Category: Seasonal Newsletters

Welcome to the December newsletter! Winter is here, but there is always plenty to be done on our plots: clearing and digging in preparation for the coming season; sowing broad beans and other crops that can be started at this time of year; and harvesting winter produce such as sprouts, kale and parsnips.

Faith, Hope and Charity are the names chosen by Marcel Kruip for the three solar pumping systems he has designed and installed. We are enormously grateful to him and to Peter Thonemann who has most skilfully engraved these names on slate slabs (see photo, with Marcel by Hope). When weather and Covid permit larger gatherings, we shall plan a christening ceremony to express our thanks to all involved in the project.

Wood available – as logs to take home for the fire, to anyone prepared to cut them up. The remains of the ash trees felled from the fence are stacked by the Temple of Mars (the shed near the entrance). This wood is available to plot- holders at a price of £5 per barrow-load. If you are interested please let me know before taking wood.

The remains of the horse chestnut in the far left (west) corner of Spragglesea Mead need more work. There is plenty of useable wood to cut up, but also the other remains of the tree to clear. Anyone willing to help with this task will be given wood free to take away.

Rubbish! Our thanks to those who helped clear bags of rubbish during the summer. There is more left near the entrance, including some items too large to bag up. If anyone has an estate car or other vehicle suitable for taking these to Redbridge we will be extremely grateful: please get in touch and I will help. Otherwise my plan to is to hire a man with a van to remove all the remaining rubbish.

AGM: 17 March 2021 at 7.30? Our constitution requires us to hold an Annual General Meeting in March. As we will have some important matters to decide we intend to have one in 2021, although at the moment it is quite unclear what form it will take. I envisage some combination of a face-to-face meeting for the number of people allowed (and willing to take part) at that time, an online link by Zoom, and email circulation of papers in advance, with the option for postal voting. I would be happy to have advice from anyone with recent experience of organising meetings of this kind.

Potato Fair Cancellation: See the information below from the Oxford and District Federation of Allotment Associations (ODFAA):

Sadly, due to the ongoing circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Pennard Plants have taken the decision that they will not be hosting any Potato Fairs in 2021. However, they are offering a Virtual Online Potato Period, which will be administered through the Pennard Plants online web site https://www.pennardplants.com and are offering a 15% blanket online discount off the price of most items that were available during the past years Potato Days, obviously depending on availability. Discounts will be valid from 1 November 2020 until the 31 March 2021, and carried out online with a discount code [oxford77k] that is entered in the ‘Shopping Cart’ page when ordering. (Postage & Packing and Gift Vouchers, plus a few odd things are not discounted). You can use the code as many times as needed during this period. A decent alternative, which some may know of, is Charlton Garden Centre in Wantage (if you prefer to collect) – their published 2021 list can be found here:
https://www.charltongardencompany.co.uk/default.aspx

Finally I would like to wish the Season’s Greetings to all plot-holders and their families. Have a merry (but safe!) Christmas and a New Year full of hope for easier times and successful cultivation in 2021.

Tony Cox
11 December 2020

Welcome to our latest news. In spite of the strange times we live in, most plot holders have had a successful summer growing season. See below for a suggestion on how to keep your plot productive over the winter!

Website. Thanks to Karen Robinson – who earlier this year set up our Facebook page – we now have a new website: https://spragglesea.org.uk . Karen will welcome contributions such as photos, growing ideas, recipes, etc. The website has contact details for Karen and the other committee members.

Solar water pumping. Solar pumps are now operating at all three sets of water tanks. Our thanks are due to Kathy Bramble, who conceived this project and wrote the grant application to fund it, and to Marcel Kruip who designed and installed the systems. Marcel is not a plot holder himself, but is the husband of Georgina Howse (Dean’s Ham 11c). We are very grateful for the all work he has put in, which will save us having to lug around the heavy petrol pump and to contaminate the site with its noise and its fumes.

Covid-19. As I write, the virus is on the increase. Please continue to wear gloves for handling the gate and any communal equipment, and observe social distancing rules while on the site. For latest government advice, see: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus .

Bonfires. The City Council ban on bonfires has ended. If you are burning material on your own plot, please observe normal guidelines, minimise smoke and avoid days when the wind is blowing in the direction of nearby housing. Anyone planning a bonfire on the communal site (next to the picnic site on Dean’s Ham) is asked to contact our secretary Jane Henderson (jane.henderson@ndph.ox.ac.uk) a couple of days in advance so that plot-holders can be alerted, and have time to bring material for burning. Please do not pile anything on the bonfire site at other times, and make sure that what you bring is suitable, e.g. not green material that will produce a lot of smoke. Some things are better composted and the communal composting areas are still under review. In addition, it may better to stack large pieces of waste wood in an out-of-the-way corner rather than burn them.

Dogs on lead! In spite of the notice on the gate there are still complaints about dogs not on leads, and – most disgustingly – dog poo on paths. There have been suggestions that dogs should be banned from the site, a step that I would be most reluctant to take – so dog owners, please obey the rules about leads, and pick up any mess!

Deadly netting. Our site is home to many small creatures including amphibians and grass snakes (which do not bite and are quite harmless) as well as birds. Sadly, they are prone to getting caught in the netting which many of us use to keep birds off our crops. Please be careful to use appropriate netting close to the ground. For advice, see for example: https://www.countryliving.com/uk/homes-interiors/gardens/a28515005/garden-netting-animal-death/

Tree felling. The Committee has agreed to the removal of some unwanted trees on the site: the ashes in the fence to the left of the main gate, one of which is causing some damage to the fence; and the diseased horse chestnut near plot 9 in Spragglesea Mead (close to the boundary between the two sites). This work is planned for 5 October 2020, when Bowards tree surgeons will be on the site.

In praise of garlic. If you want to keep your plot in cultivation over the winter, here are some suggestions: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=707

My own favourite is garlic. When I was young it was regarded as a nasty foreign substance which made people’s breath smell. I doubt if I ever tasted garlic before my first visit to France aged 18. Since then I can’t get too much of it, and I was pleased to find that it is one of the easiest crops to grow.

Split a garlic head into cloves and plant them 3 – 4 cm (1 – 2 in) deep, 15 – 20 cm (6 – 8 in) apart. October is the best time, so that they start growing before flooding is likely, and because they benefit from some cold weather. Opinions differ on varieties, but I have had good success with organic French or Spanish garlic from a supermarket. Once you have a regular crop growing, just keep some back to plant next year. It needs very little attention apart from occasional weeding. Last year my garlic was flooded five times and was hardly ever watered in the dry weather that followed. Harvest in June, when the tops died back.

Recipe for instant aioli. Mix crushed garlic with Hellmans or other mayonnaise. Delicious with fishcakes!

Tony Cox
28 September 2020