Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 8th September: The cabbage whites and are being driven mad by the smell of the brassicas.

The wet weather stayed with us this week so we put away the water pump and watering cans unless there was something to plant.  Unfortunately, as is always the way, the slugs and snails have been encouraged by the wet to come out and make doilies of the Chinese cabbages and generally have a good go at anything else they can get hold of. Just to add to the mix, butterflies seem to have been brought out by the recent warm weather, or perhaps by the fact that time is getting on, and they need to reproduce quickly.  However most of the butterflies are cabbage whites, and are being driven mad by the smell of the brassicas, fighting to get into the netting or just simply lay their eggs on any leaves pressed up against the close mesh.  The butterfly bush behind the tool box is now at last alive with the white fluttering of their wings, with just the odd peacock making an appearance every now and then.

The fig tree has given us a few fruits this year, with more to come if we manage to beat the birds to them.  At the Pent farm plot, the birds have stripped and eaten much of the sweet corn, but at Enbrook Park the issue is not birds but the badgers.  It seems that perhaps the strong smelling ‘Vaporub’ we smeared on the stems did manage to mask the sweet smell of the corn, as we picked the few cobs, and very tasty they were too.  However maybe we should have given the same treatment to the stems of the tomato plants as we do not seem to have any ripe fruits appearing there at all and something has certainly been paying attention to them and making a mess of the fruits.

The spinach and winter radish got planted as did more coriander, and the claytonia got pricked out into larger modules to grow on.  The growth around the pond got a good cut back as did lots of the bindweed making an appearance in response to the wetter weather. 

We had a visit from a representative from Taylor Wimpey with a photographer, keen to follow up having given us £300 to buy some compost and tools, and put together a press release on the subject.  We spent the money just as soon as it landed in the bank account, but happily with this, and the funds we made at the Sea Festival, we will hopefully not need to worry for a little while about our finances

Now we are into September there is a slight autumnal feel in the air, we even have some sloes in the hedge.  There will not be a newsletter next week, as some of us will be away for a few days, taking advantage of the last of the summer days before the autumn solstice is upon us.

What’s Next?

• Clear the summer broccoli and compost

• Clear the bindweed in the strawberry plants

• Perhaps plant out the French radish

• Check for space for more spring onions

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 1st September: Special thanks go to Rita and Erica for their many plant contributions.

The whole week was dry and very warm which made the watering of the plot the main task; however on Saturday we were treated to a localised downpour in the early hours which seemed to do the job for us.  With any luck we may get a few more such showers through the coming week as although rain is not forecast, the weather apps say there is a chance of rain all the same so we may just be fortunate.  The rainfall for August was 49.9mm.

The Sea Festival last Sunday was fabulous!  Yes it was windy enough to send the gazebos up into the air, and it rained a couple of times, but the rest of the day was fine and warm.  In effect we were so very lucky considering.  We raised an incredible £704.84 which is the most we have ever collected by far.  However it was the culmination of a year of collecting plants, sowing seeds and making cuttings to gather together the hundreds of plants we had on sale.  Very special thanks go to Rita and Erica for their many plant contributions, but it was a great team effort which made it the success it really was.  Everyone pitched in, rolled up their sleeves and got those plants passed on to their new owners with great panache.  It was a most satisfying day and a good time was had by all.  Many thanks if you came by and supported us.

We have been busy sowing some of the last of the autumn seeds, radishes, yet more spring onions, winter lettuce, all year round cauliflowers and spring cabbage to hopefully overwinter.  We smeared the stems of the sweetcorn with a strong smelling ‘vaporub’ designed to rub on your chest to clear your nose – we hope it will repel the badgers from going anywhere near them but time will tell.

We had just three cabbages which had ‘hearted up’ already from an earlier summer sowing and were harvested.  The borage which had finished flowering was cut back, and the Siberian kale given a tidy up.  We have already collected some of the tomatoes to dedicate to seed for next year, and have also foraged seed from the French marigolds around the plot too.  We are starting to build on the seeds we have grown and collected from our own plants, but you do have to know your stuff as some are easier to collect than others.

What’s Next?

• Clear some of the growth around the pond which has finished flowering

• Plant winter radish and possibly spinach

• Clear the bindweed

• Check on the lemon tree and the hops

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 25th August: The heavens opened and stayed open for most of the day.

It was just as well we had cancelled being at the garden for Saturday morning as the heavens opened and stayed open for most of the day.  It was torrential for much of the day, or just downright wet for the rest of the time, an amazing 22.5 mm in just one day.  How fortunate we were not to have to fit in trying to water the garden at some point during the weekend – it was all taken care of.  Just a bit of a shame about the timing as we had planned to use the time to organise all our plants for the Sea Festival.

We eventually managed to complete the task late afternoon when the rain began to subside, and gave us a chance to get outside.  This newsletter will go out on the morning of the sale.  For most of the growing year we have been planning this day, collecting plants, sowing seeds and taking cuttings.  Unbelievably, the weather for the actual day is wall to wall sunshine, although not too warm. 

However we will be watching the wind as it can be mighty blowy on the seafront at the best of times, and it looks like the wind will be a feature in the afternoon.  Our fingers are crossed along with anything else crossable that the day will go well and with any luck we will sell most of our plants.  Next week’s news will reveal all, however we hope to be seeing you all in person on this day to cheer us on and spend some money.

On the Wednesday session we cleared a bed ready for some winter radish, giving it a good layer of new compost.  Winter lettuce got sown, and plants tidied.  The squashes are really travelling far and wide, and either have to be turned around, or allowed to climb through other plants if it is safe for them to do so. 

More amaranth has self-sown this year and popped up amongst the sweetcorn, and it was a surprise to find that our pear tree has been quietly producing some pears.

What’s next?

• Consider protecting the sweetcorn from the badgers if not too late!

• Remove some of the borage

• Check on the Siberian kale

• Sow some spring cabbage

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 11th August: our hops are showing signs of ‘burring’.

The temperature has been going up, and apparently we are in for a warm weekend and early part of the coming week.  We have had to water as much as we can during our garden sessions, which make for less time to be able to do other things, and having to prioritise the tasks.  Happily most of our jobs got done, except for tidying the hedge which will be on the list again for next week.

We sowed spring onions, onions and spinach.  Luckily we did not have to sow any more wallflowers as one of our industrious gardeners, Rita, had collected many wallflower seeds from her garden, and had already nurtured lots of seedlings which we pricked out into individual pots and modules.

Whilst many of our gardeners have already been harvesting plenty of tomatoes from their own gardens, our plants within the community garden are mighty slow in producing ripe fruits.  The black tomatoes from our own saved seeds are looking particularly good and we will be collecting yet more seed this year, as well as some of the other varieties.

The butterfly bush behind our tool box is sadly lacking in the way of butterflies this year and we are hoping that this warmer weather might bring them out into the garden.  There was only one in evidence for the whole of the session on Saturday.

The Hythe Hops scheme has been asking for evidence of how far along our hop plants are so that they can work out the best harvesting dates for September.  At the moment our hops are showing signs of ‘burring’ or just starting to flower – this means that we are on track for the year.

On Saturday 24^th August we will not be at the garden for our usual session as we will be busy collecting together all of our plants we have been nurturing for our annual sale at the Sea Festival on Sunday 25^th along the seafront.  We really hope you will stop, say hello, and hopefully buy something, and/or guess the weight of our food hamper.  We are looking forward to seeing you there.

What’s Next?

• Tidy that hedge

• Sow mustards and radish

• Check the progress of the sweet corn

• Take up the last of the onions

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 18th August: The sweetcorn is swelling fast and fingers are crossed that we get to them before the badgers find them. 

Most of the week was really warm and so the fabulous downpour of rain during the early hours of Friday morning was most welcome, and enough for us not to have to water at all on Saturday morning, therefore saving us a good deal of time.

At last the hedge got the tidy up we had on our list of tasks for several weeks, and much neater it looks for it too.  It is always the case that jobs have to be prioritised, and this one kept being pushed back every week in favour of watering, planting and sowing seeds.

Many winter radish, mustards, and overwintering onions got sowed this week.  This is the first time we will have tried sowing onions for growing on over the winter, and is in place of buying onion ‘sets’ which are small bulb onions planted in October/November to harvest in July.  Seeds are much cheaper to buy than the sets, and it will be interesting to see the results and if we think it was a worthwhile thing to do.  We have always grown spring onions over the winter and they have always been most successful, cropping early in the spring.

We planted out a few mustard plants we were given, and the first of our Chinese cabbage plants.  Chinese cabbages rely on plenty of water to get growing at the speed they like to grow, and so we will have to concentrate on watering them as often as we can.

We have mentioned many times the slipper gourds we are growing from the Nepalese community simply because they are new to us and they are most interesting as a plant.  They are now starting to grow the gourds or fruits, but not in the place you would expect them to grow.  The plants are flowering, but not fruiting anywhere near the flowers, and this week we have observed that the plants are attracting all sorts of different flies from hover flies to the tiny and the downright big fat whopper flies (must confess we know next to nothing about flies).  They seem to find the flowers absolutely irresistible and we can only assume they have some part in the pollination, as there are no bees or wasps to be seen anywhere near them.

The sweetcorn is swelling fast and fingers are crossed that we get to them before the badgers find them.  Most of the squash plants have now set their fruits and we will be interested to try out the smaller acorn squashes.  Apparently they are sweeter than a butternut squash, and can be used to make deserts – so quite versatile it seems.

Just a reminder that we will not be at the garden next Saturday 24^th August as we will be working hard on preparing our plants for our much awaited plant stall at the Sea Festival the following day, Sunday 25^th, on the seafront.  Therefore this is a final reminder to put the date in your diary to come and say hello and see if there is something we can tempt you with and take home.

What’s next? 

• Really water those Chinese cabbages

• Sow some winter lettuce

• Consider protecting the sweetcorn

• Sort out which plants we are taking with us

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.