Author: A Place To Grow Your Own

A very substantial amount of manure was moved from the Cardiff Riding School to PPA today.

The driver, to use space efficiently, has piled it high.

Plot holders are therefore warned that collapse is possible, and in particular, to avoid the creation of tall faces, which would increase that likelihood. If people use good sense, then the chances of anyone being buried are remote, but in particular children should be kept well away from the heaps at all times.

PPAA Committee now pay for this manure, and so logically it is PPAA property. Full members, who have paid their £5 annual membership have PPAA Committee consent to take it freely – if and when available – but no one else does.

PPA Website Team

Please will drivers kindly not park in any way, which might obstruct the manure pens, or turning in front of them, at either end of the site. The only place suitable at the Western Avenue end is under the trees along the right hand side of the car park as one looks at it from the trackway. If these should be full, then please park elsewhere on the site, e.g. by the Community Garden containers, in the car park on Road Three, or by plot 90, near the disused toilet.

(If a pen should be obstructed, then deliveries to it simply won’t happen, or a car may be contaminated by spillage.)

The vehicle used for this purpose is large, and given to abrupt changes of direction. Will everyone please exercise extreme caution, and keep as far away from the relevant areas as possible, therefore.

Thanks all.

PPA Website Team

Perhaps it’s the extended mild period and absence of winter so far, but the sheer variety and exuberance of the birdsong on PPA site is exceptional this year.

For those with the app to identify the birds we’d be very interested to hear what they’ve found. It’s particularly encouraging that song thrushes – at one time a rarity – are now being spotted quite often. For those who use a spade on their plots to turn the soil, and to expose worms and soil pests, robins will be frequent companions as ever.

The recently laid rough dry hedging is a haven for wrens, black caps, and other small discreet birds, and when the two-hundred and thirty-two pyracanthas have grown we’ll have abundant, cat-proof nesting for various species such as blackbirds. The brashings too will become permeated by brambles to enhance habitat – and site security – further.

We’d remind everyone that nesting season starts at the end of this month, and to take great care that no nest be disturbed.

PPA Website Team

Council billing

Over the past two years, plot holders – some established and others new – have reported that they haven’t received an annual invoice for their allotment plot from Cardiff Council.

PPAA Committee would ask, that anyone in this position should notify the Council themselves, but also let the Committee know that they have done that, so that they may have an idea of the scale of the problem.

Twenty-eight plot holders have so far done just that, and so PPAA Committee have been able to chase on their behalf.

As a result, the Council department dealing with Income Retrieval have now asked the Allotments Department to raise  customer accounts to enable these plot holders to be billed.

PPAA Committee hope very much that we as a site are now nearing the end of this bothersome issue.

Hedge work incidentals

Following the removal of, and deactivation of the stumps of the unsuitable hedging – such as sycamores – two hundred and thirty-two mixed berry colour pyracanthas have been planted in their place, and they seem to to be growing well. These should soon form a dense, strong, very thorny hedge, with attractive, wildlife-supporting berries.

However, sycamores – it’s now understood – will fuse roots with others growing nearby to form an integrated network. This feature has resulted in the stump deactivator, which was used on those cut down, reaching a sycamore which was intended to be retained, but which has unfortunately now also been finished. (It’s the one a few metres to the northwest of the southeast gate.)

Fortunately there’s plenty of room nearby to plant a replacement, and a more ecologically-beneficial one too. Indeed, there’s room for a shrubbery as well.

Consent has therefore been asked of the Council – as required under the Local Management Agreement – for both the removal of the sycamore’s remains, and the planting of a semi-mature replacement rowan, cherry or similar. If anyone has any advice as to a particular tree which is noted for its vigour, good size, attractiveness and ecological benefits, then PPAA Committee would be interested in that.

PPAA Website Team

It’s the start of a new allotment year, and so all tenants are amiably reminded that subs are due if they want full PPAA membership.

Only full membership entitles the tenant to the use of the manure and wood chippings in the pens at either end of the site, and more. (PPAA Committee have to pay for the manure, and so it’s reasonably their property. Consent for its taking costs a mere five pounds, which some sites charge per bag.)

All tenants are automatically basic members free of charge, which entitles them to vote at AGMs, and to be Committee members, however.

PPAA Website Team

The Council have asked PPAA Committee to publicise this.

Relevant information, and the on line Survey, can be found here.

(It’s a general Council questionnaire, not one produced by Allotments Office. The place for any comments is in the Survey therefore, and so they’re not open on this article.)

PPA Website Team

In addition to the fire, it appears that the criminals have used a power tool to saw through the padlock’s engaging lug on the Riverside Community Garden’s steel shipping container, and the doors were left open.

The newly-built shelter was in a certain amount of disarray, but there wasn’t any evidence seen of an attempt to burn it.

It’s possible that the criminals didn’t know the extent of the Community Garden, and perhaps burnt the chalet that they apparently did because it was a more elaborate structure, and which they wrongly attributed to it? However this is no more than speculation on the author’s part.

We’d urge all plot holders to inspect their plots for any theft or damage.

PPA Website Team

PPAA Committee members were awoken at around 0230 this morning by the police ‘phoning. They were with the fire services on site. A structure had been on fire and the gate had been forced.

Owing to the method used to force entry to the site, it seems that the intrusion was a determined act and not casual criminality. (The Western Avenue gate will be modified to avert this apparent method of entry in future.)

We lament the severe distress that this must cause to the plot holders concerned – whom, we understand, the police have notified – and express our sincere compassion to them.

We haven’t inspected the rest of the site for evidence of further crimes as yet.

PPA Website Team

PPAA Committee took delivery of two hundred mixed pyracantha on Thursday, and the planting of these is under way. This may take a few sessions over the next week or two.

There shouldn’t be any particular obstruction caused by this work, and if there were, then it should be of brief duration, but we thank drivers and everyone else for their understanding on this in advance. (We acknowledge that already shown during the previous work too.)

We also thank the six plot holders, who’ve offered help with this work, and for that already given with the preparation needed to bring us to this point.

PPA Website Team

The above picture shows the present state of the manure pen by the Western Avenue end gate.

Someone has improvised a causeway out of waste materials to enable access across the large puddle and the mud to the residual manure, which has now all been used.

Would the persons who did this therefore:

a) Please kindly remove all of this material from the pen.

b) Dispose of it responsibly off site if it isn’t required anywhere else.

(There’s no volunteer effort available to do this.)

Once both of these actions have been carried out – but not before – the PPAA volunteers will be able once again to authorise and to supervise deliveries of manure to this pen – as and when it might become available.

Kind thanks.

*Update – please see comment below.

PPA Site Volunteers.