Growing in Capel St. Mary
Share this article:
E-mail capel.allotments@btinternet.com
TO RENT A PLOT FOR THE 2019 SEASON
Please contact Dennis on site.manager@capelallotments.co.uk. NOW
VEG PLOT :- Pick frost tender crops, clear ground & get started on your winter digging incorporating well rotted manure, composted garden waste or mushroom compost. Plant spring cabbage & Japanese onion sets, also lettuce in ground enriched with Bonemeal (5kg £4). Sow lettuce under cloches.
FRUIT :- Apply grease bands (1.75m, £4.20) or fruit tree grease @ £4.20 at 200g tub, now. Cut back to the ground fruited raspberry, blackberry & tayberry canes & tie in new shoots. Take cuttings of red, white & black currents & gooseberries. Order trees & bushes.
GREENHOUSE :- Pick last of tomato, cucumber, pepper & aubergines. Empty greenhouse & wash down with Jeyes (300 ml £4.95) . Line with 1.5m wide bubble plastic (£2 a mtr.) Bring in all frost tender plants. Try sowing spring onions, raddish, carrots, mange tout and lettuce in large pots, transplant lettuce to gro-bags, bags of compost or large pots or under clouches when big enough.
FLOWERS :- Plant spring flowering bulbs in pots (multi-purpose compost £5, Peat Free £5 or john Innes £4) or outside as soon as space is available. Remove summer bedding and put in compost bin. Plant wallflowers, sweet williams, pansy’s, viola & heather's by the 20th while the ground is still warm. Sow sweet peas. Mulch borders with wood chips & mulching material which is available FREE of charge to our members from the allotments site or chipped bark at £5 for an 80ltr bag. Divide perennials.
LAWNS:- Re-seed worn areas (grass seed £3.80 per kg.) spray with an Iron Sulphate solution of 30g per litre of water per 5sqm of lawn to treat moss. Aerate & scarify with a wire rake. Apply a dressing of builders sharp sand at £2, an autumn feed, 5Kg treats 70sq mtrs ( £5.50 ). Mow with blades set at medium height.
All horticultural items are available to our members from a range of quality products provided to meet basic gardening needs.
RENT A PLOT - Half plots are available NOW at £16 per annum plus membership. So if you fancy a go at ‘Growing Your Own’ please contact Dennis on site.manager@capelallotments.co.uk.
AUTUMN WORK-IN - The final work-in of the year starts at 9am on Sunday 14th October. Refreshments provided. Hedge trimming, grass cutting, post replacing, soil shifting, pond clearing, painting & any other task we can find. We will give you a discount on your plot rental & the afternoon off !!!
MEMBERSHIP - Membership is just £5 per annum. If your would like to join the Association please log on to our web site at www.capelallotments.co.uk where you will find an application form. If not already done we will be collecting subscriptions and plot rentals over the next few weeks.
THE HUT-winter closing - We remain open 10-12 noon on Saturdays throughout October for our members and then you will need to phone Graham for all your gardening requirements - Fleece at 30p a meter, Bubble plastic (£2), in fact our full range of garden products and tools and other sundry items such as :- 25 kg of Water softener salt for £8.50, Block Salt £5, 3 kg Wild Bird Seed £1.50 & 2 kg Pea Nuts £3.50
SAVE ££££££££’s - AUTUMN SEED SCHEME - IMPORTANT INFORMATION ;- Due to the weather conditions this summer we now hear that seed potatoes are likely to be in short supply and those that are available may be diverted to the eating potatoe market as the wholesale price for these has gone through the roof. Please order as soon as possible and we will do our best to secure your requests.
If you regularly buy vegetable and flower seeds from us you will know that this scheme can bring you huge savings on normal retail prices which can save you several ££££’s.Your seed potato orders need to be with us by the 15th October PAPER seed orders by 5th november to phil or online as Soon as you are ready after contacting phil for your personal access discount code.
ROTOVATOR AND CULTIVATOR HIRE - A rotovator and a cultivator are available for hire for on site use only. The fee is £10 for the first 2 hours. To hire this equipment please give Dennis as much notice as possible or for any matters relating to the site please contact Dennis.
Several people asked if we would be cancelling our Show due to weather conditions we have had this year. Whilst potato and tomato blight has been kept at bay, other pests have thrived like blackfly, aphids, ants and the vibrant lily beetle to name but a few. What makes most us all here love gardening is the fact that each year gives us different trials to face and one year is never the same as the next. Like-wise all those practical hobbies and interests other than gardening that we have on display gives us encouragement to pursue new ideas next time.
This year’s Show therefore, many of us felt, would not be as good as previous years and the surprise came as the Show entries filtered through. We received 635 entries from 89 entrants.
Compared to last year our Vegetable sections were 36 entries down on 2017. There were no new record breakers in the mammoth classes, which is not a surprise. The Capel Residents classes and the Novelty classes were down 23 collectively. The Longest Runner Bean was also victim to this year’s climate. The fruit classes were again very good and on par with last year. There have been some fabulous artwork and Handicrafts entered this year and I think the judges have found it quite difficult as the exhibits were so good; the Handicraft was up by 6 entries. The children’s classes have continued to show a steady increase particularly the under 10 age group and class 119, the scarecrow print-out from the website to be coloured in, had 14 entries. It is lovely to see the imagination and artistic skills of our younger generation and so pleasing to watch them seek out the results of their endeavour’s. It was great to see the Photography entries back up again, we were 47 up on last year. This has always been traditionally very popular and some of the photographs this year could have been entered into the BBC Countryfile competition for the 2019 calendar!
It has been fantastic that we received 77 electronic entries, from our website, that’s (80%) with only 12 ‘paper’ entries. This is a huge improvement from last year and saves you all time in the long run as you can enter from the comfort of your home and it also allows us to collate the data more efficiently and accurately. One of the down sides to electronic entries is that I miss seeing you all knock on my door and exchange the social banter that has historically been tradition.
I would like to thank you all again for entering the Show and continuing to demonstrate such high standards of entries. Thanks to all our sponsors & thanks too to all the committee and helpers. I look forward to seeing you all next year.
