Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 10th September: Scorchio.

This week the weather has been scorchio!  It has been far too hot to feel like doing anything much, but no matter what the seedlings, celery and celeriac still need watering.  We decided to work in the garden earlier than we normally do, and finish by 11am in order to be out of the midday sun.

The rest of the tomato plants with blight got removed and composted, and work was started on laying more wood chip paths.  The badgers have been active again this week in the garden, with evidence of disturbed earth and pathways, probably in the search for earthworms.  Sometimes, on arrival there is a need to rake over the paths to make them level again or risk falling into the holes.

Many of the garden plots are now covered in fine netting as the cabbage white butterflies are very active still and so desperate to get at the brassicas that we often find them trapped inside where they have somehow managed to squeeze in, and have to release them. However they need to be careful as the season is turning towards autumn and there is evidence of large garden spiders and their webs strategically placed to catch anything that comes along.  We observed a short fight between a wasp and a spider, but the wasp stood no chance, was wrapped up and carried off to the larder in a flash.

We were proud to notice that our little lemon tree has produced a tiny lemon, and that the banana tree had sprouted two new trees around its roots – brilliant.

On 23^rd September there will be another Disco Soup event, but this time in Hythe in conjunction with the Hythe Environmental Community Group plant, seed and produce swap and community apple pressing.  The venue is the Age UK centre in Stade Street from 2 – 5pm.  So check it out on social media and sign up for a ticket to a great free event for all of the family.

What’s next?

• Continue to put down the wood chips

• Pick the hops

• Continue to tidy up the plot

• Remove the wig-wams and tidy up around the back of the pond

• Continue to water the seedlings if the weather continues to be hot

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 3rd September: A fabulous day and the weather was just perfect.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated plants for the Sea Festival and to everyone who came along on the day to support us either to buy plants/vegetables, or to help out at the stall or with setting up and clearing away – it was a fabulous day and the weather was just perfect too.  It was a great atmosphere, and lovely to be alongside our sister groups the Sandgate Society and  Sandgate Environmental Action.  We raised a massive £414.54; the ‘guess the weight of the hamper’ was popular, featuring a selection of organic vegetables grown by us, it was won by Lesley with a spot on guess, give or take a few grams.   We would like to say many thanks to the Parish Council for giving us a space at the Festival which was very much appreciated.

On the bank holiday Monday a group of volunteers came out from the Napier barracks to help shift lots of wood chips from the lower path in Enbrook Park, right up to the garden where they are needed to replenish the pathways.  They also helped to turn the compost heaps too which was a great help. 

On Tuesday there was an invitation to visit the Lynsted Kitchen Community Garden which was a real treat, followed by a meeting with the Kent Food Partnership.  This group is part of the Good Food Movement which is holding a summit at the University of Kent in early October and will showcase many projects and initiatives in Kent – we will be representing Sandgate there.

On Wednesday Kate Strong came to Folkestone on her bamboo bike as part of a 3,000 mile ride around the circumference of mainland Britain.  During her ride she has visited more than 50 innovative climate projects and schools across the country. It was a privilege to be able to talk to her about her journey, and she was able to help us with information about projects she had seen.  She finished her mission on Saturday in London.

In the meantime there has been sunshine and showers in Sandgate, with the rainfall for August recorded at 77.8mm.  As a result, it was found that the dreaded blight has reached Enbrook Park and so the tomatoes will have to be removed.  We made a start on Saturday, and guess we need to be grateful that it has taken quite so long to get to the park.

The last of the Claytonia got pricked out,  extra water given to the new plantings of radishes, mustards and spring onions, as well as to the celery and celeriac trying to swell and make something of themselves.  Some hoops got found to help keep the netting off the newly planted lettuces and there has been plenty of grumblings about the holes being made in many of the leaves by slugs, snails and caterpillars!

What’s Next?

• Finish removing and composting the tomato plants

• Start to lay wood chips on the paths

• Keep watering the celery and celeriac plus new plants

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 27th August: It is all happening in Sandgate.

Crikey!  It is all happening in Sandgate.  The Sea Festival weekend is upon us at last, yet by the time you read this newsletter it will probably be all finished.  We have been keeping a close eye on the weather, and although there were showers on Saturday, it did not spoil the evening firework show marking the start of the festival.  We now know that our stall will be right on the seafront in front of the car park, alongside our sister groups, Sandgate Environmental Action and the Sandgate Society. 

During the week we have been checking over the plants to make sure they are in fine fettle for the day. The van is full to the brim already and there will have to be several trips made back and forth to get everything in place first thing in the morning.  So pleased to say that we have plenty of volunteers for the day, helping to unload the van and set up the stall – it will be a great day!

The week has been busy.  Some of the claytonia seedlings have been pricked out, along with the cabbages and some red mustard.  There has been a great deal of weeding as the growth is quite lush in the garden and cheeky weeds are hiding in the undergrowth until they find a space and show themselves, only to be found and pulled up.  Some of the cucumber and winter squash plants have grown into the hedge so that their fruits are dangling in the middle of it.  The rosemary plants got a good trim, a few plums got picked and most then eaten, the dwarf bean plants taken out and composted to make way for plantings of Japanese turnips, Chinese cabbages, mustards and winter radishes.  The daylight hours are drawing in, and there is no time left to sow many seeds.  The last will be a few small red radishes and in October, the broad beans, then no more seeds until next February.  It feels like the year is winding down already.

The offshoot of our original banana tree is doing very well, so we said goodbye to the old stem which sadly snapped during high winds, and cut it back.  There is now another new stem and you can see in the picture below that the amaranth in front sets it off quite nicely to give a real ‘jungle’ look.

What’s next?

• Prick out the rest of the claytonia

• Keep checking on the tomatoes for blight

• Keep the new plantings well watered plus the celery and celeriac

• Get some hoops over the lettuces for the netting

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 20th August: The slugs and snails are on the march, and the hunt is still on for hornets.

We had a massive 22.9mm of rain on Friday night, which is more than we usually get for most months.  The thunder and lightning rip-roared about for a few hours which seemed to wake most folk up, but it did mean that there was no need to water the Enbrook Park garden on the Saturday morning, and all the plants looked glad for it.  However the slugs and snails are on the march, and with all our brassicas under netting, they have free reign to romp about as much as they like it seems.  There were also a few cabbage white caterpillars that had escaped our vigilance until they were so big they were blindingly obvious and therefore easy to evict.

The hedge got another trim this week, the claytonia, and spring onion seeds got sown and the Chinese cabbages planted next to the kohl rabi.  We had some wallflower seedlings which got moved into larger pots, and some of the plants for our sale next Sunday at the Sandgate Sea Festival were looked over and pampered to be their best for the day.

Unfortunately the hornet hunters are still very busy hunting the Asian hornets, and some information leaflets were taken to the Parish Council in the hope they can be put on the public information boards locally to give details on what to look for and how to identify them. Seen one? Report an Asian Hornet sighting here.

As for the current situation with the tomatoes, well sadly the dreaded blight is rapidly closing in on us.  There are no signs of it on our plants at Enbrook Park still but it is in the area.  The plants have done particularly well all considered, and are full of tomatoes.  They usually ripen from the bottom truss upwards, and this week as usual we were greeted with large bite marks and half chewed fruits on the plants, whilst others were pulled off and discarded by our usual suspects, the badgers.  We are of the mind to share with them anyway as they were in the park before us but just hope that they do not take to climbing up the cordons to reach further up.  

In general, most of the plants are doing well, even the hops have suddenly started to appear, but perhaps one disappointment so far is that the winter squash plants have very few fruits.  They have plenty of male flowers, but no female flowers.  We understand that this could be due to the fact it has been quite cool this summer with plenty of rain so the plants decide not to produce any female flowers.  We shall have to see if the situation changes, but now time is getting on and before we know it we will be into September!

What’s next?

• Prick out the claytonia seedlings, cabbages and cauliflowers.

• Weed between the asparagus and rosemary plants.

• Trim back the rosemary plants and tidy them up

• Find space for the next plantings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.