Leeds Allotments Federation
Apply to Leeds Council for funding.
Self-managed allotment sites in Leeds can now apply to a Community Committee fund skip hire. You can email them for the application pack. Then, read through Frequently Asked Questions, and fill in the Small Grant Application Form. It is not too difficult, and and once you have the money you can arrange with the skip company exactly when and where you want the skip delivered and picked up.
Timetable of Learning Day + AGM
Our first Learning Day of 2025, including short AGM at HEART Headingley. Details are on the Event Calendar. Here is the Timetable for the day:
| 09:15 to 09:45 | Registration and Coffee | Shire Oak Hall |
|---|---|---|
| 09:45 | Welcome | Shire Oak Hall |
| 10:00 to 10:45 | Joe Lofthouse talks on the Vegetable Garden at Harlow Carr | Shire Oak Hall |
| 10:45 | Workshop 1 | Shire Oak Hall: Making and Managing Raised Beds Claremont: Composting Ridge: Clearing your new plot |
| 11:30 | Coffee | In Workshop rooms |
| 11:45 to 12:30 | Workshop 2 | In rooms as above. Delegates move to a second workshop |
| 12:30 to 13:30 | Lunch and AGM | Shire Oak Hall |
| 13:30 to 14:15 | Workshop 3 | In rooms as above. Delegates move to a second workshop |
| 14:30 to 15:30 | ‘Cuttings’; short presentations to include: 1. Recipients of this year’s LAF grants 2. Plot inspections, how and why? 3. Fundraising for Associations | Shire Oak Hall |
| 15:30 | Tea and Raffle Draw | Shire Oak Hall |
| 16:00 | Q & A | Shire Oak Hall |
| 16:30 | Close |
Great talks for Leeds allotment growers
Great talks for Leeds allotment growers, especially those new to it. Book your place at Ticket Tailor.
Misleading labels on fruit and veg
Some supermarket fruit and veg may look like they were grown in Britain, but that is not always true, according to an article in the BBC.
Of course, if you have and allotment you know where your fruit and veg come from!
For neglected or overgrown trees.
Winter is the time to prune neglected or overgrown apple and pear trees. Here is some simple advice from the RHS.
August is the time.
Here are two useful articles from the RHS about summer pruning apples and pears:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/features/summer-pruning-fruit-trees
With LAF Secretary, Rosie.
The Yorkshire Post did a piece about Allotment Week . It is a good feature on the benefits of allotments and gardening in general, with nice photos of our LAF Secretary Rosie and some wise words most of us would agree with.
Development as flats blocked.
Park Road Allotments in London saved from development into flats.
(Prunus domestica) One of the first fruits domesticated in Europe.
Plums may be one of the first fruits domesticated in Europe. Remains of our modern European plum (Prunus domestica) from neolithic times (over 5000 years ago) are only found around human settlements. Subspecies of Prunus domestica include damsons and bullaces, prunes, Victoria plums, greengages, and mirabelle plums.
Cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera) are the ancestor of our modern plums, and they are still found growing wild in places. They are native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia.
Several different species of plums were domesticated in China in ancient times. North America has a dozen or so species of wild plum.
(Pyrus communis) The common European pear.
The common European pear (Pyrus communis) is one of over thirty species of Pyrus which originated in the Chinese section of the Tien Shan mountain range and spread outward from there. There is evidence that pears were picked from wild trees in Europe long before they were cultivated by the Greeks and Romans 2000 years ago. Several Roman authors described grafting pears to propagate the best varieties. The Chinese were grafting their own kinds of pears around 4000 years ago.
There are over 40 varieties of European pears cultivated, but just four of them account for 95% of production world wide.