Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 19th February: The strange case of the out of place Hume’s Warbler.

The snowdrops are out, as are the first of the daffodils and the primroses; all of which can be seen in their glory from the walking paths around Enbrook Park.  The weather has continued to be predominately dry, and although chilly it really feels like spring is on the way at last.  On walking through the park this week it was interesting to see so many people with cameras on tripods and binoculars, all looking to see if they can catch a rare sighting of a Hume’s warbler.  This bird seems to be way off course as apparently it should be spending winter in India, and breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. It certainly caused a kerfuffle for several days as it flitted amongst the trees by the brook.

Our tool box got a good spring cleaning during one of the sessions this week and is now looking spectacularly tidy – woe betide anyone who messes it up any time soon.

With the passing of St Valentine’s Day, it is time to sow the very first seeds of the season to be grown outdoors.  Still too cold to sow directly outdoors, seeds are allowed to germinate indoors, then spend their first day or two on a sunny windowsill before being put into a cold frame until the plants are strong enough to be able to cope outside.  We have sown sweet peas, peas for pea shoots, spring onions, beetroot, spinach, radishes, early cabbages, cauliflowers, kohlrabi, calabrese, coriander, flat and curled parsley, plus about ten different varieties of lettuce, some French marigolds and thyme.  The beds are waiting for them as soon as they are ready!

We had to start watering things already.  Not anything planted in the ground, but the various pots we have around the garden, plants in waiting, as pots dry out before you know it as soon as the sun starts to shine.

We continue to monitor what grows well in the garden and what struggles.  We have not had much success with our autumn raspberries, so decided to take up one of the beds and move them to other places to see how they fare there.  We are disappointed with the goji berries performance so far, and decided to cut them right back to see what they make of that.  We have also cut back much of the rosemary and a bit of the fig tree, but will be leaving some plants to start sending out some new shoots before we cut back much else.  One plant which has coped well despite the heavy frost has been the Claytonia or winter purslane.  With such little leaves, it is hard to believe it grows so well in the cold, and there have been some welcome green salad leaves.  Another winter salad leaf, lambs lettuce, is just starting to be big enough to pick but has also managed to survive.

What’s next?

• More seeds to be sown

• Might need to repot some things

• Sort out some of the things in the cold frames

• Keep checking the brassicas for any pigeon damage

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 12th February: The huge Saga quandary.

It was with great sadness that we heard this week that Saga is to close their office and children’s nursery at Enbrook Park with effect from 17^th March.  With our main garden being on site, it meant that we were in a quandary as to what this would mean for us and the Community Garden – do we bother to sow any seeds from now on?  Do we need to take up some of the plants straight away, as right now would be the best time to move them.  It left us with many questions, let alone the thought of how much work we had put into the garden over the years, to have to leave it behind us.

Later that day we had a message from Saga:

“As you have already seen, today we announced to colleagues that we have taken the decision to close Enbrook Park, our head office. The building will be mothballed while we consider options for the site, which will be closed from 17^th March.

“I would like to reassure you and the rest of the community garden volunteers that the grounds will remain open and maintained as usual and we will continue to keep you updated with developments as they progress.”

So it was that we decided as a group to carry on and grow as normal for the spring, and sow seeds for the summer.  With no fixed date in sight, we shall have to take a gamble and see what happens.  Not an ideal scenario, but also to remember that some people will be losing their jobs with this decision.

As for the public access to the grounds, as long as Saga owns the property, we can all still enjoy the wooded area, the various paths and lawns.  After that we do not know.  Who or what sort of company would be able to buy such a site in a prime location there in Sandgate?  It has to be said that Sandgate’s green areas are rapidly disappearing to accommodate more housing.  Just this week there was an invitation from a housing company to view the proposal to build eight houses on an open space in the Golden Valley area.  The Government is telling us that we need our green spaces, but how does that fit with the pressure of building yet more and more homes?  Just how big will that green space be that is left?  It will probably not be big enough for a community garden.

What’s next? 

• Start to sow the very first seeds of the season

• Water the pots now that warmer weather has appeared

• Cut back the goji berries

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 5th February: From repotting strawberries to space planning in Singapore.

So now we are into February.  The rainfall for January was a mere 63.9mm, something nearer to what we are used to, and the ground is starting to dry out.  No frosts this week, and even a day when the temperature was in double figures, however it looks to change to being much colder but brighter next week. 

On Monday a small group of volunteers came out from the Napier Barracks to help move compost from the lower wall, up the hill to the community garden.  We then all bagged up a few bags of compost to take to the Incredible Edible group at All Soul’s Church in Cheriton to help top up the planters along the High Street where the levels have dropped over the year.

It is that time of year when all manner of ailments seem to be rumbling around amongst our gardeners and garden friends.  Luckily not Covid, but everything else that has not made an appearance for some time, has suddenly decided to pop up and remind us they are still around.  Somehow a few hours spent outside gardening on a freezing cold dull windy day, when you are feeling under the weather, is not as appealing as it might be on a warm sunny day.  That is surely the time to give in and keep warmer indoors.

This week has been all about getting the last of those strawberry plants up out of the ground and potted up ready to be replanted in other areas – that certainly took some time.  The soft fruit bushes also got a thinning and pruning, and all the plants under the netting got looked at to make sure all was well there.  We had four rhubarb roots that needed potting up and protecting until the spring, and we were kindly given three hazel whips which we can use in another one of the gardens.

We have a couple of garden friends (Rita and Eddie) who have been visiting Singapore and sent back some really interesting pictures and information about parks, community gardens and even rooftops filled with trees and herb gardens.  It is quite inspirational that Singapore has only 400sq miles with a population of about six million yet from the 1970’s the ‘ministries of environment and development’ have worked hand in hand to create a city garden habitat which has brought nature into residential urban spaces where birds and insects share the same places.  All it takes is a little imagination and education.

What’s next?

• We need to remove some of the raspberry canes

• Cut back some of the shrubs

• Little more mulch required around the soft fruit bushes and over the artichokes

• Move a plant near the smoke bush

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.