Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 5th June: Planty Jubes.

Happy Jubilee weekend!

We hope you are enjoying the celebrations this weekend, and that the weather is not spoiling things going on wherever you are.  In the garden we have been rejoicing over the appearance of some decent rain, which lightens the load as regards watering, and saves us much time, however now some of the more tender plants, especially the cucumbers are complaining about too much water and cooler temperatures – still, that is British weather for you.

The Parish Council have had the signs put up in Sandgate and Fremantle Park in the new orchards as part of the ‘Queens Green Canopy’ for the Platinum Jubilee, and very smart they look too.  We are still working on the orchards, adding herbs and bee friendly self-sown flowers in Sandgate Park, and more of the same plus fruit bushes and globe artichokes in Fremantle Park.  As we are working we have several people stopping to say hello, which is always welcome, and to comment on how well cared for the parks are looking, and how lovely it all is.  Sometimes when it is cold, damp and blowing a ‘hoolli’, you begin to wonder as a volunteer, exactly why it is you are there, but just one positive comment from a passer-by makes it all worthwhile.  We always try to pass on the thanks to the Parish Council too, as the improvements are not just about that ‘cherry on the top’ that we are doing.

A couple of us were helping out at the Golden Valley family fun afternoon hosted by the Golden Arrow on Friday.  It was a fabulous afternoon, and a great time was had by all with Face painting, tombola, children’s games, cake competition, barbecue, a talented singer to entertain, and Pimms tent.  Not sure who had the idea to hand out water pistols to all the children at one point, but we all really enjoyed the event.  The highlight for us was being asked to judge the cake baking competition, probably based on the fact that I in particular, really like cake, so it was a match made in heaven.  Many thanks go to Sandqate Parish Council for being kind enough to donate three prizes which were given out to the winners.

Lots of seeds got sown this week such as swede and beetroot, a few more spring onions, and more basil.  The pea shoots were taken up on Saturday as they were getting tired of having their shoots removed twice every week, making way for the leeks sown in April, and a few celeriac plants.  In spite of the weather, the tomatoes have managed to put on a little growth and needed tying in again to their stakes; then the carrot bed got a good sort out as it was thoroughly overcrowded and needed thinning, this involved crawling around on hands and knees or just sitting right in the patch itself to get done properly.

Our Saturday morning session brought many visitors again, including a new young family to Sandgate finding us for the first time, a lady from Canada from growing zone three, (where there is literally only three growing months in the entire year before it gets simply too cold), and our delightful Ukrainian ladies came again to sow more seeds and admire the beauty of the mares tails before finding out how much of a nightmare they are in the garden and to ruthlessly pull them up instead!  In contrast, the Ukrainian ladies were saying just how cold is the English summer compared to the Ukraine, where our temperatures feel more like their winter, therefore the jumpers and cardigans were out in force, whilst we were sporting shorts and T shirts!

What’s next?

• Still got lots of annuals to plant in various areas.

• Keep checking for mares tails coming through at Golden Valley planters.

• We need some more beetroot and spring onion seeds

• Keep checking new plantings for moisture levels and all pots watered.

• Plant the globe artichokes

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 29th May: When life gives you lemon trees, and a world of guerrilla gardening.

It was a week of cancellations due to the fact we had even more rain, bringing the total so far for this month to a whopping 47.2 mm!

Anyone who has not seen the garden for a couple of weeks is amazed by the lush green growth and how quickly everything has shot up and matured.  Very little watering to do, just some of the pots, and a few new plantings, but otherwise everything seems quite happy.  We have been eyeing up the fig trees as they seem to be doing particularly well and quite laden with fruit this year.

The cucumbers got planted, as well as some of the flowering annuals, new coriander plants got planted, and a few celery plants.  The garlic had to be lifted as it had rust again and will fail to thrive.  It made small bulbs, but very edible and much appreciated.  We had this problem with garlic last year so it may be a good idea to see if we want to tackle the situation next year or give up the garlic.

The compost bins 1 and 2 got turned, and bin 1 which was empty, is half full already.  We just seem to have got out all the tender plants and made room in the cold frames and before we know it, we have to start thinking about sowing the seeds for autumn, winter and even next spring.  More spring onions got sown into modules as did basil and swedes.  The next planting of lettuces in June got pricked out into modules as soon as two leaves had come through.

We had several visitors on Saturday.  The elderly gentleman who presented us with a lemon tree two weeks ago, came to see if it doing alright and was delighted to see it has three flower buds already, so seemed satisfied that the tree was indeed quite happy there.  We were also visited by two Ukrainian ladies currently staying with our lovely Ukrainian gardener, Tatiana.  We were delighted to welcome them to the garden, and they got stuck in watering, sowing seeds and generally browsing and chatting to everyone.  They took back with them some salad leaves, pea shoots and broad beans.  We hope they will visit again.

As usual, a busy week is ahead of us, and lots to sort out and tidy before the Jubilee weekend so that all is looking its best.  The guerrilla garden in Golden Valley is being planted up and starting to fill out and look so much better than it ever did before.  It has been noticed that the tree pits in Augusta Gardens, Folkestone West, have been beautifully planted with all manner of gorgeous flowering plants and this year edged with a wooden border perhaps to highlight to the council weed sprayer that the planting is deliberate by locals, and can be bypassed – our fingers are crossed.

What’s next?

• Catch up with rained off jobs such as weeding of Golden Valley and Fremantle Park

• Sow more seeds!

• Plant more flowering annuals in available spaces

• Keep checking on the tomatoes for side shoots which need removing

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.