The WEA Organic Gardening Course in the shed
We have done well with generous support from individuals, businesses and organisations working in the community.
The latest act of generosity has arrived on the back of a tipper truck, from a building site run by Leadbitter Limited. Taking down the hoarding around the construction site in the centre of Cardiff, they offered the posts and boards for us to use at the allotments.
Allotment holders are always delighted when someone is generous enough to supply free materials and the Taff plots and our neighbours will make good use of this material from Leadbitter – thank you for helping us out.
On the Federation of City Farms course, we all learned that the future of funding projects could become more difficult and that we need to learn what our grandparents would have fondly called thrift and foraging. It’s also about calling upon the skills of negotiation, bartering and a touch of talking your way in with people who can help you.
We heard some great examples from an orchard project in Abergavenny and a youth project in Rhondda Cynon Taff, where people have asked and received.
Back at the Taff Community Allotments, we are already thinking ahead to our plans for next year. Work is underway on our box beds, using the scaffolding planks donated by Generation Hire. We are also hoping to source some free rotted wood mulch, which will make a great soil conditioner.
Meanwhile, the new Workers Education Association accredited course on Pests and Diseases is under way. Tutor Aisling Judge has a ‘full house’ of with 12 willing students attending the sessions at the allotment shed on Tuesday afternoons. The recently completed Organic Gardening course proved a hit, with everyone learning lots.
One good pointer from Aisling is to ask the farms we source our manure from about whether it can be called organic or whether they use any treatments on the pasture land.
Taff Housing Allotment Project 