Important - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
Updated 8th April 2020 21:30



  • Government advice: It is still permitted to cultivate your plot for daily exercise, provided you follow all advice about social distancing and hygiene and limit your time outside the home.
  • NSALG believe it is reasonable to spend an hour or so doing essential tasks on the plot and then return home.
  • If allotments are to continue to be legitimate exercise, we must follow all guidelines. NSALG suggest you work your plot on your own, ie not even with household members. The concern is that sites may be shut, as they have been in Ireland and France. By visiting alone or staying away for a while, we may reduce the risk of closure.
  • Social distancing means keeping an absolute minimum of 2 metres apart. Do not gather to chat even if you are 2 metres apart.
  • If you or anyone else in your household has symptoms of Covid 19 you must stay away from the site.
  • The toilets at Vinery and Burnside are closed until further notice.
  • The Vinery Pavilion is not to be used until further notice. Do not even open the door.
  • Vinery gates: the top gate is locked until further notice; the other gate will be opened by Suzy at 8:30am and closed at 7pm. Do not open or touch it yourself.
  • Burnside gates: use gloves when locking and unlocking.
  • Bonfires: as a courtesy to our neighbours on both sites, please don’t light any bonfires; for some people, an open window may be their only fresh air.
  • Livestock on site: animal welfare considerations mean this will be seen as essential travel even if movement is restricted further.
  • PLEASE ensure that there is no unauthorised access to your site.
  • Do not share tools or use communal equipment
  • Do not wash your hands, tools or crops in water troughs
  • PLEASE check this website regularly for new information and updates.


External links

Click here to visit the NHS website for information and advice.

Click here to visit the NSALG website for allotment-specific advice.


Site enquiries

For Vinery-specific enquiries, please email  vinery

For Burnside-specific enquiries, please email  burnsidesitemanager

What's new in the last 14 days

24 May 2020
The Society Store is open once again, for online orders only.
24 May 2020
The results of the last set of quizzes (week-ending 24th May 2020) and the next is now available.
22 May 2020
Did you know May 23-31 is National Children’s Gardening Week?
11 May 2020
New time-lapsed video of the night-life at Burnside.

Welcome to your Society site!

Follow the links on this page to keep up to date with what is going, look at our photo albums, get growing and cooking ideas, check out the store, and much more.

Let us know what you think about the site and any suggestions you have about content. Better still, send us an article or some photos.

Email me, Joan, at webmaster

For many years, Trevor Taylor, the Society's Honorary President, produced a regular allotment newsletter called Weeder’s Digest, which usually included growing tips, general allotment news and recipes. Here is our equivalent.

This page is an at-a-glance view of what is new, what is happening and, hopefully, what is interesting in the world of allotmenteering and of the Society. If there is anything you think we should be talking about, or anything you would like to contribute, let us know.

Did you know May 23-31 is National Children’s Gardening Week?

Children's week

This coming week is National Children’s Gardening Week. See page 16 of the current issue of Allotment & Leisure Gardener, the NSALG magazine if you can get hold of it (Issue 2, 2020). This includes a link to a nice website – www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk / fun-things-to-do which is full of lovely ideas for garden related activities for children.

We can’t hold communal activities under Covid-19 restrictions, which means there are no children’s gatherings on the site at the moment. But we thought it would be nice to mark National Children’s Gardening Week by inviting you to send photographs of your recent gardening and craft activities with the children. Please send them to rachel.epoche@gmail.com in the first instance and they will be uploaded to the website photograph gallery as soon as possible.

Happy gardening and crafting!

Society

The Society page contains important documentation and details of your committee representatives.

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Blogs

Tips, recipes, personal experiences - all here

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Photos

We always like to record events, people, plots, and the changing of the seasons in photographs. If you have any you'd like to display, let the webmaster know.

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Calendar

63 days days since lockdown started.

This year's AGM is cancelled due to concerns over coronavirus

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Noticeboard
This is the place for all your allotment-related needs and offers: help, equipment, sheds and greenhouses, plants and produce.
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There's always something to do

NSALG produces a list of jobs to think about each month:

April
May
June

 
Store

The Society runs a Store, open now to early summer, selling allotment essentials at low prices.

This year, while coronavirus is a threat, only online orders will be taken.

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External Links
We are always happy to provide links to external sites which are likely to be of interest to our members.
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Community projects
The Society is delighted to be able to offer its support to a variety of community, charitable and academic projects. We are always open to new ideas.
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If you have any dates you would like us to put in the diary, email the webmaster

This year's AGM, scheduled for Wednesday 22nd April, is cancelled due to concerns over coronavirus
The Society's store at Burnside is open from March 22nd for online orders only. Click here for more details.

Burnside's troughs were cleaned and refilled for summer on Thursday 26th March. Please read and follow the instructions shown on notices attached to the side of each trough, regarding their use.

Burnside trough, cleaned and refilled

The following are links to external web sites. Clicking on a link will open a new page and take you automatically to the site. We do not monitor these links and you follow them at your own risk. Please let us know if you think that a link is inappropriate.

If you have a favourite site which you think would interest others, please email webmaster

Gardening for children

It can be difficult to keep the children entertained when you are on your plot. However, this site is jam-packed with fun activities for little ones - guaranteed to keep them busy.
childrensgardeningweek.co.uk

Birdwood Area Residents' Association (BARA)

A really informative site about Birdwood Road in the South Of Cambridge, and the surrounding area - including Burnside.
baracambridge.org

Allotment & Gardens - Advice and useful information

Tips, tricks, self-help videos, recipes and more. It includes an active forum -useful now that our own forum is off-line.

allotment-garden.org

Everything you always wanted to know about carrots, and more besides

Allegedly the world's first virtual museum of the carrot - and who are we to judge?

carrotmuseum.co.uk

The National Allotment Society

The NSALG has an active site with all sorts of useful tips and advice.

nsalg.org.uk

Two Thirsty Gardeners

Digging and swigging through the seasons.

twothirstygardeners.co.uk

No Dig Organic Gardening

"Charles is an acclaimed innovator of no dig, organic growing since 1983, and since 2003 of new ways to crop salad leaves. His original, weed free methods give superb results in both small and large areas...."

charlesdowding.co.uk

Blight Watch

Watching for and dealing with blight - recommended by Andy Kurdynowski. It’s free to register, and if you do you will get email warnings when there is a likelihood, or indeed instances, of blight in your chosen postcode area.

blightwatch.co.uk

This is the place for all your allotment-related needs and offers. These can be anything from help, to equipment, to sheds and greenhouses, through to plants and produce.

Email the webmaster to post a notice, including what it is you are offering or want, a price, if appropriate, and how you may be contacted. Attach a photo if you would like that to be shown.

Burnside Store29/04/2019

Hand-made aprons
Aprons, lovingly hand-made by Jill from Burnside. Available from the Store for a minimum donation of £3
Burnside Store14/07/2018

For sale
Yellow plastic trug - new. £9.50
Burnside Store14/07/2018

For sale
Folding barrow - as new. £20
Burnside Store14/07/2018

For sale
Builder's wheelbarrow - new. £50

The store is located at the Burnside entrance to the Burnside site. It was revamped in 2017.

How to buy your allotment goods

24th May 2020: The store is open, once again, for online orders only.

The process for placing your orders is detailed below. Everything is being done to provide as good a service as possible, whilst minimising any potential risks to all concerned.

Placing an order
  1. Check the price list below and select the items and quantities you require.
  2. Email your order to the Store Manager (see below for the email address).
  3. The Store Manager will confirm if all items and quantities are in stock, provide a total price, give bank account details, and offer an order collection date and time.
  4. Pay by on-line bank transfer. Advise the Store Manager when payment is complete and agree the collection time or request a different one.
  5. Collect your order from outside the Burnside store at the time agreed. You will also receive an "order ready to collect" email.

For more information email the store manager

Burnside Store Price list 2020

Grow Organic 50L£6.00 Sold out
Blended Farmyard Manure 40L£5.00
Multi-Purpose Compost 75L£5.50
Peat Free Organic Compost 60L£6.00 Sold out
Clover Peat Free Organic Compost 40L£4.50
4 Plant Grow-Bag£3.50 Sold out
Miracle Gro All Purpose Liquid Plant Food 1L£4.00
Bird Netting (4m wide - per m)£1.50
Standard Insect Mesh 1.3mm (3.6m wide - per m)£4.00
Fine Insect Mesh 0.6mm (3.6m wide - per m)£4.50
MDPE pipe for netting loops (25mm - per m)£1.00
125gsm weed control fabric (4m wide – per m)£4.00
Extra-strong woven rubbish sacks£1.00 each
Garden twine (plastic)£2.50
6 inch weed fabric staples20p ea
Tomorite tomato Feed 1L£3.50
Maxicrop Organic Tomato Feed 1L£6.25
Garden Twine (green)£1.75
Garden Twine (brown)£2.00
Extra Thick Bamboo Canes 8ft£2.50 Sold out
Thick Bamboo Canes 8ft80p ea
Bamboo Canes 6ft40p ea
Bamboo Canes 4ft25p ea
Security clutch screws – prevent shed hinge removal10p ea
Permanent marker for plant labels£2.50
150mm white plant label x1020p
17gsm Fleece (1.5m – per m)20p
30gsm Fleece (3m – per m)50p Sold out
Rock Dust 20kg£10.00
Rock Dust 5kg£3.00
OSMO PRO 4 Organic fertiliser 1kg£1.50
Fish, Blood and Bone 1kg£1.00
Chicken Pellets (6X) 1kg£1.50

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Registered address

The Vinery Road Permanent Allotment Society
92 Coleridge Road
Cambridge
CB1 3PJ

The Vinery Road Permanent Allotment Society manages two well-run, community-spirited allotment sites in South Cambridge, UK.
They are situated in the Romsey Town area and offer good growing conditions and excellent facilities.