Groundbreaking event

How to make your garden and allotment 'greener'

To coincide with a national groundbreaking event Carlisle City Council is advising residents on how to make their garden or allotment cleaner, greener and safer.

As part of National Allotments Week (13 19 August), the City Council's expert horticulturists have drawn together some top tips to make your planting even 'greener'...

• Collect rainwater by installing gutters and a rainwater barrel on all sheds and greenhouses.
• Compost as much organic matter as possible. Even perennial weeds such as dandelions and couch grass can go on the heap, but let them dry out first. Compost can be used as a mulch around fruit bushes or trees; it will help improve yields and prevent the soil around the bush drying out and will ultimately save on water
• Do not leave soil bare of plants. Plant a green manure crop by sowing wheat, or clover and lupins seed in late Summer. The resulting young plants will stay in the ground over Winter preventing soil erosion and can be dug in the following Spring to provide further organic matter
• Think very carefully before you buy insecticides. Ladybird larvae munch through thousands of aphids in their lifetime. Even slugs can be beneficial in the compost heap, reducing large pieces of organic material into smaller ones and aiding decomposition.

Cllr Ray Bloxham, Portfolio holder for Environment and Infrastructure said:

"Many new gardeners take up their new hobby with a strong desire to care for the planet; they want to know where their food comes from, to grow it in a way which respects nature and to husband resources where possible. We want residents to think about the environment when they get 'dug in' and think about following our top gardening tips."

There are currently 771 allotment plots on 65 sites in Carlisle. The largest site has 66 plots and the smallest has only one. The oldest allotment site in Carlisle dates back to 1911 at St Nicholas Bridge in Currock.

Existing allotment plot holders are also urged to join their local tenants association, as they play a big part in the future maintenance of the sites. The tenants of Kingstown Road and Kingstown Nobles allotments are currently setting up a new association to run their sites. To find out more about allotments visit www.carlisle.gov.uk.