In December 2017 Aberdeen City Council issued an updated set of guidance notes for plotters called, “Managing your Allotment”. The new version contains updated information on, e.g. ponds, polytunnels and keeping bees. For your convenience, you will find a copy of this document under the Advice Tab at the top of our Homepage. Or you can follow this link.
Thanks go to Stuart who passed on this link.
With our collaborations with RGU and the Macmillan Cancer Charity, GFAA plotters’ are very aware of the gardening and working out of doors can help lift the spirit. We were very pleased therefore to be contacted by Virgil Anderson from Houston, Texas, who found us via the web while researching an online article entitled, The Therapeutic Benefits of Gardening.
Virgil’s article makes very interesting reading, pointing up the advantages for people in recovery or survivors, “getting their hands dirty and growing and nurturing plants.”
Follow the link above or the one embedded in our Links page to find out more.
It’s time to declare war on New Zealand flatworms – total war. For me, they have replaced slugs as public enemy number one. Slugs only attack some of the crops we grow. NZ flatworms threaten to annihilate our earthworms. They are also as ugly as sin and ooze evil from every pore. There can only be one plotters’ response – EXTERMINATE!
Bruce on flatworm patrol
Why so now? I suggest two reasons. Firstly, a recent Conversation Newsletter Article (link coming up below) spelt out the importance of earthworms for healthy soil and plants, and the environment generally: and we all know the threat NZ flatworms pose to our earthworms. In summary, the article says earthworms are:
Earthworms are the good guys and our friend’s enemies are our enemies.
Secondly, research shows that some modern practices and tendencies in plot management seem to favour the NZ flatworm. For example, I have started to use plastic membranes and carpet as weed inhibitors and winter soil protectors and these are known to encourage flatworms.
It seems unlikely that we will ever be able to completely defeat and remove our flatworms. Recent Aberdeen University research reports (links below) show that flatworms are present on 70% of our plots and 90% of Slopefield’s plots are infested. However, there are lots of actions we can take to reduce flatworm numbers. This may tip the balance back in favour of our earthworms.
Actions against NZ flatworms include:
When our plots were surveyed by researchers they found that flatworm refuges were found on many plots. Eighteen plots had a small number of refuges; 14 plots more than a small number; 14 had many refuges and only 1 was refuge-free. The number of flatworms found increased with the number of refuges and carpet was found to be the worst source of flatworms, followed by plastic, fabric, stones and wood in that order.
So what is to be done? In the first instance, I am going to stop using carpet to suppress weeds. I am going to do a big Spring tidy up, removing clutter. I am going to set my flatworm traps and check them regularly. I already keep a lemon squeezy on site. I should also replace my central slab path (built up over many years as free slabs became available) with a grass one, but this is a big job and a sore one.
Know your enemy
So, I hope this can be a big focus for us over the year ahead. If you want to read more about the NZ flatworm threat and responses these links will help:
Conversation Newsletter Article
The Royal Horticultural Society has teamed up with the Sunday Times to offer a new photo competition, encouraging young and old to get outside and, ‘record how enriching and inspiring gardens and plants can be.” It is free to enter, and there is a prize of £5000 for the overall winner, and a secondary award goes to the winner of each of nine categories.
The categories include:
Welcoming Garden Wildlife
Celebrating Gardens
Pure Plants
A Portfolio category is for six images in a series or based on a single theme or style of photo.
Submit your entries via the RHS Website by 10.00am 1 March 2018. Full details are available on the RHS Website. How nice would it be if Garthdee Field could feature in some of the winning photos!
Four GFAA volunteers easily match up to one horsepower when there is a job that needs doing.
The Tuesday squad are always on the lookout for something that needs doing. Give us a shout if you have something in mind.
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