I’ve been reflecting on the purpose of our Urban Nature garden, particularly as Spring awakens. It is a series of 10 plots on St Ann’s Allotments, established nearly 20 years ago as a space to be managed for wildlife. What does that really mean? Of course, the whole site is beneficial for nature as…
Dear reader, Have you seen your first daffodil of the year yet? Spring is certainly in the air, and we’re delighted to share our programme of Spring workshops with you 🌼 We’ve got everything from microgreens and soil fertility to floral gifts and spring wreath making. Plus we’ve launched our guided heritage tour dates from March to…
On one of the first occasions I met Charlie Wesson, STAA’s oldest trustee, I was carrying a bundle of the last of the rhubarb on my plot and he told me quite firmly “They say if you eat all those you’re going to die”. What Charlie was referring to was the belief that eating rhubarb in late Spring or Summer was dangerous because of…
After the frosts and dry cold winds of April let’s hope that we are into a normal May. That might enable us to seriously think about starting the barbecue season, which has been delayed by the chilly April evenings for many of us. However, what we don’t want are incidents that one plot holder experienced in April 1834, where someone was clearly not keeping an eye on…
The frosts we have experienced during this month have been a concern, particularly for those of us with fruit trees. Hopefully, the blossom will survive long enough for the bees to begin their pollination task as the weather warms up. Fortunately, we appear to have suffered only ground frosts. In May 1900, fruit tree growers on St Ann’s Allotments were also concerned…
Although we hear constant references to climate change, we don’t always see those changes around us. As a lad during the late 1950’s the cold war between Russia and the West was at its height, so any severe weather patterns were satirically blamed on the Russians. I was too young to recognise seasonal changes in the weather and birds such as skylarks, lapwings and song thrushes were plentiful. I was…