This subject always sounds difficult and produces much discussion amongst new vegetable growers. However, there is plenty of advice available and with a little reading the matter becomes much more simple and less like some form of deep gardening magic.

The Royal Horticultural Society has a simple explanation and plans on its website. If you want to read more deeply on the subject then this link gives you historical background as well as detailed family groups of vegetables.

We also have our well priced seeds for the year on sale and the most popular stock seems to be selling rapidly. We also have a range of garden sundries on sale as usual.

We will re-open on Saturday 7th January 2012 and will be open from 10 am till 12 noon the rest of the winter, spring and summer.

We wish all our allotment holders and members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all again next year if we do not see you again in 2012.

If your family is looking for a present for a family gardener, there is an excellent selection of books to be found on Amazon and you could ask for any of them.

Recently one of our members showed us Caroline Foley’s Allotment Source Book down at the Hut. This is an interesting book by a well-known writer.

We keep The Vegetable and Herb Expert on hand down at the Hut as a reference book to help us to answer simple questions. This is an excellent book for the very new gardener.

We hope that these suggestions help with presents for the family gardener over the next month or so.

We shall not be closing the huts, just reducing the hours for these two months as we do every year.

Normal opening hours of 10am till  12 noon will be restored from the beginning of January 2012 so that allotment holders can come in and pay their annual rents and start shopping for the new season.

Official Opening Ceremony

This morning, County Councillor Bill Garrett officially opened the Prudhoe Gardeners’ Association Huts with disabled access.

Thanks goes to money and grants received from

• Hammerite Products Ltd - £1500.00
• Members Donations – £1500.00
• A Community Foundation Grassroots Grant – £1500.00
• Councillor Bill Garrett’s donation – £3000.00 from his council allocation
• Prudhoe Community Partnership’s Health and Well being Working group – £500

This money has enabled Prudhoe Gardeners’ Association to replace the original store shed, erect a small shed for storage of equipment for the annual Prudhoe Town Show and to open a shed which acts as a sales and administration facility.

The money has also allowed Prudhoe Gardeners’ Association to replace the entrance facility with properly constructed disabled access including a handrail and to replace the fence between the huts and adjacent properties.

Huts were erected by either members or suppliers. Watson Construction North East Ltd undertook the work involved in the disabled access, handrail and fence.

We look forward to seeing old and new members at our modern facility in the coming year.

Well here is an interesting article on the history of the greenhouse.

It’s a grand thing for most of us that the greenhouse became common in the early part of last century as it has allowed so many allotment holders and ordinary gardeners to grow a wider variety of crops.

Two interesting articles elsewhere on the web, give information and advice on how to grow brassicas if you find that your soil is affected by this soil borne organism.

An article from the website Allotment Vegetable Growing is very informative. Similar practical advice is given by the National Vegetable Society.

Both articles are well worth reading.

Prudhoe Gardeners’ Association chose the allotment sites at Stony Flatts and Redwellto represent Prudhoe Town in 2011. Although not the overall winners, the sites received a gold medal certificate.

Thanks is due to the hard work that all the plot holders put in to make sure that these sites looked spruce and well maintained on the day.