Rutland road allotments.

24/03/2026

We took the opportunity to walk around the Roeshot hill allotment site today. Visiting other sites is a great way to pick up tips from others and a chance to see what people in different areas are getting up to. A strong presence of chickens and bees in the traditional fashion. Great organisation with free manure, wood chip and even spent hops being delivered to site. We hope you enjoy the pictures we captured on our tour.

19/03/2026

Competition time at the Rutland allotments. Starting this Sunday will be your chance to enter a competition to grow the largest mangelwurzul and the largest Sapporo cabbage. The seeds will be planted for you using premium compost. The rest is down to you.
We've all seen the mangelwurzul by now but have you seen the Sapporo giant cabbage? Capable of growing up to 20 kgs in weight. That's a lot of coleslaw. As ever there will be a prize for the winner. £1 entry per plant. You can buy more than one if you wish. There is limited availability as the seeds from this particular company are rather expensive so get in while you can. The weigh in date will be the summer fete for the mangelwurzul and slightly later in the year for the cabbage. A second mangelwurzul completion will be arranged for the Xmas get together.

The rules are. There are no rules. All veg must be thoroughly washed of all soil before weighing. How you grow them is entirely up to you.
May the heaviest veg win.

I will also be adding in some fun, less serious competitions for the summer fete such as, ugliest veg, longest carrot etc.

Prizes for all winners 🏆

16/03/2026

We've got potatoes, carrots and beetroot going in the ground as well as some hardy brassicas steadily growing away. What have you guys been planting? Share your allotment stories with us in the comments.
We want this page to be a place where we can all learn from each other by sharing successes and failures.
Show us your plots. If you show me yours I'll show you mine. 🧐

16/03/2026

We all look forward to Sunday morning brunch in the tea room. A place where we all get together for a hot drink and piece of cake. All donated by our amazing members.

13/03/2026

***URGENT NOTICE ***
Can all tenants please check their respective plots following the high winds last night. A number of greenhouse panels and lightweight polytunnels took flight, and have been returned to the correct plots as far as we know. But for some there's work to be done to secure properly.

10/03/2026

Last year we received a grant to help with the costs of adding a compostable toilet to our site. Along with money raised by the shop we were able to make the purchase. Today I can tell you that the project is complete and the toilet is now fully operational thanks to our secretary and any one else that assisted in getting it built and painted. Amazing work. An amazing addition to the Rutland road allotments.

10/03/2026

Shared by one of our allotment holders this afternoon. Spring is definitely on the way....

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

Check out our new onsite project at Rutland Road allotments. A newly created wildlife sanctuary and communal seating area for everyone to enjoy. Members of the committee have worked tirelessly. Digging out tonnes of historic rubbish that has been buried in the ground from historic allotment holders through the years. Tonnes and tonnes of earth has been moved to get to where we are now. Seating areas are planned to go in soon, with trees, shrubs and flowers all designed to fit in with the UK's natural flora and fauna to encourage all types of wildlife. Already we've had a huge sighting of slow worms and birds. The bird song that surrounds the area gives a calming reminder of why all the hard work was worth it.

You won't believe how much rubbish was cleared. Please take a look through the photos.

06/03/2026

Some top potato growing tips from our site secretary.
Please leave your potato growing tips in the comments. Learning from each other is the best way to pass along information.

Here's a useful guide to growing potatoes.

Courtesy of:- Potato House Seed Potatoes

What is mounding up and why should we do it? Some great advice to help your potatoes grow healthily.

The chitted potato will take around 2-3 weeks to break the soil once planted.

‍It's tough love time - cover the shoots up to encourage downward growth for more room for the new tubers

Don't worry if you haven't planted yet. Sometimes chitting takes longer than expected and sometimes the weather comes into play, and then of course there are times that life throws a curve ball. Just get the tubers in over the next week or so - Potatoes do not mind being chitted for longer and will still grow incredibly well.

When the emerging shoots come through, you need to “earth” or “mound” them up – this is counter intuitive. Do this several times. This encourages downward growth. Earthing up potatoes will increase the length of underground stems that will bear potatoes.

Mounding or earthing up means drawing up soil around the stems as they grow – to protect shoots from frost damage in late spring and more importantly, new tubers are jostling for space and this gives them more room ensuring the developing potatoes aren’t exposed to light, which turns them green and inedible.

It’s a simple process – once the shoots are about 23cm (9in) tall, mound soil up around them to form a ridge along the row, leaving just the top 10cm (4in) of the plants visible. As the stems grow taller, repeat the process several times, a few weeks apart. The final height of the ridge should be 20–30cm (8–12in). Some people advocate covering the entire plant – you could experiment to see which works best for you

If you are growing in grow bags or buckets, keep adding soil over a few weeks until it is at the top of the container.

Potatoes like to be watered but not water-logged and so ensure your pot or area has good drainage. Even watering throughout the season is important.

24/02/2026

Giant tree tomato seeds available from this weekend in the shop. Approx 6 seeds per pack so there's enough to share. A surprisingly cold hardy, heirloom variety that I grew in my garden last year. ( Not the one in the picture) But this is potentially what you could grow. The tomato is a tasty beefsteak variety. If you buy a packet get them started as soon as the light levels will let you. Start them inside on a bright window sill or under light. I've tested ten seeds and they have all germinated strong seedlings. I also urge you to save seeds and pass them on next year.

One plant will need at least 1 square meter of growing space with support as it grows.

Available from our shop in Christchurch this Sunday.