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.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 25th September: It really has started to feel autumnal.

It really has started to feel autumnal; the days are noticeably shorter which means that the plants need so much longer to grow.  A tray of lettuces pricked out just a week ago is struggling to get growing whereas in the height of the summer they would have grown twice as fast.  Most of the leafy vegetables are appreciating the cooler temperatures and the rain; the tomatoes, not used to so much water, expanded too fast for their skins to keep up and many of them started to split.  This can happen with many fruits and vegetables when they come out of a dry period to a time of plenty of water.

We cut down the tomato plants, and took the green tomatoes to either ripen at home or to make into green chutneys.  The squashes and courgettes will soon be following the tomato plants to the compost heap and make space for the last sowings of the year, the broad beans, later in October.  A few more mustard plants, some coriander and claytonia were planted out, or tucked up inside one of the cold frames which we now have to remember to water.  The duckweed is getting a regular going over to try to reduce their number, and this seems to be working, leaving the weed at the side of the pond just in case any pond creatures got caught up with it and have the chance to get back to the water. 

The weeds are making the most of the rain and cooler temperatures to suddenly spring to life and do something.  The dry heat of the summer had kept many things dormant, but now the race is on for them to get going as quickly as possible. If only the lettuce seedlings felt the same way!  A weed is just a plant in the wrong place of course, and we always try to recover anything useful that can be taken to another site.  At Fremantle Park, the orchard area has hundreds of cosmos seedlings surrounding the cosmos flowering there.  It is unlikely they will survive the winter, but you never know, if it turns out to be very mild.

The time has come for the overwintering purple sprouting broccoli to have cages constructed around them for their protection over the next few months.  When they were first planted out in early August, they were covered with a fine mesh netting to prevent the butterflies laying their eggs on the leaves and consequently the caterpillars emerging and finishing them off, leaving bare stems in a matter of a day or two.  The mesh is also protection against pigeons which will make a meal out of the tender leaves.  However now the plants are crammed inside the mesh and needing space to be able to stretch their leaves and grow taller stems.  With any luck the butterflies have given up their quest to lay eggs for this year, however pigeons carry on being pigeons and still enjoy stripping foliage.  The plan is to construct a frame around the plants so that the netting can be draped over the crowns of the plants, preventing the pigeons from landing on top of them to feast.  The lower part of the plants are left out in the open but being that much taller and tougher the birds are thwarted – well, that is the plan…

What’s next?

• Continue to search out useful weeds to pot up or weeds to compost

• Keep up the duckweed bashing

• Perhaps get the rest of the broccoli cages done

• Is it time to turn the compost again?

• Don’t forget to water the cold frames

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 18th September: A sudden and unexpected flowering in the Queen’s Orchard.

It has been a long long time since we had to say that we were rained off one of our gardening sessions.  It happened this Wednesday, with hours of the sort of useful rain that started to soak into the ground and begin to make a difference.  We have gained so much time, not having to water most of the plot, and of course, lots of energy. The change in the weather has caused some confusion in the plant world.  The Bramley apple tree planted in the Queen’s orchard at Sandgate Park has suddenly burst into flower.  Apparently this can happen if there is a colder snap in the weather, and the tree is fooled into thinking that winter happened, and time to make flowers when the sun came out again, as if it were now spring.  All advice states that it should not stop the tree from flowering again once the true spring comes around again – we hope not.

Last Sunday we collected the hops from the vines at Enbrook Park and took them to the Hythe Hops scheme collection point where they were weighed and put into sacks with all the other collected hops on that day.  We could only contribute 1lb 6oz or 0.624 kg this year which is a sorry amount but all things considered, we are glad we were able to contribute something.  The plants at Fremantle Park were in an even sorrier state than those at Enbrook, so we did not even bother to pick any there.  Ah well, always next year to have another go. 

Thinking about next year, now is the time to save seeds from your own plants if you have not been raiding the bargain seeds to be had at the end of season sales.  Tomato seeds are easy to collect, and one of our varieties this year has been particularly good, called Indigo Cherry drops.  It has great flavour, and has produced prolific amounts of large black and red cherry tomatoes.  It is not an F1 variety, which means the seeds will grow true to the parent plant.  F1 varieties can however be saved by rooting a side shoot from the plant late September/October, and overwintering to grow on in the spring.  To save seeds from the Indigo Cherry drops, a couple of tomatoes were cut open and the seeds scooped out and dropped into a small jar of water.  The jar is left at room temperature for a few days whilst a mould grows, breaking down the gelatinous coating surrounding the seeds.  Then the seeds can we washed in a sieve and laid out to dry on some kitchen paper.  It will be something to look forward to next year to grow this variety again as it can be very annoying when a particular variety cannot be sourced from a supplier.  Such has been the fate of many of our fruit and vegetable varieties in the past.

Most of the list of tasks for the week got tackled, and a few more added!  There were more winter lettuce seeds to prick out, a net was put over the remainder of the beetroot to hinder the badgers (we hope), we started to remove blanket upon blanket of fast growing duckweed from the pond, emptied the leaf compost bin, and planted up the first few crates of salad leaves to grow inside the cold frames just in case those growing outside get totally frozen and lost over the winter period.  There has been plenty to cut back now that some things have finished flowering, and the rain has brought new useful and welcome seedlings to light around the garden for us to use as well as plenty of unwanted ‘weeds’ we are busy removing and composting not quite as fast as they are appearing.

What’s next?

• Keep an eye on the duckweed situation and remove as much as possible

• Keep up the weeding around the plot as more pop up

• Can any more plants be squeezed into any spaces around the plot?

• Start taking down the tomato plants and ripen green tomatoes indoors

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.