4 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 4 First successful Growing season in the bag! Well what a start, so much rain and cold in March and April, it was like nothing was ever going to grow! Having had what seemed like a football pitch’s worth of cardboard and then well mixed compost delivered, we built and manicured our plots under the careful eye of Poppy, Karen and Shelley (our expert growers). Slowly, after the rain had slowed and the temperature warmed, an amazing transformation took place. There may have been a few disasters on the way, but some great successes and a whole new population of cabbage white caterpillars fed! All of our 11 current allotment pitches are allocated with nearly 20 whole or shared tenancies and 55 National Allotment Society members: how amazing is that! With two new smaller plots being prepared for next year’s season, we will be looking for a couple of new growers in the village. So if you are keen to join us, please let Jo Wright (shapwickallotments@gmail.co.com) have your details. Simon Dawes, Chairman SAA Great teamwork, with new friends combining their skills, time and knowledge to get us off to a great start. Fruit and Veg a-plenty (although sometimes all at once!), a spread of colour from flowers across the plots: these have transformed the once grassy meadow into a beautiful, well organised (and weeds do count) and well kept growing display. Lots of time and enthusiasm spent on providing for the insects and looking after the soil, with a plan for a long term ecosystem to provide for an even better harvest in 2025. Shapwick Allotment Association SIMON DAWES So we know what works and what doesn’t now; new crops and techniques to try next year and ‘when to cover up with netting and when not to take it off too early!’ Some pictures taken by our Allotmenteers show how the site has changed, but many of you have also witnessed that yourselves, as we share time with many interested villagers, over the hedge. Our first infrastructure install projects started with the first 2000 litre water tank, then the communal shed and Bridewell Lane entrance gates (kindly funded by the Parish Council).
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