Garthdee Allotments

Grow Greener with Garthdee Field Allotments Association

Our Pothole Saga

A wee bit of background. ACC used to be able to provide us with free road planings for repairing our potholes. Unfortunately, a change in the Council’s contracts for road repairs meant they have not been able to supply any for a year or so now. Over which time, you will be aware our potholes became deeper and wider by the week.

So, it is especially pleasing to report that after some excellent sourcing and bargaining by Secretary Phil (Plot 57) we recently took delivery of 20 tonnes of very fine planings.

Tuesday and Sunday of this week, after an appeal to plotters for help (Thanks to the two Graemes, David (Plot 57) Sophie (Plot 25) for coming forward), the Volunteers and Committee members added their efforts to the task and we have been able to break the back of the work.

Photo Credit: Anna Fulop
Photo Credit: Anna Fulop

The only downside was some damage to the fence, and Gate on Plot 94B caused by the lorry trying to reach the top planings bin at the top of the site.

Apologies to those who missed out on the photo opportunities.

We apologise for the damage and the Volunteer Squad set to on Sunday to fix it. Obviously we cannot allow big lorries to try to reach the top of the site in future.

However, on another positive note the Council have agreed to find a contractor to undertake the more extensive work needed to deal with the problem of cars grounding as they reach the top of the main path leading to the North of the site. Discussions are ongoing between ACC and GFAA to find a satisfactory solution to this problem.

Alert – Mains Water

A word to the wise: we plan to turn off the mains water supply to the site this coming Sunday, 12 November 2023. If a threat of frost is forecast before then, it will be turned off immediately.

Dobies’ Sale Seeds

Dobies have a seed sale on at the moment.

Please note this is the online seed merchants, not the local Dobbies’s Garden Centre.

If you miss the deadline, remember you can get a 40% discount on seed prices throughout the year when you use our Garthdee Field Discount Voucher. Copes of their 2024 Catalogue and a letter with the NEW Discount Code are available in the Octagon. Order online at your convenience, but you MUST use the code at the point of ordering to get the Garthdee Field 40% discount.

I am not sure our code will work with these sale purchases. Let us know if you find it does.

There are still lots of free seed packets in the Octagon Seed-Swop – many current and viable.

Seed Sale Alert

Thanks go to Pete (Plot 33) who passed on the alert and suggested this post.

DT Brown have bargain seeds for sale right now – but their sale ends at Midnight Sunday 22 October 2023. Jump in now and grab yourselves a bargain or three.

Storm Damage

I am sorry to say we have suffered quite a bit of wind damage on site. Plotters would be well advised to come down and see what needs to be secured as more gales are likely to follow the initial surge of Storm Babet.

Sutherland Kale

Kay Plot 23 suggested this post in an email. Here is her email


Quite a while ago you put a message onto the Allotment website telling people I had spare Sutherland Kale seed for anyone who wanted some.  Well,  it went a bit vital and I have been inundated with requests for seed from all over the UK and Sweden.  I don’t have any left but I have been redirecting people to ‘The Real Seed Company’ which is where I got my original seed from.

Anyway, I have now had an email followed by a phone call today from a freelance journalist writing a piece on Sutherland Kale for the Sunday Post.  She wanted to know more but most of all she would like a photograph of the plant with a grower alongside.  I have no photos of me with Kale but wondered if there might be anything in the Garthdee Allotment photo archive or if you would be willing to put out a call to allotmenteers for any photos they may have?

Here name is Dawn Thompson

Many thanks

Val (23)


Please contact Val or leave a comment below if you can help.

There is a link to our original posting below and this page from Flora Scotia is also interesting.

Page 3 of 97

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén