Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 30th March: Who would have thought that mice like nasturtium seeds?
It is certainly starting to get very busy at the community garden at Enbrook Park. The sun has been shining for much of the week, and the rain that was promised and already needed failed to do much at all. So it was that we had to take up the watering cans straight away during the Saturday morning session, and a note taken to try to remember to bring the water pump next week as it will make the task so much easier and quicker!!
With so much warmth and sunshine, needless to say, things are starting to grow pretty fast from the overwintering crops to the new seedlings both in the ground and in the greenhouse. The greenhouse seedlings have to be watered now every day whereas we used to get away with just every other day.
Who would have thought that mice like nasturtium seeds, as unfortunately they have tucked into a whole tray which was sown recently. The other bad news is that the weeds seem to be growing just as fast as the plants we do want to keep and so a task for next week will be to get out the hoes and make short work of them before they get a grip.
Spring onions, chives and beetroot seedlings got planted out into plots this week, and covered in netting just to allow them to take root as something wild is very busy digging holes all over the place, and if it took to a newly planted bed, the seedlings would stand no chance at all. The turnips and kohlrabi had to be pinched out as we had sown two seeds per cell and it seems all of them had taken. It is a shame to have to remove seedlings but these vegetables prefer to be on their own and would be fighting over the water, so it is best to take one of the seedlings out – luckily they are not wasted and can be put into a stir fry.
The daffodils are going over now, and an effort was made to dead head them this week so that the bulb can direct energy back to itself rather than to the seed head. Happily, the English marigolds are just starting to flower, and the cerinthe, as you can see from a picture below, are just starting to show some colour too. The last of the kale was taken out, and some cardoons were moved but unfortunately not the globe artichokes because they had grown too large already. Maybe next year.
Perhaps the best news was to hear that the fantastic hummingbird moth which we often comment on and living in one of our gardens in Sandgate, has been seen again. It seems pretty early as apparently it is a summer visitor to the UK.
What’s next?
- Lots of seeds still need to be sown
- Finish staking the broad beans
- Get some strings in for the hops too
- Weeds need to be hoed.
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.