Page 46 - ALG Issue 2 2022

East Midlands
Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr Paul Howgill
37 Meredith Road, Rowley Fields, Leicester LE3 2EP
07803 828 777 allotmentbaron@aol.com
MENTOR
Adam Murphy
East Midlands (North) 0845 4786 352 amurphy.nas@gmail.com
Calls to 0845 numbers cost 3p (ex VAT) per minute plus your telephone company’s access charge
Additional Mentor in the East Midlands Region
I am from Kettering, Northamptonshire and have tended my allotment there for 28 years.
I was a school biology teacher for 39 years and recently retired from that job to pursue other interests, including my allotment.
I have been secretary of Kettering Allotments Society for many years; we have four sites in the town and over 300 allotments. I have always been interested in soil health and ecology; my university degree was in Crop Science, and I practise no-dig cultivation and give talks to garden clubs on no-dig, soil and my passion for pumpkins.
Russell Atwood
Please feel free to contact Russell if you need advice or support with regenerating or developing your site, forming an allotment association or to share your love of pumpkins.
At 199 Oak Tree Plot
After taking on 199 Oak Tree plot,
the plot the other side of us, which I thought was unused and not taken, was in fact in use by someone. After working ours for a while and getting it a lot tidier, I enquired that if it became free, I’d like to take that on too. Not that ‘Oak Tree’ wasn’t big enough, but I saw things in my head that could be done to it differently to Oak Tree.
Anyway, we carried on making the most of the weather and sorting out ‘Oak Tree’ and then around the 14th January 2022 I got another call from Paul to say that he knew I was interested in plot 200 next to ours, and that the holder had given it up all of a sudden – so, was I still interested...? “Well, of course I am!!!” I said, with the biggest beaming smile on my face. Now, I hadn’t told my dad – or in fact my mum, as she’s involved too
in all this – that I was even interested in another plot! So, I didn’t know how they would take it, or if they thought it would be too much. But... We have made so much progress on our first plot that I thought it would be nice as an add-on to Oak Tree and a bit more space to
try different things. I got off the phone
to Paul and immediately told my wife Caroline I had now got plot 200. She was excited for me and told me I had better let my parents know, laughing as she said it. So, I did just that and got an: “Oh really, I didn’t know you wanted it” and then an upbeat “Oh wow, ok, that will be a few more projects for us” comment.
So, we had Oak Tree and needed a name for our new additional plot... Acorns come from an Oak Tree, so
we thought ‘Acorn’ rather apt. So, we now have 199 Oak Tree and 200 Acorn. Things can only get better, and we look forward to some hopefully great results, but are not expecting miracles. It’s a learning game and I am sure we will get at least some fresh veg through the years to come.
The allotment scene has a lot to be said for it and I don’t think other people realise how much of an asset it is to an area. It’s not your old people in overalls being grumpy and arguing who’s grown the biggest onion or carrots. There are people from all age groups and no one (as far as I’ve met anyway) chat any different to each regardless of age. I’ve
We look forward to some hopefully great results
walked into this stage of my life to relax and enjoy everything it has to offer down here at Rowley Fields Allotments, and plan to carry on doing so.
My plans for the future? Well, to just carry on enjoying it as best I can and help others here to do the same, if possible. I’m no expert and certainly don’t know everything, but what I do know and hope to learn, will make my experience and doing what I love, more enjoyable from now on.
Adrian Kilbourne
46 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
Welcome to our new members...
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1 Individual
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