Large blue drums wanted for plotters

Has anyone got access to the large blue drums that are used in many industries and then often just sent to landfill after use?
There are a few plotters including myself who are after some. If you can help please email gmchools@hotmail.com. Many thanks

An evening organised by Nairn Allotment Society in the Community Centre on Saturday November the 10th - Starting 7.30 p.m

"Orchards for the 21st Century". John Hancox of Scottish Orchards will be in Nairn to give a talk in the Community Centre on the 10th of November. More information in the video or on this leaflet here. 

Window in the weather enables the orchard group to lift tatties

It was too late for the orchard group at the Sandown plots to get trees in earlier this year when the new allotments finally opened so they opted for a crop of tatties in the interim. This morning as the weather improved slightly they got down to it and lifted the crop. Mansell volunteered with his tractor and equipment and saved the plotters a few hours back-breaking work.  

Up to 30% off seeds and sundries to NAS plotters

Garden Organic (formerly the Henry Doubleday Research Association), the UK's leading organic growing charity, is offering up to 30% discount on their products if Nairn Allotment Society orders as a group. To qualify for the maximum discount we have to spend over £200 – and as 2 NAS members are planning to place orders totaling over £100, we are more than halfway there already!

NAS members are not required to join Garden Organics to enjoy the discounts if we order as a group, but you are free to do so if you wish (well worth joining, if only for their informative newsletters and free organic gardening advice).

The discounts aren’t blanket throughout the catalogue so please read the details listed below (and please keep this email to refer back to if you decide to order).

Garden Organic catalogues can be collected from the communal shed at Mill Road (shelf on the left) and from the compost toilet at Sandown. The catalogues well worth a look, with a huge range of seeds, seed potatoes, bulbs, pest and weed control, equipment and books.

Order forms are in the centre of the catalogue. When you’re ready to order please remove the form and fill in your details (include your plot number).  Payment should be to Nairn Allotment Society. Once the orders have been processed Garden Organics will apply the discounts and NAS will issue you a cheque/payment for your discount

Please return completed order forms no later than 6 January 2013 to Jules , who is coordinating this order for NAS members’

He is at plot 6 Mill Road, or plot 28 Sandown, or post/deliver to 65 Society St, Nairn. IV12 4NL

(Don't send your form direct to Garden Organics yourself or you won’t receive the group discount!)

Many thanks 

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Group Order Discounts

The following discounts are applicable when our order value reaches £200.00:

Packet seeds                                30%

Onion sets, shallots and garlic    30%

Organic fertilisers and QR           30%

Potatoes                                        15%

Books, composts, and sundries    15%

Exclusions from Group Order (i.e. the following cannot be included with your order):

• All fruit and plants including organic vegetable and herb plants (page 55) comfrey, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus crowns, rhubarb crowns, sweet potato slips, horseradish, chamomile.

• All biological controls.

• Any item marked in the catalogue ‘direct from manufacturer/supplier’

Orchards - could you grow a fruit tree or two?

The Orchard group will soon be planting the first of a selection of trees (including Scottish Heritage varieties) in their Sandown plot. Plotters should feel free to pop down for a look and a chat every time they see some activity down the bottom end of the new plots. The group are trying to encourage more people to plant fruit trees in Nairnshire and if you have any space perhaps you might want to consider a fruit tree or two? Maybe you might not be a plotter but someone who has a piece of land suitable for an orchard. If you are interested in planting fruit trees why not come to the Society's meeting on November 10th when John Hancox of Scottish Orchards will be giving a lecture in the Community Centre. 

Recently the  chair of the Orchard Group had the pleasure of visiting an apple fair and  an orchard whilst in Normandy. The local cider on sale at the fair tasted good. You could taste the apples, meet the farmer and sample his Brut or Demi-sec. The folk on the stall even wanted you to try the exotic foreign dish they'd made for the occasion "apple crumble".

At the Orchard it was interesting to see many of the older trees with a massive distance between them. This is the traditional Normanday way to enable grazing in the orchards. It makes sense really to multi task your land and allow beasts to roam underneath the trees, the creatures must enjoy windfalls too. Newer trees were planted much closer together however, and this was to enable the machines to collect the apples easier according to one of the employees. We saw trailer loads of apples heading for the press but didn't see any of the machines in action. The whole Orchard area seemed to be about the same size as the Sandown Lands.  Some of the trees were very heavy with apples and I asked if it had been a good harvest. It was sort of "so-so" I was told and I explained the disaster locally in Nairnshire after the damp cold spring rotted the blossom.  Here's a few pictures of the apple fair and the orchard.

 

Individual pictures here. 

The Highlands and islands Growers - Horticultural Day on November 14th

The Highlands and islands Growers are running their annual Horticultural Day on November 14^th, in the Community Centre, Nairn.  9.30 for welcome and coffee.  They have 5 interesting speakers this year and the first one will start at 10.

Lunch will be provided.  Tickets for the day are available from Ross Dalziel  01309 672597   email:rossdalzielAtbtinternet.com  £25 including lunch; (special £10 student rate without lunch)

New for this year they are having a photographic competition: ‘My Favourite Garden Scene’ - they are hoping for lots of entries which will be judged on the day.