Trading Hut

Open every Saturday & Sunday from 10am to Midday

THE MOORSIDE ALLOTMENTS ASSOCIATION SHOP

The Moorside Shop is an on-site service for gardeners run by a Shop Manager and a team of volunteers. The shop is situated inside the main (middle) gate in the container on the left hand side of the path.

Opening times are 10 am to 12 noon on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year although in really bad winter weather, we may choose to open for 1 hour only.

The shop stocks a wide range of products for our allotmenteers, an increasingly number of which are organic. Products include compost, a wide range of fertilisers, paraffin, canes, manure, soil improver, bird food and paraffin.  We also buy in a good selection of seed potatoes usually delivered in mid January. Local honey and home-made jams and chutney are also available in season. 

 Our prices are competitive and more often than not much cheaper than garden centres and other retailers and even then, we make a surplus which is ploughed back into allotment funds.

A full list of items is listed on our sales sheet under Trading Hut on the website. Should there be anything you would like us to try and obtain which you don’t see listed let us know and we will see what we can do.  

We don’t stock flower and vegetable seeds as the conditions are not conducive to good storage but the Seed Scheme which runs in the autumn caters for plotholders at very  competitive  prices via Kings Seeds and catalogues are available in the shop when the scheme is running.

The shop is a social hub on Moorside and we take in lost keys, rent and seed scheme payments, look after items ‘posted’ in the red letter box  and act as a contact for general enquiries, advice and problems on site.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Moorside Shop.

Susan Pownall

Shop Manager.

 

FEBRUARY 2024 - TRADING HUT NEWS

Hello Moorside Gardeners

The new season is upon us!  I am sure many of you have things sprouting up in pots and seed trays already and here at the Moorside Trading Hut we are all ready to cater for your gardening needs.

Mid January saw two pallets of new stock arriving, including compost, fertilisers, landscape fabric and much more.  Back by popular demand is a top of the range Sinclair’s Multi Purpose compost with reduced peat which we are selling at £10.30 for a 75 litre sack. We also re-ordered  the RHS approved Melcourt (Sylvamix) potting mix which is highly rated by Which? Magazine, as well as their Sylvagrow compost favoured by our organic gardeners.

Our delivery also included  Sulphate of Ammonia and Epsom Salts which some of you were waiting for and which is selling fast.

This week we took delivery of our annual supply of seed potatoes which we have had on sale this weekend.  Here again, some varieties are selling very fast. First Earlies  are £2.75 for a  2 kg net bag while Second Earlies and Main Crop are both £3 for the 2kg bags.  The seed potato sales sheet has been posted on the website so you can view the varieties here or come down to the shop between 10 am and noon on both Saturdays and Sundays.

Note:  Winter opening has now ended and we are doing the full 2 hours each weekend morning.

Looking forward a little, the shop will be getting in bales of straw from our manure supplier, so if you want a bale or want to share one with a fellow gardener, please come to the shop and let us know beforehand as straw will only be bought against pre-orders.  Cost – between £5 and £6 a bale if 2023 is anything to go by.  Delivery during the month of April.

Free Bench

By default – as we are nearest to the free bench  inside the front gate – the shop team tend to keep the free bench tidy. Sadly, there is once more a load of rubbish being put there which is certainly of no use to anyone.  Please take it home rather than dump it for someone else to clear up.  At the moment, there are dirty, broken plant pots flying along the boundary fence in the wind and cracked seed trays sitting in a torn black plastic bag,  A shop volunteer is the person who rebags them and takes them home to their own dustbin or as part of their Council tip run.  Please be a bit more considerate before disposing of your unwanted items.

Welcome are clean pots in good condition as recycling is always a good thing.  If you are leaving plants, please label them and put them in some sort of receptacle instead of leaving them to blow off the shelf  There, moan over!

Happy Gardening.

 

Susan Pownall

Shop Manager

4th February 2024.

 

 

 

 

 

 

21st March - Moorside Trading Hut News

Spring is here and the shop is getting busier. The sun is bringing you all down to your plots and hopefully, we have everything you need to get your garden growing.

Compost

We are trialling some peat reduced compost from Humax which contains only 30% peat.  It has silver sand in it, is of a fine consistency and therefore great for seeds.  It is retailing at £7 a 60 litre sack. We still have multi-purpose compost with peat in it at £5.40 a 60 litre sack, too.

Seed potatoes are selling fast and for the first time – as well as our usual favourite Scottish grown staples - we have obtained some locally grown Northumbrian varieties too.  These comprise:

Charlotte – 2nd Early. First year seed, being sold loose at £1.75 a kg.

Marfosa – Main Crop. A good all round potato, much revered by the Hairy Bikers!  Being sold loose at £1.75 a kg.

Pirol – Early Main Crop.  A very new seed potato, great for chips with a yellow texture.  Being sold loose at £1.75 a kg.

Fertilizers

We have a new supply of manure from our local farmer still at £1 a barrow but if you prefer dry fertilizers such as chicken pellets or Gro-organic, these are available in 2kg bags or we can order 15kg sacks or 8kg drums. Just let us know a week in advance. Another increasingly popular organic fertilizer is Liquid Seaweed, available in 500 ml or 1 litre bottles or -especially to order - 10 litre concentrate cans. Price £44.23 but it will dilute from 15ml per 9 litres of water for propagating to 45 ml per 9 litres of water for plants such as fruit trees.

As usual, we are open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am ‘til noon and stock a very wide range of gardening necessities, as well as locally produced honey and homemade jams and preserves. See our price list on the website for details.

Susan Pownall

Shop Manager

21st March 2022.

14th February - Trading Hut News: Seed Potatoes. In stock now!

It’s time to chit those potatoes again, ready for spring planting and your Moorside Shop team has taken delivery of our 2022 selection. Packed in 2kg  bags at the very reasonable price of £2.50 per bag, they are already selling fast from the shop.

Choose from

  •  First Earlies: Rocket and Casablanca
    Second Earlies: Charlotte, Kestrel, Nicola and Orla.
    Main Crop: Maris Piper, Orla and Desirée.

Reduced Peat Seed Compost

We’ve added to our selection of 60 Litre Compost sacks with a new one from Humax.  They have introduced a reduced peat medium for use at seed planting stage. It is a bit more expensive at £7 a sack although for those who are now buying completely peat-free compost, we still have the Silvagrow RHS endorsed  50 kg sacks at £7.50 a sack.

Stocking up for Spring

The shop has stocked up on everything you need to start off the new season. As well as compost, we have organic liquid and powdered  fertilisers, netting, landscape fabric,  paraffin, pegs, twine, organic slug deterrent  and much more. As usual, we keep a varied selection of bird foot as well.

Fencing Repairs

So many of us have suffered storm damage to our fences since November.  Our supplier of ex-decking boards is coming down this weekend with some samples of fencing should anyone be interested.  We will have them outside the shop to look at and then you can order directly from Arthur Nicholson.

Shop hours: Saturday and Sunday 10 am until noon.  See you there!

Susan Pownall

Shop Manager

11th February 2022.

 

The Moorside Shop January 2021 Restock

Hello Moorsiders

As you will have realised from our recent notices, the shop has reverted to ‘click and collect’ for the moment in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, on the bright side, we took delivery this week of our 2021 Seed Potato selection, details of which are available here for your perusal – and purchase.  We have held the prices, too, with no increases over last year.

 We are also well-stocked up with bird food from fat balls and peanuts to top quality seed mixes for all your garden birds.  In the main, the prices remain the same despite distribution hiccoughs caused by Brexit and Covid but where we have had to increase prices, we have tried to keep any price rise to a minimum.

 I may have hinted earlier in my reports that the manufacturers of Humax are changing the constituents of theii good quality compost in line with environmental issues at source. This time, we have purchased a lower peat based Humax Original with silver sand for seedlings but it has gone up in price unfortunately.  The standard Humax multipurpose compost is no longer available – we had bought as much as we could at the end of  2020 but this has now been sold.  In its place, we now have Clover Multipurpose 75 litre sacks, which has a good reputation, so let’s see where we go with that in the short term. On the plus side, it is reasonably priced in comparison with Humax.  Of course, if things change, I will keep you informed and will continue to seek out the best products we can at affordable prices.

 In the meantime, I will post the new price list on the shop door with details about how to order through our temporary ‘click and collect’ service.  If you have any queries, please email, text or phone me.

 Happy Gardening

Susan Pownall

Moorside Trading Hut Manager.

 

Potato Stock List (as at 26th January 2021)

Variety Price per 2 KG BAG
   
First Earlies  
Price per 2 kg bag £2.50
International Kidney £2.50
Red Duke of York(Heritage) £2.50
Rocket £2.50
   
Second Earlies  
Price per 2 kg bag £2.50
Charlotte (RHS) £2.50
Kestrel £2.50
Nadine £2.50
Orla* £2.50
   
Main Crop  
Price per 2 kg bag £2.50
Sarpo Mira (blight resist) £2.50
Maris Piper £2.50
Desiree £2.50
Orla* £2.50
   
*Orla are good as second earlies or main crop.  

 

 

10th January  - Mooorside Allotments Shop - Back To Our Click And Collect Service For Safety Reasons.

Hello Moorside Allotment Shoppers!

With the Covid-19 virus cases escalating and our local Tier 4 classification, I have made the decision to return to our Shop Click and Collect service which we operated successfully during the lockdown last spring.  The system will run exactly the same as before.

From Monday 11h January, to purchase anything from our Moorside Allotment Shop, please consult the notices pinned on the shop door which contain my contact details and just follow the instructions on how to place your order.

 The current shop sales sheet detailing products and prices features on the allotment website. I will make up your order and you can collect it from the concourse table between the shop and the trading hut store from 10 am on Saturdays. The order will be addressed to you. accompanied by a hard copy of your order and an invoice to be paid into our shop bank account by BACS. I would need all orders to be submitted no later than 12 noon on Friday, so I can get down and make up your order.

Just a reminder too, that we still have lots of compost, bird food and will also be expecting our annual delivery of seed potatoes towards the end of January. Other lines in stock include the usual fertilisers, jam, honey and chutney.  If you need manure, let me know and I will arrange for the manure gate to be open at weekends..

In the meantime, stay well and enjoy the fresh air of Moorside!

Best wishes

Susan Pownall

Shop Manager.

10th January 2021.