SPRING NEWS We have some great

things coming up this year

and hope to see you all at

our meetings and social

events

“We can complain be-

cause rose bushes have

thorns, or rejoice because

thorn bushes have roses”

- Abraham Lincoln

We Hope You Enjoy our Latest Issue As we move into spring we can all look forward to a new growing season. As always

your feedback is very welcome.

In This Issue

Allotment News Roundup

Norwich Seed Swap

Seasonal Jobs for the Plot

Interesting Infograms

Members Letters

Norwich Allotment Association March 2016

Dates for Your Diary

NAA Meetings take place on the 2nd Monday of every Month,

8pm at the Fat Cat, West End Street

14th March (AGM) come along and help us celebrate our 2nd Birthday

Earlier start time of 7.30pm

Matt Hewes, allotment Officer will be attending to give a talk.

Our New Website is up and running

www.norwichallotmentassociation.btck.uk

Sunday 28th February, St Lawrence’s Church, St Benedicts.

Norwich Seed Swap. See article on page 3

Allotment News

Theft and Vandalism.

Recently there has been a spate of break ins and

vandalism across allotment sites.

Please help protect your site by locking the gate and

keeping it locked.

We advise you do not keep high value items in sheds to

minimise losses and also not to encourage further thefts.

If you do suffer a break in then please do report it to both

the council and police.

Gardening in an allotment can improve mood and

self-esteem, according to research by two universities.

The study, by Westminster and Essex universities, questioned 269 people - around half of whom did some gardening.

The results revealed that those who spent as little as 30 minutes a week in their allotments saw significant gains in mental well-being, according to the Journal of Public Health.

The research also showed the allotment gardeners had fewer weight problems.

The participants were questioned about their mood, self-esteem and general health.

Those who had worked in their allotments at least once a week had lower levels of fatigue, depression, tension and anger - and had higher self-esteem and better general health - than those who had done no gardening at all.

They also had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI), reflecting a healthier body weight than those who did not garden.

The length of time spent gardening did not alter the results, meaning that fitting 30 minutes into schedules was still beneficial.

With urban living on the rise, along with the risk of poor mental health, co-author Dr Carly Wood, from the University of Essex, said: "Allotment gardening might play an important role in promoting mental well-being in people residing in urban areas."

But many garden allotments have long waiting lists, the study mentions.

President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, Prof John Ashton, said: "We need a strategy that considers how we could make better use of neglected land that marks the transition from towns to cities."

Members Update

Thank You to all our members who took part in our

annual seed order with Kings Seeds.

The average saving was over £20 per member so overall

it was a great success.

We also recently held a survey to find out what issues our

members feel are most important. Our thanks to all our

members who took the time to participate.

We will publish the results at our AGM on 14th March

Norwich Seed Swap Is Back for 2016

In March 2015 the first city–wide Seed and Plant Swap took place at the

St. Lawrence’s Church on St. Benedict’s Street. An estimated 80 people came along to

swop some seeds, exchange gardening tips and eat some delicious home–made cake.

The high point was a talk by local organic gardening guru, Bob Flowerdew

So many people said that it was such a useful and enjoyable occasion that the organisers really had no choice but to repeat the swap for 2016. It’s happening on Sunday 28th February, is again at St. Lawrence’s Church on St. Benedict’s Street and will be open from 11.00am–3.00pm. The way it works is really simple. If you have any surplus seeds then just bring them along and put them on the swapping table. Then just rummage through the packets of seeds on the same table and take some that you need. If you don’t have any seeds to swap then come along anyway. If you find some seeds you’d like to take home then just leave a donation in one of our donation boxes. There will also be stalls from local gardening groups like the Norwich Allotment Association, Norfolk Master Composters, Norwich in Bloom and Norwich FarmShare so you’ll have the chance to join these groups and take advantage of their expertise. A local baker will also be providing cakes and biscuits so you can relax with some refreshments while looking through your new seeds.

Bob Flowerdew has very kindly agreed to come along again to answer your garden–related questions and to do a book signing. He’ll start at 2.00pm. Last year his talk was very popular and was quickly packed out. If you’re planning to come along then get there early.

If you want to keep up with what will be happening then you can find us on Facebook. We expect this year’s seed swap will be bigger and better than our first attempt last year. However, that depends on all of you turning up so put the date in your diary and we’ll see you on the day!

Some Interesting Infographics on Allotments

Seasonal Jobs for the Plot

By now you are probably chitting first and second early seed potatoes. I do mine on a cool, frost free windowsill, using egg boxes to hold them safely. While they are chitting start to prepare your ground ready.

Finish pruning any fruit bushes and give them a feed and mulch.

It’s still not too late to spread compost or well rotted manure over beds ready for your spring planting. If the weather is clear and the ground not waterlogged beds can be cleared and prepared for planting. About 4 weeks before you want to plant you can fork in compost and cover the soil with polythene, cloches or weed control fabric to help warm the soil a little quicker.

It’s been a mild winter so far so weeds can still be an issue. Get on top of them now before they get too established.

Every year I do it! At the first hint of spring every inch of space, windowsill and shelf is groaning with seed trays. Then a few weeks later I’m running out of space, everything is getting leggy but it’s still too cold to plant out. Most seeds if sown later will do as well if not better so this year I’m determined to show more restraint!

If you feed birds on your plot make sure you visit frequently to top up supplies, but be careful not to place feed where it can encourage rats.

And of course if you have been finding the allotment a little quiet during the winter months and are missing the chat, then why not come along to our meetings, or the Norwich Seed Swap event.

Following on from the article about Glyphosate in our

Summer 2015 issue we received a contribution from

Mick Hardy about the reasons he choses not to use

Glyphosate Weed-killer.

The Glyphosate Renewal Assessment Report (RAR) was

submitted to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

in January 2014. Although the RAR said the Glyphosate

posed no (unacceptable) risk, it is worth remembering that

the assessors include Monsanto and a consortium of

European chemical companies.

Denmark banned the herbicide in 2003. The Dutch

parliament banned it for “non commercial” use and France

is set to follow.

Brazil has now filed a lawsuit to ban glyphosate and in El

Salvador a complete ban was imposed in 2013, after the

chemical being linked to an epidemic of chronic kidney

disease.

In Sri Lanka scientists have provided evidence of

glyphosate accumulation in the body, especially in the

presence of hard water.

Glyphosate, out of all the known toxic chemicals in the

environment, is the one which has the most likely causal

link to Autism.

Both glyphosate and autism are associated with low

melatonin, impaired sulphur metabolism, low vitamin D,

sleep disorders, disrupted gut bacteria and more.

The chemical kills beneficial bacteria in the gut, allowing

pathogens to overgrow.

In the light of all the evidence put forward in this letter,

perhaps we should show this to the allotment officer,

before he advises anyone else to cover their path with

Roundup (the commercial name), as he did to a friend of

mine last year.

For the sake of brevity and coherence I have left out much

of the scientific research linked to the toxic effects of

glyphosate, but I assure you they are there.

Mick Hardy

Members Letters and Views.

Contact Us

norwichallotmentassociation

@btinternet.com

Postal Queries

46 Northcote Road

Norwich, NR3 4QF

wesite:norwichallotmentassociati

on.btck.uk

Or join in on our monthly

meetings, on the 2nd Monday

of every month at the Fat Cat,

West End Street at 8pm

Follow us on facebook,

search for

norwichallotmentassociation.

NAA AGM

Committee Members Needed We are looking for volunteers to join our committee to help us grow our social

and community activities. If you think you can help come along to our AGM

and get involved.

We also need your articles, growing advice,

letters, recipes and any suitable content for our

next newsletter.

All submissions gratefully received.

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