Events

This year, SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 2017, Potato Day will be held at the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre, 13 Whitevale Street, Dennistoun Glasgow, G31 1QW where we will be spreading out over 50 varieties of seed potatoes, potato planter bags, onion and shallot sets, garlic, Kings Seeds, peas and beans, jams and chutneys for sale.

GAF POTATO DAY on Sunday 26 February, 2017,
11am-3pm at The Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre.

13 Whitevale St, Dennistoun Glasgow, G31 1QW.

This year we have over 50 varieties of seed potato, the majority of which are Scottish grown – a draft list will be on the GAF web site now but please remember it is not definitive yet. You will find old favourites as well as new additions and can again buy from as little as 1 tuber to larger amounts, although the day is more about variety than quantity. There will be onion sets, shallot sets and garlic as well as fertilisers, potato planter bags and Kings Seeds. New this year will be broad beans and peas ‘by the scoop’.

Please support our ‘Tattie Bash’ and grow a potato for charity. For the princely sum of £2 you will be given a pot + 1 seed potato tuber and asked to go away and grow your potato, returning in August to one of our ‘weigh-ins’ to see who can grow the heftiest crop of tatties with all proceeds going to the charity WaterAid; from a land of plenty water we’ll be helping people in parts of the world with little access to any water, let alone anything like the clean, safe drinking water we enjoy. http://www.wateraid.org .

Don’t forget there will be a tearoom with home baking.

Newlands Auldburn Decides.

Please, please support your Allotment this Saturday 28th January 2017 at Pollokshaw Burgh Halls. 9:30 -11;00 am.

The allotment has put in a grant application to “Newlands Audburn” Community Budgeting Event for allotment improvement.

We are hoping to raise money to provide 2 sheds and some raised beds in our “Novice” plots. These plots are to help new members who are new to gardening to try out allotment gardening without needing to spend a lot of money.  If they catch the bug and want to take on more, they can then move onto a larger plot in later years.

The allotment will be presenting our case at the “Community Event” this coming Saturday, 28^th January, between 9:30 & 11:00am at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall along with other organisations who have applied for grants.

“The Community” (i.e. the people attending the event) vote for which projects they think are most worth while so it is very important that we get as much support as possible from allotment members and residents of Carnwadric, Cathcart, Eastwood, Merrylee, Kennishead, Muirend, Newlands, Pollokshaws and Pollok Park. You don’t need to be allotment members, just over 16 and residents in these areas. So bring along friends and family.

Please come along to this event. It starts at 9:30 with a short presentation from the 10 organisations up for funding, then the voting, followed by Tea, Coffee and Cakes while the counting takes place. The results of the funding process will be announced on the day.

CHAMPIONING GLASGOW’S ALLOTMENTS – A CELEBRATION 2016

WHERE: Kinning Park Complex (KPC), 43 Cornwall Street, Kinning Park, Glasgow, G41 1BA.

(Opposite Kinning Park Underground Station). See KPC Website at http://www.kinningparkcomplex.org/)

TRANSPORT LINKS:

Subway to Kinning Park Station; by car, there is free parking in surrounding streets or parking in Shields Road Undergrounds Station not far away. Buses to nearby Paisley Road West or Govan Road.

WHEN:  9 OCTOBER 2016  11am TO 3pm.

CAFE DISCUSSION TABLES AT 11.15am, 12.15pm, 1.15pm.

1. Biodiversity – What is found on an Allotment Site and how to encourage it.
2. New Growing Spaces – Associations on a new Allotment Site – questions and advice.
3. Where land is (plus Maps).

WORKSHOPS AT 11.15am, 12.15pm 1.15pm.

1. Harvesting and Storing
2. Schools
3. Planning a garden

COOKERY DEMO at 1.15 to 2pm.

HUBS – Displays by SOUTH, NORTH-EAST AND NORTHWEST

In addition, our incredible CAFETERIA TEAM will be dishing up soup, Tea, Coffee and soft drinks with lots of home baking to be consumed. There will be produce for sale, including jams and chutneys.

We have invited a number of organisations to come along. Some will set up their stall and some will mingle with plot-holders.

KPC have their own little garden outside. It is wonderful what they have done and, although it is the wrong time of year with harvest past, it is worth a look at how they have managed to set up an urban garden.

Sir John Stirling Maxwell Allotments entered 3 plots into the St Mungo Trophy this year. It’s a competition for all allotment plots within the Glasgow area.

The plots taking part were:-

Frank Johnston (Plot 70), Frank McDonald (Plot 6) and Liz Gibson (Plot 18)

The standard of plots are of a very high standard and unfortunately our plots didn’t make it into the prize winners, but it was a great effort and good to get our allotments better known. Well Done to the 3 Gardeners.

These are the results:-

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to extend to your association and plotholders our thanks for your participation and continued support in this competition.

I would also like to take the opportunity to extend my thanks Professor Stephen Phillips for his continued support of the competition and his diligence in judging the St Mungo Trophy Allotment Competition; from the standards witnessed over the last few years this is an incredibly difficult task.

Professor Phillips has requested that I make you aware of his admiration for the effort and commitment that goes into producing plots of such quality which express such impressive displays of horticultural skills. He also mentioned the difficulty he had in arriving at a winner for 2016 evidenced by the fact that only 5 points separated the 1^st 3 positions.

So with that said here are year’s results:-

1^st        Place              Mr N Smith                    New Victoria Gardens

 1^st Runner up           Mr S Malcolm                Berridale Allotments

2^nd Runner up         Mr A&D Tzczynski         Kennyhill Community Allotments

Perhaps next year we will be in the medal winners!!

Save the date, 20th August for our Summer Open Day. 

More details to follow, but if you have any goods for the tombola and brick-a-brac  stall please hand it in to the allotment.

We need volunteers for the stalls and what about some delicious home baking handed in on the day.  I just can’t wait to sample all the scrumptious cakes, if they are anything like last years!!

Perhaps some of you jam makers can put aside a few jars of your tasty jam or perhaps a jar or two of pickle, always a popular seller.

Glasgow Allotment Forum is awarding prizes for
“New Plot Holder”  please see the information below.

With another growing season underway, we’re all focused on our plots, plants and produce; doing what we love best – gardening. Celebrating our hard work and achievements encourages us all, especially our newest members and so GAF invites your site and plot-holders to participate in the annual New Plot-holder Awards .

The New plot-holder Awards aims to encourage, recognise  and reward those individuals who rise to the challenge of  a new plot.  New plot-holders come to a plot which may or may not be in good condition, with a variety of previous gardening experiences, skills and backgrounds.

Whatever the starting point, the enthusiasm, hard work and commitment demonstrated by a new plot holder is to be commended and encouraged.

Please encourage your new plotholders to enter this competition. We have tried to widen the criteria based on the feedback from previous entries and would value any thoughts you have too.

Please note the closing date for entries is 1^st  July 2016.

Judging will take place on Thurday 14^th July 2016.

Fiona McGuire (on behalf of Glasgow Allotments Forum) contact via email glasgownewplotholdersaward@gmail.com

Here is the Application form.