Tim Prater

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.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 13th August: Praying for decent weather for the Sea Festival.

We are praying for decent weather at the end of the month for the Sea Festival because if it is anything like it was last weekend with waves crashing over the Sandgate Promenade, it will be a disaster.  However, being optimistic as always and keeping everything as well as our fingers crossed, Sunday 27^th August WILL be a perfect day!

The Animal and Plant Health Agency are still in situ with their welfare van, which was joined by another van, to continue the hunt for the Asian hornets in the area.  Nests were found in Seabrook, and the search is now on at Capel Le Ferne.  We believe they are making progress, but let us hope it is enough, or it could be a continuous battle, time will tell.

The hedge did get a trim this week.  Luckily the wind had died down enough to be able to sow seeds for mustard leaves, turnips, claytonia, spring cabbages and cauliflowers.  A few more plugs of spring onions got planted, and some kohl rabi.  The tomatoes as yet show no signs of blight but the likelihood is that it is only a matter of time before it shows up.  The pond has cheekily been growing lots of duckweed probably in response to having so much water, and so we have been regularly fishing it out from the surface to prevent it smothering the entire pond.

Some of our fruit trees have managed to produce some fruit this year which may actually stay on the trees long enough to ripen – well, you never know! 

On Thursday the brick planters outside the shops at Golden Valley got a tidy, and the weeds around the bases removed.  Often an onerous task, but made bearable with the addition of volunteers from Napier Barracks.  We are always grateful for the extra help.  We then went on to remove brambles from the orchard in Fremantle Park, and spent part of the afternoon eating blackberries fresh from the hedge line – nothing finer on a warm sunny day.

What’s next?

• Trim the inside of the hedge
• Plant out Chinese cabbages
• Keep checking the tomatoes
• Sow more claytonia

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 6th August: Finding where the Asian hornets are nesting, destroying them.

There are times when you wonder if you should be careful what you wish for, having spent so long over the past few years going on about how little rain we have here in Sandgate.  We now seem to have a plentiful amount and the hope is that the sunshine will be returning anytime soon!  The rainfall for July was a massive 90 mm, and we certainly do not remember recording that much for a summer month before.  There has now been 27.9 mm of rain in the initial days of August!  It is the first time we have ever seen the pond full during the summer, or so much fungi around in the beds. 

We are keeping a very close eye on the tomato plants as blight creeps nearer to us.  Just this week we heard from Steve, the community gardener at Napier Barracks, that blight has appeared there, and so we will be removing lots of the lower leaves next week to try and get the air circulating around the plants in an attempt to keep it at bay.

The Wednesday gardening session was fine, but the wind was blowing hard, making seed sowing an interesting affair, involving huddling behind taller plants or anything that made a wind break, to prevent the seeds from blowing away.   The Saturday session was a complete washout.  Just a couple of us braved the elements to pick a few items, as many things during the summer benefit from being picked regularly (for example the beans) and will then respond by producing even more. The more you pick, the more they grow!  Not so for the tomatoes, the concern being to pick ripe fruits before the slugs get to them, or the birds, or the badgers.  Fortunately only the gardeners appreciate the prickly cucumbers, and we picked the first three this week.

Last week we had planted two beds of late flowering purple sprouting broccoli which we covered with lovely new horticultural netting.  However this week we find that something has been making holes and tears in the netting, which must have been quite hard work, so we can only assume that the badgers are responsible.  We did manage to harvest a pot of chokeberries, or Aronia berries from our two plants this week before they did, and very good they were too.  It has to be said it is the first time we have managed to pick them in a ripe state and still on the bush.  They are sweeter the riper they are, and do not ripen at the same time so the race is on to see who gets the next batch, wildlife, or gardeners. 

You may have noticed a ‘welfare unit’ in the car park near the garden all this week.  At 9am on Monday morning, a team arrived from APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency).  They are an ‘executive agency’ sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government.  They are here in response to our beekeepers sightings of the Asian Hornet in Sandgate.  Their focus is on finding where the Asian hornets are nesting and to destroy them.  They have to catch a hornet, mark it and observe which direction they fly in and how long it takes them to return, and so work out where the nest is, or indeed nests.  It is encouraging to know that the sightings are being taken so seriously, however the fact they have been here all week must mean there is much work to do.  A successful Asian hornet nest can have up to 6,000 individuals, producing 350 queens and 900 males.  If they were allowed to take hold in the area, it would be the end of honey bees.  So be vigilant and acquaint yourself with what they look like, and the differences between them and our native hornet species.

Another thing to acquaint you with is the date for the Sea Festival.  We are really looking forward to seeing you there on Sunday 27^th August.  We will have amongst other things, a whole range of plants.  This is a major fundraising event for us, so bring sunshine and a whole lot of cash and the willingness to part with it all for a good cause.  If you have any plants going spare, then please do get in touch.

What’s Next?

• Still need to cut the hedge

• Still need to prick out seedlings and sow more seeds

• Still need to bring woodchips up to the garden

• Cut off more of the lower leaves on the tomato plants

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.