Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 16th October: Comparing notes, know your mushrooms and the flight of the Sandgate Storks…

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 9th October: Keeping the garden tidy, a full pond and late growth.

After all the rushing around of the last few weeks, getting all the plants into the ground and settled in as quickly as possible, it has suddenly gone very quiet now in the garden, giving time to catch up with a few things and to actually sit down and spend time having a good chat to volunteers and visitors.  There is not much to harvest at the moment.  Daylight hours are so much shorter, and this has an impact on the speed of growth, or lack of it, and once something has been raided, it takes that much longer to recover than it might have done in high summer, to be at a point where it can be raided again.

The leaves are now continuing to fall along with bountiful amounts of sycamore seeds which always keep us busy when they start to sprout in the spring, so it will be lots of picking up and constantly tidying from now on.  Where leaves cover any seedlings, they cut out the light and the slug and snail population quickly move in.  Keeping a tidy garden helps to keep problems at bay.  The damper cooler weather has encouraged the fungi to appear all over the plot, and there are some rather large spectacular displays appearing just outside in the grassy areas as pictured below. 

The pond is full again at last, something we have not seen for many months.  We have been clearing the fallen leaves and duckweed, however looking at the amount of scum on the top of the water; it is evident that many birds and perhaps mammals have been enjoying taking a dip in the deeper water.  There is always a kerfuffle and commotion when you first enter the garden as the birds bathing take flight and fly away.

Now is the time for some of the flowers to look their best having got through the drought, stressed and attacked by blackfly, the dahlias and fuchsias are now making a spectacular show and really having a final fling before any frosts finish them off. 

The last of the rather large purple sprouting cages were completed this week as the broccoli was straining to burst out of their hooped netting and grow taller and wider.  You can sense the relief; looking at those plants released from their confines last week, already seeming larger and healthier for having the space.

One of our garden friends, Rosemary (from the Marsh community garden, and Napier Barracks garden volunteer) got in touch to say she had been collecting many seeds that we could have, as well as an electric garden shredder.  We snapped up the seeds, but having no electric power on any of our sites, the shredder was passed on to one of our sister groups, the Incredible Edibles in Cheriton.  We know they will be able to make good use of that, thank you Rosemary!

What’s next?

• We still need to cut back the foliage that is growing into the pond.

• Keep on picking up leaves from all over the site

• Weed, weed, weed

• Water the pots and cold frames regularly

• Still plenty of seedlings to pot up and move to other sites.

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 2nd October: From the Brockhill walled kitchen garden to a more sustainable Sandgate.

We are into October already and still in the process of getting out as many of the autumn plants as possible, either in the ground, or under cover in the cold frames.  The rainfall for September was a fantastic 84.1mm which is the most we have had in one month for the entire year.  The tree leaves had already taken on some autumn colour and might have managed to cling on to their branches for a little longer had the high winds not persuaded them otherwise on Friday.  Enbrook Park was littered with leaves and a few broken branches, and many of the sweet chestnuts in their prickly cases had been blown down and were rolling around the car park.

We had recently been commenting on how our banana tree had managed to keep its leaves whole, but all that has changed and it looks more like a palm tree where the leaves are now shredded.  Some of our netting was displaced, but otherwise we did not seem to have much damage at all within the garden.  Many tree leaves had fallen into the pond and had to be fished out with a net whilst tackling the duckweed at the same time.  

The lettuces had finally put on enough growth to be large enough to be planted out.  Compost bin one got turned into compost bin two, to make space for the courgette plants, tired of life at last.  We have been remembering to water the cold frames, and were pleased to note that the mustard plants are already mature enough for a first picking.  Each time we visit the garden there are new seedlings popping through which are being put into pots to take to other projects.

Last week, the vegetable plots at Fremantle Park had a sprucing.  It had been difficult to grow much this year due to the drought conditions and there being no water on site.  But as soon as the rain came along, the beds got a good weeding and a generous mulching of compost to set them up for winter plantings. 

One project we have been following is the new walled kitchen garden at Brockhill School.  The renovation of the period greenhouse has been started, as has the ‘no dig’ mulching of the vegetable beds.  We went along to have a look at the progress so far, taking some of our self-sown seedlings, some mustards, bulb fennel, coriander and parsley.  Some of the year groups at the school have already been helping with the work of putting down the card, compost and wood chips.  The hope is to start a gardening club soon, and the long term plan is to teach agriculture.  Such an exciting project, and one we are delighted to follow and help with any advice we can give. 

Talking of new plans – it was very exciting to hear that the Sandgate Society have arranged a meeting for Thursday 13^th October at 7pm in the Reading Room at the Old Fire Station to discuss ideas and explore ways forward to make Sandgate more sustainable.  There are already many suggestions being made from a tool library to improving local services and facilities, with just about everything in-between.  Simply email sandgatesociety@gmail.com if you would like to attend the meeting, and if you have any suggestions for discussion, everyone is welcome, and you do not need to be a Sandgate Society member.

What’s next?

• Continue to remove leaves and duckweed from the pond

• Cut back foliage falling into the pond

• Start to pot up the strawberry plants going everywhere!

• Put up more brassica structures

• Check on the condition of our fleece nets

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.