Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 12th May: Finally we have got out the watering cans and had to seriously start watering.

It seemed inevitable that as soon as the warm and sunny weather arrived the garden would literally explode into life and start growing really fast.  Plenty of sunshine meant that it was a real pleasure to be in the garden, and now there are literally hundreds of plants sitting in the greenhouses at Pent Farm waiting to get their roots into the ground and to get out of their restricting pots.

This is the first week that we have got out the watering cans and had to seriously start watering, especially the tiny seedlings and pots.  However the broad beans are now starting to swell and so they could do with a watering too.

The rush of new growth has meant that we can see the blackfly population has suddenly shown itself.  Parts of the elder hedge are covered in them and of course this means that sooner rather than later their attention will turn to the broad beans.  In view of this, our next task must be to pinch out the tops of the plants which is no bad thing because it also means fresh tasty bean shoots for dinner sometime soon.  We reported some weeks ago that we were inundated with ladybirds, seen emerging from the crevices in the fence and it seems that they are still around as if anticipating there was a great feast to be had if they just hung around for a while. 

With the broad beans practically ready to start harvesting, it was our job this week to sow the dwarf, runner and borlotti beans.  The tomato plants are just about ready to go out now, and the summer and winter squashes will not be much further behind.  In preparation for this we have just started to put out some marigolds which brighten up the beds as well as make good companion plants. 

When most of our tasks were completed we turned our attention to the lemon balm which had seeded itself all over the place in one section of the garden.  It was a case of making a concerted effort to get to grips with the stuff, get it out and composted before it had the chance to start flowering and trying to start the process all over again.

What’s next?

• Pinch out the broad bean tops and check they are inside the string enclosures

• Move the small pots to the raised bed

• Take out and pot up more buckthorn runners

• Start to plant out the tomatoes

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 5th May: Gingerly Green – the polytunnel.

The rainfall for April was a respectable 65mm, definitely not as much as we have had in the past few months, but a good amount all the same.  We managed to dodge the rain for our two gardening sessions on Wednesday and Saturday, in fact those two days were positively spring-like, being warm and sunny.

The sprouting broccoli and the kale have all been removed and composted this week, as did some of the winter lettuce and some patches of nettles.  We love nettles and they have a place in a wildlife garden but not when they encroach on the beds and where we are directly working, so some of it had to go.  We sowed more lettuce seeds and calabrese to follow on from earlier sowings and have started to pull out some of the finished Spanish bluebells before they go to seed all over the place. 

We were most grateful to receive lots of flower seedlings from one of our friends of the garden Erica.  Erica has a beautiful ‘no dig’ allotment at Newington and every now and then we swap spare plants although it is probably fair to say that we end up with more from Erica than she possibly receives!  Some of the plants neither of us had any use for were passed on to ‘Gingerly Green’ during the week.  Gingerly Green has started a beautiful flower cutting market garden just outside of Densole on the Canterbury Road.  There is a polytunnel for growing indoors and many flower beds created outside which will be in full bloom during the summer and autumn months.  Gingerly Green is holding a plant sale next week to raise money for the Shed, the Folkestone Youth Project.  We took along some strawberry plants, pots of mint, lamium and lamb’s ears to boost the sale.

A couple of us went along to the Future Food Forum at the University of Kent in Canterbury on Friday.  It was a chance to meet local food producers, and to hear talks about the current state of the food industry from the issues of eating so many processed foods through to how food is presented to pull on our emotional intelligence.  It was very interesting – we are already aware of the issues created by our current food system but it was good to hear about how some of the smaller local companies are striving to support communities and to produce good nutritious food and what the cost of all that is to the consumer and the producer.  Again the big message was that change has to come from the bottom upwards and to form collaborations locally.  We are certainly doing that!

What’s Next?

• Start to sow the French dwarf, borlotti and runner beans

• Repot the squashes

• Sow more spring onions

• Keep weeding and do not forget to dead head some of the flowers

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 28th April: The wet and cold has been perfect for the slug and snail population.

How can it be possible that we will be in the month of May in a few days?  It managed to get even colder during the nights this past week, and it was not until the weekend that temperatures have improved a little but brought rain again. It will be good to be warmer, but it is the sunshine we really need to get the plants growing.  The wet and cold has been perfect for the slug and snail population, making short work of most of the calabrese, peas and cabbages.  Luckily we had a few spare plants, and having a network of other growers means that we can swap seedlings and hopefully help each other out if things fail.

Talking of friends, the ‘Friends of Napier barracks’ helped us out this week by bringing some volunteers to Fremantle Park to help start to clear the small orchard there.  It has been so very wet at the park this winter that it is still impossible to cut the grass there and our growing areas are also saturated making it difficult to do much there.  However the plants and especially the weeds are taking over.  We have our work cut out to make it presentable, but we have made a start.

We pricked out yet more seedlings this week so that the two greenhouses at Pent farm are full to bursting!  More courgettes and squashes got sown to replace those eaten by a rogue mouse, and we even decided to sow some sweetcorn, thinking that we might well give it a try again this year despite the badgers.  It was feared that some of the seeds not eaten by rodents might have rotted in their pots before they had a chance to sprout but we were pleased to see just this past couple of days that many have indeed survived and are just starting to appear.

Most of the rhubarb has been growing well, but a couple of them have started to produce flowers already which is not a good thing when it comes to the production of rhubarb stalks, and so they were quickly removed before they got any bigger.  Most of the flowers we are of course delighted to see within the garden however it seems we are inundated by bluebells this year, many of which we shall have to remove just as soon as they are finished.  Happily they are not English bluebells but of the Spanish variety.  Nice to see them but they are taking up precious space.  Other flowers in full bloom this week are the calendulas, honeywort or cerinthe, and borage.  The lovely bright green of the oregano leaves makes for a good display too, and we are amazed at how fast the hops are starting to romp their way up the strings and supports.

What’s next?

• There are still beds to clear and compost to put down

• There is lots of lemon balm to remove

• Last push to get out all the sycamore seedlings

• Might be time to take out the purple sprouting

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.