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CHILDS HILL ALLOTMENT SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, SEPTEMBER 2006
Hello Everyone
This is the first newsletter for quite a while, so a warm welcome to all. We plan to do a newsletter four times a year, to keep everyone up to date with the different developments and activities on the site.
The Childs Hill site is one of the largest allotment sites. It has just over 150 plots, and no vacancies. Following the Society’s AGM in July, the new committee elected the following officers to lead us through the coming year:
Chair: Michael Sanderson, plot 100S
Deputy chair: Deborah Thompson, plot 8
Treasurer: Andrea Bouras, plot 91
Lettings officer: Ken Moth, plot 96
Correspondence secretary: Ann Holtom, plot 95
But, the committee and its officers can only do a good job if they have your input. Please tell us of your needs and wishes, suggestions and ideas, your problems and anxieties. We don’t have unlimited resources but it’s possible that we can help.
We will soon have a letter box at the shop where you can post communications. If you have internet access, then please use the email addresses. But best of all, come and chat. I’ve included a site map to help you find your way around. Sorry, the map is quite old and a bit inaccurate, and not very clear, but the best we have at the moment!
Enjoy the Indian summer, and long may it continue.
Anna Kochan (plot 7)
Editor:- email
--- SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE --
Our allotment shop is having a sale on Sunday 24 September, from 11am to 1pm. We’ll be selling some of the old stock as well as a number of slow-moving items at reductions of 20-50%. The sale will include a whole variety of items such as seeds, ant killer powder, Chlorophos, Phostrogen, trowels and forks, superphosphate and various composts. Our aim is to free up space in the shop and make room for new product lines.
--- SHOP NEWS ---
Many thanks to Joan and John who used to run the shop. They spent an enormous amount of time on it, and did a fantastic job, for which we are extremely grateful. We now have a whole committee to accomplish the task.
The shop makes a tiny profit. Mainly it exists as a convenience to members of the Childs Hill Allotment Society so please tell us your thoughts and suggestions.
Finally, would anyone like to take a turn at helping behind the counter in the shop? We would welcome your assistance and, incidentally, it is a great way of getting to know more about the allotment site and the people who cultivate it.
Anna Kochan (plot 7)
Shop Committee
ONIONS for autumn planting are now in stock. The varieties we have chosen are Radar and Senshyo. For winter planting, we will have Sturon, Stuttgart and Red Baron varieties in stock early in the new year.
GARLIC for autumn planting are now in stock. Following recommendation from some of our most experienced growers, we have ordered Dario, Sprint, Albigensian White and Solent White. These can be reserved and paid for in advance.
POTATOES:- (seed) have been ordered. Delivery is expected in February. Plotholders can reserve and pay for these in advance at the shop. The varieties we have selected are Winston, Red Duke of York, Kestrel, Osprey, Desiree, Romano and Charlotte.
GREEN MANURE:- we will be stocking Field Beans that can be planted as green manure in the autumn (and eaten in the spring, according to Deborah!). They should be on the shelf within a few weeks.
SEEDS:- we are going to order seeds from Kings this year. If there is something in particular that you would be interested in growing next year, please advise us. You can look at the website for ideas:- kings seeds
COMPOST:- Bags of horse manure compost (rotted and ready to use) will be arriving at the shop in the early spring. Meanwhile, we’d like to know if anyone would be interested in an organic variety of multipurpose compost. If there is sufficient demand, we will of course try to stock it.
OPENING HOURS:- the shop will be open 12-1pm on Sundays, till end October, and also on Sunday 19 November and Sunday 10 December. We have decided to try opening the shop on some Saturdays during the busy spring period. Further details on this at a later date.
--- Development Projects at Childs Hill Allotments ---
As you can see, a new recreation area has been created on the North West corner of our site with beautiful landscaping , flowers, plants and trees with a piazza where we hope to have tables and benches for picnics and meetings.
We have now made plans to develop the shop area at the South entrance to the site with a new bigger shop and warehouse, machine store and toilets. This is a very ambitious project which, at the moment, is estimated to cost about £50,000. Plans have been exhibited on the notice board by the main entrance and we hope that everyone will take some time to look at them.
The shop will be set back from the entrance drive with a new parking area in front of it. This area will also make it possible for lorries to deliver larger quantities of soils and fertilisers to the shop. Larger deliveries will be more economical and easier to manage since we will then be able to unload deliveries with a fork lift truck.
The shop will be more spacious and big enough to use as a meeting room. It will have a kitchen at the back and we are hoping that this will help to encourage the social life of our society and make it possible for us to welcome more of our neighbours in the area to enjoy and benefit from our site. The toilets will have disabled access and wash basins.
At this stage we are exploring funding possibilities for the development. It is a very ambitious plan but we hope that all our members and plot holders will take an interest in it and eventually benefit from better facilities.
Tim Reed (plot 6)
--- PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY ---
We are all invited to an evening of food and entertainment organised by the Barnet Federation of Allotment and Horticultural Societies. It is on October 6 at 8pm at Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, NW4. The occasion is the Annual Prize giving. A gardening historian, Russell Bowes, will be the guest speaker.
--- MACHINERY ---
The Child’s Hill Allotment Society owns some good and powerful machinery including strimmers and rotovators. It is currently not available for use by plotholders because we need someone to take on the role of machinery letting. Can you help? It is not an onerous task but the person needs to show people how to use the machinery they are hiring, to take and record the money and to lock up the machinery once it is finished with. No maintenance of the machinery is involved.
--- THE HEDGEHOG ---
Colin Frohawk Burrell (plot 117), one of our environment-friendly plot holders puts the case for introducing hedgehogs to the allotments:
The name ‘hedgehog’ came into use in around 1450, derived from the middle English word ‘heyghoge’. Other folk names include urchin, hedgepig and furzepig. Most closely related to insectivores such as moles and shrews, the hedgehog has changed little over the last 15 million years.
These days, the most that many people see of a hedgehog is one scuttling in front of their car headlights on a country road, or one squashed on the road the day after. A few lucky people may have hedgehogs at the bottom of their garden that they feed on bread and milk, which incidentally is not a good idea as hedgehogs are lactose-intolerant. Dog or cat food is better but not ideal. The hedgehog is, however, primarily nocturnal, sleeping much of the day under cover of bushes, grass, rocks and holes in the ground.
The best thing about hedgehogs is that they are a powerful form of pest control. Amongst other things, their natural food includes insects, slugs, snails, berries and grass roots. They also forage for earth worms. A single grown hedgehog can eat up to 200g of destructive insects in one night.
However, chemical insecticides are a problem. Whilst the hedgehog is immune to most poisons, it is not immune to them when they consume creatures that have themselves ingested poison. Eating contaminated prey is fatal for the hedgehog. Also, strimmers can be a danger. And, since hedgehogs tend to hibernate anywhere that is warm, such as piles of twigs, they may ultimately turn into bonfires.
Organic pest control insecticides are now available. They do not harm hedgehogs directly. If used throughout the allotment site, it should be possible to introduce hedgehogs in a slow and controlled manner starting with, say, two pairs on a trial basis.
--- COMPOST BINS AND WATER BUTTS ---
The London Borough of Barnet offers some good deals on compost bins and water butts for Barnet residents. The prices of compost bins range from £10 to £25. A water butt kit is £34.95. For full details, tel: 0845 130 60 90 or 0800 316 4454. Wormeries at £15 or £25 are available to Barnet residents from Original Organics, tel: 01884 841515. If you have Internet access, the link is: Barnet.
Other London boroughs also do special offers.
Brent offers
Camden offers
Islington offers
Thames water also offer compost bins and water butts, Link.
--- RECIPE PAGE ---
At this time of year, most of us have a glut of one thing or another. Here are some recipes to help:
BEETROOT RELISH
Put in a large pan: 1lb shredded cooked beetroot with 1lb shredded raw cabbage, _lb sugar, 2 tablespoons horseradish, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 pint vinegar and pepper to taste. Simmer till vegetables are cooked and most the liquid has been absorbed.
(note from the editor: I used red cabbage, and a mix of cider, red wine and white wine vinegars. I tried grating the horseradish root, which didn’t work, so I ended up chopping it very finely. The result was really rather delicious).
MARROW AND GINGER JAM
Put in a pan: 6 lb marrow (peeled, de-seeded and cubed), the juice and zest of 4 lemons, a large claw of ginger root that you have bashed a bit (to release the flavour). Cook till marrow is transparent and mushy. Leave to cool. Add 6 lb sugar and heat till setting point is reached. Pour into sterilised jars.
(note from the editor: I haven’t made this one yet but Ann, Society secretary, says it is absolutely delicious, and tastes of pineapple).
COURGETTE CAKE
Mix together 1lb grated courgette, 8 fl oz vegetable oil, 12 oz sugar and 3 eggs (beaten). Sieve together 10 oz flour, 1 _ tspns baking powder, 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda, 1 tspn cinnamon, 1 tspn nutmeg and 1 tspn salt.
Add flour mixture to courgette mixture and combine thoroughly. Stir in 6 oz chopped walnuts. Put mixture into a line 2 lb loaf tin, and bake in preheated oven gas mark 4, 180 degree C, 350 degree F, for 1 1/4 hours or until skewer test comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool further.
CURRIED COURGETTE SOUP
Gently fry a chopped onion in 1 oz margarine, together with 1 apple (cored, peeled and chopped). Once the onion is softened, mix in 2 teaspoons curry powder and cook a few minutes. Add 2 pints stock, 2 ozs uncooked rice and 2 or 3 courgette (chopped). Bring to boil and simmer gently till courgette and rice is cooked, about 30 minutes. Cool, then liquidise and add 1/2 pint milk. Serve hot or cold.
A final note "Bonfires"
A REMINDER: from 1 October, bonfires are allowed at any time – but none between now and then.