Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 28th January: A real community event and a pleasure to share food which would otherwise have gone to waste.

We have been lucky enough to have some pleasant sunny days when we have been working in the garden this week.   Cold with some heavy frosts, so we are still limiting how long we have been staying.   Two beds of broccoli from the summer were twisted out, stripped and composted.  They have worked extremely hard and have given us so many florets, but they were now exhausted and it was time to take them up.  A good layer of compost was put down on the beds where they were, to replenish the soil. 

One of our composting nets was turned out into a maturation bay; it will be some time until we can make more compost in our circular nets as there is not enough fresh new growth this time in the year.  The ‘runners’ from the hedge were cut out, a bay tree pruned, and the dead growth in the rosemary plants were cut out – more tidying and preparing for the busy season to come.

We were fortunate enough to have a group of volunteers from the Napier barracks come out. They barrowed lots of wood chips from the bottom of the hill up to the garden. They were then laid to make a new main path going right down the centre of the garden.  We still have more paths to put down, but we have made a good start.

It was a real pleasure to drive out to the largest greenhouse complex in the UK, Thanet Earth on Wednesday.  With strict security, it is a mile from the entrance to the reception desk, driving past the most incredible glass houses containing huge tomato and bell pepper plants still producing fruits in the middle of January.  We rang to ask if Thanet Earth might have some spare produce for the Disco Soup event on Saturday, and they kindly obliged by donating two boxes of tomatoes and two of bell peppers. 

On Thursday there was a visit from the Hythe Environmental group field gleaners, bringing two crates of potatoes, a crate of broccoli and a crate of cauliflowers freshly gleaned from the farms that very day.  With all this amazing produce, some donated sourdough bread from Docker bakery, plus some salvaged bits and pieces from a couple of local supermarkets, the participants of the Disco Soup event helped to put together a delicious feast of soups, salads, and tasty roasted vegetables.  It was a real community event, and a pleasure to share food amongst so many people which would otherwise have gone to waste.  All the vegetable peelings were saved too and will be going to our hot composter at Folkestone College sometime this week, nothing has gone to waste, and a good time was had by all.  We are now going to be looking forward to the next Disco Soup event either in April or May.

What’s next?

• Take up some of the mint starting to emerge

• Cut back the dead nettle and take out some feverfew

• Put down compost where the leeks were

• Remove old leaves from the purple sprouting broccoli plants

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 21st January: Cold weather, awards and the return of Disco Soup.

The weather this week continues to challenge our perseverance as to how long we can manage to work in the garden before all sense of feeling in the fingers and toes disappear!  We kept the sessions to just one hour which is fine if you are being active enough.  In spite of the cold the rhubarb is starting to make an appearance which seems incredible considering much of the ground is frozen solid and we had to refrain from doing anything with some of the potted plants as they were frozen into the pots.

Despite the frosts, there were plenty of holes around the plot in evidence this week, some were dug from above ground, probably in the search for juicy worms below, but some have been dug from below ground – just small, deep gaping holes to who knows where, but interesting all the same.  It makes you ponder, thinking of the recent flooding in the UK, of the plight of the creatures living underground, and how they can possibly survive.  Luckily our garden is not prone to flooding.

The new stacking crates got labelled so that we can easily find the small tools, (such a luxury) and the rest of our time was spent weeding and cutting back dead growth or shrubs.  We had a large patch of allium triquetrum, better known as the three cornered garlic or leek.  It is quite prolific in Sandgate, and spreads like mad if given the opportunity.  It was decided to take out this large patch as we have more elsewhere anyway and it makes a great pesto, so most of it got eaten.  However be warned that this plant is not native to us and considered invasive and therefore it is an offence to introduce this plant to the wild.

We had a delivery of woodchip, and so one of our tasks for next week is to put a good layer of them on the main paths as they are breaking down fast from their last dressing of chips!  That should certainly keep us warm, although the signs are that it should be warmer outside anyway.

We have been awarded a certificate by Councillor Dr Stephen Scoffham, (cabinet member for climate, environment and biodiversity) for our community composting project at Folkestone College.  Early days, but the food composting project is underway and we are composting anything from vegetable peelings to hot dogs, fish heads and potato chips.  The cold weather does affect the composting unsurprisingly, but it will be in full swing once the air temperature and the composter temperature start to rise.

Last but not least, we are supporting the next ‘Disco Soup’ event being held next Saturday at Radnor Park Bowls Club, Radnor Park, Folkestone, from 11am to 3pm.  A great free family event all about using waste food to make a community feast, you can dance, cook and eat whilst local DJ Andy Tempest gets the party going.  Check out social media for details on how to book a free ticket.

What’s next? 

• Get those wood chips down on the paths

• Have the pots defrosted?

• Empty the compost net

• Still got hedge runners to remove

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 14th January: It was all about compost this week.

We have another month until we can start off the first of the seeds for the year, so most of our time is spent clearing, tidying and preparing for the growing year ahead.  It remains very cold, not so much rain and happily a little sunshine.  Some of the men from the Napier barracks came out to help us by moving yet more compost from the lower end of the park up to the garden and into our compost compound there, as well as dropping several wheelbarrow loads onto some of the beds in need of covering mulch.  At the same time a compost pile we have been adding to within the garden was turned causing a flurry of excitement by our resident robin.  The robin could be heard singing at the top of his lungs throughout the whole time we were there but was not so easy to spot and even harder to photograph.  It flit into the various compost piles whenever our gaze was averted and no doubt managed to find some good pickings from the compost wildlife.

It was time to tidy the tool box too.  Some stacking crates had been found destined for the bins but were rescued and put to good use keeping all our smaller items such as balls of string scissors, secateurs and hand trowels together, where they can now hopefully be found easily.  Woe betides any gardener who messes up the good work there for a while at least!

On Thursday there was a kombucha tasting evening at Docker Bar Sandgate.  There were some amazing flavours to sample from elderberry to fig leaf to ginger and turmeric as well as Hythe Hops, perhaps from our very own hops from 2023.

We had a visit from two ladies in the process of starting their own community garden in East Folkestone for patients with dementia.  We are always very happy to give any advice we can on starting up a garden and will be following their progress with interest.

What’s next?

• Get a delivery of wood chips

• Some of the main paths need a new wood chip mulch

• Tidy the banana tree

• Label the stacking crates

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.