The Eden Drive allotment site comprises an area of 1.07 hectares (or 2.64 acres) which equates to 35½ ten pole plots, many of which are split into smaller segments. At the last count there were about 90 members registered at the site. Some plots are worked jointly by couples, in which case each is a member.
There is a shed at the site where limited stocks of compost, canes, netting and other allotment essentials are available for the convenience of and purchase by members at reasonable prices. The shed is open on Sunday mornings.
Social Activities
Sunday mornings are also the occasion for site members to offer their services in doing various essential jobs around the site – mowing and strimming the paths, etc – and, on the first Sunday morning of each month, members gather for a bring-and-share coffee break. Once or twice a year, site members and friends enjoy a communal barbecue, with contributions reflecting the ethnic and cultural diversity of the membership (as does the variety and range of crops grown on the site). Due to the 2020/21 Covid pandemic, social events have been curtailed, but it is hoped that the summer of 2021 will see a return to near normality.
Beez ‘r us
A few years ago, with the permission of the site Field Secretary, one of the site members introduced beehives onto her plot. She has taken the ‘natural beekeeping’ approach using home-built hives based on the Kenya top-bar design. Using this method, the bees build their combs suspended from bars, as opposed to the standard ‘National Hive’ whereby bees build comb on frames. The aim is to encourage bees and to provide pollinators rather than to yield a harvest of honey, which is needed by the bees over the winter (where honey is taken, the bees have to be fed with a substitute). Honey left over after winter has passed, however, is fair game.
Another site member has subsequently established hives of the National type in a remote corner of the site, so both beekeeping schools are now represented.
The Regulations re beekeeping on the site are available here.
Facilities etc
There are toilet facilities on site for the use of members as well as strategically placed water troughs to facilitate the watering of plants in dry weather and recently, with some financial help from Oxford City Council, plastic water tanks have been installed at the back of the shed and at the midpoint of the site to capture rain water. Currently there is ‘work-in-progress’ renewing the fencing on the boundary between the site and the back gardens of houses in Ambleside Drive. Budgetary considerations mean that this is being spread over a few years. but the work is being done by site members, thus the only costs are for materials.
The Field Secretary
Key to the smooth running of the Eden Drive site is the role of the Field Secretary, John Lardner, supported by a site committee, which meets regularly to discuss and make decisions about the running and maintenance of the site.
The site operates a refundable deposit system for issue of keys to the ‘allotmenteers’.
For further information, check out the site’s own web site here.