Garthdee Allotments

Grow Greener with Garthdee Field Allotments Association

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Community Allotment Association Update: AGM, Volunteers, and More

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On September 29, 2024

In Events, General Meeting, Minutes, News

Dear members of the GFAA Allotment Plotting Community, we are inviting you to participate in several upcoming events and have some important updates for you:

AGM/GM
Date: Saturday, 2nd November 2024
Time: 11:00 – 13:00
Location: Cults Bowling Club, 293 North Deeside Road, Cults, Aberdeen, AB15 9PA
Members are encouraged to attend both the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the General Meeting (GM). Agendas will be shared soon. Nominations for committee positions and suggestions for discussion topics can be submitted to the Secretary.

Chair Vacancy
The GFAA is in need of a Chairperson. The role requires approximately two hours a month. Members who can volunteer are urged to step forward.

Volunteers Leader for Sundays
Norman (Plot 81), long-serving Sunday Volunteers Leader, is stepping down. A replacement is needed to oversee the Sunday sessions. Anyone interested in taking on the role is asked to come forward.

Community Sundays
The third Sunday of each month is Community Sunday, where all members are encouraged to join for community tasks. It’s a fun way to get involved and help maintain the site.

New Website and Webmaster
Marin (Plot 96B) has taken on the role of the new webmaster. Members are encouraged to send him any updates or news for the website.

Car Safety on Site
Members are reminded that cars parked on the allotment site are at their own risk, as it is not covered under the Road Traffic Act of 1988. A speed limit of 10 mph is advised, with potential speed control measures being considered due to frequent speeding concerns.

Rubbish Disposal and Bonfire 2025
Members are asked to avoid leaving rubbish around the site, particularly near The Bothy and North Car Park. Instead, rubbish should be taken to the Hazlehead recycling facility.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact the GFAA Secretary.

10 Smart Ways to Use Eggshells at Your Allotment

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On August 7, 2024

In Advice, News

We have a routine supply of eggshells, egg boxes, and coffee grounds thanks to the lovely people from Café Connect at Mannofield. These are placed at our general recycling point located beside the Bothy and are being refreshed every two weeks. Feel free to use as much as you want, but please do not remove the plastic boxes we use to collect/rotate the items from Café Connect.

With a steady supply of eggshells coming our way, here are 10 smart ways to put them to good use at your allotment. From boosting your soil to keeping pests at bay, eggshells are a versatile and natural addition to your gardening toolkit. Let’s dive in and make the most of this fantastic resource!

  1. Pest Deterrent: Crushed eggshells around your plants can keep slugs and snails at bay. They don’t like crawling over the sharp bits—nature’s own barbed wire!
  2. Soil Booster: Mix crushed eggshells into your compost or directly into the soil. They add calcium, which is great for plants like tomatoes and peppers.
  3. Seed Starters: Use halved eggshells as tiny biodegradable pots. Fill them with soil and seeds, then plant the whole thing in the ground once the seedlings are ready.
  4. pH Balancer: If your soil is too acidic, eggshells can help neutralize it. Just crush them up and mix them in.
  5. Bird Food: Bake and crush eggshells to add to bird feed. It gives them a calcium boost, especially in nesting season.
  6. Blossom End Rot Fix: To prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and peppers, add crushed eggshells to the planting hole. This adds calcium directly where it’s needed.
  7. Natural Fertilizer: Make a calcium-rich fertilizer by soaking crushed eggshells in water for a few days. Use the liquid to water your plants.
  8. Compost Activator: Toss eggshells into your compost pile. They decompose slowly, helping to aerate the compost and add essential nutrients over time.
  9. Garden Mulch: Sprinkle crushed eggshells around your plants. It acts as a mulch, keeping the soil moist and deterring pests.
  10. Rooting Powder Substitute: Crushed eggshells can act as a natural rooting powder. Dip the cut ends of your plant cuttings in powdered eggshell before planting to encourage root growth.

Happy gardening!

A Tale of Two Sheds

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On May 13, 2024

In Equipment, News

It’s been the best of times, it’s been the worst of times, and certainly a monumental struggle, but finally we have positive news to report on two new assets on site.

The Wee Shed Community Tool Store

The Wee Shed is the repurposed small toilet now sited next to the Micro Plots and the Bothy Noticeboard.

After being blown over in one of the Autumnal gales, the Wee Shed has needed quite a bit of TLC before being repurposed.

It has been kitted out with a set of tools for the use of any plotter, but especially new plotters who may not yet have their own tools. We will be adding to the tool set as we can over the weeks ahead.

Please clean and return tools immediately after use.

The Wee Shed is secured with a combination padlock which uses the usual GFAA code. If you are not sure what that is, please ask.

The Big Shed Storage Facility

The Big Shed was kindly donated to GFAA by Barry and Kay when they decided to relinquish their plot. It needed quite a bit of restoration to be wind and water proof again. Thanks to all plotters, volunteers and friends of GFAA who helped with this work and the rebuild.

It’s amazing what a bit of joinery and a coat or two of paint can do!

The shed now has a new floor, doors and a re-felted roof and is fit for many more years of useful life. It will serve as a much needed storage space for community equipment and materials and so take the pressure off the Bothy, Octagon and Cabin allowing them to better serve their intended purposes.

Getting these community assets in place has certainly been a stretch and a struggle, but huge thanks go to all who have helped out getting this final stage of the project completed.

Seed Sale Event

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On April 12, 2024

In Events, News

GFAA are running our first Seed Sale this May. We hope this will become an annual event from now on, run for the benefit of our plotters, volunteers, friends and indeed the wider gardening community in Aberdeen.

Raymond (Plot 83) has kindly agreed to manage and run this event. Raymond has been sowing and pricking out a wide variety of seeds and plants for many weeks now.

If you can offer your time to help with event preparation – sowing, pricking out, potting on, or have plants you can donate to the sale, Raymond would love to hear from you. Please do get in touch.

The event is planned for the third Sunday in May. Please spread the word to all who might be interested.

Some Spring Surprises

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On March 29, 2024

In Advice, News

Thanks to the continued generosity of Raymond (Plot 83) and Pete (Plot 33) and many other benefactors unknown, our Community Seed Swop area is now brimming full with viable seeds for the current growing season.

Thanks too are due to Bob of One Seed Forward who kindly donated two bags of seed potatoes for use by plotters and volunteers.

Feel free to help yourselves to seeds or potatoes from the Octagon. No need to be too greedy: hopefully there will be plenty to go around, but they are offered while stocks last and on a first come, first served basis.

If you don’t find what you are looking for, remember you can get a 40% discount on all seeds from Dobies online when you use the Code SUGD196X on checkout. Other orders attract a 5% discount if you use the same code.

Moving Things Forward

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On March 24, 2024

In News

After months of delays, repeated failures and resulting frustrations, we finally managed to find a firm willing and able to come and remove the last remaining large storage container this week.

The removal clears the space for the construction of a large storage facility that will be positioned next to the new Cabin Workshop, taking the pressure off of it, the Lawnmower Garage, the Bothy and the Octagon. We will now be able to get each of these working more efficiently for the purposes they were intended. It’s especially pleasing that this means we will be able to reinstate the storage space for the bank of communal tools for the use of new arrivals on site and Micro-Plotters.

We would like to acknowledge the generosity of Barry and Kay who offered the Association their large shed for communal use when they gave up their plot in the course of last year. We hope to get it erected and refurbed in its new position over the next few weeks.

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