An update on our Open Day and Open Sheds – we’ll be featured on Radio Sussex during the event! If you can’t come along on the day you can listen to the garden programme hosted by Joe Talbot starting at 9am on 95.3FM, 104.5FM and 104.8FM and hear a live interview from the Open Day.

The site will be open to the public between 10am and 4pm and we have lots of lovely stalls for you to buy from, as well as allotment-holders on hand to talk about growing fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Amongst others, Plot 22 has apple pressing, plots 101 and 267 have chutneys and jams for sale and plot 238/239 which is the BHOGG home, has a jam and chutney taste-in and recipe swap, 115/116 has cakes and a talk on allotmenteering while 258 has cakes. 142 and 201 have crafts and gifts and several allotment-holders are selling plants, while the central car park area will host a range of allotment-holder stalls.

You can find Weald Allotments in Hove from Weald Avenue. Parking is limited so please try not to bring your car. The 5, 5a and 56 buses run to Aldrington Avenue which is only a short walk from our gates.

The Weald memorial garden has been renamed the Community Peace Garden and a dedication service will be held at 11:00 on Tuesday 14 September 2010. The service will be taken by the Reverend Phil Moon of Bishop Hannington Church.

Please feel free to attend.

The first (as far as we know) Weald Open Day went very well. Although we didn’t get quite as many visitors as we’d expected, we did have people come from near and far to wander round the site. The weather was great and those who did turn up seem to have had a great time.

Much cake was sold, with thanks to Karen and her daughters for providing some very elegant iced cupcakes.

 Many have said they are coming back for the next Open Day on 26 September, when we also have Open Sheds at which allotment holders and HHAA members will be selling produce, showing art, displaying their talents or just on hand to chat about growing fruit and veg.

And Sam Dowd’s elegant eco-structure is complete … come along and have a look at it!

Helen and Mark from plot 195.2 (yes, that means they have a half plot!) have just achieved their first harvest since moving onto Weald site only a few months ago. Not a bad haul for such a short tenancy so far – they could be contenders for next year’s Onion Competition at this rate!

On Sunday 15 August, Weald will be opening its shop to the public, there will be a couple of tours of the site and we have a cake stall in the garden between 10:00 and 12:00. Sam Dowd will also be building his amazing building/sculpture/artwork on the car park area – if you haven’t been to see it, do make time to pop along – it’s really impressive!

Sam Dowd is an artist whose focus is living structures that draw on the history of visionary architecture, artists’ retreats, self-build co-operatives and related films

He will be spending National Allotments Week at Weald, making a prototype ‘living’ room on our car parking area! Sam will be on site during the whole week but especially 10am – 4pm on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 August.

Just a reminder that we have two events planned:

Sunday 15 August -National Allotment Week: there will be a cake stall in the garden between 10:00 and 12:00 (please feel free to bring along cakes to sell to raise funds for the garden area), tours of the site will be running and the shop will be open to the general public

Sunday 26 September – Open Day and Open Sheds! As part of the Brighton and Hove Local Food Week , the Weald site will be open all day – there will be guided tours at 13:00 and 15:00 and allotment-holders are invited to have an ‘Open Shed’ which might be a stall selling craft items, bric-a-brac or plants or produce (chutneys, jams and other such foods will probably be very popular with visitors) either for charity or just for fun.

Some people will be having mini art exhibitions, others are simply going to be on the plot to talk to passers-by about how they grow fruit and veg. If you’d like to have an Open Shed, please tell a committee member or call into the shop to talk to Peter about it so we can add you to the map.

You may have noticed that there have been notices going out about plots that don’t have clearly visible numbers. This is part of a council-wide policy to try and ensure that allotment officers and site volunteers can easily identify each plot as it makes it easier for them to then report issues. 

For example if a pipe starts leaking, it’s much easier for the council contractor to find the leak if they know it’s in front of plot number 28 than if they have to find ‘the plot with the green shed, behind the one with the trellis, next to the one with the three water butts’! We’ve mentioned the matter in the newsletters sent out in February and May, before starting to put out the notices that the council request us to use, and the results have been impressive!

At Weald our allotment-holders are resourceful, imaginative and thrifty, and the ways they are finding to meet the council’s requirements range from the simple to the simply beautiful. Here are a few for you to enjoy and please let me know if you have a favourite plot number that I haven’t featured yet!

This is Paul, showing how well the soft fruit is coming along this year …

Zuppa Toscana

 This is a simple, filling and delicious Italian style soup.

 Ingredients to purchase

 ½ a chorizo sausage, sliced

6 rasher bacon, either cubed or fried then crumbled

2 chicken stock cubes dissolved in 500ml water

120ml double cream

 Allotment ingredients

 1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 medium waxy potatoes, cubed

1 reasonable sized bunch kale, washed and stripped of large ribs

 Method

1. Fry the sliced sausage and onion together in a little olive oil until soft and the onion is translucent.
2. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Add the stock and potatoes and bring the pan to a boil before simmering for 15 minutes.
3. Add cream and kale and simmer for four minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

With thanks to Mary Ann for the recipe and Andy for passing it on!

Here’s Louisa, a real crop hero, from plot 274 – with a fantastic haul of beetroot!