Page 41 - ALG Issue 1 2025

Regional Report
In autumn 2024, the weather was unbelievably mild but, hopefully, by the time you are reading this, some good frosts will have killed off a few bugs and you are planning what to sow and when for a good crop in 2025.
This year, I have tried various types of peat-free compost with varying results, including making my own potting compost. I used homemade compost from the compost bin in the garden and sharp sand mixed with Blood Fish and Bone and Perlite - I had good results. Another tip that I tried was planting basil and rosemary between my tomatoes and brassicas. I was told that slugs and other unwanted bugs don’t like the smell.
It appeared to work quite well. I will not use any chemical pesticides and rely on mulching careful planting and keeping the plot clear of unwanted guests. You cannot force plotholders to follow this system but please try and encourage this as a way forward.
This spring, I look forward to seeing some of our new allotment sites around the region having success and enjoying their newfound hobby and hopefully making new friends. Please let me know of any shows or events that you will be attending during the year so that we can publicise them to the wider community.
Last but not least, I would like
to welcome Carol Andrew from Bedfordshire as a new Deputy Representative covering Herts, Beds and Bucks. Please support her and help our region grow even stronger. I am always happy to discuss problems with plotholders and committee members either by phone or by email. Please keep in touch.
Happy growing and here’s to a successful 2025.
Ray How, Regional Rep Eastern Region
where committee inspections are feared, paths are maintained to between 50 and 60 cm and must be mown weekly, vegetables are grown in neat, weeded rows, and potatoes are earthed up with razor-sharp precision. But that’s not us. Sure, there are some people who are devoted to their plot, and it’s lovely to look on the fruits of their labour. But the great majority of our tenants are like my own family – mid-forties, both working, some primary-age children – and we’re lucky to get a few hours on a Sunday to keep on top of things.
And that’s the thing about our society about which I’m most proud: we’re not perfect, but we try our best. Last year, we hosted the European Allotment Convention on a site visit – they were in Cambridge for several days and needed a typical allotment to take their delegates to. Are we typical?
I have no idea. I was rather apprehensive when the Chair and I opened our gates to 30 or so international allotmenteers, plus the great and the good of NAS – would they think our site was scruffy? Poorly inspected? Would they pull us up on the fact that no plot has its plot number neatly nailed to a post? But no: Mike, Phil and
the visitors understood our approach, and seemed pleasantly surprised by the facilities that we’ve been putting in place over the last decade or so – a composting toilet,
a store with sundries for sale, a tearoom with running water and a gas hob (and a ship’s bell to call other tenants when the kettle’s boiled), free wood chip deliveries, and a community orchard. It all contributes to making our sites a place our tenants want to be, a place where they can interact with each other, and a place where – while it’s not perfect – we can all share in the pleasure and frustration of allotmenting.
I think that the allotmentmen of 100 years ago would probably find the way we do things now somewhat baffling – just as we would not find their approach to be to our tastes. But I think that one thing that unites us and them is the pride we take
in running our society well. I have no idea what the society will look like in 100 years’ time, but I hold a real hope that the ethos behind it will still be friendly, welcoming and tolerant, making a place where tenants, friends and families are able to not be perfect, but to do their best with the time they have.
(And, just maybe, in 100 years’ time, King’s Seeds will have developed a variety of courgette which arrests its growth before marrow stage! I can live in hope...)
Hamish Symington, Secretary
Burnside and Vinery Allotment Society, Cambridge
Allotment and Leisure Gardener | Issue 1 2025 | 41
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