Cripley Meadow Our 2019 AGM is on We are looking for new committee members. We Allotment Association Monday March 11th at have a couple ready to stand St Barnabas School, Hart Newsletter but could do with more. Street, Jericho. The February 2019 meeting starts at 8pm and Committee Member Emilie and www.cripleymeadow.org.uk members of the Committee her partner Killian, both Castle will be present from 7.30 to Mill residents, are leaving us The next Working Party is set up and for you to pay your this year, moving to London on February 10th. Please subscription if you wish to do (where they hope to get an meet at the Green shed at so in person. There will be allotment). Wherever they are 10:30 safely clothed and shod. nibbles /drinks /slides and you we know they will be busy This is the last Working Party can chat to us and other participating in a brighter that counts towards the members. Do come along if future. They have helped 2018/19 membership year, so if you can. You will get a formal enormously on the site as well you haven’t yet come to a WP, invitation, agenda, annual as cultivating one of our this is your final chance to report and budget and beacon plots. They were avoid the financial contribution accounts shortly. Please let among our youngest members requested in lieu. Secretary, Manda, know asap and are certainly more if you have an item you wish productive gardeners than I February’s WP work will include to raise. yet more plot clearance! We’ll was at their age. What a great portent for the future. be reclaiming some plots As our new membership (again). Rubbish and perennial year starts on March 1st, Sara, our current Treasurer, is weeds remain a problem on invoices for the new keen for a change of role, after some, although rarely at the membership year are coming 5 years. She is happy to do this level we saw from 2004 until soon by email to the lead year’s invoices but she is 2015/6, when we think we member for each plot (if you do looking to hand over to (and finally took out all the really not receive yours by mid-Feb, continue to support as needed) long-term neglect. please email our Treasurer, a new Treasurer during the Sara, [email protected] and year. The Treasurer manages We had a good turnout of 14 include your plot number in the all payments from members members for January’s WP, email.) If you are giving up and bills and keeps track of the with fine weather. They your plot, please let Sara know Association’s finances. cleared bramble on plot 133, asap. burnt off the accumulated In another change to the bonfire pile, cleared an illicit Your invoice must be paid Committee, Alex will be tree house and pruned some of on or before the AGM. The standing down as Audit lead the fruit trees on the green. 2018 AGM agreed the after a really long spell, for following: payment after the which we are very grateful. It March Working Party will AGM (March 11th) will incur a rd th is thanks to his hard work and be 3 March ONLY (10 £10 additional charge and persistence that members are March cancelled) membership will cease if the clearer about how to be good We have registered to plot subscription is not paid on guardians of their plot. We contribute to OxClean on or before the last day of March. rd know we will never keep Sunday March 3 and have This should avoid a major everyone ‘happy’ but we work decided this will replace our problem we have encountered th really hard to be fair. In 2003 scheduled 10 March WP. for some years where Cripley Meadow was one of the We will meet from 10.30 to abandoned plots could sit most neglected and under-used 12.30 and split the time unused to the end of May. between litter picking, and WP sites in the city. work on our site. If anyone has difficulty We have worked since 2004 to paying their subscription, reclaim the site and bring it to please be in touch with its present excellent Sara. productivity. This has been possible due to careful financial management, lots of external funding and most importantly Depending on weather and through members’ support for a conditions, the shop will re- level playing field so all can open in March. Please see work confidently within the In January, Sylva Trees did notice board for updates. rules. It takes a delicate more excellent worked on balance of support, Cripley Island willow pollarding Gate Lock problems We have encouragement and sometimes with work on willows adjacent mended the lock on the large plain speaking to enable some to plots. gate yet again. Please always members to use their plots and report problems and do not oil allow their neighbours their the locks as this actually own enjoyment and contributes to problems. We productivity. This is probably think some keys may be one of the most difficult bits of damaged and you may need to allotment management, replace yours if it has been especially in self-managed sites bashed about – if so, contact where it can be all too easy to Manda. blame the Committee for being too harsh or too soft. Both Wet and frost - Please accusations can occur at the always leave vehicles in the There is still OCC work to same time! car park when it is wet or complete on South Field frosty as both conditions willows, the weeping willow Negotiations for our new REALLY damage the paths. and the tree outside the gate lease with landowner which blocks the view of the Oxford City Council in 2021 Dogs must always be on a lead bridge. mean our responsibilities for or on your plot. They must maintaining our assets (such as never be allowed to wander buildings, gates, fences) are on the site or go on other more clearly defined. In members plots. response, we need to develop an asset plans to cope with Castle Mill Flats work present and future Allotment News letter from maintenance. The Association’s Beard Construction: regular income does not cover We have obviously suffered like our annual outgoings. This is all of you in the last couple of not sustainable. Once the new Jeremy has put up a new weeks from the cold weather lease terms are clearer, we will smaller traffic viewing mirror on but have managed to erect look at increasing subscriptions. the lamp post here which we most of the scaffolding to 4 Our present subscription is just hope will serve less well as blocks on the north end of the above average for the City but target practice. site, we have changed windows far cheaper than the c.£75 There is also more work to do on one block and completed national average. to replace the bridges to decorations prior to the bad Cripley Island. The bridge by weather on block 7 (K), we If you think you could help the path between plots 17 and have also started works inside with financial, audit, field work 18 is closed as it is no longer the building that are not visible or other committee work safe. The one by the green to you all. Whilst the please be in touch asap association shed also needs scaffolding is in place, we are (cripleysecretary@cripleymead care. Both are due to be carrying out some much- ow.org.uk or speak to Wendy, replaced as are the picnic needed replacement of Sara or Manda). We are a tables on the Green. defective glass double glazed large site and more hands are units, generally we are on needed to serve our members, Winter trading 2019 programme with most of our ensure the site’s future The shop does not open on a works. productivity and make lighter regular basis in January and work for all. February, but members are In the coming few months we welcome to arrange one-off will repeat the process of weekday or weekend sales with decorations and window Sarah [email protected]. replacement to the other 3 blocks and fit the Brise Soleil to ground in early spring, try good crops. Plenty of humus, the elevations which should putting a cloche up or covering home-made composts and provide the contrast and the ground with horticultural manure applied either in or in shadow effect the design team fleece a couple of weeks the soil is a good starting point are expecting beforehand. It will warm the to improve the soil structure. ground up a couple of degrees. Mr Dowding recommend a thick Regular inspections of the If you are sowing early mulch and no dig in which case badger run are continuing with remember even if warm light you will probably be sowing the Eco consultants and we levels are low until March 20th. seeds and planting out. I still have to leave works in the run You can help with foil-backed do a bit of digging as, even until April as required by law. propagators on windowsills, but with our waste piles and my Last indications are that the you still need to turn every day. bumper composting, I do not Badgers had been seen in the have enough compost material run but preferred to use the Broad Beans and Shallots If for mulching everything. badger set at the southern end we have any cold weather and of the site, as is usual when we the rain keeps off you can start It is also good to check acidity have no flooding. Eco sowing your broad beans and (pH) and major nutrients (N, P, inspection of the run takes put in shallots. K). The only accurate way to place regularly. find out what your soil's acidity Chitting Potatoes and nutrient levels is to use a Our electricians Dark & Taylor Not everyone test kit. These are relatively have had two of their vans thinks this is cheap to buy. The tests are broken into in the Walton Well productive easy to use but the important carpark on Thursday Jan 31st nowadays. It thing is to get the initial between 8.00 and 11.00. If is often only sampling right. If you have a anyone noticed any suspicious recommended for earlies (and three or four-part rotation, activity it would be appreciated earlier crops can miss blight). If treat each section as a separate if they could contact us or the you are chitting your potatoes plot. On each plot, imagine a local police to report what they in a shed or garage, watch out large W. Take a sample from saw. Poor lads lost lots of for mice and very cold nights. the 3 top points and 2 bottom personal tools that cannot be If they get frosted at this stage points to give 5 in all. The replaced. your chances for a good crop samples should be from about Happy 2019 to you all are reduced. Covering with 10cm (4”) below the surface. Paul Renton-Rose fleece or newspaper is usually Make sure your trowel is wiped Project Manager enough for the frost but it will between samples to avoid not deter mice! cross-contamination. Once you Stored produce know your soil, you can If you Pruning and Clearing effectively improve it and, in have January/February are the best turn, get much better crops. stored months if you are still winter Not only more productive but produce, pruning apples and pears. Now more disease and pest like is also the time to check for resistant. Margaret’s and remove any self-seeded prize saplings that have grown on We are a thriving site but specimen boundaries. Next month the member numbers have here, do sap will start moving and dropped slightly since 2012 check before you know it, they'll be in when we ceased to be visible regularly. leaf. It is also the time to cut from the busy cycle track. So Remove autumn fruiting raspberries do let friends and family any down to the ground to know we have plots damaged material, keep above stimulate the new canes. available! freezing and safe from mice. Soil work Good gardening Wendy Members that came to the Outdoor Sowing and ODFAA 2018 Charles Dowding Planting If you are going to talk will remember he stressed plant out or direct sow into the the importance of good soil to