Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 25th June: An incredibly busy week eating.

What an unbelievably busy week it has been, and most of it seemed to be all about food and lots of it!

It was refugee week, and on Monday we had a large group come down from the barracks to help us move lots of compost from the top end of the garden to the new composting area at the other end.  It was hot, heavy work, but they completed the task in what seemed like no time at all, and were rewarded with lots of tea and amazing cake, which all seemed to go down very well.  The old composting boxes were dismantled, and there will be a write up in a future newsletter all about what is happening with our new composting area, as there is so much to say about it.

On Wednesday evening there was an invite to a meal as part of the refugee week, hosted by the ‘Friends of Napier Barracks’ with food cooked by some of the men at the barracks – it was traditional food from their home countries, and very delicious it all was too.

On Saturday, the Disco Soup event took place, using food which could not be sold by supermarkets, for being ‘too wonky’, damaged, or at sell by date.  With the help of a chef from Folkestone College, and lots of willing hands, the food was prepared and made into all sorts of wonderful dishes, from soup, to risotto, delicious salads and pizza.  Several boxes of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers were donated by Thanet Earth, and what a truly awesome experience it was to collect the food from them in Birchington.  It was a mile from the entrance to the main reception, driving past huge greenhouses where the produce is grown.  It was food production on a massive scale and so very different from our way of food growing, but fascinating to see if only from a distance.

In-between all the feasting, there were plenty of other things going on.  Some of us went along to visit Brockhill School to see how they were getting on with their lovely walled kitchen garden.  They have put up a rabbit fence as it seems that as soon as something was planted, it got eaten.  However something has worked out how to bypass the netting and has attacked the carrots.  It seemed such a familiar story to us!  The school also had one of the beautiful old greenhouses renovated, and it was looking truly splendid.  What a fantastic resource, and how amazing it will be for the children to be able to learn about horticulture as part of their education in such a great setting.

We did actually manage to get quite a few tasks done at the community gardens!  The planters at Golden Valley had a makeover, with some compost and new plants added.  The alley way at Meadowbrook got weeded and flowering plants added.  The hedge at Enbrook Park got another trim, more spring onions and beetroot sown, the bay trees tidied, the cucumbers planted, and any soft fruit we had left was netted.  It seems we are back to watering again, with the refreshing rain we had becoming a distant memory again, oh well, we are now into summer after all.

What’s next?

• Prick out the purple sprouting broccoli
• Plant out some of the kale
• Find space to create a windrow for the newly made compost
• Check on the potatoes

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 18th June: The badgers have had all the carrots.

Quite frankly it seems astonishing that most of the plants in the garden are surviving, the newly planted seedlings in particular, as it has been sweltering all this week from early morning to late evening.  There has been no rain at all in Sandgate for weeks, so most of the garden has not had any water at all for this time.  We have now stopped watering the broad beans as they are coming to an end, and are focussing on the potatoes as they are starting to swell, and could be ready in a couple of weeks perhaps. 

We have been closely observing the weather apps which show a constantly changing situation sometimes promising a possible chance of some rain which then fades to nothing; then all of a sudden during our Saturday morning session we were treated to a surprise shower which sent gardeners scuttling out of the gates to close car windows or take in the washing!   It has made little difference, but the drop in temperature and a cooler breeze will help whilst we study the weather for more of the wet stuff in the next few days.  Parts of the country have been hit by thunderstorms and deluges of rain leading to local flooding, whilst parts of Kent on the verge of a hosepipe ban.  (Overnight, in-between writing this newsletter and sending it out, the weather broke with a good thunderstorm and substantial rain – phew!)

The flowering part of the garden had suddenly become so overgrown it was impossible to get down the path to the bench, so we had to be ruthless and fight our way through the jungle to clear some space.  The pea shoot bed got cleared, the strawberry planter netted, the purple sprouting got sown, and the tomato plants tackled as they have certainly been enjoying the heat and put on lots of growth although not necessarily where you want it.  It seems if you take your eyes off them for a day or two, they have sprouted multiple side shoots and need tying in to the canes yet again as they have shot upwards.  The lower leaves have been removed and the first tomatoes are just starting to form. 

It seems that the wildlife have eyes firmly fixed on the garden, as well as stomachs.  The badgers have removed the mesh netting and completely demolished the carrot bed, and it might not be too long before they realise there are a few beetroot starting to develop which are a firm favourite of theirs.  The blackcurrant bushes were in fine form, and the fruit was just starting to swell and change colour, however before we could net them it seems something quite substantial in size has broken several stems and stripped the fruit which must have been quite sour.  Needless to say we have now covered the tayberries with netting and the honey berries too although as we know, it is little defence against a hungry badger.

With a report of asparagus beetle in the district, we checked on ours which has now mostly gone to flower, which are surprisingly attractive to bees and hoverflies as there were quite a few to be seen trying to negotiate the fine fronds and get to the small flowers. 

After some years of negotiating, the Incredible Edible group in Cheriton have started work on some planters on a platform at Folkestone West railway station.  The planters themselves were made by The Men’s Shed group based at the Marigold Centre, Folkestone, and are very substantial which meant it was going to be a challenge to fill it with enough compost.  In the end the decision was to opt for a form of Hugelkultur bed, where the base of the planters are filled with logs, then a mix of sheep’s wool (these days in use as packing in parcels) and topsoil, finished finally with compost.  One of the planters has so far been completed and planted with herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squashes donated by ourselves.  Hopefully the second planter will be completed soon too.

Just a reminder that the Disco Soup event is coming up this Saturday, 11am to 3pm, at St John’s church hall, Folkestone.  We are also excited the Sandgate Community Garden will be included once again in the Sandgate Sea Festival which it has been announced is happening on the evening of Saturday 26^th August with a firework display, and then on the Sunday 27^th, we will be there on the seafront with our stall on the Sunday.  So get that date in the diary and we will look forward to seeing you there.  Now if ever there was a day when we do not want rain that has to be it!

What’s next?   

• Check on any soft fruit which may need netting

• Start to dismantle the old composting area and tidy up

• Finish the hedge cut

• Tidy up the bay trees

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.