Caroline Ritchie and her sister Jane are two of the site’s most effective and enthusiastic gardeners, and their plots are a joy to see.
They use the No Dig Method, and garden organically, but their approach doesn’t require bought-in hardware, growing materials, weed suppressant or wood chip, nor the labour of installing and maintaining these. When the time comes – as it does to us all – to give up the plot, there won’t be any derelict or rotting materials or structures to be dismantled and removed from site, either by themselves, or by the effort of unpaid volunteers, and at the cost of the Council Tax payers of Cardiff either. This last point is one of the main burdens on PPAA Committee resources at present.
They’d be pleased to converse with other gardeners about their technique, and have sent PPAA Committee this message:
“Jane and I would be happy to have a chat with people who want to know about our no-dig method on Saturday 4th July. We usually get there at about ten in the morning, and our plot numbers are 51A and 53A. Adrian Peters has suggested we use the Riverside Community Garden hut if it’s raining, but Jane and I think that seeing is better than just talking, providing the weather is okay.”
PPAA Committee would encourage all interested in this way of gardening to take up this kind offer. It would be best to let Caroline and Jane know, and the easiest way would simply be to post a comment to that effect on this article. (They can tick the box to be notified of such comments if they choose.)
Many thanks to Caroline and Jane.
PPA Website Team
We’d love to come! Mared and Rhys (12A)
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Sounds a really good idea!
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If you look on the internet for articles about allotment gardening, then you’ll be swamped by ones promoting the use of products for sale by the DIY supplies industry, such as timber for making bed frames or ready-made ones, bags of wood chips and compost, weed suppressant membrane, plastic compost bins, and so on. Whether these are sponsored or not is open to question, but many of them also make the suggestion that it would be unethical to garden any other way too.
Unless you had knowledge of gardening from before recent times, then you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was no other way at all of growing things.
So I think that it’s great that Caroline and Jane have offered to share their knowledge in the time-honoured manner of actually talking to people.
Thanks both very much.
Martin P
Admin
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Hi Caroline and Jane , yes I’d like to see and hear about no-dig tomorrow.
Will be on site anyway so will drop round at about 10
Mike (22a)
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