Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 4th December: A rubbish place to bury your acorns.

The Christmas lights are all up and on in the High Street and at last the weather is starting to be seasonably as cold as it probably should be.  The rainfall for November was recorded locally as being 196.6 mm which is the most ever recorded for our records.  We always report that just north of Sandgate there seems to be more rain, and indeed Pent Farm, Postling, where the Touchbase garden is, had a recorded rainfall of over 250mm.  It is extremely soggy out there however the Sandgate gardens are not at all muddy because the beds are covered in compost and the paths with wood chips – we never have to scrape our boots after working in them. 

In spite of some showers, a few of the men from the Napier Barracks came out to help with some physically demanding chores.  The small orchard at the Sandgate Park needed clearing of weeds and liberally mulching with compost which had to be bagged up, transported and carried to the site.  Once that was done we planted some spring bulbs and it is all looking much tidier.  In October we had reported that the Bramley apple tree there was in full flower, presumably thinking it was spring, and now it has several small apples pictured below.  We will have to see if it can start again when spring really does return and send out more blossoms.

When we went to the compost pile to start putting it into bags, you could see that parts of the pile had been disturbed and on investigation it became clear that all the local squirrels had been busy doing what squirrels do best this time of year, burying their acorns for them to retrieve at a later date.  Unfortunately these squirrels will be disappointed to find their stash will be gone but luckily they usually play it safe and deposit food stores in more than one place.  Forgotten acorns put out some roots having been conveniently planted. 

On Wednesday at Enbrook Park a huge bumble bee was seen in the garden looking very drowsy, luckily one of our gardeners spotted it and put it carefully onto some Calendula flowers so that it could get to some nectar and be revived.  We discovered that surprisingly there is one bumblebee species, the buff-tailed Bombus terrestris, which is active during winter, even when there is snow on the ground.

At the garden sessions, we often share any gluts from other gardens.  It was a complete surprise to find that there were some massive celery plants at Fremantle, which had to come out to make way for a few broad beans.  The ground at Fremantle Park is far wetter than at the Enbrook Park garden site where the celeriac and celery suffered from being dry during the late part of the summer.  However the same plants at Fremantle survived well with no water, going on to produce some fabulous vegetables.  It just goes to show when you are looking over that fence to eye up what is being grown by somebody else that growing some decent vegetables is not just about how much care and attention you have given but also about the environment.

What’s next?

• The alley needs clearing between Meadowbrook and Chichester Road

• Finish planting the last of the bulbs

• Have we finished potting up the strawberry plants?

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 27th November: The Christmas Tree has arrived before the first frost…

The Sandgate Christmas tree arrived this week and was promptly hoisted into place on the village green outside the chip shop.  It seems hard to believe it is that time of year again, but here we are, time is hurtling on towards the shortest day of the year. 

You may have noticed that the Christmas tree is not the only tree on the green this year; we also have a banana tree in front of a rather enormous tomato plant, still producing tomatoes.  We do, and have planted a few plants and bulbs on the green, but it has to be said that we did not plant the banana or the tomato!   Interestingly we seem to have a guerrilla gardener in our midst, and their identity is a complete mystery.  This is not the only garden they have added to either, the alleyway garden between Chichester Road and Meadowbrook also had some additions of Achocha vines.  We think this guerrilla gardener or perhaps gardeners know their stuff and so far are keeping their identity a complete secret.  Well, community gardens are all about the community and the inhabitants, so it is a great thing that there are other people out there in the locality wanting to make the area green and fruitful.

(As a matter of fact, the banana tree is not actually a tree but an herb, closely related to ginger, with a succulent, soft stem compared to the wood of the tree.)

The wet weather continued this week, and yet another gardening session missed because of it on Wednesday.  It seems to follow a pattern of torrential rain and high winds followed by some glorious sunshine, and then the pattern continues over again.  The problem is to catch the sunshine when it happens, before the rains appear once more.  In our green spaces, the grass is still growing and is long, but the ground is too saturated in places to be able to take the weight of a mower.  We would have liked to have finished putting all the bulbs in this week, but have had to cancel other gardening sessions and try again next week if the weather should be kinder. 

We did manage to clear lots more fallen leaves and add to the leaf mulch compost pile which is growing taller and taller, however in spite of all the strong winds there are still plenty of leaves stubbornly clinging onto the branches, probably due to the lack of any frost so far.  We also pulled up more of the Jerusalem artichokes, some of which will be planted into pots to plant out in the spring.  The new rhubarb was also due to be planted out at Fremantle Park but instead they have also been put into pots, the reason being that such saturated ground followed possibly by much colder weather can stress and kill a thick, newly planted root before it gets the chance to take proper hold, and indeed last year we lost two newly planted rhubarb roots this way, although others survived.

Our last plantings of broad beans do not seem to mind this weather and are suffering more from being picked on by the wildlife, probably birds, which pull them out of the ground, then lose interest leaving the bare roots exposed.  If found quickly enough the beans can be replanted, and once they have put their roots out into the soil they will be fixed in place.  This can also happen to onion and garlic sets too.  Luckily at Enbrook there was only a couple of missing plants which have been replaced from our spares. 

What’s next?

• Bulbs to plant at Sandgate Park and trees to mulch

• Nasturtiums to thin out

• Brambles to clear from under the fig tree

• Pot up plenty of Jerusalem artichokes to plant in the Golden Valley in Spring

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 20th November: Fortune Two and Combo have landed.

When the Bewick’s swans arrive in the UK from Russia it is said to mark the beginning of winter.  This year they have arrived later than at any time since 1965 probably because their Arctic home is getting warmer or perhaps they have been trying to dodge the missiles in their mission to seek out warmer weather.  Nineteen year old Fortune Two and Combo were the first to arrive, they have been together since 2005; long may they migrate here!

The theme of unusual weather patterns continued this week in Sandgate.  It has now gone mid-November and no sign of even a slight frost.  Instead we had more of the same howling winds and lashing rain, and although it feels chilly to be out in all of that, the temperatures continue to be high enough for plenty of plants to put on growth.  It is astonishing to see that the wild garlic at Enbrook Park is really high already when it should perhaps only just be starting to poke its head above ground.  The flower and herb section continues to look lush and full of flower including the most attractive dead nettle, Lamium, from the Greek word ‘lamia’ meaning ‘devouring monster with open jaws’.  Indeed the flowers do look quite menacing, especially if you are the insect trying to navigate those jaws in search of nectar.  None of the garden hive bees would have been attending to those flowers on Wednesday, and neither were there any gardeners as the heavy rain kept us all away.  As a result, not all of our tasks for the week got completed so they will get put back on the list for this coming week and with all being well.

Now all the broad beans have been planted, we have kept extra plants just in case there are any casualties.  None of the planted out beans have been tampered with, but the spare beans still growing in module trays have unfortunately been found by the local rodents, probably mice, and even though the beans have already sprouted, they have been pulled up and gnawed.  They were moved to higher ground in an attempt to put the mice off, but they were attacked again; so now the remaining few beans have to be taken in at night time until they can be finally planted. 

We were fortunate enough to get some help with some tasks at Fremantle Park and the Golden Valley shops this week.  Some of the men from Napier Barracks came out to plant spring bulbs and clear some of the old summer growth, plus brambles and ivy which was starting to creep across the ground again from the fence lines.  They are always so enthusiastic and hardworking that we were quite exhausted by the time it got dark and we had to tidy away.  They are booked to come out again next week to help with more tidying and mulching of the community orchards, plus planting even more spring bulbs.  We bought bags and bags of spring bulbs this year, but they seem to have gone nowhere when you stop to consider how large the areas we are planting up are.  The only difficulty was trying to get across that the best look for a natural garden is to throw the bulbs up in the air and plant them where they fall – not to plant them in straight lines, equidistant from the last!  We are certainly looking forward to seeing the results in the spring that is if the bulbs know when it is spring!

Last but not least, we are delighted that some of our gardeners were at the sustain Sandgate meeting at the Old Fire Station.  It was a most interesting and very positive gathering, with plenty of ideas already being looked at and tackled.  The next meeting should be in January, and the Sandgate Society will be sending more information before then should you be interested in getting involved with your community.

What’s next?

• Still need to tackle the overgrown nasturtiums and pot some up for other areas

• Still need to pot up more strawberries

• Still need to harvest all the Jerusalem artichokes and replant them

• Plant out the rhubarb plants

• Mulch the orchards and plant spring bulbs

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.