Footpath improvement work at Scarcroft this Friday

This Friday, 14th July, sections of the main footpath through the site will be gravelled to improve water run-off and reduce muddiness following wet weather.  The car park area of the site will be used for delivery of gravel and machinery for the work, so it will not be possible to park there during this day.  We're sorry for any inconvenience.

The work is being carried out by Jackson, the company carrying out the extensive works on the Tadcaster Road.  They are doing the work without charge as part of their community projects, while they are working in the area.  We're very grateful to the company for their generosity.  Setting up this project on the Scarcroft site has involved Scarcroft Allotments Association, YACIO and City of York Council.  

India's environmental commitment at Scarcroft recognised

 

Congratulations to India Szechy who has been awarded a Blue Peter Badge following the help which she and her plotholder mum Agnes gave during the Site Care Day in February. The badge is a green one which is awarded for caring for the environment and nature.

For those of us who are slightly longer in the tooth than India It seems that there are two things to celebrate. First, that someone of India's age should set such a shining example. Second, that the Blue Peter Badge scheme is still there to recognise and reward the wonderful things that many young people do. Hats off to them all!

It's the AGM on 26th April

The Association's Annual General Meeting this year will be on 26th April at 7.30 p.m. in the Hamilton Panthers Clubhouse at the Little Knavesmire.

Please find the agenda and draft minutes by clicking on the hyperlinks.

The annual summary of accounts will be circulated prior to the meeting.

Also in the downloads are items relating to the Scarcroft Shop replacement:

- Discussion notes from last year's AGM

- Draft minutes of Extaordinary General Meeting on this subject.

We hope to see you there if you can make it!

Site Inspection postponed....and free children's play equipment

Given the recent heavy rain, we've put back the date of our first full inspection until around the middle of April, just after Easter, to give a little more time for you to prepare your plot.

This children's play equipment belonged to a former tenant and is no longer needed by this tenant or by the new tenant of the plot. 
It's on the footpath near the green 'triangle' on the site. 
Please take any item(s) you have a good home for!

Spring has (almost) sprung!

We’re now in the first month of spring, though it looks like being a while before the weather – and the soil – is warm enough for a lot of serious sowing and planting.  If there are no really cold spells in the weather forecasts, we’ll be turning the water supply to the site back on in the second half of the coming week.  

If you have hedges that need trimming and/or any saplings growing in your plot or on its boundary, now is a good time to cut them back, before the bird nesting season gets under way.  Please keep any brash or branches on your plot.  If you can’t take them to the council tip or otherwise dispose of them on your plot (even woody brash will rot down for compost given time…), just cut them up and tuck them into the bottom of your hedge.

If you have garden tools that you use on your plot and you’re concerned about security, there will be police property marking sessions during the season where you can get any tools/wheelbarrows etc. marked for free.  Local sessions will be at Southlands Methodist Church, 97 Bishopthorpe Road, York, YO23 1NX on the following dates: June 1st, Aug 3rd, Oct 5th from 10.30am – 2.00pm.  North Yorkshire Police say:  "We will be there to talk about crime prevention and home security, and will be offering the free DotPeen property marking machine as well as the opportunity to sign up to North Yorkshire Police's community messaging service."

We’ll be doing this year’s first full inspection of plots on the site towards the end of March.  If there are any reasons why you won’t be able to have your plot ready for cultivation by then, other than obvious reasons that we’ll know about such as recently taking over a neglected plot, please let YACIO know      ( contact@yorkallotments.org ) so that they can advise us.

All the best,

Claire and Graham

Free tools at the shop!

 

We have a range of used gardening tools, which we’re happy to offer to members. 

The tools are free, although a donation to the association would be very much appreciated!   

The tools are available to view in the shop during opening times—

Saturdays 1.30 p.m.—3.30 p.m.;  
Sundays 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon.

The shop is bursting at the seams with good stuff for your plot

 

Hi members,

Just a reminder that the Scarcroft shop is now open again.

 All members who placed orders to collect potatoes, please now come in and get them! 

Also - our bulk stocks of potatoes (for those who didn't place orders) are already running low - please get them while you can.

Those of you who have been members for some years may remember that, before the pandemic, we could order a select range of packeted seeds from Mr Fothergills / Johnsons, on your behalf, at a 35% discount. We are now able to offer this service again. 

Please find at these links

• A list of the packeted seeds we can order 

• 
  
• An order form for these
  
  Microsoft word version
  
  PDF version
  
  Please let us have your completed seed order form by 2nd March - via email or through the shop letterbox. No payment necessary until you collect your seeds, thanks.
  
  
• A summary of the other seeds we have generally available in the shop. 
  
  As usual, we offer many of your favourites as standard, whether loose by weight, in 50p envelopes, or packets of the more usual Mr Fothergill's varieties at the same 35% discount.

Regards,

your Association Committee

Scarcroft gets ready for spring

The Association shop re-opens
on 4th February

We’ll be open from then on at the usual times:

Saturday 1.30 to 3.30 p.m.

Sunday 10.00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Seed potatoes have arrived and are on sale at last year’s prices, and potato orders are
ready for collection.

Onions and shallots have also arrived and are on sale, along with our usual selection
of gardening supplies

Come and check out our special offer on a peat-free compost.

...........................................................................................................

Scarcroft  Site Care Day 

Sunday  12th February

2.00—4.00 p.m. 

Come along and help us to tidy up the site for a new season — and join us for tea and biscuits afterwards.   

Meet at the shop at 2 0’clock. 

Photo by Shelley Pauls on Unsplash

Pruning your fruit trees

 

Laura Potts has kindly supplied these notes to help you keep your fruit trees healthy and productive.

Aims of pruning

• To maintain a balance between fruiting and growth
• To maintain an appropriate shape and size to tree
• To keep tree healthy as well as productive

General principles:

• Know what you’re pruning FOR: fruit, shape, growth. Know what you’re pruning TO: a growth or fruit bud, to make a spur, to create space and airiness.
• Use clean, sharp tools (learn how to sharpen blades)
• Cut cleanly on a slant, leave no snags (so cut to an outward facing bud or sideshoot)
• Cut weak growth hard, strong growth more lightly
• Keep the centre of the tree open (so you can throw your hat through!); keep the tree’s shape balanced around its centre of gravity 
• Keep growth low and horizontal
• Know your shoots: growth buds lie flat to the branch, fruit buds are fatter (and furry later in spring)

Pruning process and steps:

• Prune trained trees (fans cordons and espaliers) in summer; prune bush and pyramid shaped trees in winter
• Stand back to look at the whole tree often, as you work methodically around it
• Remove dead, diseased or damaged wood
• Remove crossing branches that might rub each other
• Aim for fruiting branches to be horizontal (so cut out any dramatic verticals – although they may bend when laden) 
• The tree should ideally have about 10 main permanent framework branches, with laterals (side branches) which produce fruit and are eventually replaced
• Cut sideshoots back by about a quarter to a third each year to make them branch to form fruiting laterals
• After about four years, these laterals should be removed in favour of new fruiting lateral shoots (this is renewal pruning)

Laura Potts January 2023 

Reviewing your allotment

Our site secretaries Claire and Graham have just done another full inspection of the site.  They report that

"Many plots are being well maintained, but we think that as many as a quarter of the plots on the site could be much more fully cultivated. We’re not thinking of badly neglected plots that have been taken on by new tenants in the past few months – many of these new tenants are doing a great job of bringing their gardens back to full cultivation.  We’re thinking of full or half plots that are established, but could be much better gardened. 

YACIO wants to raise the standard of cultivation on allotment sites across the city. We have particular concerns, which we shared with you in our recent e-mail, that there are still some allotment holders on the Scarcroft site who could be much more ambitious about the proportion of their plot that is actively cultivated.  YACIO’s expectations of the standard of cultivation that we should regard as satisfactory are set out in the tenancy agreement: The allotment must be well maintained with the majority used for growing crops with weeds and other excessive vegetation kept in check.

We’re writing to you now as this is a good time to take a considered look at your plot. Are the beds large enough to be productive?  Is too much of the plot given over to grass – apart from narrow paths for access and a small area for relaxation or for young children to play, most of the workable area of your garden should be actively cultivated.  Is your plot bigger than you can look after?  

If you want to downsize to a smaller plot if that is possible, or give up your allotment, please contact YACIO.  If you recognise that your plot needs more time and work, but you’re keen to keep it and improve it, now is a good time to make plans and do the groundwork to make them a reality next spring. Our experience shows that it's usually far easier to work the soil on plots before Christmas than into the New Year.

We’ll be doing our first inspection next year a little earlier than usual, towards the end of March.  We shall be asking YACIO at that time to send out letters to the tenants of any plots that are not being gardened to the standards that YACIO is setting."

Lost any keys?

Have any of you lost any keys on the site?  Several sets of keys have been handed in over the past year to Scarcroft Allotments Association.  If you think any of them might be yours, just pop in to the association shop and ask.  The shop is open from 1.30 to 3.30 p.m. on Saturdays and 10.00 a.m. to 12 noon on Sundays."

Autumn on your allotment

We hope you've had a good growing season this year, in spite of some extreme weather at times.  As we go into Autumn and winter, it's a good time to think about some essential jobs on your plot. Hedges should be trimmed and any saplings cut down. 

YACIO and others did a lot of work on the site earlier this year to cut trees, remove saplings and cut back unmanageable hedges.  If your boundary has had trees or saplings or hedging cut back, please make sure you cut down any regrowth, which should be relatively thin and easy to cut and may be soft enough to compost.  If possible, other woody waste should be taken to the recycling centre on James Street. If that's not possible for you, YACIO will be lifting the ban on bonfires from October, but please only burn dry woody waste; think about your neighbours and local residents and bear in mind that reports of smoky fires will be followed up by YACIO.

Autumn is also a good time to plan for next year.  You may want to dig over beds or cover weedy areas ready for clearing in the spring.  The majority of plots have been very well cultivated this year, but there are still some allotment holders who, in our view, should be much more ambitious about the proportion of their plot that is actively cultivated; fifty percent is the bare minimum!  We shall be carrying out another full inspection this autumn, and we're very aware that we now have a waiting list for plots on the site of over four hundred people.

And lastly, we'd like to clear up a possible confusion that we've come across from time to time about the roles of YACIO and of Scarcroft Allotments Association, which we're actively involved in, as well as volunteering as site secretaries for YACIO.  The full title of the association is Scarcroft and District Allotment and Amateur Gardeners' Association - no wonder it ends up being shortened!  But it is an association for local gardeners, regardless of whether or not they have an allotment.  The association does a lot of work to support gardeners, but it doesn't have any formal role in the management or maintenance of Scarcroft Allotments.  If you have any concerns about your plot or about any aspect of the management and maintenance of the site, please contact YACIO.

All the best,

Claire and Graham

Site Secretaries

Allotmment shop news re garlic potatoes etc

Here is the latest news on...

 Garlic - 

Our supplier is expecting their first delivery in w/c 3rd October, then will begin to dispatch. So - we may expect to see it arrive in early-mid October.

 

Potatoes - 

This year, we will be ordering the following varieties in bulk, for general sale in 1kg bags:

First Early - Red Duke of York (20kg)

Second Early - Charlotte (60kg) 

Maincrop - Desiree (20kg) 

Maincrop - Maris Piper (20kg) 

If you would prefer a different variety, then please fill in and return the downloadable order form by 21^st October latest to pre-order your choice of 2kg bags.

You can also use the form to pre-order the 1kg varieties above, if keen to ensure that you get your first choice - or, first come first served, when they arrive in February. 

Microsoft Word version of the form can be dowmloaded here

PDF version of the same form can be downloaded here

It's our hut Jim, but not as we know it

 

Erebus Pictures have been filming locally for a new production, Flotsam, Jetsam and George.  

Last Wednesday, they transformed part of the Association shop into the set for scenes centred on an adventure camp and here are some pictures of the amazing results.Cocoa and ghost stories anyone?

Summer update

Heatwave precautions

We hope you're all keeping well, especially during the heatwave this week.  

If you have a pond on your allotment, please try to keep it topped up during hot, dry weather; if you don't have easy access to rainwater from a butt, tap water left to stand in an open container for a couple of days will become gradually less alkaline and can be used to top up.  If you're planning to make a new pond on your allotment, please contact us first to ask for a permission form to fill in - it's a simple process similar to the one used to get permission for structures such as sheds and greenhouses.

Plot inspection

We've just done our fourth inspection of the season.  While the majority of plots are being well gardened, and a number of previously neglected plots have been transformed by new tenants, we have found some cases of neglect recently. On a well-established plot (rather than a neglected plot you've only recently taken on as a new tenant), YACIO's stipulation in the tenancy agreement - that the allotment must be well maintained with the majority used for growing crops with weeds and other excessive vegetation kept in check - should be seen as a basic requirement; if the majority of the plot (i.e. over half) is not under cultivation, YACIO will issue a warning letter.

On some plots at this time of year, there can be an issue with tall, seeding grasses; please cut these down and compost the cuttings - any vegetation cleared from your plot must be composted or taken away. We have seen several places recently on the site where tenants are dumping material cut from their plots.  This is not acceptable and YACIO has followed up instances of this in the past.

Sadly, there have been a few reported instances of vandalism, anti-social behaviour and the theft of plants or crops.  Please continue to report incidents to the police via 101 or the North Yorkshire Police website.  It's also a very good idea to mark your plot number on the underside of any garden furniture on your plot, so that it can be returned to you if anyone takes it to another part of the site.

The Collective Sharehouse

We'd like to pass on a message from a local charity that some of you have supported in the past:

The Collective Sharehouse would welcome donations of fresh fruit/veg if people have a surplus and would like to contribute to this community food support, in the heart of the Micklegate ward. 

‘Robust’ fruit & veg would be most suitable and it can be dropped in to The Sharehouse whenever it’s open – Tues & Fri 9:15-11am or Weds 5-6pm. 

The Sharehouse is located within Clement’s Hall and accessed via the rear entrance on Cygnet St (at the bottom end of Swan St). 

We continue to share food on 80+ occasions every week with families and residents who are facing financial hardship and we are encouraging cooking and using fresh produce as much as possible. So any and all help/donations will be gratefully received! 

AGM coming up soon!

The Association 2022 AGM will take place on Thursday 16th June at the Hamilton Panthers Clubhouse, Little Knavesmire.

The meeting starts at 7:30pm and memeber of the current committee will be there well before that.

This is your chance to hear about the Association's activities during the last year and to vote (and, perhaps, to stand for!) the committee 

You can view the papers for the meeting here.