Tag: allotment

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BALGA Quiz Night 2024

BALGA invites you to our Annual Quiz Night on Friday, November 22nd, 2024, at the Baldock Community Centre. Doors open at 7:00 pm, with the quiz starting at 7:30 pm. This year’s quiz will be hosted by our new Publicity Officer, Sarah Bassett, along with Chris Bassett.

Everyone is welcome to join—teams of up to 6 people can compete for just £5 per person. Invite friends, family, or neighbours for a relaxed evening open to all, whether you’re a BALGA member or not. If you don’t have a full team, we can arrange groups on the night.

What to Expect:

  • Quiz Competition – Fun, engaging questions for everyone
  • Raffle – A chance to win great prizes
  • Bar – Drinks available for purchase at the Community Centre bar

Tickets are available at the Baldock Community Centre or the Allotment Shop on Football Close, open Sundays from 10 am to 12 noon. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Best Kept Allotment Competition

Two independent judges scored the 20 shortlisted plots for Best Plot Overall and the 6 shortlisted plots for Best Newcomer 2024. The judges had a difficult task this year as it was a closely fought contest.

Adam H. (CR47B) scored the most points at Clothall Road and is the Best Plot at Clothall Road. Dave K. (NR49B/50B) scored the most points at North Road
and is the Best Plot at North Road. Congratulations to Adam H., who scored the most points overall and will be awarded the Basil Bryant Cup. Winners will receive a £25 voucher to use at the Members’ Shop. Presentations will be made at the 2025 AGM.

Adam H (pictured early summer)
Best Plot at North Road (please note we took the picture in late August)

Here are the results for the newcomers: Kemjira S. (CR14A) scored the most points at Clothall Road and is the Best Newcomer at Clothall Road. Colin M.
(NR60A) scored the most points at North Road and is the Best Newcomer at North Road. Kemjira will be awarded the Frank Conway Cup and Colin will be
awarded the John Gray Cup at the 2025 AGM. In addition, the Best Newcomers will receive a £10 gift.

Best Newcomer at Clothall Road (Please note photo was taken in late August)
Best Newcomer at North Road (Please note photo was taken in late August)

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! Pictures of the winning plots can be found in this article. Hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for next year!

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National Allotments Week

Celebrate National Allotments Week: August 12th – 18th

For over two decades, National Allotments Week, initiated by The National Allotment Society, has been a cherished tradition that encourages allotment holders across the UK to open their gates and showcase the beauty and benefits of their sites. This week-long celebration highlights the social, health, and environmental advantages of maintaining allotments.

This year, National Allotments Week will run from Monday, August 12th to Sunday, August 18th, with a special focus on biodiversity. Throughout the week, we will be sharing fantastic content from our expert partners and ambassadors, offering valuable tips on how to encourage pollinators and wildlife on your allotment.

Join BALGA’s Special Event to celebrate the week

As part of the festivities, BALGA (Baldock Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Association) will be hosting a special event on Saturday 17, August. While we are eagerly awaiting confirmation of the event location, we promise it will be an informative and enjoyable day for all attendees. Members can collect their seed catalogue.

Stay tuned for updates on the venue, and in the meantime, prepare to celebrate and learn how to make your allotment a haven for biodiversity.

Why Allotments Matter

Allotments are more than just patches of land for growing vegetables and flowers; they are vibrant community spaces that bring people together. They offer numerous benefits, including:

  • Social: Allotments create a sense of community and belonging, providing a space for people to connect, share knowledge, and support each other.
  • Health: Gardening is a fantastic way to stay active and enjoy the outdoors, which can improve physical and mental health.
  • Environmental: Allotments promote sustainable living by encouraging local food production, reducing food miles, and supporting biodiversity.

We invite everyone to join us in celebrating National Allotments Week and to explore the many ways in which allotments contribute to a healthier and more sustainable world. Keep an eye out for more details on our upcoming event and get ready to immerse yourself in the wonders of allotment gardening.

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North Road Car Park

The 5 spaces of the car park at North Road allotment site next to the flower meadow will be unavailable from Monday 4th November to Friday 22nd December 2023. This is to store gravel for a river restoration project. BALGA may receive some compensation for the inconvenience caused.

IMG_4571.jpg

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Best Kept Competition 2023

The first stage of judging is now complete and the plots at Clothall Road and North Road which have been shortlisted are as follows:

The final round of judging will take place at the end of July.

If you’d like to see more information about the Best Kept Competition, please click her.e.

Good luck everyone!

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Water usage

Watering helps to keep our plants alive but not necessarily to thrive as they would with decent rains. Water use on both sites has obviously increased considerably but I remind you of some steps that can help ‘stem the flow’.

  • Ideally water early morning or late evening
  • Concentrate on crops that really need water – those newly sown or planted and top up when needed.
  • Mulch around plants to help prevent evaporation
  • Dig a hole a spade’s width and depth, fill it with manure or other organic matter, place a little soil on top, and water well before planting out tomatoes, courgettes etc., similarly, a trench for beans etc., leaving a shallow depression around plants to keep the water where it is needed.
  • Overwatering can be counterproductive. Plants can become lazy spreading their roots near the surface where watering supplies them rather down to find moisture to make a stronger root system and plant.
  • When watering is necessary, better to give a soaking once a week rather than a dribble each day.

Affinity Water recently sent an email to inform us that they’re seeing above-average water use. They pleading customers to use less water to reduce the demand to make sure there’s enough water for essential use throughout the summer period. They advised customers to use a watering can to water plants instead of a hose saving 80 litres of water at a time.

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Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023 Reminder

Remember, we have our annual general meeting on Monday 23 January, at 7.30 pm at Baldock Community Centre, Simpsons Drive, which is off the High Street. Please come along if you can to support us and hear more of what is being done by your Committee on your behalf. Please bring your membership card so that it can be validated to show that you have paid, if that has not already been done. If you are unable to attend in person please consider obtaining by email a Proxy Voting Form to cast your votes which must be done at least 3 hours before the start of the meeting.

Councillor Muir will present awards for the Best Kept Allotment Competition. Also, meeting your committee and other members will be a great opportunity. We hope to see you there.

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Dropped Kerb at Clothall Road

In the last newsletter, we reported that Councilor Muir provided a grant to have a dropped kerb and tarmac verge crossing at Clothall Road. We are delighted to inform you that the Herts County Council has completed the work.

As you can see from the photos, the result is neat and will allow deliveries of
heavy goods by agricultural vehicles without damage to the roadside verge.

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Giant Pumpkin

This giant pumpkin was grown by Fred at the North Road allotment site. It weighed a whopping 606 pounds and required a team to move it around Baldock. Although you would need a lot of space, perhaps we can all have a go of growing gigantic vegetables.

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Best Kept Allotment Competition 2021

The final round of judging for this year’s Best Kept Allotment competition took place in early July. Two independent judges scored the 20 shortlisted plots for Best Plot Overall and the shortlisted 12 plots for Best Newcomer 2020 and Best Newcomer 2021. The judges had a difficult task this year as it was a closely fought contest.

CR21
NR12B/13B 

Libby Finny (CR21) scored the most points at Clothall Road and is the Best Plot at Clothall Road. Jim Hennessey (NR12B and NR13B) scored the most points at North Road and is awarded the best plot at North Road. Both Libby and Jim scored equally and therefore joint winners of the Best Plot Overall. They will be awarded the Basil Byrant Cup at the 2022 AGM. Both site winners will each receive a £25 voucher for the Members’ Shop.

Your committee decided to separate the Best Newcomer to make it as fair as possible. Therefore, the winner of Best Newcomer 2020 is David Winn (CR7B) and Best Newcomer 2021 is Adrian Allen (NR61A).

NR61A
NR7B

Congratulations to the winners and all those shortlisted in what has been a challenging growing year.

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