Dear fellow gardeners,
Now we are in the season to prune fruit bushes and trees, we have reopened the debris corral for wood waste . Branches and twigs welcome. Please don’t add compostable materials. The corral for plastic and metal remains shut. It costs us approximately £300 every time we get a corral emptied so we do encourage you to take home as much waste as possible and to compost on your own plots. Thanks.
It was great to see your good feedback on the pruning course. We’ll organise another later in the year and do let us know if there are other subjects you’d like to learn more. Composting? Propogation? Send us an email, drop a note into the shop or join the conversation in the Bradley Fold Facebook group.
The shop will be taking its summer break in August and will reopen on Sundays in September , every week at 11am.
Volunteers are always welcome to help in the shop …it’s a great way to get to know fellow gardeners and to pick up tips on the best products for our floodplain soil.
Volunteers are also required for a very specific communal task…… we need to cut down and move a Christmas tree which is in the wrong place ! Meet at 12 noon Sunday August 25 by the shop and bring with you any useful saws, strength, and expertise. We hope to save enough rootball and trunk to replant it on the margins near the turning point.
We have two gazebos that can be borrowed for donations of £20 a time .. if you’re interested please contact @Liz Kolbeck , thanks.
And manure is available at a cost of £3.50 a barrow load .. please put cash into the shop through the letterbox, or pay online to Didsbury Garden Society 01-02-69 25664018. Woodchip is free.
These payments support the day-to-day finances of Didsbury Garden Society, to which we all make an annual payment. From November, this contribution will be £10 per person, which covers our insurance, communal maintenance and paying for tasks for which we can’t muster volunteers. So please help us keep prices down and join our volunteers.. we want everyone at the allotments to play a part in supporting our thriving community.
We’re making great progress on the new Community Action Plot with members eager to take up the offer of their own raised bed sections and a share of communal space and communal fruit trees, bushes and herbs. More work will happen this month to finish it off and complete the turning point. If you want more information on a move please contact @Julie Heydon.
And thanks to everyone who contributed to our very important Produce Day…five boxes of vegetables and three crates of lettuce went off to the Cornerstone day centre in Hulme which supports people who are homeless. Particular thanks to Linda Fildes ljfildes50@gmail.com for organising this. If you’d like to help Linda please get in touch and start planning for the next Produce Day on September 1.
A reminder please to be mindful if you are driving or walking dogs around our gardens. Don’t drive quickly, be understanding when folk are dropping off or collecting heavy items from their plot, follow the one way system ( the only two way track is to and from the Community Access Plot and the turning point) and keep your dogs on leads please. Please also keep roadside verges clear from overgrown branches so that cars don’t get scratched.
To celebrate our 70th anniversary, we’ll be holding an event on Sunday September 29 at 3pm at the BBQ site …please bring your chairs and tables, and your picnic favourites to enjoy a shared spread, with a meat BBQ on the side. It’s another chance to meet fellow gardeners , learn a little about the history of the site and celebrate our community.
Thanks also to everyone who got involved with our community garden at RHS Tatton celebrating 70 years of allotment joy with “Salad Days”, an extraordinary design by fellow gardener Maria Stripling of leafy vegetables spiralling across a recreation of our river floodplain. We got lots of compliments and lots of tips from other community groups. And we brought home lots of plants to share from the RHS , especially lettuce.
Another date for your diary: at Christmas, our event is booked at St Cath’s at 12 noon on December 15. All contributions welcome.
With best regards from the committee at Bradley Fold,
Janine Cottingham ( chair)
07468612684