Manure – 50p per barrow
We have received a quantity of fresh horse manure with straw (barley, I believe) which members can purchase by the barrowload. Please be sensible in how much is heaped in barrows; I’ve seen deposits of manure that has fallen out of overfilled barrows around the place – please don’t take more than you can reasonably transport in a barrow but take as many barrowloads as you like, keep a record of how many you have taken and please make a payment to the association bank account, reference Manure + your plot number and if you could also drop treasurer@newtonhallallotments.co.uk an email it will make things easier for John to consolidate when he gets the bank statement. Anyone who needs a reminder of the bank account details should check John’s rents reminder text that was sent before Christmas.
If you did not receive a text and you would like to in future, please let John know your mobile phone number.
How to use fresh horse manure
Being fresh, the manure ideally should be left to rot down for a year to 18 months, preferably in a heap in order to encourage the brandling worms and microbes to do their work. It is said that fresh manure can ‘burn’ plants with the acidity. Personally, I am going to experiment with making a hotbed in my polytunnel and running water filled tubing through it and under the bed in the poly to hopefully provide an underground source of heat for the warmth loving crops such as tomatoes, chillies, melons and sweet potatoes I am going to grow. Then, this time next year I will spread the manure on my polytunnel beds and will start again with a fresh heap.
Woodchip – FREE
In addition to the manure, we will shortly be receiving regular supplies of FREE woodchips for people to take. The woodchip will be a mix of deciduous and conifer and will be fresh, so ideal to use as paths and mulch on the top of soils, but don’t mix it in for at least a year, maybe 18 months to prevent the decaying wood from using up the nitrogen in the soil. The woodchips will be delivered to the West gate. When the East gate post is repaired and the gate is back in use we will have some delivered to the east gate as well. For a reminder on which is the East and which is the West gate, please see the map on our Contact Us page.
Charlotte Potatoes – £1 per Kg
Also, Charlotte potatoes are in stock. Anyone wishing to buy these should, in the first instance, contact Jim Duffy. His number is displayed on the shed window, but I have been given permission to give it out to anyone who asks (but I’m not putting it on here!).
Happy gardening!