Blog from your Chairman Gordon, Launton Plotters...

Thursday 14th May 2009

Launton has a working allotment site again!

After lots of hard work from the Parish Council and the Allotment Committee and with the kind help and support of Mr Deely the main site is open and working.

A big thank you to everybody who has helped it happen, it has looked very doubtful at many points in the years since the original site was closed, congratulations we have made it!
It has been brilliant to see so many people and families enjoying the fresh air while working hard on their plots.

To see the changes each time I go up is amazing, I love the different approaches people are taking, from beds and pathways and cloches and cold frames, to my own minimalist approach of just sticking it in and see what happens (not that I don't enjoy digging but…)

As the soil on my plot quite heavy clay and dry on the surface I have started most of the vegi plants of at home, every available flat surface seems to be covered with seed trays and plots with seedlings of various sizes!

Here's hoping we get some rain and the night time temps move up a notch before I need to plant out. The tomatoes and the sweet corn I planted out took a fair thrashing from the cold wind and hale last week so they could do with some tlc.

I have planted some carrots and beetroot seeds direct in to drills filled with a compost and soil mix. I can never resist looking I had a little dig about at the weekend; the seeds have started to sprout! So the trips with the watering can are paying off.

Haven't seen any signs of the dreaded bunnies yet, however the horrible slugs are getting going and have started to munch away at the odd beetroot seedling and sweet corn plant! Might be time to start getting the beer traps going (if I can resist drinking the beer long enough to set the traps!)

As well as getting my plot going I have been busy with the committee sorting out the next steps on the site.

We have a number of projects on the go at the moment:

Now the main field is up and running we are starting on the organic field. We are going to mow put the pathways and mark out the plots in the next few days ready to get them going as soon as possible.

Now the water meter has been fitted, thanks to Derek Turner, we are organising a number of large water storage tanks to dot around the site to cope with the low water pressure and so everybody doesn't have to walk quite as far with watering cans! This will mean digging trenches to lay water pipes so some more toil - anybody got access to a small trenching machine? It will save a lot of blisters!

Talks are ongoing with Cherwell District Council about putting a pedestrian gate by the roundabout - as we want to cross council property there may be a planning issue!

Thanks to the information from one plotter we are talking to Preston Bissett Nurseries about making a Launton Plotters membership card so we can get all plotters a 10% discount. In the mean time have a look at their website. Peter and Jacky run open events with guest speakers throughout the season that could be very useful to us novice growers!

Please bear with the committee in this initial set-up phase - there is so much to sort out and only so much time in evenings and weekends!

To make it easier for feedback on the allotments we have set up an email address:LauntonPlotters@talktalk.net