Spring 2008 : Newsletter

Management of Clark's Field, Rectors Way Site has now devolved for over a year.  There site is a waiting list of 15 at present but because plots can be let as soon as the previous tenant has given up, there is not the large amount of neglected overgrown plots as in the past. 

During 2007 the Town Council arranged for the erection of the new fence along Rectors Path giving us added security and the muddy track has been remade and two new water troughs installed.  Before long nature will cover the fence with brambles or tenants will plant fruit vines and it will melt into the background.

Before the fence was erected, some tenants did a fine job of getting  rubbish out of the rhyne including a large amount of shopping trolleys.  Many thanks to them.  A small working party ensured that the car park was recovered with stones and Roy made us a notice board for copies of minutes and other matters of interest, which please keep looking at as it is updated regularly.

We are aware of severe flooding again from the rhyne and we are pursuing ways, in conjunction with other parties on how to solve this problem.  It has been one of the items discussed at the last local council sub-committee meeting, who are looking at what can be done.
 
One request from your site representative, please take care of your bonfires and ensure nothing from the plots encroaches on any adjacent gardens.

Following the success of Clark's Field, Weston Town Council has agreed that Locking Road and Hutton Moor Sites will be devolved in April.  As the sites are adjacent and mainly accessed from Hutton Moor Road, it has also been agreed to amalgamate them to make one site called Hutton Moor and then re-number the plots, which at present can best be described as bizarre.  Although management will be devolved, Weston Town Council have undertaken to remake the very badly rutted main track, but lack of funds will delay this until after April.  In order to answer questions and hear points of view from the tenants, a special meeting was arranged last December in The Bristol Hotel by site representatives George Raines and Mike Phillips.

Much work has been going on there including the renovation of the bottom car park and the creation of an area next to it for green compost.  George, however, requests that care is taken to ensure nothing creeps over the path.

With the completion of the lease between Brandon Trust and the Council, it is very pleasing to see them getting down to work on Ground 4 and improvements already under way.  The good news is that the toilets are being made available to all tenants and the Trust has undertaken to mow the tracks.

In the main, 2007 will be remembered as being one of the wettest for some time, with losses all round, in particular with blight on potatoes and tomatoes alike.  One product we found useful was Dithane.  This is a protective fungicide that controls blight and other problems such as apple scab and downy mildew

Wildlife: As many gardens go under gravel and decking, allotment sites are even more important for biodiversity and to encourage and protect wildlife on our sites, we would like to form a wildlife group.  The group would look at ways to encourage beneficial insects and mammals by new and improved habitats, e.g. the rhynes and putting up bird and bat boxes and bug hotels.  Also monitoring wildlife and if you find this of interest please contact us.

Since the 1940s there has been a serious loss of orchards with 95 percent lost in Wiltshire and 60 percent in Somerset, so you may wish to consider planting old variety apple trees.  Trees for plots would, of course, have to be on dwarf rootstock.

Somerset Recycling is a firm which takes used timber for making into items such as patio tubs or sells wood on at a very reasonable price.  They are found at 4 Oldmixon Crescent and are well worth a visit.  Look for the 'Firewood for Sale' sign. 

Waiting Lists in Weston still hover around the 50 level including a few from outside the area and the waiting list for plots on Clark's Field.  We continue to put forward the case for new allotments i.e. requesting a site on the new build on Weston Airfield and questioning the delay in the new site for Locking Castle.  We have representation on the Environmental Network of North Somerset (TENONS) who attended the Locking Parklands seminar and we are pleased that allotment gardens are part of the initial plan there. 

Nematode or Slug Bait?:  One of the major pests that allotmentiers have to deal with is the slug and as an experiment George Raines has tried out using nematodes instead of slug bait.  He has used this form of slug control over two years and is very happy with the results. 

The disadvantage with slug bait is that it consists of, in the main, a cereal/yeast base with about 3 to 6% either metaldehyde or methiocarb which wears off quickly leaving a nice meal for the slugs.  The fact is that wildlife and pets are also at risk from slug bait and it has been said that only a fraction of the bait sold gets eaten by a slug and even then may not always cause it to die.  The poison works by drying out the slugs and then sun the next day finishes them off, so wet days are their friend!

If you insist on slug bait, then metaldehyde is the preferred ingredient as methiocarb, being ten times more poisonous to mammals, will kill off predatory beetles giving the slugs more of an advantage.  Not too handy for us humans either.

Species to encourage that will eat slugs range from common centipedes to slow worms, from ground beetles to devil's coach back horses.   Also frogs and toads; birds ranging from crows to ducks; so a good reason to encourage these with suitable habitats.  Of course the most successful is the hedgehog but they will only appear if we all stop using slug bait.

Fencing on Plots

Some of us like it and some of us don't but the problem is that if galvanised roofing is used it will eventually get rusty and is always a hazard with sharp edges waiting to catch clothing or flesh. 

What we would like to see, if a plotholder prefers some kind of fencing, is the use of wood.  Pallets are usually obtainable and joined together make a neat and safe border that also breaks up the wind.  Planting of some low hedging would also be a safer and effective barrier to winds, or positioning of the compost bins on the windy side of the plot if at all possible.

Recycling:
By way of a six-month experiment, we will be building a bin on the car park by the fence at Clark's Field Site.  This will be for recycling pots and seed boxes ONLY.  If you have any other items, which you think someone will find useful, please have a word with Clive or a member of the Committee if you cannot find a home for it yourself.

Should the recycling bins prove successful there is no reason why they cannot be copied on other sites.  We would ask that you keep the bins tidy by carefully adding items or when searching for a particular size you want.