Category Archives: Allotments

Onsite Recycling & Compost/Horse Manure/Wood Chip resources

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Hi Everyone,

As part of the Committee’s work to help make the Allotment Site and Plots better able to deal with rubbish; Special_Bulletin-109 (click on image below for your own copy) explains how we are helping tenants deal with Metal, Glass, Wood and other recycling on site.

Also, Special_Bulletin-110 (click on image below for your own copy) is a list of Compost, Horse Manure and Wood chip resources. If you have any suitable resources that you have used that are not on our list, please let us know for future publication.

The Committee expects to make further announcements about other types of rubbish disposal/recycling schemes soon.

If you have any questions about this Special Bulletin, please contact us at readingroadplots@woodley-allotments.org.uk or reply to this post below.

Many thanks &
Kind regards

Mike McNamara
Chair – WATA Committee

Next WATA General Meeting – Monday 10th November – BEES

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Hi all,

Just a short reminder of our next monthly general meeting at the Oakwood Centre in Woodley on the 10th November at 7.30pm,

We will have a short update on Allotment Business items followed by a talk from a Tony Luck who is the Learning & Development Officer for the WDBKA – a local beekeeper association. Tony will talk to us about Bees, their habits and biology and their management. He will touch on the differences between Bees, wasps and Hornets (including the invasive Yellow Legged Hornet) and between Honey bees and Bumblebees.

He will look at the way bees live in synchronicity with plants and trees and with the changing of the seasons. Tony is also a Wokingham Beekeeper who has been keeping bees for over 5 years manages around 15 Honey Bee colonies in various apiaries in the Wokingham area.

The talk will last for about 45 minutes. Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Many thanks &
Kind regards

Mike McNamara
Chair – WATA Committee

Managed Bonfires and Site Entrance Clear up

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Managed Bonfires

As mentioned in a previous Special Bulletin (See below), WTC has given us permission to hold Managed Bonfires outside the normal post-4pm restrictions. This allows tenants to dispose of wood rubbish on their plots who may not want to have individual plot bonfires during the darkening hours of autumn and winter.

With that in mind, we have chosen Wednesday, 12th November at 10:30am as the date for the first Managed Bonfire.

From today (30th October), tenants may deposit wood only (e.g., loose branches, old/broken pallets, old timber) at the designated collection point near the back gate, marked by red-topped stakes — see below image. Please do not deposit any other materials besides wood.

Site Entrance Clean-Up

As also mentioned recently, a working party will be formed to clean up the gate and noticeboard area. The Committee has chosen the weekend of Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November for this task and is asking for volunteers to come along and help.

The work will include:

  • Strimming
  • Removal of undergrowth and brambles
  • Topping off some bushes

The aim is to create a clean, flat area around the noticeboard and nearby space, where we can lay weed-suppressant material, cover it with gravel or stones, and add raised beds for flowers and shrubs.

If you can help, please reply to this email, and we’ll add you to the list of volunteers. We plan to meet inside the main gate at 10:30am on Saturday, 15th November. If extra time is needed, we’ll return the following day.

Many thanks &
Kind regards

Mike McNamara
Chair – WATA Committee

Next WATA General Meeting – Monday 13th October – LIFE IN THE SOIL

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Our next WATA General meeting will be held on Monday 13th October at the Oakwood Centre in Woodley, this time starting at 7pm. As with previous meetings, we will start with a general Allotment Associating update on a number of items, followed by a guest speaker.

This meeting’s guest speaker will be Jonny Furze, who is a Compost Scaling Engineer from Soil Ecology Laboratory/Soil Smiths. They are a research company that looks at the best ways to enhance soil quality.

In terms of the evening talk, it will be a general outline of the microbiological life (soil food web) within the soil, introducing people to how the web of life within the soil functions, and how various parts of the web interact with plants to bring nutrition to the plants. There will also be a review on composting, which we think will be of interest to all tenants, along with a few tips.

One interesting aspect of this talk is that they ask you to bring along a soil/compost sample from your plot to have it analysed under microscopes so you can see exactly what is in it.

Their talk will be about 45 minutes long and they encourage people to come along with questions. Once the talk has finished, people can continue questioning them as they start to look through their samples. Hence, the earlier start of this meeting.

Soil Smiths are a commercial company that manufactures and sells products related to the topic of this talk, which they will being along and offer a 20% discount on any purchased on the night. Just so everyone is aware, the Committee have no financial interest in or any connection with Soil Ecology Laboratory/Soil Smiths, we however think it will be an interesting talk for all that attend.

Please let us know by responding to this post as soon as possible or via readingroadplots@woodley-allotments.org.uk, so that we can get an idea of how many people may want to attend.

Many thanks &
Kind regards

Mike McNamara
Chair – WATA Committee

Dobies Seeds Group Scheme for 2025

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Hi everyone,

Just when you thought it was time for a bit of a rest with your allotment as you gaze at this year’s harvest, it’s now time to think about next year’s seed ordering!

Teresa Buley (Plot E18) will be once again be running the organising of the seed ordering.

The process for getting this year’s seed order is:

  • Click on the image of this year’s Dobies Seeds Group Scheme Order Form at the bottom of this post and print it out
  • If you can’t print this form out, copies of the order form (along with a number of print catalogues) will be left in the covered box attached to the Allotment Notice Board at the Reading Road gate entrance
  • If you have internet access, visit the Dobies Seed website – https://www.dobies.co.uk/
  • Browse through the online and/or print catalogue and fill out the form, using the prices from the online website or in the print catalogue
  • Once you have your sub-totals, work out the applicable discount, 20% for Packet Seeds and 5% for non-Seed Live Products (i.e. Plants, Potatoes, Onion Sets etc.)
  • Add the discounted totals to the final total in the bottom right corner of the Order Form and this is what you need to pay
  • Payments should be made direct to Teresa Buley either via Cheques along with the completed Order Form, or via Cash or Bank Transfer to Bank Sort Code: 09-01-26, Bank Account: 23892418
  • Completed Order Forms and Full Payment need to be with Teresa by 30th November 2025.

Any questions, please contact Teresa on teresa.buley@woodley-allotments.org.uk.

Our thanks go to Teresa for once again, organising this massive task.

Many thanks &
Kind regards

Mike McNamara
Chair – WATA Committee

      Newsletter Editor – What would you like to see?

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      The Allotments Association is on the lookout for a new Newsletter Editor.

      It has been quite a while since we last published our Newsletter, which is another way of keeping all tenants informed about various news items and other activities.

      Would you be interested in contributing to the community of the allotment site? Past newsletters were published in PDF form, with originals being created in PowerPoint & Word, though you don’t have to use either. Perhaps a new design refresh might be in order, do you have ideas? What would you like to see in a revived Newsletter?

      If you’re interested, simply contact the Committee on readingroadplots@woodley-allotment.org.uk and we will arrange a meeting to discuss your ideas for a Newsletter revamp.

      Here are two links to past copies of the newsletter to give you an idea of what used to be published.

      Border Marking – Red Posts

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      The Committee has this week started the Woodley Town Council (WTC) project to re-mark out all the plots on our Allotment site.

      Over the next few months, you will begin to see red topped stakes appearing on your plot areas, these will serve two purposes.

      One is to define the area of your plots as WTC believe it to be, the other is to define an approx. 40cm divide/pathway between the sides of each defined plot, these in some cases have completely disappeared and need to be reestablished. The final divide/pathway between the rear of adjoining plots (e.g. B/C, D/E, F/G & H/J) due to the erratic nature of some of the read divide/pathways will be addressed later on.

      Once you see the Red topped stakes on your plot, please do not move or remove them. If you believe that there has been an error made in the marking of your plot/border, please contact the Committee on this email address and we will meet with you to address the issue.

      This project will take some time to complete and may appear at times being randomly carried out. However, we appreciate all tenant’s cooperation during the period of this task.

      Many thanks &
      Kind regards

      Mike McNamara
      Chair – WATA Committee

      Fruit Trees & Bushes – 2025

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      It looks like this year has been a good year for fruit, but now it’s that time of year when you need to be considering next year’s Fruit Trees and Bushes purchases.

      See below for this year’s competitive price list and all the information you need for ordering, payment and delivery.

      Click on the image below to download your copy of the Order Form. Happy Planting.