Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 23rd July: Dwarf beans, blackcurrants, tomatoes, fungi and flowers.

Considering the fact that many parts of the world including Europe are experiencing extreme heatwaves, it has to be said that cooler showery/windy weather has to be preferable, although not everybody would agree with that.  The showers are so localised, that it can be raining hard at Pent Farm and Cheriton High Street, even at the top of Enbrook Valley, with the rain literally bouncing back off the pavement, yet the rest of Sandgate can be absolutely bone dry!  Fortunately Sandgate did get plenty of showers, meaning no, or little watering, and most of the plants are responding well to plentiful water. 

Of course, not all plants this time of year will be enjoying the wet, thinking of tomatoes in particular, and already many gardeners are on the lookout for the dreaded blight, as these are perfect conditions for it to turn up out of the blue.  We are being vigilant, ready to act should it come our way anytime soon.  We have already had some ripe tomatoes from our outdoor plants.  The first to appear were the Sungold variety, followed by the black Indigo Cherry Drops, and the Yellow Submarines.  After that, the small cherry tomatoes are starting to appear, but the larger varieties are some way behind. 

The dwarf beans have been cropping well this year and also seem to have plenty of flowers to continue on.  Last year they struggled in the heat and lack of water, later falling victim to blackfly.

The broccoli has also done quite well, and this year we have tried the type which keeps producing side shoots similar to purple sprouting, rather than just producing one large head.  This means that you get a longer cropping harvest and not just a load of broccoli all at once.  We had hoped to be able to plant the late flowering purple sprouting for next spring; however it is proving to be a little reluctant and is well behind the growth of the earlier varieties.  It may have to wait another week or so. 

Many of our blackcurrant bushes fared well this year too, mainly because they are a year old and therefore larger.  We lost our crop at Enbrook to the badgers, but the bushes at Fremantle Park and the alleyway at Meadowbrook produced some lovely currants which hopefully got picked by local foragers.

Last but not least we have been rewarded with plenty of fungi in the compost bins too; a great sign which means that the compost is doing just what we want it to.

What’s next?

• Sow more wallflowers, lettuce, endive, winter radish

• Finish weeding the brassica beds under the netting

• Net the Aronia bushes before the birds/badgers get them

• Check on the honey berries

• Cut back the inside of the hedge

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 16th July: Keeping your bananas well away from the beehives.

Just as our newsletter went out last Sunday bemoaning the fact the rain was passing us by yet again, it started to pour down.  We have had several substantial showers since. This weekend the winds have arrived with a vengeance. 

Apart from the interesting weather, the main feature of the week has been insects, from the good, the bad, and the (not so) ugly.  For a few weeks now there has been a plethora of ladybirds – always a delight to see, but they seem to be in particularly high numbers at the moment and appearing in all of the gardens. 

We are always interested in identifying what we find locally, and a friend posted a photograph of a delicate looking moth which had caught her eye.  Unfortunately it happened that the moth was the box tree or box hedge moth.  An invasive species from East Asia accidentally introduced to Central Europe a few years ago, it devastates box trees, and many box tree plants in Sandgate have indeed been lost or affected by this particular creature this year. 

Whilst clearing some weeds at Fremantle Park it was interesting to find several caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth.  Looking like it is wearing a brightly coloured yellow/orange and black striped rugby shirt, it is very easy to find although birds know that it is poisonous.  The Cinnabar moth is not rare in the UK, but the adults and caterpillars certainly give a great splash of colour. 

Whilst working at Enbrook Park in the garden this Saturday we were joined by our beekeeper, checking on the main hive to see if the queen was in evidence.  The good news is that she certainly was at home, and the hive has increased greatly in numbers.  Unfortunately they took umbrage at being disturbed (quite understandably) and decided to go for the gardeners by buzzing around their heads to warn them away from the area.  When bees are stuck in your hair and sounding mighty angry it can be a challenge to remain calm, and a certain amount of squealing and running about did not seem to help the situation.  Added to which, once you are stung by a bee, it releases an odour called an alarm pheromone to alert other bees to the danger.  This alarm pheromone apparently smells like bananas and attracts other bees to come to the defence of the hive.  Lessons learnt:

• Do not open a hive on a gardening day.

• Do not eat bananas near a beehive.

If stung, the pheromone stays on your clothing which should then be washed before wearing them again!

This week, Alistair, our composting champion, has been working at Pent Farm for Touchbase Care to sort out the unruly composting heaps.  He has certainly made a terrific difference, by recycling and rethinking the area.  On his return to the farm to check on how the compost was ‘cooking’, he took off the cover to find a rather large and splendid grass snake taking up residence.  The cover was quickly replaced and the snake left, in the hope that it may decide to stay for the rest of the season with any luck.  We shall certainly not be disturbing it.

In spite of all our encounters with wildlife we did manage to get some broccoli planted as well as spring onions; lettuces and chicories were sown and rampaging weeds removed. 

What’s next?

• With luck the purple sprouting can be planted

• Check on the courgettes

• Weed the leek bed

• Remove the bolted lettuces

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.