It’s been a busy year on our community allotment and we have lots of updates on our activities:

 

  • We have kept our new volunteer handyman Nick very busy this year. We have had several new gardening volunteers join us along with some older members of the community who are attending our sessions for fresh air, company and the chance to be surrounded by nature and because of the increased number we have needed extra seating, Nick has built 3 new benches and 2 new accessible raised beds all from recycled timber. Nick has also been working with one of our young volunteers, Gemma helping her to learn carpentry, painting, general maintenance and upholstery skills.

 

  • We have been lucky enough to work with the THOMAS Project (a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme) this year. They came and laid a French drain under our water butts to assist our SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) project, weatherproofed our beds, gazebo and benches and created a new level growing area in a previously inaccessible part of the allotment. This has subsequently become our new, permanent strawberry bed.

 

  • Horticulture Training: Later in 2024 we held further Organic Horticulture sessions lead by Sow the City for our new volunteers and local residents, along with another Carbon Neutral Gardening session run by RHS Bridgewater to see how we can further future proof our allotment in the current global warming crisis.

 

  • Water Conservation and Nature Bed Improvements: Our site tries to take a holistic approach to growing, encouraging as much nature to the site as possible, helping the birds, insects, amphibians and mammals that visit can improve the health of the site and also help the mental health of the volunteers. Our recently installed large pond and improved nature bed is attracting new visitors including dragonflies, mayflies, cinnabar moths, caterpillars, solitary bees, grasshoppers, frogs and toads and, with its solar water feature creating a gentle burbling, forms a tranquil corner on what can be a very busy site.

 

  • Community Garden Days: Our weekly sessions continue to go from strength to strength with continued growing of vegetables, fruit, flowers and trees and with more members of the local community volunteering on a regular basis. This year has been particularly challenging weather wise, with several of our crops either failing due to weather conditions or being eaten by pests, we have, however had a really good harvest of potatoes, fennel, peas and beans and grown some experimental crops, such as aubergines and melons to assess how the warming climate is changing the crops we may need to plant and cultivate in the future. We have also started a ‘mini orchard’ planting dwarf (therefore easy to harvest) apple, pear, cherry and plum trees. We continue to work  with other local groups in our area like BCC (Broughton Community Centre) helping them in their journey with their new vegetable garden.

 

Thanks for your continuing support, with this and the hard work of our local community we continue to make a difference in the lives of our residents, improving their physical health, mental wellbeing and access to fresh fruit and vegetables.