Roehampton Garden Society


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Blooming Marvellous – the Putney Society starts a new campaign…

Putney is a great place to live but it would be even better if we could stem the wave of concrete burying our front gardens. If we all do our bit to turn our gardens green, together we can encourage wildlife, improve air quality, help to prevent flooding (by letting water drain into the earth and not down the drain) and enhance our health and wellbeing…..say the Putney Society

Click to read more – is your street included?

Launching a Garden Award scheme in Central Putney, over two weekends at the beginning of May, they will be offering plants and garden advice to residents of central Putney. Come along to plant stalls at the corner of Burstock Road and Montserrat Road on 7 May and at the corner of Chelverton Road and Charlwood Road on 14 May (10am to 2pm) to see find plants suitable for containers or small front gardens as well as growing advice.


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Dahlias in store now

We are selling Dahlia tubers this year on trial basis. These will be available to buy at the Store on Site 2 from April 2 at £2 per tuber. We have 4 colours/types to chose from:

preference
Ambition
Red Runner
Dark Spirit
  • PREFERENCE: pure salmon flowers, height 1 metre.
  • AMBITION: bright purple flowers, height 1 metre.
  • RED RUNNER: scarlet red blooms with a crimson hint, height 80-90cm.
  • DARK SPIRIT: a pompom variety, with round dark burgundy flowers, height 1 metre.

Dahlia tubers can be planted 10cms deep, spaced 45cms apart, in fertile, well drained soil outdoors from April when the soil has warmed up and the risk of frost has passed.

Dahlias can be dug up and stored in a cool place over winter, or kept protected in the soil.

Apply a high potash fertiliser every few weeks in the Summer to promote growth and deadhead regularly.

As this is a trial, we have only bought a limited number of tubers, so do come to the Store soon if you are interested in buying these.

Gill Tamsett – Trading Secretary


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Short Organic Food Growing Course – starting 23rd April

EcoLocal, a Carshalton based charity are running their successful short course to help you to grow your own healthy, organic food without harming the environment.
For further information and to book, visit http://www.ecolocal.org.uk/highlight/organic-food-growing-course/

Comments from past students….

“It’s a great mix of practical and theory so the information goes in twice and ensures you’re more likely to remember!” 
“Very knowledgeable tutor”.
“I had only just got an allotment so the 6 lessons were exactly in line with what I needed.”

The course teaches eco-friendly gardening; no-dig methods, crop rotation, organic pest control, making natural fertilisers and more. It’s suitable for beginner and intermediate growers. teaching is a mixture of theory and practice, allowing students to try out the skills they learn, understanding how to plan, so they can make the most of their veg patch or allotment.

Running over 6 Saturday mornings, beginning 23rd April 2022.

The course is face to face outdoors for the practical skills teaching elements, taught on the Carshalton Community Allotments, just a 5 minute walk from Carshalton station. The theory is taught live via Zoom on alternate weeks. More travel information


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Thinking Ahead – preventing Tomato and Potato blight

Tomato and Potato Blight

Last year many of our outdoor tomatoes were destroyed by tomato blight and some plot holders also had potato blight to contend with. The key with potatoes is not to leave them too long in the ground once they are ready to harvest. 

We can also take precautions to minimise the risk. Don’t plant tomatoes or potatoes near each other, they are both solanums and will compete for the same nutrients and suffer the same diseases. And don’t plant them where potatoes and /or tomatoes were last year, if you can avoid it.”

Tomatoes are easy to grow and it is now time to sow some seeds under glass. We have the following blight resistant varieties in Store:

Cocktail Crush, Crokini, Fandango, Mountain Magic (said to be the best disease resistant tomato) and Black Opal. 

with thanks to Jackie Savage


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Protecting the Bees – our president speaks in parliament

“We may be an urban constituency, but we have beehives in Putney and we know how essential bees are for pollination. I am very concerned about the decision to use bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides. I firmly believe they should be banned.”

Fleur Anderson

With all that’s happening you may not have noticed that the Government has agreed to allow the use of neocotinid pesticides this year – rolling back the EU legislation from 2018 banning these substances. Having just passed the Environment Bill, they then choose to set it aside.

A seed treatment to help sugar beet farmers sounds innocuous – until you understand that these extremely dangerous chemicals pass into every part of the plant -roots, stem, leaves, flowers -and persist in the soil afterwards, harming bees and pollinators for many years to come. They spread rapidly through water run-off contaminating wide areas. The science is devastatingly clear.

Research shows that neocotinoids also harm birds. Just two treated seeds (equivalent) eaten by a songbird makes them lose weight and delays migration, decreasing their chances of survival. (Science 2019)

Our President, Fleur Anderson, spoke in a parliamentary debate about this regrettable decision. See a clip of her speech here.

The Hansard record makes fascinating reading for those interested in this topic. Read the whole debate here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/

The virus disease problems experienced by our sugar beet farmers are real enough. The Government themselves have said that they expect the sugar beet industry to no longer rely on bee-killing neonicotinoids by 2023—next year—through the development of pest-resistant varieties and greater use of integrated pest management. Many farmers are working hard on alternative strategies. Sufficient support for the farmers to use alternative pest management could make this year’s devastation unnecessary.

Please be careful what you use on your plot. Our allotments should be a haven for our pollinators. This is a complex topic, but it has been shown that well diluted ionic surfactants (eco washing up liquid) are mostly harmless. Glyphosate is not. Try not to use it – it’s persistent in the soil. If it’s essential to use a tiny amount make sure the bees can’t get to it. ( Non-insecticide pesticide impacts on bees: A review of methods and reported outcomes/ Agriculture, ecosystems & Environment, 2021)

Read Fleur’s newsletter about this and other local issues here


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Trying out Green Manures

You may have read about using Green Manures to improve your plot. Timing can be difficult, however, and the variety of options confusing.

Green manures, often sown in late summer or autumn, take up nutrients, preventing them being washed away by winter rain. When dug in the following spring, they release these nutrients back into the soil. It’s a nutritional feast for your soil.

Different varieties can be used throughout the year – some good for getting a bad patch back into cultivation, and others good for productively filling a patch after a crop has finished. Sown from seed in any patch you want to improve, they should grow within 6 weeks and have the extra advantage of keeping down the weeds while they do so!

Here’s a mixed crop of winter tares and rye, planted last November, flourishing on Site 3 in January.
Digging up was straightforward – the roots weren’t too long! Cut off the roots before digging in, and leave for 2 weeks before planting…

Here’s some good green manure advice from the RHS – for instance in an area with club root, don’t use mustard green manure. Read more from the RHS..

So – if you can see a time gap between crops or just want to plan ahead to improve your soil, take a look at the selection of different green manures in the Store. There will be one to fit your plans…


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Allotment supplies: Manure, Bark, Compost

Wood chip, manure and compost : supply situation

Wood Chip

Currently we have 3 tree surgeons who supply both sites – Hardy Tree Surgeons, Putney Tree Surgeons and Green Industree Ltd. They know we prefer good quality chip without too much leaf, especially leylandii and eucalyptus. As deliveries are infrequent it would be useful if any RGS member knows of, or is using another tree surgeon who may be able to supply us, to contact RGS with their details. Access to both sites is not easy for chipping wagons and any potential supplier needs to be aware of this.

Manure

Despite all efforts we have been unable to find a local stable who will supply and deliver manure. We have had inferior quality manure delivered from other sources in the past but it was not popular. Again, if any RGS member has a contact with a local stable please could they let RGS know.

Manure can be collected free from Ham House stables TW10 7RS (contact Kate Ferguson 07803 015437 before visiting), Wimbledon Village stables and The Willows, Cobham KT11 2SL (contact Micki 07583 860618). There may be others.

Compost

We have recently had deliveries of free good quality compost from Enable who manage Wandsworth’s Parks. We shall continue with this as long as supplies are available.

With thanks to:

Vivien Fowler


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Rent information 2022

Rent invoices will be coming soon

Mid February you will be getting an email from RGS with your 2022/23 invoice for rent, water, insurance and RGS membership. It will need to be paid by 31st March 2022 by bank transfer into the RGS account – full instructions will be on the invoice. The rent is set by Wandsworth Council and this year will be:

Full rate £26.20 per rod

Concession and Disabled rate £20.90 per rod.

You are eligible for the concession rate if you are 65 years old or more on 1st April 2022. The

Disabled rate is available for those on disability benefit.

The water charge will remain at £5 per rod and insurance at a flat fee of £1. We are considering a small increase in RGS membership.

Please watch out for the invoice attached to an RGS email in a couple of weeks.

Helen Finch, Chair of RGS


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Potato and Onion varieties 2022

Potatoes and Onions will be available from the Main Store from Sunday 16 January.
We will have 5 varieties of potatoes and 2 of onion sets as follows:

Potatoes are sold by the kilo and you can pick and mix.

swift
charlotte
estima
desiree
king edward

FIRST EARLIES for planting late March/early April and Harvesting in June/July:

Swift: produces lots of small, round potatoes with short plants ideal for growing in containers.

SECOND EARLIES for planting early-mid April for harvesting in July/August:

Charlotte: a salad potato with slightly waxy yellow-cream flesh.

Estima: ideal for boiling and mashing if harvested early. If left in the ground it makes a good baking potato. Large oval tubers with a smooth skin and pale yellow flesh

MAIN CROP for planting in mid-late April and lifted in August for immediate use or in September/October for storing:

Desiree: oval red skinned tubers with pale yellow flesh. Heavy croppers that are tolerant of drought and show a good resistance to disease.

King Edward: has good keeping properties and above average disease resistance. Flesh is creamy-white.

ONION SETS: plant in February to April and lift when they mature in August.

Sturon
Red Baron

Red Baron: produces flattish-round bulbs of dark red.

Sturon: produces straw-coloured bulbs.

The onion sets come in 200g bags.


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If you’re thinking of digging your plot….

The RGS Allotments are, in general, set on London Clay. This heavy soil has some challenges for cultivation. Success revolves around good nutrients and, importantly, good drainage.

In general you don’t dig a clay soil in January – the autumn is better, when the soil is relatively dry. If wet in Winter it’s best not to walk on the soil until it dries out a little, usually in mid-Spring.

You may find it easier to use a Digging Fork – not a spade…. Read why here

Getting the best out of a clay soil…. Quick facts from the RHS

Clay soils contain more than 30 percent fine clay particles
Clays swell and shrink as they wet and dry, effectively cultivating themselves
Clay soils take longer to warm up in spring
Wet clay soils are easily damaged when dug or walked on
Drought is much less damaging on clay soils than others soil types

Five steps to improving clay soils:

The links in this list lead to further advice from the RHS.

  • Make raised beds to assist drainage and to reduce trampling of the soil
  • Consider adopting a ‘no-dig’ regime, especially in raised beds, as these suit clay soils well
  • Some, but not all, clay soils respond to extra calcium, which causes the soil particles to clump together. Where the soil is acid, lime can be applied, but elsewhere it is better to add gypsum. Gypsum is the active ingredient of many commercial ‘clay improvers’. Test on a small area in the first instance to ensure it is effective on your type of clay
  • Dig in plenty of bulky organic matter such as manure or, ideally, composted bark, as this can make a noticeable improvement to the working properties of clay
  • Apply organic mulches around trees, shrubs and other permanent plants in Spring as these will reduce summer cracking and help conserve moisture