ALLOTMENTS

Groby Allotments News

Easter Fun

AS PROMISED, here are the photos of the entrants to our Easter Hat Competition. Don’t they all look lovely! We had a fun day, a little while before Easter but all our entrants had been very creative, especially one who had fresh flowers on her Easter Hat and another whose hat was festooned with seed packets – very allotment-appropriate! We had ten adults, two children and two babies enter our competition, so it was a good turn-out. I have to say that the babies’ entries were outstanding for ones so young, but I have a slight suspicion that they had a tiny bit of help from their parents! Either that or they both have a brilliant career ahead of them in the creative arts! We had two judges to make sure that there was no favouritism (they are the people in the photo who aren’t wearing hats) and everyone who entered the competition received an Easter egg, with the bigger Easter eggs being given as prizes. We had one adult winner, two child winners and two baby winners, so everyone was happy and also suitably rewarded for their efforts. We also had a really good selection of plants for sale. Amanda, our incredibly greenfingered grower, has been germinating all the seeds using peat-free compost this year and the results have been very good indeed. The plant sales at each of our monthly Open Shed Sunday events are open to anyone to buy, so if you would like a few vegetable, herb or flowering plants, do pop down and buy a few. We would be happy to see you.

Donations

Occasionally we have people contact us to say that they have a shed, greenhouse or garden implement that they no longer use and offer it to allotmenteers, either for free or for a small fee. We also had someone Easter bonnets galore!

contact us to offer some slabs for free recently. This is lovely of residents, very kind, and we are really grateful that they think of us and that, if possible, we can re-use some pre-loved items and save them from the waste tip. However, we also receive some items such as plant pots or other items which are just left in the Ratby Road car park, without contacting us first to ask if they would be useful to us. Sadly, many of these items we cannot find a new owner for and so we then have go to the trouble of transporting them to the waste tip ourselves. As you can imagine, this is not helpful. Please therefore, if you have some items which you think may be useful to our members, please contact us first before you leave them on our site. We can then ask our members and give you the names of those interested or ask them to contact you direct. Leaving items in the car park could be seen as fly tipping and we would not want you to be fined for your good intentions. Our email address is grobyallotments@yahoo.com or you can ask someone on the allotments to contact one of the committee for you or you can leave a message at the Parish Council and either way we will get back to you to let you know if we can make use of your kind offer.

New Tenants!

As we walk around the allotment plots now, all is busy with people planting out and watching those plants grow. It is lovely to see everything come alive again. The bees, butterflies and ladybirds are about as well, taking advantage of the early flowering plants and the tiny bugs. I noticed recently, when cutting the grass footpath that runs down the side of my plot that I had some bees in my compost bin. When I opened the lid to add the grass cuttings, several bees flew out looking quite annoyed and so I had to put the lid back on and leave using that bin, stuffing all the cuttings into the other, rather full bin instead. I love bees and respect them and the vital work that they do pollinating all our crops, but I would have preferred it if they had found somewhere else to nest! I’ve checked various beekeeper websites and they aren’t attracted to compost specifically, obviously my bin just suited their needs for now. Hopefully they will decide to find a more desirable place to nest for the rest of year fairly soon or I shall have to make a new compost heap!! We have recently had a couple of our allotmenteers give up their plots for one reason or another, so if you think that you would like to have a go at growing your own vegetables or have somewhere a little bigger to grow your favourite flowers or fruit, do contact us at grobyallotments@yahoo.com and ask for an application form or for a chat about renting a plot. Carol Lincoln

WANTED

VINYL RECORDS

ALBUMS & SINGLES IN GOOD CONDITION ALL GENRES CONSIDERED WHOLE COLLECTIONS PURCHASED RING JOHNNY ON 07941 237223 or email: strawdog33@hotmail.com