Garnock Valley Allotment Association


Everything should be growing well on the plot or in the garden by now although that will depend on how much time, attention and TLC you can spare to give your crops. Hopefully


your Jubilee and Olympic gold colour schemes are starting to come out and brighten the place up. Don’t sit back just yet - keep on top of jobs such as sowing fast growing crops to fill in any gaps; watering, feeding and especially be on the lookout for pests. Don’t let the weeds get out of control - they do seem to grow much faster than anything else! Hopefully by this month you will be able to start seeing the fruits of your labours and harvesting some fresh produce. That’s what makes gardening and allotments to appealing and satisfying.


Pick your crops as soon as they are ready - don’t be tempted to go for size unless you are planning to win prizes in the local show. They taste better when younger and can tend to lose flavour or get stringy and tough if left.


Members are encouraged to enter for the Kilbirnie and Dalry Shows. There are novice classes if you haven’t tried before and last year our allotmenteers won several awards in the show.


Your home grown produce will give you some of the best meals you’ve ever tasted with lots of peas, beans and young root vegetables so be adventurous in the kitchen - make it yourself - stir fries are especially easy and quick to prepare.


Things to do this month? Continue with regular sowings especially of salad crops to give you a regular supply through the summer.


Keep up the watering regime- the rainfall has been variable and the temperatures quite warm - young crops need water to continue to develop and grow- also to prevent plants bolting in the sunshine.


Plant out brassicas and young leeks for winter cropping.


Climbing beans might need to be stopped when they get to the top of their supports to maximise cropping on the sideshoots. Make sure tall plants are well staked to support them - peas beans, and herbaceous flowering plants such as delphiniums and hollyhocks.


Carrots can still be sown but beware carrot fly when thinning out. Try planting marigolds in between rows of carrots to keep away the pests.


Deadheading might seem like a boring job, but you can spend 5 minutes here and there in the cool of the evening or the morning and this will reap rewards of beautiful flowering bedding plants and hanging baskets.


For those who love roses, 5 more Jubilee varieties are here: • Royal Jubilee - deep pink blooms • Queen’s Jubilee Rose - peach and white • Princess of Wales - White, with cream centre • Duchess of Cornwall - Peach and orange • Royal William - Deep red hybrid tea – see inset.


Still some plots available. Contact Nigel on 07846 518275, or Email nigholl@ btinternet.com, or gvaa@ymail.com, or visit our Website www.gvaa.co.uk


West of Scotland Drystone Walling Association


Triple congratulations were given to the West of Scotland branch of the Drystone Walling Association recently for their on-going successes this summer. First of all, they received a Silver Medal from the organisers of the Gardening Scotland show held at the Ingliston showground in Edinburgh. Along with colleagues from the Central and South East branches and in conjunction with the Scottish Beekeepers Association, they constructed a drystone “beebole” wall.


Beebole walls had their heyday in the Victorian Ages when walls were constructed with insets to hold bee “skeps” made from straw & raffia. These “skeps” were the fore-runners of the modern beehives. During the winter the skeps would be put in the beebole walls for protection from the cold northerly winds and the rain.


The Gardening Scotland showcase was built with local whinstone to exhibit


the


different kinds of inset shapes used,


and


included a small whinstone arch; a very difficult feature to build. The insets were filled by authentic raffia


& straw skeps, some of which had been made specially for the show by one of the Wallers who also made a rainproof thatched cover for a bole.


To finish off,Caulders Garden Centre planted a garden of bee-friendly plants in front of the wall . The Show organisers were very impressed and awarded the exhibit a Silver Medal, and the wall was featured on the BBC Beechgrove Garden program.


The general public were also very impressed and the exhibit was seen and photographed by many visitors. Great interest was shown in the training courses to be held at the Kilbarchan site and places are being booked up rapidly. If anyone is interested in a place on the September training course, further details may be found at www.wsdswa.org.uk/#/training


Secondly, a few days before the Gardening Scotland show, The Branch completed the second phase of the Greenock Ocean Terminal feature.


52 JULY 2012 | your LOCAL news every month - in print and online |


Following on from last years Wishing Well feature, this year a circular “Moongate” was built in sandstone. This was a major project for the Branch spread over 3 weekends, with some additional weekday working.


While one team of wallers built the 2 support pillars using steel rods bent into semi-circles as a template, the second team were busy cutting and shaping the stones required for the archway. A semi-circular former was placed inside the pillars and the arch constructed on top. Once the keystone was driven into place all breathes were held as the former was gently lowered and the arch stones dropped & locked into place. To finish off, the rough edges of the pillar stones were taken off with hammers & chisels to create the round shape shown.


The third celebration was for the members of the branch who successfully completed the Craftsman Certification Scheme assessments at the Branches new test site in Kilsyth. The assessments are extremely hard work as each candidate, working on their own, had to strip and rebuild a 2 metre section of wall in 7 hours, under the watchful eyes of two Master Craftsmen examiners and members of the public who were visiting a nearby Open Gardens display.


In order to pass, every section of the assessment had to be completed successfully and the wall finished off completely. To make things even more difficult for the candidates, the tests were carried out on the hottest weekend of the year.


Six candidates were assessed and 5 passed; 2 at basic level and 3 at intermediate level. Congratulations were due to all the candidates, who worked extremely hard in difficult conditions.


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