Back in the 1980’s I was lucky enough to ask a question on radio’s Gardeners’ Question Time. Much to my teenage daughter’s embarrassment, my question was: “I have whitefly on my brassicas, can the panel recommend a remedy?” It turned out that the whitefly were harmless and could be washed off with a hose. There…
In 2020, STAA launched a pilot project designed to tackle food waste and address food poverty in the local area, this has developed into STAA’s Community Harvest Project. It is an initiative to sow, grow and distribute fresh fruit and veg to where it is most needed in the communities surrounding St Ann’s Allotments. As well as…
All organisations have their unsung heroes, the ones rarely seen and barely known-about without whom the whole thing would fall apart. For STAA, it’s always the volunteers, and most particularly the management committee; giving up their evenings – and often a lot, lot more than that – to make sure budgets balance, procedures are adhered to and that staff are free to get on…
I’ve been watching a documentary on TV about Kensington Palace and was interested to note that the visiting public are not shown around by Tour Guides, but by Explainers. I know that job titles are forever being changed, but I never thought that Guides would be replaced by a more descriptive word. At STAA, we guide visitors around St Ann’s Allotments, but most of our…
I have previously written about summerhouses on St Ann’s Allotments during the 19th century. They provided gardeners with shelter, along with partying and storage facilities. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II a shelter proposal under the Hungerhill Gardens, rather than over them, was suggested. In a city that is on the edge of a mining area, where thousands of men are living who know all…
It’s that time of year when we begin to harvest those prize fruits, vegetables and flowers that we’ve been nurturing all year. Back in August 1871, the “hard-handed mechanics” of St Ann’s Allotments “gently and lovingly” handled their roses: “They cut them affectionately, set them up tenderly, and the Roses respond by displaying their full beauty. It is impossible…