Recent articles

Allium Leaf Miner
Allium leaf miner, which attacks the allium family,onions,leeks shallots and garlic has been present in this country for twenty years but did not ventured north beyond the Midlands but now this has all changed and it is now in our part of the world; Yorkshire.
Runner Beans
A versatile and worthwhile crop to grow producing pods in abundance, the surplus which can be frozen throughout the summer. In late summer as the pods become fibrous and stringy the beans can then be left to form seeds to be eaten fresh and others for harvesting usually around mid October when the pods start to turn brown. These are dried to be used during the winter, after being soaked over night to add to soups and stews. With,of course beans to be saved for sowing the following season.
Clearing up the site 14th June 2014
Some photographs from our site clearup day on Saturday 14th June 2014.
SQUARE FOOT GARDENING
For several years now I have involved my grandchildren in my allotment but as two live in Sheffield and two live in Newcastle this has not been easy. Nonetheless they have a few raised beds in their gardens. I have one 9 year old grandson living in Leeds who sometimes helps especially when the strawberries, raspberries and peas are ready for picking. This year I came across the concept of ‘square foot gardening’ by Mel Bartholomew and decided to try it out although I had to call it ’30 centimetre gardening’ so my grandchildren could understand the idea.
Recent sowings
Sowed Tomato,sweetcorn, courgettess, squash and sunflowers. All these placed on a windowsill to germinate.
Recent planting
Two beds of potatoes planted,Red Duke of York and Lady Chrystal. I am taking a chance because last year we had a heavy frost, on the 16th May and this cut back the growth resulting in the crop being later. I have now planted a bed of onion sets and spaced them six inches apart in staggered rows to try and minimise the threat of white rot even though this particular bed has not had onions in it for at least 12 years.Onions from seed which was sowed on the 24th December are now growing on in a coldframe but will not be planted out until late April.
Planting By The Moon
The notion of planting by the moon goes back to ancient civilisations. You may be familiar with how the movement of the moon influences the rising and the falling of the tides. This influence is not restricted to tides only but actually affects plants and the soil they grow in.
Carrots. Success at last.
After minimal success in previous years with growing carrots, I decided to go down the designated carrot bed to be covered from sowing to harvest with Environmental netting.
ROOT CROPS
My attempts to grow root crops by sowing seed in the open ground have either failed or germination has been erratic. Also, I think slugs and snails have eaten the seedlings as they emerge from the ground. Yet plot holders on each side of me seem to have no problems! It must be my sowing technique.
Newsletters
Byelaw Men's Field Newsletters

Welcome

The allotments in winter - click for full size image

Welcome to the Bylawmen's Field Allotments website.

Sheds & Meeting Room - click for full size image

Byelawmensfield Allotments, Green Lane, Leeds 15, were originally given by a local landowner to be used by his farm bailiffs who were called ‘byelawmen’ possibly 80 years ago. They were taken over by Leeds City Council in 1947 and in 1988 became a self-managed site although still owned by the council to whom rent is paid. The original purpose of the site is no longer relevant because membership embraces male, female, young and old. We have a vibrant allotment community of 50 people which includes young families and grandchildren who will be the next generation of allotment gardeners enjoying locally organically grown food which has a minimal carbon footprint.

Rainwater Harvesting Project

Our site is prone to flooding and in 2008 some members dug large soakaways and installed drainage pipes to alleviate the problem. We have site buildings which includes a fertiliser and sundries store, a building for members to keep their tools in, a meeting room and rest room The rainwater runs off these buildings and contributes to the flooding in times of heavy rain often resulting in the loss of valuable crops. We installed three large rainwater butts, in 2009 to capture the rainwater before it ran onto the land and to reduce our costs by reducing our reliance on mains water. This has proved to be highly successful and we believe that to conserve water and reduce our reliance on mains water is a worthwhile venture so in 2010 we installed two more large rainwater butts to capture the rainwater from two remaining buildings.

We are grateful to Leeds Community Foundation for financial help for this project through its grassroots grants. www.leedscommunityfoundation.org.uk

For information about water butts visit: http://www.rapidplumbing.co.uk/acatalog/WaterButts.html

digging soakaways - click for full size image

Bee Keeping Project.

The well-documented concerns about the decline of bees promoted us to consider placing three hives on our site. In order to place hives we have obtained permission from the Council, confirmed that we are covered by our third party insurance and made contact with the local bee keeping association. An agreement at our April 2008 Annual General Meeting, from members that we go ahead. Two members completed bee-keeping courses and the first bees arrived on site on the 31^st May 2009 when a swarm colonised an empty hive. Two weeks later we established two nucleus colonies provided by Leeds Beekeeping Association. See our Spring and Summer Newsletter for an update on our bee project.

See our Summer 2010 Newsletter for more information about our bee project

Visit www.leedsbeekeepers.org.uk

Clearing up the site.

On Saturday 14th June we had all hands on deck for a day clearing up the site.Photographs from the day can be seen here.

Welcome

Welcome to the Bylawmen's Field Allotments website.