Baldock Ecofest 2021

On Saturday 30 October BALGA had a stand to talk to attendees of Ecofest about growing your own food. Our stand was on Baldock High Street and it was nice to speak to some of you. A few people came from the waiting list wishing to speak to the committee.

We have a waiting list of over 50 people, but we did talk to the public about the benefits of being a member. There are many benefits to becoming a member of BALGA. For example, you’re able to use Members’ Shop which is open every Sunday until the end of November. You can take advantage of buying seeds from our Kings’ Seeds catalogue at considerably lower prices. You also receive bi-monthly newsletters and allotment magazines. Visit the Shop this Sunday (until the end of November) to find out more.

We would like to say thank you to Christine at Ecofest for allowing us to have a stand. Also, thank you to all of our volunteers who represented BALGA.

April 29, 2021

Sunset at North Road Allotment Site

Have a look at this lovely picture of a sun setting at North Road allotment site. We’ve had such nice weather recently, so it’s a perfect opportunity to work on your plot. Enjoy the sun while you can because we are due some much needed rain.

April 19, 2021

John Gray

It is with great sadness we report the death of John Gray on 13 March, aged 90. Baldock born and bred John was involved in several community activities, not least our association for over 40 years as a plotholder throughout that time at North Road site and serving on the rota at the Members’ Shop. John’s wife Pat, with much support from him, has been greatly involved in Baldock Horticultural Society as a Chair and Show Secretary. Pat remains an Associate Member of BALGA.

John’s funeral was at towns St Mary’s church on 9 April and with only family flowers requested, the family have invited donations in his memory, to be divided between the Alzheimer’s Society and our association, such was his affection for it. A card and flowers on behalf of BALGA have been delivered to Pat in recognition of all that John did for us.

Mick Camp (Chairman)

January 9, 2020December 17, 2020

Kings Seeds’ Orders

The Kings Seeds orders arrived in late December. All individual member orders are collated by some of the committee into one big order which is placed with Kings Seeds under their allotment association seed scheme. When the seed packets arrive they need laying out and checking to make sure the order is correct; no mean feat as the images show!

The seed packets are then sorted so that each individual member’s order is filled. Members can then collect their orders from the chairman.

Being able to take advantage of the Kings Seeds scheme is one of the benefits of being a member of BALGA; the prices of the seeds are considerably less than you would find in a garden centre and are also lower than Kings Seeds regular seed catalogue. Members can easily save the cost of their annual membership through their seed orders alone.

Membership to BALGA is open to all; you don’t have to have an allotment to be a member of the association. We usually place a second bulk order after our AGM each year so any new or existing members who haven’t placed an order yet can still do so. Catalogues will be available for collection at the AGM on 20 January.

January 7, 2020August 16, 2020

Daffodils at North Road 2020

The last few remaining daffodils bulbs left unsold from the members’ shop were planted around the notice board and in the raised beds at our North Road Site in December. Hopefully they will make a lovely display of colour in the spring!

We planted the daffodils about 4 inches deep, or double the size of the bulb, and about 4 inches apart. Daffodils can stand some crowding, but it’s best to keep them at least 3 inches apart. Planting daffodils too shallow will cause floppy stems that will break in the wind and too deep will cause the bulb to not flower or surface.

We will show you the flowering bulbs in Spring and I’m sure they will brighten the allotment site up.

December 12, 2019August 16, 2020

BALGA Christmas Tree 2019

BALGA decorated and exhibited a Christmas Tree at the annual Christmas Tree Festival in St Mary’s Church, Baldock.

Every year local schools and community organisations fill the church with festive trees and Nativity scenes. We called our Christmas tree ‘The Growing Tree’. It was decorated with fruit and vegetables, some of which had been grown on our allotments in Baldock.

The church committee wrote a card that said “our Christmas tree was inspirational and it was admired by many.” We left some leaflets out for the public to take and were pleased a fair number was taken.

Thank you to the members that donated vegetables and fruit for us to use and to St Mary’s Church for allowing us to exhibit our tree.

September 24, 2019March 31, 2020

Autumn Onion Sets

Summer may be winding down and we may be enjoying bountiful harvests, but now is the time to start thinking of the next growing season and this means the planting of autumn onion and shallot sets and garlic.

The members’ shop took delivery of the autumn sets a couple of weeks ago and this year we have available:

Onion sets (60p per 200g) :

Radar
Shakespeare
Tornado

Shallots (80p per 250g) :

Golden Gourmet
Red Sun

Garlic (70p per head)

Thermidrome White
Carousel Pink

You can also sow broad beans in the autumn and Broad Bean Aquadulce is the ideal variety for growing over the winter months. There are packs of 200g for £1 available in the shop.

This year we are also trialing the sale of assorted narcissus and tulip bulbs. The narcissus are available for 90p per 500g and there are five varieties of tulip available; the price for these being £2 for 10 bulbs.

The members’ shop is open every Sunday until the end of November.

July 1, 2019February 22, 2020

Plant Christmas Potatoes

If you fancy serving new potatoes up with your Christmas dinner, now is a good time to plant seed potatoes, and even more so as our remaining seed potato stock is now half price at only 50p per kilo!

There is no need to chit the seed potatoes because they will grow rapidly in the warm soil. They will be ready from September/October but you can leave them in the ground until Christmas Day. Make sure you earth up in October after the first frosts to protect them from any further hard frosts. I tried it last year with great success and I know Mick (Chairman) does it each year. It’s a great way to enjoy fresh potatoes on Christmas day!

Why not try a blight resistant variety such as Setanta. It is blight resistant, high yielding, has good drought tolerance and is ideal for roasting and mashing. The table below shows our available varieties.

Seed potatoes are currently half price at £0.50 per kg. You may have pulled up onions and garlic and this a great way to fill the empty space.

June 28, 2019June 28, 2019

Blightwatch

Did you know you can register with a website called Blightwatch and it will send you alerts when weather conditions increase the chance of blight on your crops? You can choose up to ten postcode areas to cover the surrounding areas and registration is free.

BALGA received an email alert this morning advising that a Hutton Period Alert was affecting a nearby postcode. Visit the Blightwatch website for more information.

May 25, 2019April 1, 2020

Half Price Seed Potatoes and Onions

Seed potatoes now 50p per kilo!

After a successful start to the trading year, we only have a limited amount of seed potatoes left in stock now with many varieties having already sold out. In order to clear the remaining stock we have halved the price of the seed potatoes in the members’ shop down to 50p per Kg.

There’s still time (just) to get your seed potatoes, onions and shallots planted out so why not come to the members’ shop this Sunday (10am-12pm) to take advantage of the half price seed potatoes?
We’ve also reduced the price of the remaining onion sets by 50%, down to 20p per 200g.

If you’ve just taken on an allotment, now is a good time to prepare an area and plant some seed potatoes. It’s a good way to break up the soil AND enjoy a harvest this summer.

The members’ shop is open every Sunday 10am-12pm. Click here [Link removed] to see a full list of potatoes as well as more information about each variety.