Richmond Street Allotments Open Day 2022

Richmond Street Allotments Open Day on 30th April 2022. On the hill above Stoke town.

Allotment Blog

Another Richmond Street Allotment Blog, for Plot 33. With super pictures.

There's a picture above, but sadly Google doesn't want to show it. The crazy-long picture code for Google now looks like this, and results in nothing visible to me:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_PdptO1fkaU7OrXWEjQaJ70cZHDc63Xhv4mFK8BGuiEROhaEF6SLyGb0QP14a_6D-R37So5DLXYqZZWRHiHbbuSJU82F96zgMAxAW6xVXEG7Q82Frrzs-LpQr3doeqvCNXR_La1B46xuUEd4fqlZcKR4fQASAKp4Q4cfbBt2rEz-pSCCKJEewQrVKuw=s320

But you may have better luck.

Derek Bolton

Sad to hear that Derek Bolton of the Richmond Street Allotments has passed away. The Sentinel has a profile and details today, telling of how he helped save the city's Berryhill Fields heathland for nature, and also created the nature gardens around the New Vic Theatre.

Picture: Derek Bolton on his allotment at the Richmond Street Allotments.

Richmond Street Allotments Open Day - 22nd August 2015

Richmond Street Allotments Produce Show and Open Day, 22nd August 2015.

1.30pm - Gates open to visitors
3.00pm - Produce Sale
3.30pm - Prize Draw and Awards Presentation

Beehive under threat

Sad to hear that The Beehive pub, on the Honeywall near my old allotment, is under threat.

Charles Tomlinson reads "The Allotment"

I found an audio-recording of Charles Tomlinson reading the full version of his poem about allotments and his father. His father and he lived on Hartshill, and so the poem's setting may have been my old allotment on the hillside above Stoke town. The rest of his Stoke Poems can be heard here (scroll down to get to the Stoke section).

Picture doesn't show Stoke, and probably somewhere in northern England. But it certainly has a similar feel.

And that was that...

Springtime is about to spring and, sad to report, I won't be tromping around on the allotment readying it for the new growing year. Due to a sore hip (which I hope is temporary), I felt obliged to hand in my notice on the plot about a month ago.

I do have to say that I won't miss the bill for the annual rent, nor the cost of the manure/fertiliser, the seed potatoes, the other seeds and plants, etc. All of which I reckon added up to more than the value of the crops I took off the plot, over the 15 months that I worked it.

But overall it was a good and useful experience. There are some grand fellows on the site who I was glad to make the acquaintance of, especially Gareth. If I ever take another plot or garden, as I may in some distant future years, then I'll be a lot more prepared and informed.

I may continue to post here on this blog, from time to time, about wildlife / allotment / footpath / litter / environment matters in Stoke.

Clear it off

Weather: cold southerly breeze. Bright sunshine and high cloud. 7 degrees.

Up to the allotment after about six weeks away, due to the endless rain, time-constraints, and a sore hip. I found that Gareth has very kindly supplied me with a nice new wooden chair, which I've put in the shed to keep the rain off it.

A few golden leaves, still clinging to the apple tree.

I collected all the enormo-marrows, which had been lying in the open soil until now...

The marrows have very hard skins, and I'm interested to see what happens if they air dry gradually over time.

I cleared off the remains of the courgette plants, and then hoed all the weeds off my open sections...

There's a few potatoes under there somewhere, but they can wait until Christmas to be lifted.

Lots of little mushrooms were coming up from the dampest parts of the woodchip path...

All the rhubarb has vanished completely, from above ground.

Weather turning increasingly cold, and we're heading for the first proper frost. But the English rose — like the old nation herself — is still valiantly straining to produce buds despite the climate...

Autumn is a'coming in

Weather: mild, overcast, a stiff westerly wind.

Up to the plot, after a while away. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The tall grass at the top hasn't got taller. Sheltered plants seem to be still growing, and I had to hand-weed out the buttercups from the strawberry bed (which is in a shallow brick bed).

All the apples are now off the tree.

I did a basic hoe and clear, getting rid of most of the weeds.

Took up all the remaining onions.

Picked a few new courgettes. Most are dying back, but some are still producing flowers and courgettes...

Came away with courgettes, potatoes, spinach, onions. There are still potatoes left to lift, but they can stay in the soil for now.

I found a newly refurbished 'vole hole' in a little mound in the long grass at the top... I shall have to make a close inspection of the exterior debris and see I can find some species-identifying spoor.

A light first-frost is possible in the grass on Thursday night, according to the five-day forecast, when a rather stiff north wind will be a'blowing.

View to a plot

An alternative view of the Richmond St. allotments. Picture made today, from high up in the old Spode factory in Stoke town...

Bonfire day

Weather: overcast and warm, hazy, with a very light south breeze.

Perfect day for a bonfire yesterday, with just a light south breeze to blow the smoke away from the road. It was slightly damp and dewy, but the carpet "rain hat" had kept the centre dry. It took me about half an hour to get it lighted, but with the aid of pages from The Sentinel it eventually took...

Then it went roaring away, and frazzled to ashes everything put in it — even the green stuff.

Allota-chop

Weather: glorious day, bright sunshine and light high clouds, light wind. Not too hot.

A long three-hour stint on the allotment today, in the light of the glorious Sunday weather. Possibly too long and exhausting, to also take advantage of the nice weather forecast for tomorrow — but I'll see.

I took a woodsaw and secateurs and tackled one of the big jobs. I cleared all the fading honeysuckle off the roof of the shed, tidied up the currant at the front, and sawed back some of the dead tree that the honeysuckle had been climbing. Although I kept enough of the tree so that honeysuckle can reach the shed roof again next spring. So I now have a nice clear shed roof, reading for some felt and nails at some point before the autumn storms...

It's also left me with big amounts of woody material, which has made for a nice-looking bonfire...

I also hauled out a thick heavy 5ft dead branch, which I've stashed under the back hedge as a "beetle bank", rather than burn it. I already have a little beetle bank, in the form of a little pile of the more rotten of the stepping-planks.

I cleared off the broad beans as well, and dug out some more potatoes. I hauled up one that was fused together: if H.P. Lovecraft had grown potatoes, this is what they might have looked like... :)

I plucked four cooking apples from the community orchard. Cooked apples are not generally my thing, but a bit of a taste is nice once in a while. I also pulled some rhubarb to liven up the apple a bit.

Mild autumn

Weather: mild and calm after plenty of showers, some heavy and prolonged.

Up to the plot to haul away another bag-full. This time I could only take as much as a natty back-pack could carry — as afterwards I was going to the launch of the new Gallery 116 photography gallery in Stoke town.

Courgettes still doing nicely, with flowers still bravely coming... although the leaves are starting to brown and skeletonise...

The plot needs a couple of days work on it soon, to clear it off, and to have a bonfire while this quiet patch of weather lasts. But I might take the overgrowth off the shed before I get a bonfire going.

Acorns and oak-galls (amazing micro wildlife havens, apparently) are forming nicely on the tiny oak...

Still a few larger apples on the tree... most have fallen...

Onions still fattening nicely... I should have put more in, despite the onion-fly threat... although this one is on its way out and was plucked...

Perpetual spinach still happy being perpetual... needs to be harvested more often...

Strange forest toadstools emerging from the woodchip on the paths...

Open Day photos

Up to the annual site Open Day, for a few hours:

People arriving at the top gate entrance...

The bee area with hives and display...

The first of the new plots next to the beehives is let, and is starting to be cleared...

The little wellies of the school plot...

Part of the feast behind the HQ. Burgers from local Hartshill butcher, and buns from the local London Rd Bakehouse...

The HQ was locked and I couldn't get in to photograph before I went, but I managed to get a few decent photos of the Prize Veg and Flowers displays through the windows...

Allotments Open Day: Sat 31st August 2013

The new general site HQ has been erected, and is looking very nice, ready for the Open Day this Saturday...

Here are the times for the Open Day on Saturday 31st August...

Harvest haul

Weather: a cool start to the day, but sunny. Light SW wind. Entering a period of dry weather, that looks like the start of an 'Indian Summer'?

Up to the plot to haul away another "big bag of o' swag" and to tidy up a bit ready for the coming Open Day.

I hoed the plot, sprayed more weedkiller on the path, and hacked back one of the courgettes to prevent them overgrowing the rhubarb I'm trying to establish in a corner. Only a couple of new smaller courgettes have emerged, so obviously the plants are happy to put their energy into growing mega-marrows. Still a few flowers on the best of the courgettes...

Still, I bagged three nice big chunky courgettes/mini-marrows, which should be good for about five curries.

About 7lbs of potatoes were lifted from three plants, and there are still plenty more to go.

I cut a big bundle of perpetual spinach, three of the red onions, and a small cut of chives, to perk up a curry.

A lot of apples too, which are now much more edible than there were last time. I scrumped two while I was there.

Half the remaining broad bean pods had turned black, but I still got a decent bagful. Delicious as they are fresh, the broad beans haven't really been successful for me. In that I've probably not had much more from two fairly short rows than I could have got in a £1.50 bag of frozen broad beans from Sainsbury's, so I have actually lost money on them.

And I found out that my neighbour has finally been evicted, after doing very little to her plot for two years. It's a big jungle of weeds at present, and the large wooden greenhouse needs some serious repairs to roof and windows. But I'll hopefully be getting a new neighbour in September-ish, who'll clear it off and start doing something with it.

It's in the bag...

Weather: overcast, very muggy and threatening to rain.

Up to the plot to grab a nice "big bag o' stuff" before Thursday's all-day-rain: apples; rhubarb; chives; potatoes; spinach; the more mature of the broad-bean pods; courgettes.

I found that the sample onion I took home was fine, nice and firm and no onion-fly holes and no horrid grub in the centre...

Despite the lack of proper top growth due to the onion-fly, the actual onions themselves are now bulking up fine. It looks like the garlic also went a bit topsy-turvy, presumably also due to the pesky onion-fly, but I'm hoping the bulbs will be delish like the onions.

Lots of small apples fallen off the tree. I suspect someone's been giving it a shake. Some are a bit wormy, but they should taste good — if a little tart. The apples still on the tree look like they're bulking up nicely...

My main block of potatoes is still continuing its "total die-back", but the potatoes I'm lifting as I follow along after it are fine and large. My potatoes elsewhere are doing OK. Courgettes are still doing well, although not putting forth flowers in quite such a triumphant manner as before. My flower-cull has meant that they've basically had a useful lull in putting out new courgettes.

Still no signs of any flowers on my useless strawberries. I gave them four doses of Gareth's Gro-More Crystals, in a watering-can, to see if that will encourage some late fruiting.

The new lavender is establishing itself nicely now, against the south-facing wall...

Rose bush is managing fine, despite being in a narrow walled bed and not being sprayed against black-spot. It'll need a proper pruning back this winter...

You can also see Gareth's fab new flag in the above picture.

Acorns are starting on the little oak tree...

The Resolva weed-killer has worked nicely and, as I chose my day carefully, the spray hasn't affected anything other than the patch I sprayed.

Home on the bicycle just before the rain descended in sheets... nice.

In which I resolve never to buy Resolva again...

Weather: 66 degrees, warm and a bit overcast, almost no breeze.

Up to the plot to keep the weeds down with the hoe, and to give the top grasslands another weedkiller-ing. Perfect weather for it, as there was only the tiniest breeze once the sun went down. I got a big Resolva weedkiller for a fiver, heavily discounted at Sainsbury's, but just could not the damn system working in terms of producing any kind of spray. I put it all together correctly, and then worked at it for 30 minutes or so, trying everything. The tube wasn't blocked. I still had the receipt, so in the end was set to take it back and get my money back — when I remembered I still had the 1-litre Roundup sprayer bottle that I got from Tesco in the spring. So I carefully decanted the Resolva until it filled the Roundup bottle, and hey-presto was finally able to spray. I'm not buying Resolva again, at least not in that type of useless sprayer. I'll post pictures of the results in a month or so, to compare the effects of Resolva with the previous Roundup picture.

I took home another good haul of courgettes. About half a dozen of them are getting very large and turning into mini-marrows, so I've had to leave those. Even one of them weighs a ton. They might have be given away free at the gate on the coming Open Day... :) Bring your own fork-lift truck, to get them home...

A nice bag-full of potatoes was also dug up. Four of the potatoes plants have gone now. Half the main block of potatoes are definitely dying right back to nothing, but they're fine under the ground and are a nice size. The die-back doesn't seem to be affecting the potato plants that I popped into spare bits of ground elsewhere on the plot, to fill space. Nor does it seem to be spreading to the next door neightbour's potatoes. I did find a leatherback grub in the soil, so I wonder if some larvae have been chomping on the roots?

I took my first red onion home too. Despite the onion fly hitting them in the early summer they're looking ok on the outside and most are swelling up to normal onion size and hardness.

Still absolutely nothing happening with the strawberries, no flowers at all. Otherwise they look full of health, and are throwing out healthy runners. But they just don't want to make strawberries... :(

The new bee lavender is finally looking like it's establishing nicely.

Generally a feeling of the year turning, today. The faintest hints of Autumn around the corner... apples on the tree about a week away from tangy edibility...

In which I escape the Killer Apples From Above ...

Weather: Very hot sunny day, after plenty of rain. 82 degrees. Light south breeze.

I spent an afternoon chilling on the allotment in the shade, courtesy of a Sainsbury's cheapo choc-ice multipack and a Sentinel newspaper to insulate them in the shade a bit. And a pint-glass of water from the allotment tap. Nice to get an allotment with a strong bit of shade, I must say. But it is shade-by-apple-tree, so there's a literally growing chance of an apple falling on one's head...

Which can be a bit dangerous, once they get beyond about the size they are now. I'm just going to be sensible and start moving the seat further out, so there's no branch directly above me.

My courgettes are huge now and loving the heat and constant moisture. I had to cut about twelve flowers off them, or else I'd have had a glut I couldn't have coped with just by eating them. Big curries take a couple of the big ones quite nicely, chopped roughly. Smaller ones can be chopped up very finely, fried down, then added to a Campbells Condensed Mushroom soup along with a bit of shredded chicken and black pepper.

My strawberries don't seem to like being netted and have stopped making flowers, and thus stopped making strawberries. So I've taken the nets off completely for now, in the hope that the air and sun will make the flowers return. Possibly they need feeding with some more fertiliser.

Some of my potato plants are also struggling. Most are coping, but about three have died back with yellow leaves. I was going to start lifting some young potatoes anyway, so it's not a great loss — as long as the wilt doesn't take my whole crop.

Got some nice oak galls forming on my tiny oak tree. Since hearing this week's BBC Radio 4 wildlife programme I now know that an oak gall can be a home to many different types of useful micro-wildlife. The hairy multicoloured galls are apparently the best, though.

And here's a peek through the hedge at one of the nice sheds at the back of me. A great advert for having a "secret allotment hideaway", if ever I saw one!

Had a visit from a young black cat too, although she didn't stop.

Open Day 31st August 2013

The new site newsletter has arrived. The new site H.Q. is being erected 19th August, and the annual open day / produce show has been set for Saturday 31st August 2013. Competing produce needs to be registered for the show before 11am, when gates open to the public. There's also a... "Richard Shaw Cup - Photo / painting / craft on the theme of our allotments" and a "Stan Chell Cup for a Children’s picture".