Big Plant Swap – Saturday 18th May 2024

Big Plant Swap

Saturday 18th May 2024
10am to 1pm

Free admission – all welcome

Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

Plant Swap

Come and take your pick from hundreds of plants and seedlings at our popular annual plant swap – great for food growers and friends. You can choose from: Vegetables, Salads, Herbs, Fruit and Wildlife-friendly flowers.

You’re very welcome to bring along plants, seedlings, cuttings or seeds to swap.

Our top tips for plant swappers

• It’s really helpful to other growers if you can label your plants.
• You might like to bring along a trug, basket or tray to carry your plants home in.
• We advise hanging around to see what else appears during the morning.

Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to swap – you don’t need to bring something to be able to take something. You can make a donation in exchange for your plants.

We also accept donations of plants ahead of the event – please email us if you have something to share: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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Lots more to enjoy…

Stalls, including local produce on sale.

Seed Swap – vegetables and other seeds to swap or buy.

Plant some seeds to grow on your windowsill.

Craft Corner for children.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes.

Information about growing your own food.

Crop protection materials on sale.

Find out about local projects and events.

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Join us for lunch

Served 12 noon to 1pm

Enjoy a healthy lunch at Newsome Scout Hall – with recipes for you to take home. We’ll be serving a selection of tasty salads from our Spring salad bar with pasta and roasted vegetables, plus a fruit pudding.

We ask for a small donation to cover the costs of making your lunch.

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Help out with our Big Plant Swap

Volunteer
We’re looking for more volunteers to help out with the event. Can you help with our stalls on the day, or can you bake a cake? Expenses happily provided. Please contact us at growingnewsome@gmail.com if you’d like to help out.

Print our poster
Help us to promote the event:
Big Plant Swap poster 2024 (PDF)

Stalls & info

If your local group or organisation are interested in having a stall at one of our events or you’d like to bring some local information to share on the day, please get in touch: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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What happens at the Plant Swap?
Here’s a short film about Growing Newsome’s Plant Swap, made by Alistair I Macdonald at Curlew Films for Plant it Grow it Eat it.

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Growing Newsome Seed Swap & Huddersfield Potato Day – Saturday 2nd March 2024

Get your growing year off to a great start with our bumper early Spring event…

Seed Swap and Potato Day

Saturday 2nd March 2024
10am to 1pm

Venue: Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

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Huddersfield Potato Day

Choose from 26 different types of seed potato, including popular easy-to-grow varieties and some more unusual types. All seed potatoes are £2 per dozen (pick and mix) or 20p each. Our varieties are:

First earlies

Caledonian Pearl, Casablanca, Colleen (Organic), Foremost, Jazzy, Maris Bard, Red Duke of York, Rocket, Winston

Second earlies

Bambino (Organic), Charlotte (Organic), Kestrel, Maris Peer (Organic), Ratte, Sarpo Una (Organic)

Mains

Belle de Fontenay, Cara (Organic), Carolous (Organic), Desiree, Gatsby (Organic), Heidi Red (Organic), Picasso, Pink Fir Apple, Sarpo Axona (Organic), Sarpo Blue Danube, Sarpo Mira (Organic)

More info about our varieties:
Potato picker list 2024 (PDF)
Popular potato picks 2024

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Seed Swap

Seeds galore – We’ll have lots of vegetables, salads and other seeds. You can either bring something in to swap, or pick up some seeds in exchange for a small donation. Try our seed starter packs – ideal for growing in small spaces. Onion sets and shallots are also available to buy on the day.

Activities –  Enjoy seed planting activities with our Growing Newsome volunteers.

Local food on sale – Jam and other preserves made from fruit and veg grown in Newsome..

Plant protection materials – protect your homegrown crops.

Books – Book stall with all sorts of books.

Refreshments – Tea, coffee and home made cakes available.

Help with growing – Please ask for advice.

Plant pot & jam jar amnesty – Bring along your spare small plant pots or small jam jars. Please note that we can only use 1Ib jam jars or smaller, which will fit a standard 63mm screw top lid.

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Meet local organisations

Huddersfield Raw Honey – local honey and beekeeping info from Ryad Alsous.

Poppy’s Flowers / Roebuck Home and Garden – enter our competition on the day for a chance to win a beautiful flower arrangement, hand-crafted by our local florist.

Newsome Centre team – find out what’s happening with plans for our new community centre and how you can get involved.

Take part – If you’d like to come along promote your group or run an activity, or add your leaflets to our local information table, please get in touch soon.
Email: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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Join us for lunch

served 12 noon to 1pm 

Enjoy a warming, two-course cooked lunch, featuring some local ingredients.

Free admission. All welcome. And please tell all your friends!

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Want to help?

Volunteer
We’re looking for volunteers to help out with our events and activities. Contact us at growingnewsome@gmail.com to find out more, or ask on the day.

Print our poster
Help us to promote the event:
Huddersfield Potato Day 2024 (PDF)

Stalls

If your local group or organisation are interested in having a stall at one of our events, please get in touch: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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Organised by Growing Newsome

With our special thanks to the
West Yorkshire Organic Group
for supporting our Potato Day.

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Potato varieties on sale in 2024

If you’d like some seed potatoes to plant this spring, have a look at our list of over two dozen potato varieties we have available this year. We have our regular favourites and some more unusual potatoes, including organic, heritage and blight resistant varieties.

All our potatoes are £2 per dozen, pick and mix (or 20p each). You can choose just what you need – and you’ll be supporting our food growing community at the same time. We’ll also have shallots, onions and lots of other vegetable seeds available this spring. 

You can pick up your seed potatoes from our Huddersfield Potato Day and Seed Swap on Saturday 2nd March 2024 from 10am to 1pm at Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ.

If you have any questions, you can email us at: GrowingNewsome@gmail.com

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Our full list of potato varieties

First earlies

Caledonian Pearl, Casablanca, Colleen (Organic), Foremost, Jazzy, Maris Bard, Red Duke of York, Rocket, Winston

Second earlies

Bambino (Organic), Charlotte (Organic), Kestrel, Maris Peer (Organic), Ratte, Sarpo Una (Organic)

Mains

Belle de Fontenay, Cara (Organic), Carolous (Organic), Desiree, Gatsby (Organic), Heidi Red (Organic), Picasso, Pink Fir Apple, Sarpo Axona (Organic), Sarpo Blue Danube, Sarpo Mira (Organic)

Potato picker 2024 – full details of all our varieties (PDF)

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Popular potato picks

Rocket – first early

Rocket is well named, because it grows really quickly. It’s among the first potato varieties to crop and produces large quantities of uniform, round tubers. It’s also well suited to growing at home in containers or potato bags.

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Charlotte – second early (Organic)

Charlotte is a popular, easy to grow, waxy salad variety. You can grow fresh flavoured potatoes which taste great either hot or cold. Ideal for salads and your crop will store until Christmas. Good disease resistance and high yielding.

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Kestrel – second early

Kestrel is one of our ever-popular early potato varieties. It has a unique purple blush, a naturally occurring trait which is passed on from the parent variety, the Cara potato. Kestrel has a delicious, slightly-sweet flavour and is great for baking, roasting and chips. It also has good disease resistance and was recommended by Joe Maiden. 

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Desiree – early main crop

Desiree is a very popular choice for food growers. The tasty white and creamy flesh has a lovely, fluffy texture when cooked. Great whether baked, roasted or mashed. It’s very versatile and easy to grow.

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Sarpo Mira – late main crop (Organic)

Sarpo potatoes are grown by the Sarvari Research Trust in North Wales. These potatoes have excellent resistance to blight, so they are ideal for organic growers. Our participants have had great success with Sarpo Mira in particular and we always grow these ourselves. Or you might like to try sister varieties Sarpo Axona, Sarpo Una or the more unusual Sarpo Blue Danube.

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Pink Fir Apple – late main crop (Heritage)

Pink Fir Apple potatoes are always in high demand here – and rightly so. They’re one of our all time favourites, great tasting both hot and cold. You can cook them whole in their skins, so don’t worry about peeling this unusual shaped spud. To make sure that you don’t miss out on this firm favourite, we keep lots of them in stock. Enjoy!

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Organised by Growing Newsome

Our special thanks to the
West Yorkshire Organic Group
for supporting our Potato Day.

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Growing Newsome’s Christmas gift boxes 2023

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Christmas gift boxes

£5.50 each, or two boxes for £10

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Two 8oz jars of our homegrown preserves, presented in a fully recyclable gift box with festive fabric ribbon, paper tag and wooden charm. Choose from our selection of preserves, made from fruit and vegetables grown in the Newsome area.

Choose any two jars:

Jam

• Autumn Berry and Apple Jam
• Blackcurrant Jam
• Blackberry and Apple Jam
• Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam
• Loganberry, Raspberry and Lime Jam*
• Marrow and Ginger Jam
• Pear, Apple and Ginger Jam
• Plum and Apple Jam
• Raspberry Jam*

Jelly

• Mixed Currant Jelly
• Redcurrant Jelly

Marmalade and Conserves

• Orange Marmalade (not homegrown, but homemade)
• Spiced Apple Butter (a smooth apple conserve, with spices)

* low stock
* Sorry, sold out

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Nutritional and allergy information

All our preserves are Vegetarian. Everything except our marmalade is Vegan. Our homegrown jam and jelly is made with locally grown fruit or vegetables, sugar and sometimes lemon or lime. Where varieties include spices, this is included in the description.

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Easy to recycle or reuse

Our gift boxes are fully recyclable. The box, tag and labels are made of paper and card. Our ribbons are fabric, which can be composted or reused – and you can hang the wooden charm on your Christmas tree.

You’re very welcome to return jars to us at any Growing Newsome event, or glass can be taken to bottle banks or recycling centres.

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Apart from the citrus fruits, all our fresh ingredients are homegrown, so we have limited supplies. We’ll update this page with our current availability. Label designs may vary.

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Order, pay and collect

Please email growingnewsome@gmail.com to make an order. We’ll confirm your order and send you a link that you can use to pay online. Orders can be collected from Newsome village on a number of days during December. We’ll send you the details when your order is ready. Last order date: Sunday 17th December 2023

All sales help to support our food growing community. Thank you.

Garlic bulbs available in 2023

Our Autumn planting vegetables this year will include seven different varieties of garlic. Pick up your garlic from our Autumn event on Saturday 21st October from 10am to 1pm at Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Newsome, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ.

Garlic needs a month or more in the ground at a temperature of 10C or less, and Autumn planting gives you the best chance for this. So you can get planting yours soon – all you need to do is decide what sort to grow.

To help you choose, here are some notes…

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Carcassone Wight

• Exceptional hardneck garlic with pink cloves
• Great strength of flavour
• Good skin cover
• Has great vigour in the UK climate
• Can be planted in autumn or spring
• This variety was probably brought to Carcassonne by pilgrims travelling east

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Caulk Wight

• Purple-striped bulbs which resist splitting
• Hardneck variety from Eastern Europe
• Grows well in the UK climate
• Good flavour and easy to peel
• Perfect for autumn planting
• Harvest as early as June

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Germidour (organic)

• Fast growing French variety with high yields
• A rich purple head with ivory clove skins – very attractive non-flowering variety
• Can be strung or plaited
• Winner of RHS Award of Gardening Merit
• Plant October or November for harvest in June
• Lift as soon as mature. Should keep until December following harvesting

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Maddock Wight

• Excellent all round softneck garlic with large cloves. 
• Large fat white bulbs with purple stripes.
• Premium Iberian garlic, from south west Spain.
• Grows well in the UK and was probably grown here by the Romans.
• Purple when grown close to the surface.
• Best planted October to December.

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Picardy Wight

• Originally from the fields of Picardy, growing around the battllefields of the Somme
• Hardneck variety which copes really well with cooler and wetter conditions – will grow where other varieties have struggled
• Strong flavoured bulbs which store well
• Plant from October to March
• Harvest July to August

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Printanor (organic)

• A French heirloom softneck variety.
• Excellent taste and stores well.
• White bulbs – the cloves have a pink blush.
• Suitable for planting in the autumn.
• Can also be planted from January to March for a July harvest.

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Thermidrome (organic)

• A traditional variety producing large white heads with a hint of pink, and large white cloves
• Very hardy so ideal even in harsh conditions
• A non-flowering, softneck variety which can be strung or plaited
• Plant in October or November
• Harvest in July – the bulbs should then keep until the December following harvesting

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You can pick up your garlic bulbs from our Autumn event on Saturday 21st October from 10am to 1pm at Newsome Scout Hall.

If you have a small garden or plot, getting your garlic from us means that you don’t need to buy a whole pack. It’s also great if you fancy planting more than one variety and you just want one bulb of each – or if you want lots, but want to save some pennies (and avoid paying for postage).

Although seed costs have increased again considerably for us this year, we’re keeping our prices at just £2 per bulb, to help cover some of our costs whilst supporting local growers.

We’ll have several varieties of onions, some shallots, vegetable seeds and plants available too.

If you can’t make it to our Autumn event, we will offer any remaining stock afterwards. You can Join our email list for updates.

Autumn event – Saturday 21st October 2023

Love local food? There’s lots for you to enjoy at this event…

Autumn event

Saturday 21st October 2023
10am to 1pm

Newsome Scout Hall
Newsome Road South
Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

Get together with other food growers, neighbours and friends.

Autumn-planting vegetables to grow at home or on your allotment.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes available.

Lots of jam and preserves made from fruit and vegetables grown in Newsome

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Autumn planting

Autumn planting vegetables for you to take home – including a selection of garlic bulbs, onions, seeds, overwintering leaf crops and anything else we can rustle up. You can also let us know what kind of seeds and plants you’d like us to have available in 2023.

Garlic bulbs available at our Autumn event

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Meet our guest local organisations including:

Huddersfield Raw Honey – with local honey on sale.

Yorkshire Dama Cheese – with Squeaky cheese on sale

Growing Works – who are helping out on the day.

And there’s more to enjoy from Growing Newsome:

Book stall with all sorts of books.

Children’s craft activities.

Information about local events, activities and volunteering.

Look after your winter crops – plant protection fleece on sale.

Got something to share?

You can bring along spare fruit or vegetables, seeds, recipes or anything you’d like to share. 

Jam jar amnesty – clean, small jam jars (8oz, 120z or 1lb) that fit a 63mm lid are welcome.

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Hot homegrown lunch: served from 12 noon to 1pm

Enjoy some seasonal soup for lunch at the Scout Hall, made with some locally grown vegetables and served with a selection of fresh breads, followed by a hot Autumn pudding made with local fruit.

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Newsome Voices

This summer the Newsome Voices team asked you to share your experiences of life in Newsome and your hopes for the future of our area. This included thinking about our climate, our wildlife and green spaces, our local heritage, our voice and influence, and our connections with each other. Over 300 people have taken part. Come along to our Autumn Event to get a first look at the results and find out how you can get involved in what happens next.

Newsome Voices – part of Local Democracy Week 2023 in Kirklees.

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How you can help

• Bring something for the cake stall.
• Display our poster:
  Autumn event 2023 poster (PDF)
• Bring along the rest of the family or bring a friend.
• We’re looking for volunteers.
  Please get in touch if you’d like to help.

Organised by Growing Newsome

Local organisations who are interested in taking part in our events are welcome to contact us.

Stirley Food Festival – Saturday 2nd September 2023

The Stirley Food Festival is back. Come along for lots of local food and drink, including our Growing Newsome stall, plus wildlife activities and pick your own veg. Special falconry meet and greet with Wild Owl bird of prey rescue, nature face painting with Sparkle Sam, learn wild foraging skills and much more.

Stirley, Hall Bower Lane, Huddersfield HD4 6FA
Saturday 2nd September
From 10.30am to 4.30pm

Stirley Food Festival 2023

Coffee Morning and Annual Meeting 2023

Saturday 3rd June, 10.30am to 12 noon

Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

Join Growing Newsome’s volunteers for an informal morning.

Enjoy a cuppa and a chat. Hear about our activities so far and talk with us about what you’d like Growing Newsome to do in future.

We’re also keen to hear from other organisations who might like to work with us in the coming year.

Free refreshments served from 10.30am

Growing Newsome stall with plants and preserves.

This is also our AGM, where we’ll be electing our organising group. If you’re interested in joining our group, or in volunteering with us, please come along.

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Big Plant Swap – Saturday 20th May 2023

Big Plant Swap

Saturday 20th May 2023
10am to 1pm

Free admission – all welcome

Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

Plant Swap

Come and take your pick from hundreds of plants and seedlings at our popular annual plant swap – great for food growers and friends. You can choose from: Vegetables, Salads, Herbs, Fruit and Wildlife-friendly flowers.

You’re very welcome to bring along plants, seedlings, cuttings or seeds to swap.

Our top tips for plant swappers

• It’s really helpful to other growers if you can label your plants.
• You might like to bring along a trug, basket or tray to carry your plants home in.
• We advise hanging around to see what else appears during the morning.

Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to swap – you don’t need to bring something to be able to take something. You can make a donation in exchange for your plants.

We also accept donations of plants ahead of the event – please email us if you have something to share: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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Lots more to enjoy…

Stalls, including local produce on sale.

Huddersfield Raw Honey.

Seed Swap – vegetables and other seeds to swap or buy.

Children’s craft activities.

Plant some seeds to grow on your windowsill.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes.

Information about growing your own food.

Crop protection materials on sale.

Find out about local projects and events.

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Supporting the Newsome Centre

Any cash donations we receive for plants at this event will be contributed to the Newsome Centre crowdfunder. A newly formed Community Benefit Society have some exciting plans to set up a new Community Centre, Cafe & Event Space in the former St John’s Church in Newsome village, By donating, you can help to buy the building for our local community, which will create new possibilities for our food growing community.

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Join us for lunch

Served 12 noon to 1pm

Enjoy a healthy lunch at Newsome Scout Hall – with recipes for you to take home. We’ll be serving a selection of tasty salads from our Spring salad bar with pasta and roasted vegetables, plus a fruit pudding.

We ask for a small donation to cover the costs of making your lunch.

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Take part in Newsome Voices

Newsome Voices is an opportunity to share your experiences and ideas about life in Newsome, and to say what you hope Newsome will be like in the future. Launching at our Big Plant Swap, it’s a month of local conversations. You can take part on the day or take some information away with you and then take part either online, by completing a paper questionnaire, or by talking with any of the Newsome Voices team from 20th May to 20th June. Anyone who lives or works in Newsome, or who visits the area, is welcome to join in. The results will be used to create an action plan for our area.

Newsome Voices is organised by the Newsome Centre and our Newsome councillors.
It is funded by Kirklees Council.

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Help out with our Big Plant Swap

Volunteer
We’re looking for more volunteers to help out with the event. Can you help with our stalls or refreshments on the day, or can you bake a cake or two? Please contact us at growingnewsome@gmail.com if you’d like to help out.

Print our poster
Help us to promote the event:
Big Plant Swap poster 2023 (PDF)

Stalls & info

If your local group or organisation are interested in having a stall at one of our events or you’d like to bring some local information to share on the day, please get in touch: growingnewsome@gmail.com

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What happens at the Plant Swap?
Here’s a short film about Growing Newsome’s Plant Swap, made by Alistair I Macdonald at Curlew Films for Plant it Grow it Eat it.

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Spring seed sowing and growing workshops 2023

Spring seed sowing and growing workshops

Venue: Ashenhurst Avenue Allotments

Join in this series of informal growing workshops, designed to give you confidence to grow your own food from seed, with your available time and energy.

Wednesday mornings from 10am to 12 noon

• 22nd March – Seed sowing and perennials propagation, including
  growing mediums.
• 29th March – Frost protection, pest control, temperature and watering
  tips for strong seedlings.
• 19th April – Bed preparation composting and general maintenance.
• 26th April – Pricking out, potting on and more tips for strong seedlings.

Combining theory with practical hands-on growing, we will look at the best use of growing space and tool use in every session. We encourage participants to ask questions and let us know your interests.

Gardening clothes, gloves and boots required (there is some uneven ground). Notebook useful. Tea provided – please bring a mug!

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Book your free place

These activities are funded by Growing Newsome. Places are limited and booking is essential.

Book online now:

Book your free place for our Wednesday sessions

Questions? Contact us…

Contact Sue Brown: 07444 390071
or email: sue.brown@greenandbrown.org.uk

Spring seed sowing and growing leaflet (PDF)

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Looking for something different?

To help us plan our future activities, please tell us about any activities or events you’d like to take part in (and any other ways we can help you to grow your own food).

Email us at: GrowingNewsome@gmail.com

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