Calling all Sheffield Allotment Tenants - meeting with council to discuss allotment rent increases: Monday 20 May @ 7pm

The Sheffield Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Federation have organised a meeting on Monday 20 May with Councillor Jack Scott & Chris Heeley (Head Of Countryside and the Environment) to discuss the rent rises for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.

Date:    Monday 20 May 2013
Time:  7pm
Venue:  Quaker Meeting House
            10 St James' St  Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 2EW
The SALG would like to submit questions in advance to help the council prepare for the meeting, so it is as informative and covers as much ground as possible.  Questions can be submitted via the following emails:

janet.m@talktalk.net
rabhawkins@hotmail.com

The SALG would like the support of Sheffield Allotment holders at this meeting, so please do attend if you are able to.

For those of you who are unaware, here are the charges:

1st April 2013 - 31st March 2014
Plot Size       Rent       Water    Total
up to 200m²  £30         £20        £50
201 - 300m²  £42.50    £27.50   £70
over 301m²   £65         £35        £100

1st April 2014 - 31st March 2015
Plot Size          Rent     Water    Total
Up to 200m²    £52       £28       £80
201 - 300m²    £72        £40       £112
over 301m²     £112       £48       £160

Source:  Sheffield Council Website

Here is a link to the original rent increase proposals back in 2011

Thanks !
Michelle :)

please don't be frosty !!!

My main tomato plants are now in situ - I've got some baby Roma & Gardeners Delight in the greenhouse, but they are still tiny ... which is a good job as the squashes are still sheltering in the small greenhouse.  It's getting pretty crowded now as I've also planted up my pepper.

From the front is:  Chocolate Cherry, Gardeners Delight, Roma & Golden Sunrise.

The A Team have suffered snail damage !  I caught the dratted thing in the act, helping itself to lunch !!!!!!!!

Fortunately I have some spares - the C team maybe !!

I think this is the first time my beans have germinated at first go :)  These are my French Beans .. the Borlottos are still popping up:

Here's where the magic happens haha

These are my two courgettes that have been outside for a week or so.  One is lovely & green, but one is quite yellow ... I thought it might grow out of it, but now I'm not sure whether it's got a virus.  I'll give it some seaweed feed at the weekend and see if that picks it up.

Here are the peas ... what lovely wonky lines I've sowed !  I think this weekend I'll need to go and find some pea sticks.  I've noticed the pigeons circling already and licking their lips grrr !!

Broadbean's are still standing :)

The apple trees are dripping with blossom and their perfume is beautifully delicate.

Strawberries have started to flower

My potatoes have all made an appearance - I need to get more compost at the weekend so I can top up the bags - these are my King Edwards

Sue from Green Lane Allotments blog asked me whether my Kiwi was self-fertile and if not, whether it was male or female ... well I hadn't even thought about it. Whilst dithering and looking online for help I noticed that it appears to be forming flowering buds

... and then guess what, the plant name & care label are tied around the bottom of the plant.  Good news - it is self fertile, so I might get kiwis this season :) :)

I think these are blue corn flowers, they are just bursting into flower

This is Vic's Hop vine, it is very vigorous and seems a bit stingy when you brush it with your skin

Fergie & Kinder have been out and about checking things out.

Not much progress on my house - so I've started digging over my garden.  My basic plan will be a large circular path, likely in gravel with paving, surrounded by traditional country garden flowers in purple, blue, pink & whites.  Linked to the path will be a small circular lawn (I'm not a great grass lover) with some vegetable beds on either side

I'm going to start moving the plants from the upper garden to the lower garden - I think this is spearmint - the leaves are furry and it smells / tastes lovely

This looks like it should be a kind of vegetable or salad, but it might be a herb, or a flower ... basically I have no idea haha

another flower has appeared in the front garden - not sure what it is

The bluebells are blooming - I've got pink ones, pale blue and dark blue ones

The pond has newts !! so exciting - I saw my first one tonight.  OH is very jealous :)  Unfortunately the cats take it in turns to 'fish'  - they are obsessed with the pond contents ... hopefully they'll desist once Vic and his doggies are back from their hols.

Wow - mini-heatwave in Sheffield !!

I've spent the morning potting up my hanging basket - in theory it should be purple, pink & silver when it flowers ... the theory is always good until the flowers appear haha

Here are my broadies ... looking pretty good - I've finally got around to staking them and have taken off the metal cage that they've been under since October. 

Once again I have the age old dilemma of how to support my peas ... canes & string proved extremely unsuccessful last time I used them, but I don't have any pea sticks as usual ... I've added the lower string as the peas are just popping through the surface, so I can dither for at least another week ... I also need to work out how to keep them safe from the pigeons 

This little beauty is my elephant garlic - I planted 2 cloves and I think it is going to be very impressive at the end of the season

Thank goodness my leeks have finally started to perk up

Now I might regret this, but I've planted out two of my courgettes - they are under cloches during the night .... we have a covered bed, a kind of mini-polytunnel that I'm thinking of moving them to.  Tricky time of year .... the news keeps talking about rural frost, hope it knows the lottie is in a city !!

I have spares just in case !

Two of my tomato plants have more than doubled in size, so I've taken the plunge and planted them in ring culture in the small greenhouse ... I'm edging the beds in strawberries :)

Going to give my pepper another week in it's pot and then pop it into the ring culture in the small greenhouse.  It is loving the sunshine

greenhouse progress

Each day it seems like another line of salad has germinated

salad

this one is incredibly hot, it tastes like radish

more salad !

So out of my 6 cucumbers, 5 remain ... hurrah !  I've planted 3 of them direct into the salad greenhouse.  I'm keeping 2 as spares tho' - after all they are bound to kick the bucket with my past track record.  OH is under strict instructions not to water the neck.  Lets see how long they last :) 

The rhubarb has gone mental - all the plants are throwing up flower stems - I've pulled them off and put them into the compost bin, but suspect it will just throw up more

So many things are bursting into blossom - here is one of the apple trees

and the plum is in full flower too, along with the pear tree

I didn't manage to get a photo of the nectarine in blossom (it was like very delicate cherry blossom), but here is a picture of the fruits which are just setting.  Vic is away, so I'm in charge - hope I don't do anything bad to them  

The kiwi fruit is very vigorous - wonder if I'll get any fruits from it

Well I never knew that rosemary flowered - it has beautiful, delicate blue flowers - delightful

This is lemon balm - its a herb. Not sure what it is used for - it smells like cheap detergent ... mmmmm, yummy !