News

The Royal Paddocks Allotments’ 2018 AGM will be held on Thursday 15th November at the Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club, Bushy Park. The doors (and the cricket club’s excellent bar) will open at 7.30 pm, for an 8 pm start. We hope that as many of you as possible can make it (we need at least 40 to be quorate).

Another fantastic day of sun for the Autumn Social and Produce Show!

Entries came thick and fast for the Produce show, with the highly contested ‘Best in Show’ being awarded to the sweetest tomatoes the judges had ever tasted!

Please note that with immediate effect there will be no more bonfires on plots. If you have dry organic matter that cannot be composted, you can burn it in the incinerator.

Rents for the season ending 30th September next year are due in advance on 1st October this year, and are payable during the month of October.

The annual rent is currently £24 for a full plot and £12 for a half plot. In addition, the annual rent for a lockup is £25.

Over the past week there have been two separate cases of plotholders finding a drowned woodpecker in their water butts. Woodpeckers are at particular risk of drowning, due to their shape and the weight of their head. If you have an uncovered water butt, you might want to cover the opening with netting to prevent this. Birds can also drown in pump water tanks or baths. If there is a milk crate or similar in there, that will give them a way to escape. If there isn’t, why not float a small plank in the water to give them something to climb onto.

Please do not use the incinerator until further notice. The prolonged drought means everything is tinder dry and we cannot run the risk of starting an uncontrollable fire. Bushy Park officials have told us that they strongly support a temporary ban, as they are extremely worried about fire risks. Sorry for any inconvenience – but we hope you understand.

Plotholders will have their own strategy for dealing with drought conditions but target watering, heavy mulching and water harvesting from shed roofs are all worth considering.

The spell of hot, dry weather that we are having means more pump use and sometimes pump failure.

A dry spell always results in pump problems. If your favourite pump is not working, please contact the Pump Team directly at rayhulm@hotmail.com.