The high winds continued to run their course at the start of this week, and so we have found the answer to our question about the viability of growing runner beans on the site – a big fat no, when for the second summer they were destroyed by the high winds in spite of all measures to protect them.  So it will be dwarf beans or nothing from now on.  A few beans are still standing, but looking very sad and sorry.  The sunflowers suffered the same fate, but happily the tomatoes are made of stronger stuff, and although the sweet corn was partially blown over and looked tattered and torn, they were on the whole still alright.  Considering we did not expect to be able to collect any corn after finding out there were badgers running amuck, the now ripe cobs were a bonus.

The planter outside the ship suffered the same fate, and was battered mercilessly, but the foliage is dense, and after a bit of a trim to remove the blackened areas, the plants looked in fine fettle.  The planter also had ripe corn cobs, but certainly not for sharing as corn relies on being pollinated by the wind ironically, but with only three plants, were not enough to make for a good example of a corn cob, being sparse and not worth bothering with; and so it has in effect been ornamental .  The space cleared will be planted again this week with something yet to be decided.  We are pleased at how the planter has fared being in such a position, both outside a pub and practically right on the seafront, and it still has plenty to offer.  We have heard tales of how locals are nipping out to collect a few herbs when they suddenly realise they are missing an ingredient in the cupboard which the planter can provide – perfect!

We put in some winter mustards this week and a few more pak choi, there will be sowings of spring onions and bulb onions to overwinter and be ready to harvest in the spring or through to high summer 2021. 

We are still continuing to collect more of the strawberry compost from the strawberry farm and stockpile it for using in November/December to cover the beds.  The compost heaps were all turned again and we found two slow worms tucked up in them – they were carefully moved to safety. 

You might have thought that the rain we had was enough to refill the pond but it is still only about a third to half full.  We are pleased to notice dragonfly larvae in the pond, and on a recent sunny afternoon, the pond was host to many bright red dragonflies, and a picture of one is included below.

There comes a time when you have to be brave and remove the mesh protecting the brassicas from the dreaded cabbage white butterflies eager to lay their eggs, simply because the plants need staking and have outgrown their enclosure.  We will still have to keep a close eye on the plants and continue to remove eggs, and we have positioned some mesh hanging over the broccoli as they were plagued by pigeons last year, but pigeons do not like to be under structures apparently, and so we hope this arrangement will work.  Soon find out!

We heard from the Hythe Hops scheme that the first harvest date for the hops will be this Thursday 3^rd September.  We will be collecting our hops this day as they are certainly ready now, a little wind scorched but generally fine.  These fresh hops will be used to make a ‘green brew’ by Docker brewery.  Any hops collected at a later date by other growers in the scheme, are hopefully to be dried and used to make ales that can be bottled or canned over the months to come.

What’s next?

• Plant out the mooli radishes

• Harvest the hops

• Continue to collect compost

• Sow spring and bulb onion seeds

• Find plants for the Ship planter

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It has been a week of highs and lows. 

We are able to harvest quite a range of things each week, and are now fortunate to have regular visitors coming by to pick up seasonal and local veg, or just to see what is going on.  We had the first of the celery this week.  Most of the vegetables you grow yourself are a world away from commercially grown crops.  They have real flavour, but where growing conditions are not always perfect, reflect those imperfections.  For example our celery looks ok, but due to the recent dry conditions is probably more ‘stringy’ than your supermarket version, but my goodness, what a delicious soup it made!

We have an amazing team of volunteers who come along on a regular basis, and we have all made new friends and acquaintances as a result.  We are fortunate.  For us, this is something we enjoy doing, for lots of different reasons, and not because we have to rely on growing enough food to feed the family… that would be difficult.  The high winds we had this weekend turned over our mini greenhouse, with hundreds of seedlings inside, and they were all lost.  Weeks of growing and nurturing lost in the blink of an eye, so no spinach to plant out this coming week, and no coriander, chervil, dill, and no extra pak choi.  We sowed more seeds on Saturday, and we hope they might be able to grow big enough before the cooler weather and shorter days set in.  In the whole scheme of things this set back is frustrating and annoying, but imagine if your whole life had to depend on the crops you are able to grow because it was not possible to go to a supermarket and buy what you want.  It puts such things into perspective.  Here is another reflection on how fragile our environment is, there is a photo below showing various fruits and vegetables pollinated by bees, a reminder of how important these insects are to our food. 

One of our contacts told us about a supply of spent compost from a local strawberry farm, no longer required, that we could go and collect, to add to our winter mulch of compost.  Compost seems to have greatly increased in price just this year, so this is a welcome bonus, and will help to improve the soil.  We used some to partially fill another planter in Cheriton High Street, outside the barbers, as part of the Incredible Edible project.  It saved a great deal of money which can go towards other projects, and goes to show that one person’s rubbish is treasure to someone else. 

What’s next?

• Can any of the dwarf beans be cleared, or salad boxes?

• Keep looking for weeds hiding at the base of established plants

• Repair wind damage to various plants and structures.

• Continue to move compost and store for later use.

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It has been a very busy week, coping with the weather, watering new plants as well as the thirsty usual.  Some of the gardeners had a glut of plums and greengages, which others were happy to make into Jam for sharing, thank you Theresa and Peter!

Many of the squash and courgette plant leaves had mildew which makes the plants look pretty bad, but is in fact nothing to worry about, and does not harm any of the fruits.  We spent some time cutting off the leaves affected as they do little for the plant.  After some rain, the winter squashes perked up no end as they were on the end of the list for watering as they still have some time to be growing until harvest.  The tomatoes are quite heavy with tomatoes now and the growing tips were removed so that they can concentrate on the fruit they already have to ripen before it is autumn, and not on growing any more.

We have some self-sown plants of ‘lambs ears’ and borage available if any of you would like some for your gardens.  We are often asked about the plants that attract the bees, and below is a picture of a cardoon which is now flowering and is extremely popular with the bees, where they become smothered in pollen.  The cardoon is very similar to the globe artichoke, but not so good to eat.  We have a globe artichoke planted this year, but as yet it is very tiny!

Talking of flowers, there are plenty on the runner beans and they are starting to arrive.  We have white and red flowered varieties.  We pulled up some of the carrots we were given, sown into modules and planted out a few weeks ago; they are a prime example of why it is not such a good idea to transplant them as you can see from the picture below they are very wonky!

This week we have sown coriander, spinach and mooli radish seeds.  It can still be a problem getting hold of certain seeds, but luckily the seed companies are gradually getting in fresh supplies, as the shop supplies dwindle, there are sometimes bargains to be had as they want to get rid of  this year’s stock.  We planted more chard, salad and beetroot.  The soy beans have not been up to much, but they have been dug up several times by visiting furry friends – they never stood a chance, as have several other plants on the edges of the beds where they are rescued and replanted if we catch them in time, or get frazzled in the sun if not!

The Hythe Hops organisers are starting to get busy as we are now closer to harvest.  We were sent a questionnaire to fill in, reporting back on if we have flowers or hops, colour of the hops and estimation of how many so that a prediction can be made as to the exact harvest date and how much is expected so that the breweries can be warned.  We sent in more photographs, and hope at some point to have a professional photograph taken of the volunteer gardeners and our hops for posterity!

What’s next ?

• More sowings of spinach, chard and radishes

• Keep picking and watering if necessary

• Weeding required in some areas

• Assess space for future plantings

• Start moving compost from the lower wall.

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