January 2016
Download a copy of the full January newsletter [PDF] here
Madam Chairman's Piece
Hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year. I am writing this on 7th Jan and still no real frost, so everything is out of synch – plants covered with juicy greenfly, crop of rhubarb for dinner tonight, some daffs going over already and birds making nests.
Please remember to renew your membership for 2016 and do add your e-mail address (if you have one) to your renewal slip. If you can bring along someone new to join, they would be very welcome.
If you haven’t ordered seeds with your WAGS discount from Dobies, you can still do so. The store is open if you need a copy of the catalogue & order form. This is also the time of year we sort out old seed packets, so remember the WAGS Store Seed Swap and do bring in your unwanted seeds to swap with something new, they can be half used packets or seed you have collected from your garden.
The next WAGS event is the AGM on Friday 8th April. This is followed by the famous plant sale on Saturday 7th May. Vegetable plants are very popular, so if you have spare seed, please sow it and donate the seedlings to your society (Ideally something other than tomatoes, as we have a lot of those already, unless it is an interesting variety of course!!). If you need pots to grow them in, we have lots of ‘pre-loved’ pots available in store for a small donation. If you bought 6-pack trays of bedding plants last year, please return the trays so we can use them again rather than have to buy new ones.
As always, we would love you to join the committee, or to say “I might be interested in running the Store for a couple of hours on Saturday – can you tell me more about it please Sandra?”
So now all we have to do is sit back and wait and see what sort of Winter Jan/Feb brings!
Sandra Halstead
Please remember to renew your membership for 2016 and do add your e-mail address (if you have one) to your renewal slip. If you can bring along someone new to join, they would be very welcome.
If you haven’t ordered seeds with your WAGS discount from Dobies, you can still do so. The store is open if you need a copy of the catalogue & order form. This is also the time of year we sort out old seed packets, so remember the WAGS Store Seed Swap and do bring in your unwanted seeds to swap with something new, they can be half used packets or seed you have collected from your garden.
The next WAGS event is the AGM on Friday 8th April. This is followed by the famous plant sale on Saturday 7th May. Vegetable plants are very popular, so if you have spare seed, please sow it and donate the seedlings to your society (Ideally something other than tomatoes, as we have a lot of those already, unless it is an interesting variety of course!!). If you need pots to grow them in, we have lots of ‘pre-loved’ pots available in store for a small donation. If you bought 6-pack trays of bedding plants last year, please return the trays so we can use them again rather than have to buy new ones.
As always, we would love you to join the committee, or to say “I might be interested in running the Store for a couple of hours on Saturday – can you tell me more about it please Sandra?”
So now all we have to do is sit back and wait and see what sort of Winter Jan/Feb brings!
Sandra Halstead
Store news
If you haven’t already picked one up, the Dobies catalogues are available in store. Remember that the catalogue now contains a code that you need to put on your order form. This code identifies that you are a WAGS member. You then simply send your order form and payment directly to Dobies for processing and they deliver to your home address. You will still get 30% on seeds and 10% on other items, so come and collect a catalogue and place your order.
POTATOES
Potatoes will be available from Saturday 27th February 2016. The varieties are: Arran Pilot; Foremost; Rocket; Charlotte; International Kidney; Cara; Desiree; Picasso; Rooster.
Onion sets and shallots will also be for sale.
HELP
Alec is recovering well, but is no longer able to help us in the store. He is sorely missed! As we are required to have a second person in the store at all times, a rota of helpers is being drawn up — if you have a spare hour or two on Saturday morning between 10 and 12*, please contact Sandra or Colin to add your name to the list. If there are particular dates you can do, let us know.
WAGS is also still looking for someone to take over the role of Store Manager, if you think this might be of interest, please get in touch.
WAGS Committee
* Please note: the Store will open for just one hour (11am to 12pm) in January and February. From Sat. 27th Feb. it will be open 10am to 12pm as usual.
POTATOES
Potatoes will be available from Saturday 27th February 2016. The varieties are: Arran Pilot; Foremost; Rocket; Charlotte; International Kidney; Cara; Desiree; Picasso; Rooster.
Onion sets and shallots will also be for sale.
HELP
Alec is recovering well, but is no longer able to help us in the store. He is sorely missed! As we are required to have a second person in the store at all times, a rota of helpers is being drawn up — if you have a spare hour or two on Saturday morning between 10 and 12*, please contact Sandra or Colin to add your name to the list. If there are particular dates you can do, let us know.
WAGS is also still looking for someone to take over the role of Store Manager, if you think this might be of interest, please get in touch.
WAGS Committee
* Please note: the Store will open for just one hour (11am to 12pm) in January and February. From Sat. 27th Feb. it will be open 10am to 12pm as usual.
Wallingford's All Sharing Project (WASP)
· Do you wish you had a garden big enough to grow vegetables and fruit to help feed yourself and your family?
· Would you like to share someone’s garden, which is too much for them to manage?
· The deal is, you put in the work to cultivate the area agreed upon, sow the seeds, look after and water the area, and get some produce.
· The owner shares some of the produce in return for the use of their garden.
· The owner has the enjoyment of seeing their garden put to good use.
OR
· Are you the owner of a garden, which you find is too large for you to manage alone?
· Would you enjoy seeing it being cultivated with vegetables, and sharing some of the produce?
· Would you enjoy seeing others get pleasure from growing vegetables in your garden?
· Do you have gardening knowledge that you could share with others?
Sustainable Wallingford, a community action group (CAG), are developing a garden sharing scheme, whereby Wallingford residents (initially), would be agreeing to certain named individuals coming to work in their garden, at agreed times, on an area designated.
A good rapport would be encouraged between householders and gardeners, with agreements as to what is grown to ensure the householder gets some of the veg / fruit that they like!
So if you have a garden you can no longer manage, or space in it where others could grow some vegetables, or want to grow food in someone’s garden, please contact Caron Spence on 01491 825034
· Would you like to share someone’s garden, which is too much for them to manage?
· The deal is, you put in the work to cultivate the area agreed upon, sow the seeds, look after and water the area, and get some produce.
· The owner shares some of the produce in return for the use of their garden.
· The owner has the enjoyment of seeing their garden put to good use.
OR
· Are you the owner of a garden, which you find is too large for you to manage alone?
· Would you enjoy seeing it being cultivated with vegetables, and sharing some of the produce?
· Would you enjoy seeing others get pleasure from growing vegetables in your garden?
· Do you have gardening knowledge that you could share with others?
Sustainable Wallingford, a community action group (CAG), are developing a garden sharing scheme, whereby Wallingford residents (initially), would be agreeing to certain named individuals coming to work in their garden, at agreed times, on an area designated.
A good rapport would be encouraged between householders and gardeners, with agreements as to what is grown to ensure the householder gets some of the veg / fruit that they like!
So if you have a garden you can no longer manage, or space in it where others could grow some vegetables, or want to grow food in someone’s garden, please contact Caron Spence on 01491 825034