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✏️ Secretary’s Scribblings – Gloomy News Edition
While we wrestle with frost, slugs, pests, and an almost heroic amount of rain on the allotments, a much bigger battle is quietly unfolding right next door. The fields beside our site are alive with wildlife: buzzards, merlins, kestrels, sparrowhawks, pheasants, and red kites overhead, and on the ground deer, hares, rabbits, foxes, badgers, and even hedgehogs making regular appearances. This rich, thriving landscape is now under threat from a proposed housing development, and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Our community would be left a little poorer, a lot less wild, and with a precious connection to nature erased.
Meanwhile, it’s all systems go on the plots, or at least it will be once the weather allows. Some allotments are currently better suited to rice cultivation, and wellies remain essential kit. Each year, we arrive full of grand plans, and each year, the weather politely ignores us and does its own thing.
Yet this unpredictability is part of why these green spaces matter so much. They give us fresh air, exercise, food we’ve grown ourselves, and daily reminders of why nature needs space to thrive for wildlife and for people. Expect plenty of tips, tales, and muddy victories in the months ahead, but above all, let’s make sure our voices are heard. These fields, and this way of life, are worth standing up for. 🌱

This is probably how the area will change if the plans go ahead, viewed from the main car park, just my interpretation!

DON'T FORGET OUR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Our AGM will take place at the Vernon Arms, Locko Road, Spondon,
on Wednesday, 18th February 2026, commencing at 7 pm.
All members are welcome!
Free raffle 🎟️, free buffet 🥪 – come for the business, stay for the snacks!

The minutes & agenda can be found on our website under Notices, and the agenda is also displayed on all our noticeboards.

🌱 Seed Swap 🌱

Alongside the serious business of the AGM (nodding wisely, approving minutes, etc.), we’ll also be hosting a Seed Swap – as several members have asked if we’d be running one this year. Nothing says excitement quite like small envelopes of future vegetables! If you’ve got spare seeds hiding in tins, drawers, coat pockets, or packets bought with good intentions last year, bring them along. Veg, flowers, and herbs are all welcome.
Please label them if you can, so we don’t end up with “mystery courgettes” (although that does add an element of danger).
No seeds? No problem. You’re still very welcome to take some home. The aim is sharing, chatting, and convincing ourselves that this will be the year everything grows exactly as planned.
There’ll be a table set aside on the night, so have a rummage, swap a few seeds, and leave feeling quietly optimistic.

🌱 Jobs for February

February is the month where optimism begins to return… closely followed by frost, mud, and the realisation that winter isn’t quite done with us yet. Still, there’s plenty to be getting on with:
🌿 Plan, plan, and plan some more
Seed catalogues, scribbled notes, vague memories of last year’s disasters — now’s the time to decide what’s going where. Rotations look great on paper, even if reality later intervenes.
🌱 Start early sowings (with restraint)
If you’ve got a windowsill, greenhouse, or propagator, you can start off onions, leeks, chillies, and early tomatoes. Just remember: seedlings grow faster than February temperatures improve.
🧹 Tidy up plots
Clear away dead growth, tidy beds, and pretend the weeds aren’t already watching you. Any digging is best done when the soil isn’t frozen or resembling soup.
🍂 Compost care
Turn compost heaps if conditions allow, or at least reassure them they’ll be useful one day. Keep adding kitchen scraps — minus anything that might attract wildlife with expensive tastes.
🛠 Tool TLC
Clean, sharpen, and oil tools now — future you will be very grateful when spring arrives and everything suddenly needs doing at once.
❄️ Protect what’s growing
Check overwintering crops, firm plants lifted by frost, and use fleece or cloches when needed. February enjoys surprises.
🐌 Keep an eye out
Slugs, pigeons, and other plot “assistants” are already planning their return. Stay vigilant.
February may still feel like winter, but spring is quietly limbering up — probably just out of sight, behind another cold snap 🌱

Rent Day – Saturday 14th March 2026

⏰ 1:30–2:45 pm @ Spondon Village Hall
Cheques, cash, or carrier pigeons accepted
(well… maybe not pigeons). 🐦💸😄

Your Horticultural Problems Addressed
Dear Aunty Lotty,
I’ve got leeks that are still going strong, sprouts that survived Christmas, and a lone cabbage giving me the side-eye from the corner of the fridge. What can I possibly cook without resorting to soup… again?
Welcome to February and the first hints of spring peek out just to mock you. My advice? Embrace the leftovers! Turn those stubborn veg into a hearty winter bake, a mash-up of whatever survives, or even a slightly daring stir-fry. If it tastes good, call it gourmet.
🥘 Aunty Lottie’s February “Everything Goes” Bake🥘
Ingredients (rough guide – use whatever you’ve got!):
  • Any leftover root veg (leeks, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, sprouts…)
  • A handful of cabbage, kale, or other greens
  • Cheese (whatever’s lurking in the fridge, Stilton, cheddar, even the sad end of a block!)
  • A splash of cream, milk, or a couple of beaten eggs
  • Herbs and seasoning (thyme, rosemary, nutmeg, salt, pepper or whatever you can find)
  • Optional: cooked ham, leftover roast, or beans for protein
Method:
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
  2. Chop all veg into bite-sized chunks, the uglier, the better.
  3. Lightly sauté harder veg (carrots, parsnips, potatoes) in a pan for 5 -10 minutes to give them a head start.
  4. Layer everything in a baking dish, sprinkling cheese and herbs between layers. Add any cooked meat or beans if using.
  5. Mix the cream or eggs with a pinch of seasoning and pour over the veg.
  6. Top with a final layer of cheese.
  7. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until golden on top and the veg are tender.
  8. Serve hot, preferably with a cheeky glass of something warming.
Tip from Aunty Lottie: The more random the ingredients, the better the story when you serve it. Call it “experimental allotment cuisine” if anyone asks 😄
High in the mountains of Sweden stands Old Tjikko, a spruce whose root system has been regenerating for more than 9,500 years. That means it’s been quietly growing since the last Ice Age, long before the pyramids, Stonehenge, or even the first written languages. A true elder of the natural world.

"Not a lot of people know that!"
Lets keep the tree theme going .... 🤭

What’s the most popular dating app for trees?
"Timber."
How do trees use Facebook?
"They log in."
Why don't pine trees eat salad?
“Because they're coniferous.”
What do you call a nervous tree?
"A sweaty palm!"
Why did the trees need to take a nap?
“For rest”
What do trees drink?
"Root Beer!"

Before this branches out any further, I’ll leaf it there 🌿🤭😁
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