Harvest time: frenetic, fun – and for everyone!

It’s been a great season for NOGs gardeners. The allotment is transformed from last year: we got grant funding for new gates and a polytunnel thanks to the hard work of Ros and the allotment steering group. The plot looks marvellous with experimental beds, social areas, the all-important protection from the elements (for plants and people!), and easy access from the main site entrance. Lots of NOGs members saw the plot at a great barbecue in August – the weather was kind, the food was delicious and it was wonderful to see so many people there.

For us personally it has also been a very enjoyable, if typically frazzled year’s gardening with only one really major disappointment (bad tomato blight – what has happened to July!!!). And as always, to balance the failures, some luck, happy accidents and successes. The most notable of these was that, as mentioned in an earlier editorial, we found out from a neighbour that methi (fenugreek) will grow here quite happily, so, inspired by Mr Singh, we grew some of our own. It tastes very good - aloo methi from our own garden with delicious pink fir apple potatoes, what a pleasure! Our soft fruit cropped well and we made some tasty jams and jellies with blackcurrants, gooseberries and tayberries. We’ve had a go at piccalilli, and have tried a bean chutney recipe for the glut of runner and french beans. This is great with a baked spud and we pass on the recipe (an internet find) on p. 7. Finally, a great idea from NOGs member Peter Newton, came to fruition this year, the Whitemoor hen collective, and we are fortunate to be a part of it. Seven busy households manage 20 ex-battery hens together, sharing the work and trying as far as is practical to produce our own eggs to organic standards. Frenetic, fun and rewarding – we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now, at our visit to Ryton last month we were shown round the gardens by Bob Sherman, who talked about the plans to redesign some of the demonstration gardens with a more holistic approach in mind, designed to support the great number of people who now want to grow their own food organically. He suggested that since it is now clear to the vast majority of people that organic gardening is possible, the challenge these days is to help people in practical ways to take the next step and grow their own food.

It’s difficult to assess the extent to which organic production and organic foods have mainstream support. I didn’t see the relevant item, but note that Countryfile this week had a piece on declining sales for organics. However, mainstream sources of advice like Gardeners’ World and the RHS are supportive of organic growing, allotment sites have long waiting lists and in some areas new sites are being created. It seems that sales of organic foods notwithstanding, campaigns to encourage people to have a go at growing their own food (like our own Potato Day) are having an impact. Therefore, important campaigns on food production, food security and the need to shake off our reliance on inputs must be backed by practical support and guidance for all the many novices and amateurs out there now trying to grow their own. And this is where NOGs and the NOGs allotment can make a key practical contribution at a local level. We need to capture the frenetic fun, the spirit of the harvest and translate that into practical help and advice so that it can be shared by as many people as possible in our city.

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Brief Encounters of the Whitemoor Kind…

This is a sort of interim celebration: a celebration of what our developing organic garden at Whitemoor is becoming. First of all, of course, it’s not just a demonstration of how to garden organically, but more than that, an experience of what fun it is to work together, and what a learning experience!

Then there is the increasing number of people, many from nearby, who come in to have a look. ‘We’ve seen you from the road and wondered what you’re on at!’ One couple came in the other day to have a look and ended up using their 4x4 and a tow rope to upend a deep-rooted and obstinate privet. Two postgraduate students came a couple of weeks ago, volunteers with the ‘Sprouts’ scheme, were full of enthusiasm and among other jobs, were the first to plant the beds in the polytunnel, with winter salad crops. Some people have come because they are on the waiting list for a garden at Whitemoor and have taken up our offer to work with us until a garden becomes free. A Malaysian family living locally are keen to become involved and perhaps to introduce ‘new’ vegetable varieties.

Of course, quite a few come in to have a chat about organics. ‘Well, I’m not organic, but I’m getting there,’ or ‘what do you do with comfrey?’ Someone else wondered whether it would be organic to grow strawberries hydroponically in the polytunnel. In short, it’s stimulating, fun and the garden is rapidly becoming not just a gardening, but a social space.

I think if we could have foreseen how it would go, we would not have had those early collywobbles, e.g. ‘shall we, shan’t we; will enough people be interested?’ So it’s time for a quiet smile and to look forward to the next work party lunch down at Whitemoor.

Barrie Ward, Acting Chair

Advance date for your diaries:

Potato Day30 January 2010

Sherwood Methodist Church

Your local potato day 40+ varieties, priced per tuber Organic seed potatoes available Onion and shallot sets Tea and cake Friendly advice on growing spuds Free entry to NOGs members

Start the season in style… with NOGs potato day! Join in, bake a cake, help us set out and sweep up – or just come along and buy your seed potatoes from Nottingham’s

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organic gardeners!

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News from Lesotho

Readers will perhaps remember the article in last winter’s newsletter about Elizabeth and David Dunford’s voluntary work in a school in Lesotho. Recently, they got in touch and asked if NOGs could help with a small donation of £20 to buy a few tools and seeds needed for their project of setting up a vegetable garden at the school. Elizabeth and David write a regular blog and thanked NOGs for the money in their entry of 14 September. Apparently as part of the Business Education course the school offers, the children have to do a small enterprise project and they are going to try growing vegetables for sale. So our modest donation is playing a small part in inspiring a group of young people to develop their horticultural and business skills. The photo shows the children with the tools and seeds that they bought – how exciting to think about their fledgling garden. We wish these budding gardeners good luck with their growing venture (Mr & Mrs Dunford, we are not to be outdone in the punning department!). Do look at Elizabeth and David’s blog – it is a very good read and has some beautiful pictures. Who knows, perhaps there will be more news of the school garden in due course!

Go to http://www.thedunfords.org to read more.

“Thank you NOGs!” Photo taken from Elizabeth and David Dunford’s blog

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The allotment, it is a-changing…Well, things have moved very fast over this summer. It was lovely to see so many members down on the allotment for the barbeque in August and you were able to see the polytunnel in the making…. the polytunnel is now almost complete and we have some good crops growing there. We have tomatoes, peppers etc which spent far too much time in pots – when they were eventually planted out in the borders you could almost feel their roots stretching out and we now have ripe peppers and tomatoes to add to our lunches during work parties.

As the soil is so poor and sandy we will be sowing a lot of green manures in there as soon as crops finish although we have plenty of oriental vegetables and salads which we hope will last over the winter.

Most of you are aware of the Quinoa we have been growing which is one of Garden Organic’s members’ experiments. It spent most of its life looking like vigorous fat hen, then we were not sure of the difference between flower buds, flowers and seed heads. The plants died back and when you rub the seed heads you can see the quinoa grain so it is has been harvested and is drying out in the polytunnel – we are waiting for a rainy work party day so we can sit in there and winnow it to see how much we have achieved.

We entered the Whitemoor allotment show for the first time this year with Karen leading on preparing the produce for the show – we were all very pleased to come away with a first prize for onions, second prize for squash and third prize for beans. Next year we will enter more classes and may even give Rachel and Sheldon a bit more competition for the overall winner.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is that we are now working with the Partnership Council’s ‘Sprouts’. This is an environmental based volunteer group aged 16 – 25yrs and so far they have come along to help on three occasions and will continue to come two Saturdays a month for the next 2 months at least. It is fabulous to work with the young people and I hope that they will also be able to feed into the development ideas as well as I am aware that the steering group has an average age profile of above 60!

The Potato Harvest – we planted a good variety of potatoes on the plot with variable results. The allotment soil is sandy, free draining and lacking in humus, bearing this in mind, these are our observations so far:Colleen – a really good 2nd early. This did well in the traditional beds and the no- dig bed. We had a good harvest, they boiled nicely and had a good flavour.Galactica – early maincrop – this one came to the Potato Day with very little information. It has rough skins and lovely red eyes [a bit like mine after a night out!], the flavour is good and they boil fairly well although do have a tendency to fall apart. Cropped well.Hunter – early maincrop – I think this is so named because you have to be a hunter to find the few tubers which develop!!! Perhaps it is our soil although Peter similar results and he has a lot more humus in his soil than we have.

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Isle of Jura – early maincrop – this had done very well and again was used on the no dig bed as well as the conventional ones. Lovely flavour and they hold together well when boiled.Lady Balfour – maincrop – this has been developed for the organic grower and is meant to have some resistance to blight. It has cropped well and was the last to succumb to a bit of blight – we haven’t tasted it yet as it should be the best keeper we grew.

Work party dates: all 10am – 2pm

Monday October 19th

Saturday October 24th

Monday November 2nd

Saturday November 7th

Monday November 16th

Saturday November 21st

Monday November 30th

Saturday December 5th

Monday December 14th

Saturday January 9th

Monday January18thSaturday January 23rd

Whitemoor Produce Competition

Proving again that organic produce can look as good as it tastes, NOGs was well represented in the Whitemoor produce competition. Our very own NOGs plot did splendidly in its first year of entering the competition, winning with onions, 2nd for squash and 3rd for beans. Well done Karen and Ros! Shirley was a multiple winner with her stunning dahlias, and Peter won with his chutney and was placed for jam. Rachel and Sheldon were surprise winners of the overall shield in a very close competition! The show and subsequent open day were very successful events – congratulations to the Whitemoor committee, especially NOGs members Peter and Kate Newton & Fran Rhoden who worked so hard to make it a success.

Chase Organics Seed Order

Following last year’s successful group order, we’d like to give you plenty of notice that we will be sending in a joint order again this year. Catalogues are already available from Barrie Ward. We will all qualify for the standard Garden Organic members’ discount, and if we get a big enough order together, there will be further savings which will be put towards seeds for the NOGs allotment. All the while, of course, Garden Organic also benefits, so this is what you might call a win-win situation.

More details to follow from Barrie – in the meantime start browsing the catalogue!

Harlequin Ladybird survey

Check out the website www.harlequin-survey.org to find out how you can participate in this Cambridge University study by recording your sightings.

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Bean Chutney

2 medium onions, finely chopped2 cloves of garlic, crushedBlack seeds of 10 cardamom pods1 tsp ground cumin1tsp fenugreek seedshalf tsp chilli flakes120ml vegetable oil2tbsp granulated sugar100ml white wine vinegarSalt and pepper750g runner beans, trimmed and cut into 1-1.5 cm chunks

Gently cook the onion, garlic and spices in the vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes without colouring until soft. Add the sugar and vinegar, season and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the beans, add enough water to cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove from the pan, leave to cool and store in sterilised Kilner jars in a cool place for up to a couple of months. If you want to keep the chutney longer, the jars should be vacuum sealed.

Vital Earth Composting on a Large Scale: Terry Rodgers8 September 2009

‘The trouble with your compost is that it smells awful!’

‘There aren’t any nutrients in peat-free compost.’

Rather like the old-time fairground pugilist, Terry had opened up by offering to take on all comers; but Terry was no pugilist, just a very effective proponent of his firm’s wide variety of peat-free growing media now on the market.

All right, then, who are Vital Earth? (You don’t see them advertising much, they rely on word of mouth and recommendation.) This Ashbourne-based company started six years ago by making worm compost using 75 million worms(!). But there were problems in achieving a consistent product, so they had an in-depth look at composting systems in use in the USA. As a result they are now the foremost producer of organic peat-free compost in the UK, taking all of Derbyshire’s green waste, a proportion of Shropshire’s and they are negotiating for ours in Nottinghamshire.

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This green waste is loaded into airtight vessels four times the size of a silage container and heated to a temperature of 50º for 48 hours. Most green waste will generate that heat, but there’s an underfloor system to inject hot or cold air as required. This takes care of all pathogens and unwanted plant materials (with vine weevils being the greatest challenge). From about 40 vessels, all computerised, the material is then unloaded into windrows, long rows housed indoors in an area roughly equivalent to Derby’s football ground. Quality control includes initial filtering and daily sampling.

By now, you could say Terry was warming to his task. He obviously enjoys talking to gardeners. ‘Our brief six years ago was to make the best compost money can buy with no expense to be spared’ and with a 32-product range on the market, he believes they are succeeding. ‘I can’t explain why, but sales have really taken off in 2009, it must be down to you people.’ You see, Terry went on, ‘people are now beginning to understand how to work with it: with peat-free compost you need to water it properly, little and often. Its water retention is about 60% of peat. If you water this compost until it can take no more, it will become a mud pie, it’s all about getting used to it; I think it’s going to have a rosy future.’

No nutrients in peat-free compost? That’s a fallacy, said Terry. ‘Peat is an absolutely excellent carriage for plants to sit in but has no nutrients. Peat-free has too many nutrients and we have to reduce the nutrient level.

Is it smelly? No, but there could have been a one-off bag which had gone into an anaerobic stage. (We have to agree that of the several bags of peat-free that Terry passed round, no-one reported anything other than a wholesome smell!)

The case for using peat-free compost is widely understood. As Terry said, ‘peat still comes from Ireland and once those peat bogs are gone, they are gone forever.’ There is an EU directive as to the allowable proportion of peat constituent in compost, ‘but the government has stalled on this for four years and it’s been put off to 2012, but it’s got the peat manufacturers worried… in 2009 they have taken more peat than ever before and use its scarcity to put up prices.

We have some lucky triallists of Vital Earth’s peat-frees in our midst: they were the ones who, by successfully answering Terry’s questions at the end, were awarded compost as prizes. It will be interesting to hear how they get on! If you weren’t one of those, you can buy Vital Earth products at among other local garden centres Timmermans and Floralands. Finally, Terry has offered us a visit to the Ashbourne plant when it can be arranged.

Our day out at Garden Organic’s Ryton gardens20 September 2009

On a beautiful September Sunday, 15 or so NOGs members set out in car shares to go to Ryton for a guided tour by Bob Sherman on the Ryton Community Day.

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Nogs members entering the Vegetable Kingdom with Bob Sherman

The group ranged from Ryton ‘virgins’ to more regular visitors and even former employees! Those of us who had not been to Ryton for some time noted that there had been significant changes of late including a much better shop and café layout and a new entrance design that properly incorporated ‘the Vegetable Kingdom’ into the whole experience. For those of you who do not know what on earth I’m on about, visit the GO website here:http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/vegetable_kingdom/index.php.

Many of the group commented on how well kept most of the gardens were now looking and I, for one, felt that GO have improved the feel of the site considerably since I was last there. Bob Sherman took us on a tour of the whole site that lasted about an hour and a half. He explained that GO were planning to redesign certain areas so as to take on board the changing needs and attitudes of members and visitors. In the future there will be a greater emphasis on growing your own with a re-landscaped entrance way to fully emphasise the theme. We were very fortunate to be offered this personal tour by one of GO’s founding members; Bob’s tour was very informative and I think everyone will have taken something away from it. The orchard stands out for me as a particular highlight and it was great to see how

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much it had matured since we were last there. Two stunning trees caught the eye: a new and prolific breed of Quince (name forgotten unfortunately; perhaps someone can remind us and it can go in the winter newsletter?) and a spectacular and majestic Blakeney Red perry pear. We were informed that GO didn’t do anything with the pears so if anyone out there is a budding cider/perry maker, I’d contact them in advance of next year and see if you can arrange a harvest! Sheldon Penn

6 August 2009The committee received an encouraging report from Ros on the allotment. Though the polytunnel was not quite finished, progress has been made. Young people from the ‘Sprouts’ environmental project were hoping to come to Whitemoor to participate in workparties on the NOGs plot. Sue Barsby from the Big Lottery is planning to visit the allotment to assess it for use as a case study. Ros had written to the Council about planning permission for the shed.

We discussed the possibility of extending our RHS insurance to cover the shed on the allotment, but need to check whether malicious damage is included in the cover. Currently we pay £76 for public liability insurance, but a premium of £80 will also buy us £5000 of cover for equipment and buildings.

Mike reported that Barrie had contacted the Co-op bank and received the paperwork for a possible transfer of our account. However, the administration would be more time-consuming, and the treasurer would need to make regular journeys to the city centre to carry out transactions. It was decided that given the demands already made on the treasurer’s time, his convenience should be our first priority. We will therefore leave our account where it is, and look at higher interest accounts with the Co-op when rates improve. Elizabeth and David Dunford, volunteering in Lesotho, asked for a small donation to buy some tools for their school. We sent £20 to pay for hand forks, a watering can and seeds.

Arrangements for the BBQ were finalized. We decided not to provide any food, but to invite everyone to bring a dish. The committee also discussed our October meeting with Patrick Holden. Kate had booked the Friends Meeting House, so that we have more space available for members and guests to hear him. Arrangements for the trip to Ryton were also discussed, as were further monthly meetings with various ideas put forward, e.g. a local renewable energy group, a talk from someone at Clumber Park. Brian volunteered to become the Programme Secretary and thus to take responsibility for booking speakers, with a view to finalizing the programme somewhat earlier than in the last couple of years.

We decided that although we did not know any dates for Ryton’s potato day, we would fix ours for 30 January 2010, so that we could be sure of booking both the Sherwood Methodist Church rooms, which should give us more options in terms of where we put information, serve tea and so on. Rachel, Brian and Malcolm will make up the Potato Day sub-committee this year.

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3 September 2009Matters arising: Mike reported that 78 subscriptions have been paid, which taking family membership into account means 96 people. Brian confirmed that the RHS insurance does not cover greenhouses etc, but does cover sheds and their contents. David and Elizabeth Dunford have thanked us for our donation.

Ros reported on the allotment. The committee congratulated the allotment team on their success in the Show and recorded their thanks to the Whitemoor committee for such a good event. There were many visitors to the allotment at the open day, including several very local people who may be interested in joining in allotment work parties. Ros and Karen leafleted the estate opposite the allotments and the surrounding houses to publicize the RHS ‘Let’s Dig Together’ event. Members of the ‘Sprout’ group are coming too, and will be coming for two Saturdays a month in the future.

Arrangements for the NOGs stand at the Urban Harvest Festival on 27 September were discussed. This is the second Urban Harvest Festival at Green’s Mill and is a Transition Nottingham event. We decided to try to create an eye-catching vegetable display with NOGs allotment produce and Karen offered to do a family activity about what part of the plant different vegetables come from. Similar activities aimed at children at the Great Spring Sowing went down very well.

The Ryton visit was also briefly discussed – a final count of participants would be made at the September meeting and car-shares organized. Other items on the programme were discussed, such as practical arrangements for Patrick Holden’s talk in October (numbers, publicity, refreshments, and layout of rooms) and further possible meetings, including an offer of a talk on the uses of weeds. We decided to discuss with the group the possibility of more visits to members’ gardens next year (and identified a few we’d like to visit – be warned!).

Help shape the city’s sustainability plans!

Nottingham City Council is holding a ‘Big Green Debate’ at the Council House on 20 October, 5.30pm – 8.30pm. Refreshments will be provided.

RSVP Phone 915 5290 Or email: sustainable.development@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

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Tuesday meetings: Hotel Deux, Clumber Ave at 7.30 pm unless otherwise noted13 October Patrick Holden, Chief Executive of the Soil Association

(NB: change of venue: Friends Meeting House)10 November Paul Bratby of Defra on the Plant and Seeds Inspectorate8 December AGM and Organic Gardening Quiz12 January Jane Turner, Senior Gardener at Clumber Park (tbc)

Event30 Jan Potato Day, Sherwood Methodist Church

(times tbc)

NOGs Allotment Work Parties, plot no. 6, Whitemoor (entrance on Wilkinson St)

All work parties are from 10am-2pm

Monday October 19th

Saturday October 24th

Monday November 2nd

Saturday November 7th

Monday November 16th

Saturday November 21st

Monday November 30th

Saturday December 5th

Monday December 14th

Saturday January 9th

Monday January18thSaturday January 23rd

Next NewsletterPlease pass all your letters, articles, questions and so on to us by (or before!) 30 November for inclusion in the winter newsletter. Handwritten or word-processed is fine. Give us a call if you need our address. Many thanks.

Rachel Palfreyman rachel.palfreyman@nottingham.ac.ukSheldon Penn sheldon.penn@leicester.ac.uk

Committee Members

Karen Fry karenafry@hotmail.comBrian Hobby 9306457Malcolm Lewis 9652753Peter Newton & Kate Newton (Secretary) 9625297Rachel Palfreyman 9621016Ros Pither 9625099Mike Spalton (Treasurer) 9231631Barrie Ward (Acting Chair) 9602324

Website address: http://beehive.thisisnottingham.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=13656 is still live, but have a look at our new website: http://www.nogs.btik.com

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