Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 2nd April: Ten varieties of tomato, coming soon.

That sunny warm spring seems to still be eluding us, with a continuation of yet more rain and stormy days.  The rainfall for March was 109.3mm, double the monthly average.  In March last year the total was just 29.5mm.  

Sandgate is filled with the sounds of chainsaws felling trees and the loud crunching of the wood chipping machines.  It has been going on all week from Romney Avenue in Golden Valley in one direction, and from the woods in Military Road, making way for yet more housing.  There is an empty sky where there used to be a canopy.  When you read that trees are capable of sensing when their neighbours are under attack and can send signals of alarm further afield to other trees, it just makes you sad.

Let us dispense with the misery and consider happier things.

We did manage to dodge more rain, and weed the rest of Fremantle Park.  We just managed to put in a couple of dozen strawberry plants before we gave up and let the rainfall water them in. 

We finished planting the seed potatoes and directly sowed the carrots and parsnips.  The parsnips will not mature until the first frosts so we could be being a little optimistic there, considering our possible time left at Enbrook!  The peas for pea pods got sown and the spinach planted.  The cabbages, calabrese and thyme seedlings got pricked out and potted on, as did some 250 tomato plants.  Now that amount of tomato plants will be more than enough even for us, so we are sure to have plenty to pass on later this month.  We have ten varieties to choose from, so something for everyone. 

We are battling with the sycamore seedlings as we do this time every year, but whilst searching them out we come across so many other seedlings that randomly pop up which we can use in other gardens or pot up in preparation for one of our events.  It is such a delight to benefit from plants for free, and always interesting to see them emerging and then puzzle over what they could be until they become large enough to recognise.

We have been observing the rhubarb patch as it has evolved over the last month.  Our earliest variety showed itself some weeks ago, yet most of the other plants are still to appear or are just revealing a first stem and leaf.

Last but not least, one of our vigilant gardeners spotted something called a bee-fly.  It looks and behaves like a bee, sipping nectar with its long tongue or proboscis, preferably from flowers such as primroses and wild violets, of which there are plenty in the Golden Valley gardens this time of year.  There is a photo of it below, so keep a lookout for it in your street.

What’s next?

• Weed at the Sandgate orchard and plant more herbs there.

• Plant another tray of radishes

• Might need to consider staking the broad beans as they are growing fast

• Pot up Goji berry runners for transplanting elsewhere

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 26th March: Time ticks on.

Crikey!  The clocks have moved forward an hour, how did we get to that point already?  The winds have been an issue this week with yet more downpours of rain; we had to cancel the Wednesday session following on from the previous cancelled Saturday session, which meant we had a fair bit to catch up with on Saturday.

We sowed more onion seeds, and a tray of spinach, mainly to replace the trays of seedlings we lost when one of our anchored and weighted mini greenhouses took off in high winds and spilt all the seedling trays inside.  Oh well, we just sow more and luckily we still have the time for the new seedlings to catch up.

Most of the potatoes got planted, as did around one hundred plugs of spring onions.  We potted up four donated bay trees from a local garden just before the heavens opened again and we all had to run for cover – we finished early with all things considered.

On Tuesday some of us went over to a Lyminge Gardeners’ Society talk which was all about looking at soil at a microscopic level.  It was fascinating to see slides showing many of the tiny creatures living right under our noses yet invisible to the naked eye.  We have so much to learn about fostering the  conditions to keep and nurture the right sort of microscopic beasties.  Definitely work in progress!

Although the weather was diabolical, we had a visit from the manager of the Muddy Wellies Community Garden, just outside Ashford.  We went on something of a magical mystery tour to all of the sites to show that we also have a fair amount of space to take care of; however it just happens to be spread about in lots of different places.  She was able to see how the spring flowers particularly in the Golden Valley are looking beautiful right now.  The hyacinths outside the shops smell amazing, and all the little daffodils are looking beautiful in Fremantle Park. 

On Saturday afternoon, the vegetable plots in Fremantle Park got a makeover, weeded and new wood chip paths put down, whilst the orchard area was weeded and tidied up.  Again we had to dive for cover when a rain cloud came over, but it soon passed and we could continue.  It was good to see that the pomegranate tree seems to still be alive in spite of the very cold spells we had this winter, and many of the flowering plants had sown seeds around the plot.  We still have lots of planting to finish in the two recreation parks, but they should look good this year.

The next meeting of the Sandgate Environmental Action Group will be held in the Old Fire Station, Sandgate Road, at 7.00 pm Thursday 30^th March – all are welcome.

What’s next?

• Finish planting the potatoes

• Finish weeding Fremantle Park

• Sow peas for pods

• Prick out the tomatoes, cabbages and thyme seedlings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 19th March: A bee, or not a bee?

We had a touch of frost during the week but from then onwards the temperatures have started to climb, and although we are not out of the woods as regards the possibility of frosts, we can at least restart the sowing of seeds, and the current seedlings stand more of a chance of getting growing.  We had good enough weather for the Wednesday morning gardening session, however Saturday was cancelled as it was very wet and blustery and as much of the tasks are about sowing more seeds, it can be difficult when some of the seeds are as fine as dust and get transported all about the plot on a sudden gust of wind, and there are none to go in the seed tray.

Some of the blossoms are out in our hedge growing against the fence, not the sea buckthorn, but some of the other hedge plants of wild cherry, crab apple, and wild plum.  All the Sandgate wild plum trees are now in flower and doing battle with the elements so that it is always astonishing that they can manage to bear fruit after the severe battering they often get this time of year combined with a lack of insect life.  We were pleased to note that the two varieties of Pulmonaria we have growing close to the pond have survived the winter and are starting to flower – they will certainly attract the bees. 

Talking of bees, The Sandgate Environmental Action group is hosting a free Bee identification training day on 15^th April should you be interested in taking part in Bee surveys locally to help support the work of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.  You can book by emailing sandgateenvironmentalaction@gmail.com or messaging Gemma on 07984694907.  The training will take place in the Old Fire Station, Sandgate from 10am to 2pm.

Not having a session to garden on Saturday has put us back a little this week as we had hoped to get the first early potato varieties into the ground; they will now have to wait until next week; however we did manage to get the peas for pea shoots planted, and a further half tray of radishes.  The structures for the sweet peas got put up, and the spare sweet pea plants got repotted as they were climbing out of their smaller modules.  A few plants were delivered to the Saga children’s nursery in the park which they will plant into their raised bed/pots, and we pruned their apple tree to keep it in good shape.

A little time was spent working through the compost compound as it seems that the bind weed has had a wonderful time travelling into the rich compost from outside, and sending out great long ‘bootlace’ roots which as we know will rapidly grow even if broken into tiny pieces.  The roots could be composted, and are frequently put in our large compost bins, but as there were quite a few, it was decided to put them in a compost bag and allow them to ‘cook’ for a while in there to start the breakdown process before they do eventually get put on the compost pile.

During the week there was a catch up visit to ‘Muddy Wellies’ community garden just outside Ashford.  Last year a few of us had helped to prune some of the trees in their lovely orchard, and it was good to see the group is still thriving and have new facilities as well as others in the planning.  Next week one of their managers will be coming out to visit us and our gardens.  It is always helpful and useful to be able to exchange ideas and sometimes resources with other groups.

What’s next?

• Sow more onions and radishes

• Sow some of the flower seeds

• Plant those potatoes

• Maybe plant the spring onions

• Prick out the thyme seedlings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.