Grow Greener with Garthdee Field Allotments Association

Author: Norman Page 35 of 66

Cheaper Seeds – a new GFAA Benefit

Good news!

GFAA has joined the Dobies Gardening Associations Group Scheme. (Please note: this is Dobies with one ‘b’ and not the Dobbies with the local gardening superstore – as owned by Tesco I hear.)  Under this scheme, our plotters and volunteers ordering from Dobies will receive a 40% discount on seeds and 10% off other purchases.

Additionally, GFAA will benefit by a further 5-10% from all qualifying orders as a boost to our funds.  At a time when we are seeking new ways of finding income sources to sustain our site maintenance activities, we are hopeful this scheme might make a significant contribution – if enough plotters take part.

Easy Ordering and delivery direct to your door

  • GFAA members order personally, by phone, post or online.
  • GFAA provides each member with a paper catalogue and order form – or use the online catalogue.
  • Delivery is direct to the address of the person placing the order.
  • The unique GFAA offer code drives the discount and must be quoted at the time an order is placed.
  • Payment is with the order, by cheque, credit/debit card or PayPal.
  • Top-up orders, of any value, can be made throughout the year and will benefit from the discount.

Please note:

Whether ordering by post using the official order form, or by phone or online you must use the official GFAA order code to qualify for the discounts.  You cannot claim the discount retrospectively after the event.

Copies of the Dobies Catalogue and the Order Form printed with the unique order code will be placed in the Octagon by this weekend.  The padlock combination is the same as for all other GFAA locks.  Please help yourselves to a personal copy of the catalogue and order form – Dobies have provided us with one copy per member.  In case of difficulty please ask a Committee Member for help.

If you prefer to order online from the comfort of your sofa, please use the code from the printed order form or email Norman (gfaawebhelper[at]gmail.com) for the required code – remember, no code, no discount and no exceptions! 

It is one of Dobies Terms and Conditions that we agree NOT to share the GFAA code with non-members.  They state they will cancel our group membership if we do not respect this rule.

Thanks go to Len on Plot 74 for alerting us to this scheme.

So, here’s to many happy hours of catalogue browsing!

Welcome aboard Rachel!

I am delighted that Rachel Martin has agreed to help with the website.  Rachel recently swapped her Micro-plot for Plot 99A and has made a cracking start on it. 

Rachel has made an equally impressive start to her work on the website and brings a professional eye, real technical know-how and lots of experience with her.  She has helped spot and remove some site clutter and added many new and more up to date features.  I especially like the new header and slider and the social media buttons on each post.  There will be all sorts of new stuff to follow, so if you have not already done so, this would be a good time to subscribe, to make sure you get notifications of new posts and improvements as they appear.  Don’t forget too, we are always keen to have new stories, photos and comments: keep them coming please.

So, go for a prowl around and tell us what you think.

There are exciting times ahead for our website: watch this space!

TAMS VEGAN Thank You Event

The Allotment Market Stall (TAMS) Team are holding a thank you event this week for all who contributed to their collections this season.

The Shed Squad Strikes!

With a shed to move from A to B on site today, we assembled a crack squad of plotters and volunteers.

Left to right: Grant, Mike, Gordon, Phil, Stuart and Graeme – what a fine body of men!

All went well, but we could have done with a couple of extra handlers when we came to the first corner: we had not realised that we had Lewis Hamilton driving and would be going around on two wheels.

Our Beechgrove Celebrity

There was only one topic of conversation on site this weekend.  Everyone was talking about Sandy Inkster’s appearance on Beechgrove Garden.

It was wonderful to see the Beechgrove team’s recognition of Sandy’s expertise and knowledge when they visited on the occasion of his winning the P&J Garden Competition for the whole of the North East. It was lovely too to see the warmth of Carole Baxter’s appreciation of Sandy’s efforts in his ninetieth year and the esteem in which she clearly holds him.

I am sure we all want to join in offering hearty congratulations to Sandy and his wife.  They have built a garden the rest of us can only dream of having.

 

Magic Moments and Butterflies

One of the joys of being on site at this time of year is catching sight of these visitors.

Sedum seems to attract them in huge numbers.  I counted a dozen on this plant at different points in the day.

Ah well, their days are numbered down to precious few I guess, but they certainly add more than a little magic while they are with us.

I’ll have Sedum to split for the coming season: if you’d like one let me know.  You will have to find your own butterflies, however: these are hefted to my plot – I hope!

Page 35 of 66

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén