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.
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.
It was very pleasing this past week to see that we are at last beginning to recover from the knock that our Active Community Engagement (ACE) Programme took post-Covid.
Sunday, we had a good turn out for our September Community Sunday.
We had a mix of plotters, friends and volunteers on the day. Apologies to those who missed out on the photo opportunities.
Monday, Stuart the Builder laid down the concrete base for the machinery store. Ron has been beavering away for weeks now pre-assembling the structural components, so we ought to have it built before long. If this is something you could help with, please contact Ron.
Tuesday, saw the volunteer squad back in numbers and it was super to have Anne back with us after her recent bad back. Good too, to have Gordon B and Fate back on site and busy woodworking. Gordon is, of course, an old hand, but it is great to have his skills and good humour back with us.
Tuesday, we also welcomed Paul and Laura from Aberdeen City Council on site to join our monthly Committee Meeting. They brought good news in the offer of some very useful second-hand sleepers and a promise to look at solutions for the problem we have with cars bottoming out when using the paths to get to the top of the site. Details to follow we hope.
We arrived on Wednesday to find that Keith and his grass-cutting Pixies had been at work and the Orchard Area was looking great again. We owe a huge thanks to Keith for his efforts keeping our machinery running and much more. His grass cutting on the Tuesday finished more or less in the dark!
Wednesday we took delivery of a set of pallets thanks to a tip-off from Rebecca at C-Fine. The pallets will be re-cycled and provide timbers for up-cycled garden furniture built by our volunteers over the winter months ahead.
Thursday was a very spacial day. RGU students from Gray’s School of Art had been with us all week, but Thursday brought us an especially big group. It is always interesting to see our site through artists’ eyes.
We also welcomed Milly Brace and her Aberdeen horticulture students on site for their first visit. The students enjoyed a site tour led by Anne, followed by a Q and A before donning their boiler suits and boots to help out with the afternoon’s volunteering activities. They helped spruce up the Nursery Plot, Primary Plot and filled potholes before leaving around 15.00 hours. We hope their visit will be the first of many.
Thursday ended with a TAMS collection and it was super to see the amount and variety of surplus provided by our plotters and volunteers over the week.
Friday, brought the news that our missing strimmer and battery had been located and handed in: a great result and further evidence of how public-spirited our plotters are.
Thanks go to everyone involved in making this a special week. However, special mention must go to Anne for setting up the visit of the horticultural students and to Ron, Jordi, Christine and Veronica who stepped in to help on the day when it became clear spinning plates were about to hit the floor if they did not. Thanks!
Yes, believe it or not, it’s the third Sunday of the month again, and so the wait is over, and it is time to come and enjoy another Community Sunday on Garthdee Field.
The coffee’s on the brew, the cakes are in the oven, and all we ask in return is a wee spot of your perspiration on this Sunday 17th September to help us keep our site in tip-top, lickity-split condition. Details in the poster. Do come and share a natter with your fellow plotters and our ace Volunteer Squad.
The benefits of making your own compost are well known. The best compost requires the right blend of green and brown materials added in layers. Making your own on your plot removes the need to cart weeds and the like off site for disposal.
During the Summer we have on site plenty of free-to-all grass cuttings. These are to be found in a bin in the South-East corner of the site.
The materials in the white bags seen in the photo are coffee grounds. C-Fine deliver these grounds to us weekly. Many plotters consider coffee grounds to be a useful addition when compost making.
Please feel free to help yourself to these materials. There is nothing quite like grass cuttings to heat up and speed up your compost making.
The materials on the right side of the bin are seedy weeds dumped in the bin by a plotter. This is very disappointing. Plotters are best to compost their own weeds, or failing that, take them off site for disposal via their brown bins. They must not be dumped around the site or in communal bins.
We had a good turnout for our August Community Sunday – despite competing with the Lionesses on the day. Thanks to all who managed along to help out – old hands and new. It’s amazing what can get done in an hour or so with many willing hands. Apologies to those who missed out in the photo sessions. Many thanks too, to our behind the scenes bakers and providers. We will meet again on the third Sunday of September.
