Author Archives: Southern Allotments
Conserving water during the dry spell
Good morning Plot holders! We are all aware that there has been very little rain over the past few weeks and while great for many of us who like a bit of sun, not that great for our plots and new planting. With this in mind, we are sharing an information piece from United Utilities about how to conserve water on your allotment. A reminder to all that hose pipes/sprinklers cannot be used on the site unless permission is granted by the Society in special circumstances. Please help to conserve the water supply during the dry spell and remember to share any tips!
Pollinators & biodiversity
Debbie Wallace, Urban ranger for Your Housing delivered a wonderfully inciteful walk n’ talk session for the Society on Saturday 5th April and the session which was well attended, included a tour and discussion of the nature and mini forest area alongside the site on Wintermans Road that Debbie has been developing. Later in the session, the group was treated to a rare visit to a gated natured reserve on Bulfinch Walk that Debbie has created from what was a plain grassed area and is has been transformed into a biodiverse oasis.
Debbie highlighted and talked the group through a range of native plants that flower early and are key to encouraging pollinating insects such as Bumble bees and Miner bees, which are key to ensuring a healthy crop of fruit on our allotment fruit trees.
If we just look at little closer, these native plants are all around us and often appear on our plots in early spring.
It was fascinating to understand which plants attract the beneficial insects and also how we can support these invertebrates throughout the season by creating attractive and natural habitats to help encourage a greater diversity and population that will assist us to control those insects that can be detrimental to our crop growing efforts.
Debbie also provided lots of useful information on the many different books available about identification of insects, plants and other biodiversity topics and made a really useful suggestion about the creation of a Society library and which the committee will now take forward in developing as a shared society resource in the Cabin.
To see some more pictures from the walk n’ talk, please click below to open the pictures in a new window (Mobile) or viewing in an application on your computer.
For those plot holders with families who missed the session and who would still like to participate in one of these fantastic free sessions, Debbie has shared an free event tailored for younger bug explorers and budding botanists that she will be delivering in the nature reserve/woodland area of Wintermans Road on Saturday 10th May. Please click here for more details.
If you would like to know how to make a habitat for ground nesting bees, please click this link to view the poster and instructions Debbie kindly provided and keep an eye out for the cabin library once we get it up and running.
Keep an eye for our late summer tree pruning sessions!
Scarecrow competition
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It’s that time of year when we are starting to sow seeds only to find that those pesky hungry birds have descended and chomped the lot. With this in mind, the Society felt it was time to re-introduce the annual Scarecrow competition and help celebrate plot holder creativity once again. It’s a bit of fun to brighten up the site and the winner will receive a £25 Amazon voucher in recognition of their impressive creation.
The judges will be looking for good use of recycled materials, creative flair & technical ability so get your [clever] head on and have a bit of fun 🙂
Winner will be announced at the Seed Swap 25th May 2025
New event – Pollinators, biodiversity & creating nature spaces
We are delighted to announce our first Southern allotments walk and talk event, kindly presented by Urban Ranger, Debbie Wallace. Please click here for more information