Tomatoes and Sutton Allotment Group Meeting

Allotment meeting this afternoon at 2pm - I'm allowed to take a guest so I have asked the bee lady if she would like to attend in light of no reply for the parks man or the allotment team regarding the removal of the shrubbery around her bee hives. It's hard to duck the issue if people are stood in front of you

Yesterdays Cherry Cascade tomato seedling is now about 4mm high and has been joined by another Cherry Cascade plus

5 x 100’s & 1000’s Tomato’s
1 x Rainbow Blend Tomato’s
1 x Terenzo F1 Hybrid Tomato’s
2 x Tomatoberry Garden F1 Hybrid Tomato’s

Germination Rate Day 6 from sowing 11 from 80 so 13.75%  - Average germination period of 8 - 12 days

Sutton Allotment Group Meeting

Looks like if we want anything done in the future we will need to apply for Community / Neighbourhood grants, a nice lady took us through the process when mean we need to form an association and have elected members AGM's minutes a bank account and a constitution etc.

Looks like the council have to save more over the next 3 years than they have managed over the last 6 and parks and allotments are first to be hit. Thus we are expecting rises and a reduction in service. We  brought to their attention in a nice way that apart from cutting the main grass path 3 times a year they do naff all anyway.

I requested that we get some open book accounting so that we can see how much dead wood we are paying for and that we are not used to subsidise other areas of the council service, as parks have a reduction of £450,000 to save in the first year of the review and another £450,000 in the second.

Waste management are looking at consolidating services in 4 boroughs to save money.

The heads of Sutton and Merton are meeting with contractors over a 6 week period to negotiate these reductions. 

It appears there is no statutory obligation to fence and gate an allotment only provide it!

I see little chance of the council rectifying the situation they have created for our bee keeper. I pleaded  her case and reminded them of action they had taken when Mencap accidently removed the protective foliage on the other side a few years ago. One of the council officers is going to see if they can help in some way but she need clearance from someone higher up the food chain.

There are to be legionnaires testing and risk assessments of water on allotments and dip tanks and any hoses connected to the tap will be cut off! They are not sure if dip tanks will remain or not?     

The National Allotment Society - Britain's Best Allotments was brought to our attention

And then there was a round robin of site successes and achievements which also gave a chance to bring their attention to problems that need to be resolved on each site even though the council have no money. What it actually did was allow us to share ideas and telephone numbers and get links to resources that other reps have found.