An executive decision was made in the week to meet up and work on the garden on Tuesday  instead of Wednesday when it was super soggy.  We might be a great working team but we do not enjoy being wet, and so please bear that in mind if you were making a trip up to the garden on either our Wednesday or Saturday morning session, that we do not work in serious rain!  Saturday in particular was a very sociable morning with lots of people dropping in, and it was a real community garden with lots of banter and all round good fun in the sunshine!

We are busy trying to find room for the winter brassicas, the purple sprouting and kale.  The cabbage white butterflies are very evident this week flitting about looking for somewhere to lay their eggs but we hope to have put them off by immediately covering the new plantings with a close woven mesh, making sure there are no gaps for the butterflies to get in.  The pesky blighters can spot a fault in the netting with no problem and will be in there in no time at all laying the eggs of their brassica munching caterpillars.  We still have to raise some of the mesh cloches where plants are starting to push against the netting; a job for next week.

Another week of kindness as we had more weed and oxygenating plants brought up for the pond, and two donations from Sandgate neighbours happy to see the Incredible Edible plantings in the Sandgate alley way as written about last week.  The £15 given will go towards more compost and seeds to help towards keeping the project going, there are lots of ideas and more possible projects in the pipeline, and we will keep you posted as to further developments, it is all very exciting.

Blackfly is the issue this week… there certainly seem to be plenty of them and they are pestering our poor runner beans stressed already by the wind in the week, which of course attracts the blackfly.  However Theresa was on the case, and spent time brushing and washing them off with a dilute mix of washing up liquid.  With any luck, a couple of such treatments might do the trick and stop them from overwhelming the plants.  The first dwarf beans are looking perky and a few bean pods might even be ready to pick next week.

Below is a picture of the sunflowers outside the fence and along the wall.  The first two plants were snapped by the wind, the rest are incredibly still standing, and the first flower is starting to show colour.  With any luck they will grow taller than the wall and make a real show.

What’s next?

• Raise the cloches for the brassicas

• Keep cutting, picking and weeding

• Plant out the purple sprouting

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The Wednesday morning session was spent propping up leaning plants and cutting off wind burnt and shredded leaves, the condition of the garden was surprisingly better than was thought, although it seems we have more windy days to follow.  Saturday morning was a washout, rain is great and we really should not grumble but the timing was not good! 

This week we have weeded inside the cloches, planted beetroot, a random tomato plant, and the last few dwarf beans for this year.  The flowers got another cutting, and the wild flower area tidied; some of the potatoes got harvested, along with broad beans, spring onions, beetroot, salad, and courgettes.  The first salad sown in early March is nearly finished, and being overtaken by the second sowing of the year in early June; a third sowing will be made next week plus endives, both frizzy and escarole varieties.  This month there will be sowings of chard, kohlrabi, Florence fennel, more kale, and at the end of the month, some Chinese cabbage, lots to look forward to!

We are keeping a close eye on our hop plants, and have sent our photos of them to the Hythe Environmental group to deliver a verdict on how they are looking as first year plants.  It seems from their feedback that they are looking good and strong.  The next milestone is the appearance of the first ‘cones’ from the insignificant looking burrs or flowers…. Then we will be in business for picking the cones in September to be made into local beer.  Not long now.

The second incredible edible project was finished in Sandgate and planted up with runner beans, dwarf beans, chillies, strawberry plants, tomato plants, squashes and all manner of herbs.  The neighbours seemed pleased with the new look, and have volunteered to make some additions.  We are now turning our attention towards the possibility of yet another Edible space in Sandgate, more details to follow as and when there is progress.

What’s next?

• Raise the cloches as the brassicas inside get taller.

• Cut off the strawberry runners not required this year

• Keep cutting and picking

• Sowings of seeds as mentioned

• Cut back lower third of hop side shoots

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