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Allotment Movement / Disabled Access to Allotments
« Last post by SirLanceShallot on Yesterday at 15:50:54 »
Hi - I'm new. I'm a freelance writer and director of a community interest company, Growing Together Cornwall CIC.

I have been an allotment holder in Cornwall for about 5 years. 3 years ago I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. As a result of treatment I am permanently disabled. This year we decided we could no longer stay on top of our plot and reluctantly gave it up. We had hoped that we might get an accessible plot (there are some raised beds near the parking) but they are in such a state and the ground around them so uneven we decided not to bother. It didn't help that we were told we couldn't have a shed to store tools along with being given a list of things we weren't allowed to do.

I am posting here because I am writing a feature for a national magazine about the state of accessibility of allotments. I have a had a good look through historical posts on here and it is clearly something that has been raised and has been a cause for concern. I would be most grateful for any insight members might give on the state of play with accessibility on allotments. I would also very much like to hear from any disabled allotment holders about your experiences, be they positive or, like mine, rather poor!

Many thanks.
 
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Chillies Ahoy / Re: Pepper re-do
« Last post by Tee Gee on March 25, 2024, 11:13:05 »
Sorry to hear about your Habaneros Vetivert. 

I am convinced that peat free composts often have ph values that are far from ideal for tiny plants.  Depending on what substitutes are being used.  This could account for some seedlings perishing.  We don't normally measure the ph of a bag of peat free compost, but maybe we should.   A speedy repot in different compost may be worth a try for the remaining ones.

An alternative would be to wrap the rest of the Habanero seeds well, put them in the freezer and start early next year.   

As some of you may know since the " no/reduced Peat movement I have been making my own compost and what I am finding with my current recipe that I am losing a few seedlings but my main concern at the moment is the ones that are surviving don't seem to be developing very quickly and I am not quite sure what is causing this. I did a quick pH test on my current batch and I was recording a reading of around 6. But then again it could be a bit of impatience on my part due to me looking at the seedlings every day.

Today I am going back to my chemistry set do more pH testing.

On first impressions my current recipe has better moisture holding abilities so I am on a new learning curve with my watering procedures.

I have bought a few pH /moisture probes and found that most of them are very inaccurate so I have gone back to litmus paper testing and even here a lot of these are inaccurat.

I did a lot of looking around and found a company who makes them and phoned them up and had a word with one of their chemists and he guided me in the direction of what he would use to test my compost, so I bought some strips.

As a result of using these this is when. I found my probes were inaccurate in fact the one I use now is around one pH unit out. So when doing a quick test with the probe which is more convenient than doing a litmus test, I accept a reading of 7.5 on my probe dial to achieve the 6.5 I want.

I hope you find this information interesting but let me clarify I am no expert in this department.


Now. I am off to get my chemistry set out and test my current batch of Ji 2
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Chillies Ahoy / Re: Pepper re-do
« Last post by galina on March 25, 2024, 06:00:53 »
Sorry to hear about your Habaneros Vetivert. 

I am convinced that peat free composts often have ph values that are far from ideal for tiny plants.  Depending on what substitutes are being used.  This could account for some seedlings perishing.  We don't normally measure the ph of a bag of peat free compost, but maybe we should.   A speedy repot in different compost may be worth a try for the remaining ones.

An alternative would be to wrap the rest of the Habanero seeds well, put them in the freezer and start early next year.   
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Chillies Ahoy / Re: Pepper re-do
« Last post by Vetivert on March 24, 2024, 13:59:30 »
Thank you JanG, that's a good idea, I suppose there is no harm in experimenting :)

Last year I sowed tomatoes in May and got a crop. Not a great one, but something.

Sorry to read that some of your little peppers succumbed, too. Strugging somewhat with the peat-free composts...
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Chillies Ahoy / Re: Pepper re-do
« Last post by JanG on March 23, 2024, 06:46:42 »
I think habaneros are slow growing so I’d be doubtful you’d get any fruit this year.
It might be worth trying with a view to overwintering the smallish plants for earlier production next season?
I’ve had one or two little pepper plants fade away too this year without quite knowing why.
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Chillies Ahoy / Pepper re-do
« Last post by Vetivert on March 22, 2024, 19:17:26 »
For reasons unbeknown to me, my little habaneros are dying. I'll have to re-sow them but is it now too late?
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Edible Plants / Re: Thunderbirds are go....
« Last post by saddad on March 22, 2024, 10:13:16 »
Following a good week of germination a weekend of pricking out ahead, unless the weather turns too cold. Only cold greenhouses to bring them on in and it looks dodgy.... probably just running up and down to the greenhouse in the mornings and evenings to stop them getting too leggy!
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Edible Plants / Re: Thunderbirds are go....
« Last post by Deb P on March 17, 2024, 13:19:59 »
Will you do a few tom spares for the Open Day?
We may have some spare chillis  :wave:

Yes I’ve done some spare toms, not quite as many as last year though as I’m not going to be around for the 28th May plant sale as it clashes with Bearded Theory so we’re away.
A few more of my peppers have shown themselves but there are still much  slower than usual despite being in a thermostatically controlled propagator…🙄
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Edible Plants / Re: Thunderbirds are go....
« Last post by woodypecks on March 16, 2024, 21:29:19 »
Saddad - Hope you are feeling more comfortable very soon . 🌿🌿🌿
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Edible Plants / Re: Thunderbirds are go....
« Last post by saddad on March 15, 2024, 23:03:43 »
Will you do a few tom spares for the Open Day?
We may have some spare chillis  :wave:
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