Welcome to Nottingham Organic Gardeners.
We are a voluntary organisation, a friendly group in Nottingham, open to all.
We aim to promote organic and sustainable gardening, and a more localised food culture.
We have an Organic Demonstration Garden at Whitemoor Allotments in Nottingham and hold regular talks, workshops and events with an organic theme.
Please note we cannot endorse or recommend specific gardening suppliers, businesses or growers.
A little introduction to our new venue and information about what to expect from our Spring Lecture with Dave Goulson on Saturday 5th March 2023.
Tickets cost £5 (fees may apply) and are available NOW direct from The Squire Performing Arts Centre website:
https://squirepac.co.uk/whats-on/nottingham-organic-gardener/
NEW VENUE
We know that most of you are very keen to get back to meeting face-to-face – and we are too. It’s been rather more difficult than the last time, but we have now secured a lovely venue – St. John’s Church in Carrington. It’s the right size, we can make hot drinks, it’s got good access and transport links, and local street parking. There is going to be a change after years of meeting on Tuesdays - we have had to change to Wednesdays. We hope, of course, that all our members and friends will be unaffected by this change, and are really looking forward to seeing you again – or meeting you for the first time – at St. John’s next year.
Now we have got a venue, we are getting together a programme! More below about our regular meetings, but first, two bigger events!
POTATO DAY - 28th January 2023 10am-4pm at Sherwood United Reformed Church.
This year we fully intend to return to more-or-less our old approach – no bookings, choose your own tubers, pay by the tuber. We do however appreciate that some of you will still be being very careful not to catch covid – or any of the other bugs going round. So we will be making sure it doesn’t become an old-style jumble sale - or mosh pit!
We will be able to share the varieties list soon. There will be a range of stalls, including Coosh Bakery from Mapperley, and we’ll be running a cake stall and teas. So we’ll be asking for volunteer help later in January.
SPRING LECTURE – Saturday 25th March – Dave Goulson
Yes! We are having a Spring Lecture again! And an excellent speaker and passionate scientist and spokesman for the insect world. Dave Goulson has written books including ‘Silent Earth’ and ‘The Garden Jungle’. We are using a new venue, Squire Performing arts Centre, who provide staff and audio-visual equipment. We’ll be sending out more details and how to book in the new year, in the meantime – save the date!
MEETINGS PROGRAMME 2022-23
Thursday December 15th
Wreath making demo and festive social with Bethan – you should have received an email about this already – but all the information is here .
Saturday December 17th
Festive Fuddle at the NOGs Allotment from 11am.
Our lovely team of volunteers invite you to celebrate a great year of growing with them.
REGULAR WEDNESDAY EVENING MEETINGS AT ST. JOHN’S, CARRINGTON - 7:30 – No booking required - just turn up! Free to members – guests £2.
Wednesday Jan 11th
‘Potatoes – how to choose, how to grow’
Our first meeting at St. John’s, Carrington. Come and have a catch-up and tell us how your potato growing went last year (tricky season, wasn’t it?), get advice, and find out about the varieties we’ll be selling. Of course you’ll be very welcome even if you don’t grow potatoes – come and see the new place and say hello!
February 8th - Andy Callow – ‘Building a Wildlife Pond’
March 8th – TBC
12th April – AGM plus talk TBC
Massive thanks to the NOGs committee for getting all this sorted! We hope to see you at one of these events, in the meantime have a lovely Christmas and New Year.
Karen and the NOGs team
Greetings!
We are very pleased to announce a programme of walks and visits, free to members and friends of NOGs.
Booking is through the NOGs shop https://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/shop - no password required. If you really can't use the shop, do email us at contact@nogs.info and we'll book it for you.
History, natural history and a chance to chat!
Tuesday 6th July 7-9pm Leader - Karen Fry
Jubilee Campus - modern planting design plus a surprising number of wild flowers (circular walk, meeting at the Lodge on Derby Road)
Sunday 18th July 2-5pm Leader - Mike Peverill !!!FULLY BOOKED!!!
The River Leen - Whitemoor up to Bulwell. Meet by the Wilkinson St tram stop (in the P&R site behind so we don't block up a platform). There is a pub at the end of the walk, and public transport for getting back afterwards.
Tues 27th July 7-9pm Leader - Mike Peverill
The River Leen - QMC to Nottm Station. Meet by the entrance to the QMC Treatment Centre, next to the QMC tram stop, so we don't block the platform. There is a pub at the end of the walk, and public transport for getting back afterwards.
Tuesday 24th August 7-9pm Leader - Karen Fry
Nottingham University Park - geology, history and even botany! (circular walk, meeting at main gates on Derby Road)
Hope to see lots of you at these occasions!
All the best,
Karen Fry
NOGs Chair
The potato orders have all been delivered, and as we all set out our tubers to chit, we can look back over an amazing few weeks for NOGs. It doesn’t seem possible that it was only just over a month ago that the first sacks of potatoes were delivered to what was to become known as ‘Potato Central’.
We had a good idea of what we needed to do – just pack over 1000 potatoes in bags of 6, with the right name on, then just pick the right potatoes for what people ordered, then just deliver them to the right address. Before all this could start, though, we had already been hard at work.
Potato Day starts in the summer, when the Potato Day Committee start mooting which varieties to get – and this year with added complications. We negotiated potholes in the rocky road to Potato Day as we went from planning a distanced indoor event to a click-and-collect outdoor event to a deliveries-only event, as the Coronavirus situation went from bad to worse. NOG’s first online shop was set up, over 50 crates and 1000s of paper bags were sourced, and discussions were had about the best, and safest, way to run the event.
Throughout the month we had been sending out emails to members and friends telling them as much about our plans as we could. Richard Phipps published an article on Facebook about potatoes every day in January, including a description of each of our varieties. There seemed to be interest in the event, but we were still worried that people had already bought their potatoes from garden centres or a high street store…
As the packing progressed, the stacks of crates grew higher, topped by the Great Tower of Charlotte. We asked for volunteers to deliver, and had over 15 people offer. It was actually going to happen!
By a fluke, the best day to open the shop was the day Potato Day would have been ordinarily – Saturday 30th January. At 10am the password was removed – and at 2 minutes past the first order arrived. By 10 past 10 we had 47 orders and our jaws were dropping and our phones pinging as we WhatsApped the latest score. The varieties we’d bought in smaller amounts were soon out of stock, but a good variety of potatoes survived till 11:30. By 1:30 there were only a few bags of Pink Fir Apple left – we had ordered an extra bag by happy accident.
We were completely taken aback by the speed of the potato sales - then the work really began! We had 170 orders to pick and deliver – fewer but larger orders than expected, as people clubbed together. As the towers of potatoes had risen, so they went down again as orders were picked, and volunteers cycled and drove them all over Nottingham. In 5 days the majority of the deliveries were done, with just a few outlying orders to complete.
We thank all the potato buyers who emailed to thank us, and who appreciated what a huge job it had been. We’re sorry though, that some of our friends didn’t get to order on time. We are all hoping that Potato Day will return in much its old form in 2022 – it is far easier to get all you to do your own picking and taking home!
Who made it happen:
Potato Day planning team: Bethan, Rachel, Karen – and later on the whole committee plus Zoe!
Amazing work done to create the Potato Shop and coordinate deliveries: Kay and Zoe
Packers and Pickers: Rachel, Karen, Kate, Kay, Zoe, Bethan, Will and Vanessa
Delivery cyclists and drivers: Chris and Barbara, Graeme, Karen, Gemma, Anna, Judi, Andy, Cain, Kate, Sam, Perlin, Nat, Denise, Vesse and Sheldon
Special thanks to:
Sam for offering us his workshop for Potato Central! Without this we couldn’t have even started.
Richard Phipps for a fascinating Facebook post every day of January till Potato Day.
Nottingham Bikeworks for loan of an electric bicycle and huge trailer (big grin on Karen’s face!)
Ozgur at Pancho’s Fish Bar for huge numbers of crates
Shaun at Broxtowe Community Projects also for huge numbers of crates
Chris for cardboard boxes after we ran out of crates!
Karen Fry
Chair,
Nottingham Organic Gardeners
Idaho is a state in the north-west of the United States.
Each state in the US has a nickname, Idaho has two nicknames ‘The Potato State’ and ‘The Gem State’.
Idaho is ‘The Gem State’ because of the number of different minerals and precious stones that can be found in the Idaho mountains.
Idaho’s rich, volcanic soil and mild climate make it the perfect place to grow some real potato gems too, with the state producing a third of US potatoes.
There is a potato museum in the state and an Idaho Potato Commission responsible for marketing the local potato and protecting Idaho potatoes interest.
The Russet potato can be grown anywhere in the U.S. but the Commission certifies those grown specifically in Idaho so consumers know they’re getting Idaho quality.
The Idaho potatoes are so tasty that McDonald’s uses only Idaho Russett potatoes for its fries in America.
In the UK McDonalds sources its fries from the UK through suppliers McCain and Lamb Weston.
The varieties supplied to McDonalds in the UK include Shepody, which can be harvested early in the summer to meet the demand for new season potatoes, and Russet Burbank which is more suited to long-term storage through the winter to ensure a consistent year-round supply.
Today’s variety - Rocket (1st Early)
An English variety introduced in 1987.
One of the earliest varieties to crop.
Uniform, exhibition quality, round tubers.
Great for boiling and steaming.
About my January Potato Journey
I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.
I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)
The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.
Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.