jobs for April 6
the raised bed for wheelchair users,
Dates for your diary 6
accompanied by Chair Phil Boyd, Secretary
Martin Oldham, Committee Member, Bill
Barton, and the delightful (and
delighted!)Millie!

Free Compost!
A year ago some of us spent a weekend
turning over the green waste deposited in one
of the communal compost bins near the
container. It’s been covered with a black
plastic sheet for the last 12 months and has
rotted down nicely.
New plot holders struggling in their sandpits
(i.e. those with plots along the old railway
line) are cordially invited to help themselves
to a few barrowloads over the coming
weeks. We can’t vouch for its quality, but it
can’t be any worse than what you’ve started
with. But hurry while stocks last!
PS Other plot holders are invited to take
what they can.
Page 2
Calling All Allotmenteers (…but not Frank!)
Back in the former Soviet Union, they used
to celebrate the achievements of so-called
“Stakhanovites.” Named after Aleksei
Stakhanov who mined no less than 102 tons
of coal in less than 6 hours, these were
workers, who far exceeded their quotas and
thus enabled the State to realise its five
year plans.
Well, here at Southern Allotments we are
hoping that painting the top of the fence
with anti-vandal grease is not going to take
us five years. If it doesn’t, this will be down
to our very own version of Comrade
Stakhanov, Frank Flanagan. While a number
of other plot holders gave up an hour or so a
few Sundays ago, Frank put in a shift of 6
Notice Board
Main gate
There are two bolts on the gate to prevent
damage to the gates and the sliding bar,
please remember to drop the bolts when
closing the gates.
Skip
The skip is only to be used for rubbish from
on the site and must not be used for
domestic rubbish brought onto the site.
However, wood and brambles should be
burnt on your plot. Do not overfill the skip,
as the Council will only dump the excess on
the road.
Any metal or hazardous waste (e.g. tyres,
asbestos) must be left beside the skip.
Communal compost bins
The compost bins are to be used for
compostable materials that cannot be
composted on your plot and should not
Weed it and Reap
hours, single-handedly making the site
significantly safer from the local hooligans.
Unfortunately, as we all know a chain is only
as strong as its weakest link, and until the
whole of the job is finished, we are all
vulnerable to the occasional acts of vandalism
and theft.
We may not all be able to match Frank’s
achievements. However, if you do have an
hour or so to spend any Sunday, please call in
at the Tea Shop and pick up a tin of paint and
a brush. Who knows, you could be in for a
Stakhanovite of the Month Award – well a free
cup of tea and a slice of cake.
include plastic or timber. Also, please don’t
add potato haulm, brassica roots (remove
roots and burn or put into skip) or any
diseased plants (e.g. with blight).
The bins have concrete walls, and once they
are filled to the front of the walls no more
material should be tipped on the tarmac.
Please keep any more material on your plot
until one of the bins is empty and waiting to
be filled.
Contracts
While everyone has now either paid their rent
or (in two cases) had their tenancies
terminated, by no means everyone has signed
a contract. If you haven’t can you please
either drop in at the Tea Shop on a Sunday
afternoon where you can sign up (one copy
for you and one for us) or find Martin, the
Secretary, who will be able to find the
paperwork for you to complete.
 Weed it and Reap Page 3

Recipes of the Month

Linguine with purple sprouting Rhubarb Compote

broccoli, sesame & chilli
200g of linguine
Olive oil
150g of purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed and
halved lengthways
2 red bird's eye chillies, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tbsp of sesame seeds
A large handful of parsley, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
Method
Cook the linguine following the packet
instructions. Meanwhile heat a little oil in a
frying pan and add the purple sprouting
broccoli, cook for 4 minutes then add the chilli
and garlic. Fry everything together, stirring so
that nothing sticks and burns, until the broccoli
is cooked through. Stir in the sesame seeds and
brown them briefly. Add the parsley and lemon
juice and toss through the linguine with plenty
of seasoning.
… sounds much more posh than stewed
rhubarb, doesn’t it? And it’s delicious with
rice pudding, yoghurt, baked custard, cream
or just on its own.
With early spring rhubarb, I make a sugar
syrup first and then poach pieces of rhubarb
in it for a few minutes only. You can just put
it in a pan with a little water and sugar or
honey – but watch it as it will overcook
quickly.
Add slices of ginger to the syrup, or a vanilla
pod or orange peel.
Recently I mixed the cooked rhubarb with
pears bottled last autumn with vanilla – then
added a few drops of rosewater – very nice.
Or soak and cook dried apricots until they
are getting soft, then mix with cooked
rhubarb and sugar or honey to taste –
another winning combination.

A thorny issue – planting a hedge!

It’s been agreed for some time that a hedge The planting will be a big job and we will
A largethe
around handful
outsideof parsley, chopped
of the site would be a good need lots of people to commit themselves to
1 lemon, juiced
thing – to make it harder for people to climb in, helping with it. Watch this space for further
provide wildlife habitat and food and just to news as autumn approaches. Get in touch
Method
look nice. with Veronica at vmarris@marris.co.uk if
Cook the linguine following the packet you want to help with planning this.
instructions.
The committee Meanwhile
has decided heat
toaspend
little money
oil in a on
frying pan
hedging for and add the
planting thispurple sprouting
autumn. It will be The bees will love it!!
broccoli, cook for 4 minutes then
mixed native hedging, mostly hawthorn add theandchilli
and garlic.plus
blackthorn Fry everything
a few othertogether, stirring
species such so
as crab
that nothing sticks and
apple, dog rose and hazel. burns, until the broccoli
is cooked through. Stir in the sesame seeds and
brown them briefly. Add the parsley and lemon
juice and toss through the linguine with plenty
of seasoning.
Page 4}
More of Martin’s useful gardening tips: Sowing
This is the time of year when all of us are going
mad sowing seeds - hoping for a good crop later
on. This time last year I had many seeds sown
and growing in various stages by now, but as we
all know this year has been cold up to now, and
even seeds sown several weeks ago are just
emerging from the soil.
This just goes to show that the dates given on
the seed packets for sowing are only to be used
as guides. The times shown are for the South
West of the country and here in the North West
the times should be read as 2 to 3 weeks later.
Another factor to be considered is that seeds
sown 3 weeks later when the soil has warmed
up will soon catch up with those sown earlier.
When sowing seeds of many plants a seed bed
or trays should be used to start the seeds off,
and only a few seeds sown at once. The
germination rate of seeds sold to the public is
approx. 60%, so for every 100 seeds sown at
least 60 will germinate, - hence if you only
Allotment Kitchen
The tea shop is up and running in the new
container. It’s on every Sunday from 2 to 4 pm,
serving tea, coffee, home-made cake and cold
drinks.
If you have suggestions for other things that
could go on at the same time (such as seed or
plant swaps), please come along and see us or
get in touch with Veronica at
vmarris@marris.co.uk
Weed it and Reap
want 10 plants only sow 15 seeds, not half the
packet!
With other seeds like lettuce you only want 3
or 4 at a time so sow a few seeds every 2/3
weeks, the same with other salad crops.
Root crops carrots, beetroot, parsnips, etc.
should be sown where they are to be grown as
they don’t like having their roots disturbed;
this is mainly the long tap root which forms the
crop.
For those who are just starting to prepare their
plot you can start sowing seeds before you
have any ground ready by sowing in seed trays
and leaving them on the plot, i.e. using the
trays as a seed bed. The seedlings can then be
transplanted into a prepared seed bed or
module later or into larger pots before
planting out in their growing positions.
Happy sowing and hopefully great results!
Another idea for later in the year is a
monthly communal cooking session. We
could bring produce from our plots and turn
it into lunch. Anyone interested?
More volunteers always very welcome – with
more people we can turn these ideas into
reality.
 We it and Reap Page 5

Some Bee Lines

You may have seen that work has started on
clearing the ground in the Apiary - or maybe
you are one of the people who has helped -
in which case, well done!

We are having work sessions on Thursdays

from 6.30 pm and Sundays 2 to 4 pm to
continue the work. We will be planting a
mixed hedge round the outside fence and
sowing grass and wildflowers on the ground.
We hope to have one or two bee colonies
later in the spring. For information on bee-
keeping training, see www.beetowns.com

A Helping Hand for New Plot Holders

The recent expansion to the site has resulted
in no less than 34 new plots. That bit is the
good news! The less good news – as our new
plot holders will testify - is the poor quality of
the soil, the numerous roots, not to mention
the stones, lumps of concrete and other
rubbish that has been ploughed into the
ground.
Fortunately for those who have to struggle
with all of the above, there is some help to
hand. Not, alas, help turning over the ground,
but help with the basics of improving the
quality of the soil, raising plants from seed
and general cultivation.
Hulme Community Garden Centre has offered
to run some courses. Taking place over four
or five weeks, the aim will be to provide a
basic introduction to organic gardening for
new plot holders. The course will be free of
charge, and will take place either on our site
or at the Garden Centre.
If you are interested, please let me know as
soon as possible (email me at
phil.boyd@ntlworld.com or phone me or
Veronica on 860 5625 to book a place or ask
for more details).
Page 6 Weed it and Reap

Jobs for April

Time to Sow… Time to harvest…

 beetroot, carrots, Swiss chard,  Sprouting broccoli

summer cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce,
leeks, radish, turnip, peas, spinach  Sutherland kale
etc. etc.
 in-doors or under cover: tomatoes,  Leeks
courgettes.
 Parsnips

Time to Plant…  Last of the indestructible Jerusalem

artichokes
 Potatoes

And Time To…

 Thin out your seedlings – don’t let them
get lanky and weak.
 Transplant seedlings once they have their
second set of leaves.
 Watch out for freak warm days when you
may need to ventilate your greenhouse.