Craigentinny Allotments

Unfortunately it appears that several plot holders have had crops affected by what looks to be contamination of manure by herbicide.  This can affect both the foliage and crop- particularly of potatoes, tomatoes, beans and peas. The leaves may appear “cupped” or fern like and shrivelled.

Our main manure supplier does not use herbicides but does buy in hay etc from other sources who may have used them (or had an adjoining neighbour use them).  The herbicides were banned by the Government but unfortunately are now permitted again.

Current advice is to not use the crops (which may be stunted or deformed in any case).  The beds affected may be safe to use again next season, the recommended length of time differs between sources.

You can carry out a simple test by potting up a tomato seedling or young plant in a mixture of compost and well shredded manure.  If the foliage becomes affected then your manure should not be used, but left to rot down.

There is a lot of information on the subject on the Internet; type in “manure contamination” or “aminopyralid” as keywords.  There is little that can be done unfortunately; it appears to be a widespread problem across the country – the Government should not have allowed the use of these herbicides which are now affecting the food chain.

• A real who-dung-it as keen gardeners kick up a stink (Scotsman)
• Aminopyralid Herbicide Residue in Manure Killing Crops (Allotment.or.uk)
• What to do if you have Aminopyralid Contaminated Manure (Allotment.or.uk)
• Aminopyralid (Wikipedia)

If you do a test, as above, please can you let us know of the outcome so that we can establish the extent of the problem.

The Council has been notified.

Incidentally, there is another crop disease called “Leaf curl virus” which affects potatoes and tomatoes, is a virus spread by aphids, and can look fairly similar (leaves curl upwards becoming hard and brittle).  You can find illustrations of both problems on the Internet, to compare.

If you have any photos from the allotment (or anything connected) you can add them to our Flickr Group:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/craigentinnyallotments

Simply create a Flickr account (it’s free), upload your images then add them to the Group – the latest images will automatically appear in the right column of the website.

The first draft of the new Allotment Strategy ‘Cultivating Communities: A Growing Concern’ has now been completed and was presented to the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee on 9 February 2010.  The Committee approved the document for wider consultation to run until 23rd April 2010.

The draft strategy is available at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/haveyoursay/ or from the Allotment Officer – Ian Woolard, tel: 0131 311 7072

John c.1974

Plotholders John & Val Maule share their memories of Craigentinny Allotments in what we hope will be the first of several ‘Allotment Tales’.

I first acquired an allotment at Craigentinny in 1972, whilst renting a flat in Leith. There was not a waiting list then, and there were several vacant plots when I toured the site to select mine. I was asked how many plots I would like since most of the gardeners had more than one! I chose a plot by the golf course fence on the area currently occupied by part of the communal garden.

Interestingly, the layout of the site was then somewhat different to the present arrangement (more…)

John & Monica's plot

Many congratulations to John and Monica for winning the ‘Edinburgh in Bloom Best Allotment Plot’. Their hard work, enthusiasm  and a big splash of colour has enlivened the allotments.

“An allotment with its own “bee cafe” and a community garden designed by volunteers are among the winners of this year’s Edinburgh in Bloom competition”

• Read the full story in the Evening News

Present: John and Monica McKinlay, Tom Cashman, Katie Ferguson, John Robertson, Johnny Gailey, Helen Gestwicki, Richard Cross, John Maule and Norma Carylon , Joan Pisanek, Joanna Darnley– thanks to everyone who came along.

Items

1. Monica welcomed everyone to the meeting and to our new clubhouse. Thanks to those who donated furniture and daffodils! Katie will supply benches so that there will be a seat for everyone.
2. There will shortly be notices of our two competitions.
3. There was a brief discussion re ongoing grants and the Constitution. John and Monica have revised the Midmar Constitution in line with a Council owned site. This will be passed to Johnny Gailey who will forward it on to the lawyer at EVOC who will provide a final Draft for our approval. Norma asked if this draft would be circulated and Monica confirmed that it would, and later voted on, probably at a Special General Meeting. Tom reminded us that there may be insurance requirements if we were constituted. This will be considered with the final draft. Ian Woolard will also be consulted.
4. Clubhouse Plot; In response to our appeal for ideas five suggestions had come forward; a play area for children; a path to the clubhouse with cleared area in front: a community orchard; a pond or wet area for frogs etc. and coppicing of twisted willow etc. There is room on the plot for all of this and Monica suggested that those with a particular interest could take that forward (like mini projects) allowing each to get started. Otherwise we could take the suggestions forward one at a time thus concerting our efforts.
5. Thanks to Katie for her donation of fruit trees for the orchard and a group of us will be there to help her plant them out at the end of the month.
6. Helen suggested a recycle corner on the plot which will allow everyone to donate useful items they no longer need. She will monitor this.
7. Thanks to John Maule there is now a key for the water supply in the Clubhouse.
8. The Seed Swop followed the meeting and there was a tremendous amount of donations – too many to thank everyone personally but if this is an indication of things to come Craigentinny Allotments will be Keeping Edinburgh Growing all by themselves!
9. People who didn’t manage to come along on the day are welcome to help themselves to any seeds they need in return for a future donation or a small donation on the next swop day. The donations for April amounted to £2.40 which Katie will add to our petty cash.