The Folkestone Docker Brewers, having made the ‘green’ brew from the Hythe scheme hops, thought to complete the hop cycle of life by bringing the spent hops back to the garden and putting them on one of our compost heaps.  When having aged appropriately, the compost will be applied back onto the garden, perhaps onto the hops themselves. 

This week we were able to work on the garden Wednesday morning, but Saturday was a complete wash out, with persistent rain, which although most welcome, put a halt to any proceedings!   We managed to get the sprouted onions (spring and bulb) planted.  The garlic, saved from the summer, was sown into modules, and will be planted up as soon as a space is ready and given a thick covering of compost.  The strong winds, apart from battering the raspberries, has turned our mini greenhouse over once again, although luckily the seedlings were quite far on, and could be easily rescued and put back into the modules with no harm done.  Not so lucky was our Folkestone Mayor who kindly grows some plants for the Incredible Edible projects, alongside her allotment plants.  Unfortunately her greenhouse was  tipped over, and the plants were sadly lost.  We certainly know how she feels.

Fortunately the Incredible Edible team has had good news this week, as a High Street Fund has been granted, for more planters to be planted up with edibles in Cheriton High Street.  Our Incredible Edible planter outside the ship in Sandgate has been cleared and planted up with some spinach and Onion seedlings.  Some kale may get planted at some point, but most of the kale has been ravaged by the cabbage white caterpillars, and they look too sorry to be on show. 

As a group we have been discussing the likes and dislikes of the year as regards what we have grown.  So far it has been conclusive that we need more green leaves such as spinach and chard, more dwarf and broad beans, courgettes, potatoes and cucumbers, more rhubarb, onions throughout the year, and about the same amount of beetroot.  The turnips and kohlrabi will be ditched, as will a high percentage of the endives.  The early crops of radish and pea shoots were greatly appreciated, and we need to be smarter with the space used by the tomatoes, strawberries and the squashes.   We would like to try sorrel and salsify again which failed for some reason this year.  Some areas of the garden are working well, and some need to be reorganised this winter – so we have plenty to work on.

Bee News

With the sudden change in the temperature and the weather, there is evidence of dead bees sprawled around the entrances to the hives.  It seems that the victims are the only male bees of the hives, the drones.  Well known for their ‘layabout’ lifestyle (their only purpose in life is to mate with queen bees), they are quickly ejected from the hive at this time of year when surplus to requirements and no longer useful – as a result they die.  A sad ending, however the girls of the hive now have to consider the survival of the basic colony in the hard months to come.  The beekeepers have been setting traps around the hive to attract wasps and hornets, well known for attacking and raiding hives, killing the bees.  So far so good, but with tales of enormous Asian hornets on their way to the UK, the keepers need to be vigilant.

What’s next?

• Hoe and weed any cleared spaces, cover with a thick layer of compost

• Rain has brought on the weeds, so plenty of weeding to do

• Plant the elephant garlic

• Begin to draw up plans of parts of the garden needing changes.

• Maybe start on the reformation of the pond now it is full again

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This week has certainly seen a significant change in the weather which has also triggered a clearing of some of the summer planting and in with more winter and spring veg.  The watering can did not get a look in this week as the showers and drop in temperature took a hold, and will do for much of the foreseeable weather charts.  The tomatoes would struggle to ripen, and the winter squashes would not benefit from the cold and damp and so an executive decision was taken to lift them all.  The green tomatoes will ripen eventually indoors, and do not have to be used unripe.  The squashes could be stored for several months but with only enough for each volunteer to take a squash, it is unlikely they will be around for long!  So ends another season, and the spaces created were quickly planted up with onion seedlings sown in early September, as well as cabbages and coriander.   As we now have some history to the garden it was interesting to look back to this time last year to see that we were doing the very same thing, and that the weather had followed the same pattern.

Many seedlings have been self-sown, and as we cleared finished plants, there are numerous surprise flowers that simply appear, as well as unwelcome weeds that hide and mature unnoticed until now.

Our RHS certificate as part of ‘Britain in bloom’ arrived this week, and we will be putting it on display in the garden.  With October fast approaching, we will be considering how we will be going into next year, what was successful and what was not, which crops we would like to grow more of, and those which we might perhaps not bother with again.  It looks like there are many things for us to think about.

It is always easier to contemplate such things in good company and with a pint of local brew in the hand.  This week we had notification that the first ‘green’ brew of our hops had been finished and delivered to certain drinking establishments.  If you would like to try it you may have to move fast, as it disappeared at speed last year.  Below is a summary from Hythe Hops organisation about the use of all the hops this year –

“A burning question which I suspect is on everyone’s mind is “what about the beer” and I’m pleased to share the following exciting news about our green hop Hop Buzz brew:

Already being served at:

• The Doghouse in Smeeth (Evegate Barn)

Already taken delivery at: 

• The Bouverie Tap, Folkestone

• Unit One, West Hythe

Delivery due today:

• Chambers, Folkestone

• The Fountain in Seabrook,

• The Hidden Treasure, Dymchurch

• The Potting Shed, Hythe,

• The Ship Inn, Sandgate,

• The Smugglers, New Romney.

• The White Hart, Hythe

Delivery due next week:

• The Gatekeeper, Etchinghill

Please remember that beer needs to settle so may not be available straight away so please check with venues to avoid any disappointment.

HopFuzz have also bottled Hop Buzz exclusively for us and this will be available soon as follows:

• Every member (including non-growers) will receive 2 bottles free of charge regardless of how successful their hops have been

• We have a surplus (but not enough for everyone) which we intend to share by means of a lottery

Canned Docker beers (from dried hops)

• We are discussing with Docker how members can benefit from the donation of our hops – watch out for future announcements

• Docker is planning for 5 brews throughout the year with the first 2 available by Christmas

So now you are up to date with all the hop information, our tired hop plants will soon be put to bed for the winter and rested, in preparation for another year of serious hop growing in 2021.

What’s next?

• More onion seedlings to plant

• Start sowing garlic and maybe broad beans

• Keep up with the weeding as the rain has brought weeds on

• Clear the plants outside the garden against the wall

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