Farnham Allotments

We have just received the following kind offer:

I have been organising a ‘Coffee Morning Plus’ at the Hale Village Hall for the past 5 monthsand they have been attended by around 100 local people each time. The idea is to promote village life where people can come and have a chat and treat themselves to a cup of coffee/tea and a cake for just 50p. Read more »

We’ve got family members coming over for dinner on friday night and rather than venture down to the supermarket and buy the veg from there, we thought it might be fun to use what produce we curently have to make a mouth-watering meal!

Here’s what I plan to make:

Potato and Pea Samosas, Onion Tarte, Mutter Paneer, and to finish - Rosy Rhubarb Syllabub Read more »

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since I posted a scrummy recipe on the site, but as many of the Shepherd & Flock allotment holders will know I’ve had a lot on my plate!

It’s always great to see spuds being dug up and I always think of what to do with them - have them freshly boiled with some mint, roast them with some garlic and rosemary… or our favourite is Bombay potatoes, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you… Read more »

Dear Farnham Allotment holders,

The Summer 2008 Allotment Newsletter is now available to download here: Summer 2008 allotment newsletter. 

If you have any or questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards, Kevin

Well our new plot, number 14, does seem to be getting there, finally. That’s the one under the sycamore tree with plenty of shade (and slugs).

We have had our failures - planting brassicas far too small and getting them all munched, for example. But we have lifted the turf off all the beds we are going to do this year. (We are leaving some beds covered for next year).

And our early potatoes are starting to flower, so not long now before we can begin to get some benefit.

Please be aware of you are at the Farnborough Road allotment site alone, that our car was damaged when one of us was alone at the site. A rude word was scratched into the paint (too rude to post here!).

It happened on a weekday between 3 and 5 - so just as the schools finish, and school children do use the lane as a cut through. No-one was seen doing it of course. But very annoying.

The lane is not a right of way - should we ask the council for a “private” or “keep out” sign? Or is that over the top?

I’m constantly told by our Six Bells “best kept plotter” that I’ll eat anything.  I suspect that roast garlic definately calls into the “you’re mad” catgegory.  But it’s one of the things I look forward to each summer; it’s definately not the same with stored garlic. Read more »

Since the plots at Farnborough Road are all fairly new, we have been digging in copious quantities of well rotted horse manure. Thus far we have been driving to a stables in Whitehill and filling a trailer at a time. The manure is free (come and collect as much as you want) and is well rotted, although it’s a bit of an effort to dig it out of the pile! So it keeps me fit but is a bit of drive to collect it. A couple of questions:

(1) Has anyone got a good source of manure which is closer to Farnham?

(2) I’ve heard rumour that some of the other sites (e.g. 6 Bells) get manure delivered to the gate. Is this true? if so then can Farnborough Road get in on the act??!

When planting carrots you should try to protect them from their main pest, the carrot root fly (Psila rosae). These small black flies (8mm in length) lay eggs in the soil near carrots with larvae emerging to feed about a week later.

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April is great, the soil is warming up and spring should be here. Do keep an eye on the weather forecast though, even in the south of England a cold snap and snow are not unknown in April. Keeping horticultural fleece on standby in case of cold weather is a good idea.

Harvest

We’re in the ‘Hungry Gap’ between the last of the winter crops and start of the early crops but there are still a few things available, late sprouting and chards for example plus you may have some early salad crops from the greenhouse border.

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