Make Hay When the Sun Shines (And When It Doesn’t!)

Spring into action may sound a bit cliche but it certainly feels like that’s what we’ve been doing since the onset of spring so there’ll be no holding back on the cliches in this blog…..

To Market, To Market

We kicked off April with a lovely sunny market day selling our organic wares including our home grown seeds, climbing-out-of-the-pot strawberry and mint plants, the traditional allotment eggs and of course our homemade organic cider vinegar.

It’s A Bug’s Life

Last Wednesday we had our very first bug hunt.  With the help of Matt from the Greater Manchester Record Centre, a butterfly net and some very keen wildlife hunters (big and small) we explored the world in miniature at Moss Side Community Allotment and we had plenty of surprises.  After a grueling hunt, our brave insect seekers made some beautiful bug hotels to take home with them.

Off the Ground

And then for the weekend…..when we held our second raised bed workshop with plenty of participants.  Twelve lovely ladies rolled their sleeves up and got on with some sawing and screwing as they learnt about the benefits of this piece-of-cake growing method.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

We finished up last week with our marvelous Little Diggers event- we were joined by 11 little diggers and several big diggers too to paint some beautiful pots and hear the tale of the King and the Seed.

Event: “The Village-in-the-City Fete” @ Moss Side Community Allotment, Sun July 27th

A free traditional summer afternoon of family fun and games down at the lottie….

-Family games including throwing a wet sponge in Phil Dodd’s face, tombola, hoopla, hook-a-duck, pin-the-tail on the chicken and many more…
-Children’s Corner with craft-making, face-painting, storytelling and nature treasure hunt

Sunday, July 27 at 2:00pm – 6:00pm

Moss Side Community Allotment open day – 21st September

Congratulations to everyone who sowed, weeded, dug, baked, cooked, tidied, planned and put up tents for the Open Day at Moss Side Community Allotment on September 21st. We saw dozens of people pass through during the day, from the surrounding streets to as far away as Longsight and Heaton Moor, in the shape of groups coming to see what’s happening here and get advice and inspiration.

Here are just a few pictures of the day, and the allotments people came to see:

Youtube: This ol (green) house

Well, speaks for itself.

If you are a lawyer for the corporation that owns the copyright for this clip, can we keep it up? Please? Pretty please? Fair use? Derivative work? Grovel grovel.

Moss Side Community Allotment: the movie!

Open Day!

Tomorrow, Saturday 15th September, is Moss Side Community Allotment’s grand open day. There will be members of the allotment team there to answer questions and show you the amazing strides we’ve made in less than a year. There’ll be refreshments and you’ll be able to sample some of the local, organic produce we’ve grown on the site this summer.
You’ll also be able to find out about future plans, including the chickens which will be coming to live on the allotment in a couple of weeks’ time, the ponds which we’ll be building to attract frogs and newts to keep allotment pests down, the wildflower gardens planned to help attract bees and other beneficial insects, and a proposed herb garden.
Moss Side Community Allotment is about creating a welcoming environment where local residents can work together to get to know one another, reduce our carbon footprint and other environmental impacts, produce cheap, nutritious fresh fruit and vegetables for us and our families, get exercise and fresh air, and generally have fun!
BBC Radio Manchester will be broadcasting live from the open day at 11.45 if you can’t make it down.
The Open Day runs from 10am, and more information on this and other allotment open days around Manchester can be found here.

Moss Side Community Allotment mentioned in The Guardian

Moss Side Community Allotment, along with Cranswick Square Residents Group‘s achievements just over the road, warranted a mention in The Guardian’s regular ‘Let’s Move To…’ column, focusing on Moss Side:

“For fresh, local organic veg, Moss Side Community Allotment is the place to be – an active group of residents who have cleared up several derelict allotments and now have chickens, vegetables, a mini-orchard, fruit bushes and plans for beehives”.

The Full article is here.

This weekend on the allotment – 21/7

We will be at allotment until about 12.30pm, as the Envirolution event starts at Platt Fields at 1pm and some of our members would like to attend.
We have gained a small additional area on the allotment, where currently some logs are stacked. We now have permission to remove these from the site and clear the area. I have arranged for some logs to transported off the plot. But if anyone knows anywho would like some logs please send them down to allotment to collect.
We have a Facebook page keeping everyone updated. If you would like to sign up to this please do. Even if you are not a member of the allotment group, we would still like you and like-minded people to sign up. The aim is to encourage people to swap ideas, information about environmental issues, garden news, events and so on. If you know of others who my be interested please pass on.

This weekend on Moss Side Community Allotment

This weekend’s work sessions on Moss Side Community Allotment are a little bit up in the air because of the wet weather. If it looks dry enough at around 10am on Saturday and/or Sunday do come along – we plan to be unearthing the first new potatoes from the site. If you can’t make it and are an existing volunteer wanting your share, please drop Phil a line and arrange a time.

Moss Side community allotment – volunteer hours this weekend

Just a quick reminder that volunteer hours on Moss Side Community Allotment are on again this weekend, so we hope to see as many as possible of you there. We meet at 10am every Saturday and Sunday morning and stick around for a couple of hours, depending on what jobs need doing. There is usually tea and biscuits at some point! And don’t forget, all volunteers get to share in the fresh, local, organic fruit and vegetables from the allotment.