Not all weeds are bad. In fact, a weed is just a plant in the wrong or an unwanted place.
Some of them are very tasty. Just look at brambles. They can be a pain in the neck on a plot, true. But if you cut them back to a few canes and train them, they can, in a good year, provide plentiful fruit.
How much fruit? Well, one year, we had enough that would have cost us as much as our rent, had we bought the fruit from the shops.
And then there’s nettles. Not only can they be used as green, or as a tea, they also make a potent fertiliser if steeped in a bucket of water.
Another good weed is fat hen. It grows freely in late summer and is easily knocked back as it has a very short root. But it tastes delicious, like a mild spinach.
Cleavers is another weed that grows freely on our allotment sites and ca be used to feed your family.
Next time you see something you don’t recognise, don’t just dig it up, see if it has another use.

London Borough of Redbridge has been asked by gas company supplier Cadent for the right to take over an allotment site in Wanstead.

https://www.change.org/p/redbridge-council-save-redbridge-lane-west-allotments-from-cadent?use_react=false

It will strip it and use the site as a car park for upgrade work, apparently. But once lost, who can believe this will ever be returned to allotment use?

On the other side of the road, Thames Water has a Victorian pumping station with a huge amount of land that could be used for parking.

This is backdoor development and must be resisted. Allotments have been in huge demand ever since the financial crisis of 2008. This demand has only increased with increased awareness of mental health and the need to get out and get some exercise.

My first experience of an allotment was on this site, as my old man had a plot for a number of years. That’s not my reason for keeping it. It has been an allotment for more than 50 years – quite possibly as much as twice that – and this site will be lost if the council allows this to happen.

Please consider signing this petition. It only takes a minute and you’ll be doing something to make you feel good about yourself.

But if you don’t want to sign it, PLEASE SHARE it, so others might. Thank you.

Congratulations to our own Ronkeyram Doal who has again made the local paper with his giant blooms.

The Benton Road member caught the attention of the news desk at the Ilford Recorder with his giant sunflowers that have grown to a height of 16 and a half feet.

Read the story at: https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/garden-celebrates-tallest-sunflowers-in-seven-kings-1-6228149

Also, check out his previous appearance in the Recorder in 2017: https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/seven-kings-gardener-celebrates-growing-huge-sunflower-in-charming-photoshoot-1-5193015

Thank you to those volunteers who braved the hot muggy weather to load the skip at Benton Road.

The skip ws needed to remove rubbish that had been left on vacated plots or dumped over our perimeter fence. There was also some domestic rubish believed to have been dumped by our own members.

We now have a number of cameras around the site and members caught dumping rubbish will find themselves facing disciplinary action and quite probably a fine.

However, to the majority of our members, please keep doing what you can to minimise waste. Remember you are responsible for anything you bring on to the site.

So if you bring it on and use it, take it away when it is empty.

SKGAS is holding a Spring Plant and Seed Swap on Sunday 19th May.
Anyone can come along – you don’t have to be a member – but please bring along any spare plants, seeds, magazines or books to share with others in our community.
Come to the Vicarage Lane South Trading Hut between 0930 and 1200 and maybe find something useful for yourself.
Refreshments will be available.

Hedgehogs love slugs and we should do all we can to encourage them onto our sites.

At last night’s AGM, SKGAS members passed a motion to remove all blue slug pellets from our sites this summer, in preparation for a nationwide ban which comes into force in Spring 2020.

The volunteers who cleared the huge pile of discarded rubbish. Thanks also to Peter Gulliver.

A Herculean effort was made on Friday 22 June to clear a huge mound of rubbish that had been recently let to new members.

A small group of volunteers spent 90 minutes filling a 12 yard skip with carpet, glass and other rubbish left on former members’ plots.

The rubbish had to be cleared quickly as some careless members had piled the rubbish against a neighbour’s fence.

Aside from the time committed, this has cost your society several hundred pounds. This is money we would have preferred to have spent on replacing the lawnmower or rotavator.

Carpet is no longer permitted on growing surfacs, but please consider the items you bring onto the site. The huge yellow bag in the picture is full of drinks cans, plastic bottles and glass jars, which may all be recycled with your domestic waste.
If it cannot be composted, take it away, as the rules state that members who leave the society may be charged for clearing up any rubbish they leave behind.

Anyway, if you see these wonderful people, do thank them for clearing up this mess. It was a filthy job on one of the hottest days of the year and as usual conducted by a small rump of members.

While you may not have been available today, please don’t hesitate to let your stewards know that you can help. Alternatively, ask to join the What’s App list for your site and you will be notified when we are trying to put together a work party.

There are fringe benefits, too, as those on the app will be told when a delivery, such as wood chip, arrives.

Ronkey Ram receives the Alderman Clark Cup from SKGAS president Paul Dye

Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society – Competition Results 2017

Alderman Clark Cup 2017 (Best Allotment – score out of 100)

1^st  Ronkey Ram – Benton Road   91                                                              

2^nd Karnail Banwait – Benton Road   90

3^rd  Sheila Nisbet – Goodmayes   87 

Sheila Nisbet

John Mackin

Highly Commended:

John Mackin – Goodmayes  86 ½

Sandra Norondha – Benton Road   85

Nirmal Singh      Benton Road 83

Joginder Singh    Benton Road   83

Oscar Marvell  Goodmayes 83

Chatting Cup 2017 (New Starters)   

Balbir Singh, winner of the Chatting Cup with SKGAS president Paul Dye

1st Balbir Singh (Benton Road)        85

2^nd Sheratun Nabi  (Benton Road)      68 

Alan Hooker cup

Ronkey Ram receives the Alan Hooker Cup from SKGAS president Paul Dye

Ronkey Ram    Benton Road 91