Author: jennyreeves1234

I am delighted to tell you that someone new is taking over our website. Scott Ramsay from Sir John Maxwell has volunteered to run the site from now on.

Hurray!

I was always a reluctant blogger – although I was quite pleased with myself when I learned how to do the basics AND surprised at how satisfying it was when I did manage to put together a reasonable piece for the site. Nevertheless, making a decent post has often been frustrating because of my cack-handedness with the technology, so I am really pleased to be handing over to someone who KNOWS what they’re doing.

However, I’m not expecting to go away altogether – so I’ll be still be writing the odd piece from time to time.

Best wishes

Jenny

The AGM

Our 2019 AGM was held on November 7th. We discussed our Annual Report and received our  Accounts (see the Resources page for these reports and the Draft Minutes). Richard Sharp has taken over as Minutes Secretary from Judy and Scott   new member to the Executive and discussed topics for next year’s bi-monthly meetings (see the Calendar for 2020 on the Events page).

We’re kicking off the new year with a session on starting the growing season on January 9th  looking at seed sowing and rearing young plants, followed by a session on March 5th looking at the outcomes of our three local area discussions about of the work of Glasgow’s allotment associations.  We’ll publish the full bi-monthly programme once the other sessions have been arranged. Meanwhile if there’s anything you would like to see included please get in touch.

Our next big event is Potato Day which falls on February 23rd – more details to come later. The Celebration of Allotments will take place Saturday October 3rd.

 

 

Apologies for the absence of posts over the last few weeks and herewith a quick catch-up:

• The Celebration this year went off well – everyone who came seemed to enjoy themselves. It was a pleasure giving out the various awards. People enjoyed listening to Plotholders’ Question time, especially accompanied by sitting down to tea and cake. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to making the event a success.

 

• We have had two enquiries for advice and support from newly formed allotment associations in the Greater Glasgow area which is encouraging. We were able to put both groups in touch with Alister Smith at Croftburn who has recently been involved in the business of setting up a new committee and agreeing a constitution.
• The September Workshop resulted in developing a strategy for drawing together committee members from allotments across Glasgow to discuss current and future issues in regard to the role and management of the City’s sites. We expect to issue invitations in all three areas of the city in January and to have a report for you all ready in March.
• Two representatives from GAF will be attending a short life working group producing a Training  Handbook for people new to food growing.

Don’t forget that it is our AGM on Thursday Nov 7^th . See all the details here in the attached flyer  AGM 2019 Flyer

Veg of the Month – Winter Squash and Pumpkin

At the third attempt of sowing courgettes we thought we might try growing squash and pumpkin as a possible substitute. We planted them out in the hotbed. The pumpkin is the more compact plant of the two and tends not to wander and putting straw underneath each gourd provides some protection. The winter squash has multiple stems and wanders everywhere. You can decide whether you want it to along the ground, or fences producing fruit on several stems or to train them up a trellis and prune secondary growth. Once squash begin to appear on plants growing along a fence or a trellis, provide support by tying each one to the structure with some strong twine.

By late summer the squash was in vigorous growth trailing along the fence, with a few flowers but the fruit were only the size of tennis balls. Not that promising. The pumpkin had one bright orange fruit, also the size of a tennis ball. The plants seemed to doolittle and dally over the summer. However perseverance seems to be the name of the game. Squashes can take between to 3 to 5 months to grow fully. The first frost killed off the foliage revealing one bright orange pumpkin the size of a football and five squash of equal size. They all passed the ‘tap’ test –to see if there is a hollow sound which indicates that the pumpkin or squash has ripened.

Winter squash and pumpkins have a much thicker skin than marrows, so these varieties are good for storage. Indeed they can be stored for several months, sometimes years! Like the marrow, pumpkin and squash are versatile vegetables and can be used in a variety of dishes both savoury and sweet. Pumpkin pie as a dessert is a staple dish in the USA. Pumpkin combines well with apple. It also makes a great ingredient in pasta dishes. When you cut open a pumpkin or squash remove the seeds from the stringy pulp, then washed, dried and tossed in olive oil and salt the two halves can be roasted.

Growing

Sow seeds in pots in mid to late spring indoors and let them germinate. The plants may well outgrow their pots, if so transfer them into larger pots. Harden off the plants once the threat of frost is over. Plant them out using cloches or large plastic bottles (a way of recycling) to protect the plants. Although each plant has female and male flowers there needs to be cross-pollination from another plant to set fruit so once the plants are established remove the covers to encourage pollinating insects.

Marrows, squash and pumpkins all benefit from a well composted ground, regular watering and some kind of liquid fertiliser feed. We used a liquid comfrey manure made from comfrey leaves harvested from the plot and left to rot down in a barrel of water. Some well-rotted compost can act as a mulch which helps to retain moisture as well as acting as a valuable source of nutrients.

Christine Forde

 

For those of you attending Saturday’s workshop on Governance the main thing for the meeting is to be familiar with your own constitution, rules and regulations etc. and what your plotholders and committee experience/feel about issues of maintenance, communication, conflict resolution and support with regard to both the committee’s functioning and the relationship with Glasgow City Council as landlord.

If you want to look at the guidance given to local authorities about allotments under the Community Empowerment Act you’ll find 2 documents on the Resources page – just scroll down to the heading Policy.

 Celebration of Allotments: Plotholders’ Question Time.

Send in your  questions for Plotholders’ Question Time on the afternoon of September 28th at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church.

Just  drop us an email giving the name of your allotment site and your question.

The programme for the afternoon is:

2.0                  Doors open

2.30 – 3.00    Plotholders’ Question Time

3.15                ADAs awards

3.30                New Plotholders’ Awards

The Celebration will take place at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church on Kilmarnock Road, G43 2DS from 2-4.30 pm.

 

The Governance Workshop

The purpose of the workshop on Saturday September 21^st is to look to the future governance of GCC allotments given the implementation of the Community Empowerment Act (CEA). The agenda will be covering such things as:

•          clarifying the relation between Associations and the Council – roles & responsibilities of both parties

•          constitutions – what sort of common framework do we want – what should be down to local variation

•          conflict resolution – roles and responsibilities

•         limits of delegation of responsibility for waiting lists given the 5 year maximum rule

•         managing plot sizes in response to members’ needs specifically the allocation of plots when an association member wants to either downsize or upsize.

•        communication and transparency (accountability of the City Council under the terms of the CEA).

The purpose of the meeting is to gather the views of Association representatives about their future governance under the terms of the Community Empowerment Act. These provisions will affect all sites that are owned or leased by Glasgow City Council.

Food Strategy

During  her talk on September 5th Abi Morden mentioned the Food Strategy which is being developed by the Good Food for All partnership. They are looking for input into the following themes:

                 1. FOOD POVERTY & FAIR FOOD FOR ALL

                 2. COMMUNITY FOOD (with a link to Food Growing)

                 3. FOOD PROCUREMENT & CATERING

                 4. FOOD ECONOMY

                 5. ENVIRONMENT & FOOD WASTE

                 6. FOOD FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

If you are interested please get in touch with Abi – abi@mordin.net

Low Tech Rainwater Harvesting (while we’re having this summer of downpours!!)

When we got our plot we inherited a rainwater collection system behind our shed which gives us  four large barrels of water to draw from.

It’s a very simple syphoning system which has worked really well for us over the ten years we’ve had our plot. It can obviously be adapted to run with either 2 or 3 barrels as well.

If you’re interested you can find more information  here Low Tech Rainwater Harvesting  (There are also articles/videos about syphoning systems for collecting rainwater on the web)

New Short Life Working Group : Future Governance of Glasgow’s Allotment Sites

We would very much like to get representatives from all the local authority sites across the City to join in this discussion if they can. The first meeting will take place on Saturday September 21st^st 10.00 am – 12.30 pm at the Tron Church on Buchanan Street (coffee and lunch provided).

The purpose of the first meeting of this group on Saturday September 21^st is:

a) To gather the views of association representatives about their future governance under the terms of the Community Empowerment Act. These provisions will affect all sites that are owned or leased by Glasgow City Council.

b) To agree an agenda for a short life working group which will make recommendations about the way ahead as part of a review of Glasgow’s allotments.

c) To agree the dates and venue for a series of 4 meetings over the winter season in order to carry out this work.

Please contact Jenny (use this website’s contact) if you would like to join the group.

(See also the previous post on August 15th – “Meeting GCC’  to catch up with some of the background issues)

The draft minutes for the GAF meeting on September 5th and Sandy’s latest report can be found on the Resources page.