Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 11th June: The mole is happily making earth mounds and pushing up seedlings.

The strong winds were still a feature this week, and then the temperature started to climb so that by Saturday it was sweltering.  The weather report keeps talking of thunderstorms in the south east of England; however as is usual with Sandgate, we suspect they will pass by our corner of the country again, with no rain expected at all for as far as the weather experts can see.

As soon as we start one of our gardening sessions, it is out with the watering cans and the water pump although not everything gets watered, just new plants, pots, and anything that looks like it is struggling.  The potatoes had to get on with it but we may have to water them soon or the potato crop will be meagre.  Some of them can be seen just under the surface of the soil and so we have had to apply more compost to prevent them becoming green from the sunlight.  The broad beans are still producing well, and as more bean pods are picked, the amount of beans inside have increased which is interesting as last week we were reporting that there were only two or three in each pod.  We also picked our first Japanese turnips which are versatile as they can be eaten raw, grated into a coleslaw, thrown into a stir fry or roasted – absolutely delicious.

The leeks got planted as did more dwarf beans, and more squashes.  A few lettuce seedlings were pricked out into larger modules, and the Bellis daisy seeds got sown. 

The mole is happily making earth mounds and pushing up seedlings in several of the plots, whilst the shrinking pond is alive with water boatmen.  Aphids seem to be having a great time attacking a few broad bean plants, some of the globe artichokes and the stems of the elder flowers.  There are so many flowers out at the moment, from foxgloves to nasturtiums, borage, violas, strawberries, peas and tomatoes, so that every day there is something new to look at.

Our new composting system is being hard worked on by one of our DIY skilled gardeners.  Using mostly scrap materials from pallets to donated wood, our new composting bays are starting to take shape.  We have several changes to make to our current system, and it will be a while until it is fully up and running, and even longer until we can tell if we are on the right track.  But we will report on how it is going over time.  We also had a donation of a wormery to the garden, which we also hope to be able to set up just as soon as everything else is in place.

What’s next?

• Strip back the pea shoot bed

• Keep checking the tomatoes for new side shoots

• Sow purple sprouting

• Net the strawberry planter

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 4th June: The hand of little bananas and Disco Soup.

Just as we got to the weekend, the first in June, it started to warm up, and the winds have dropped for some parts of the day.  The ground is now very dry as although there has not been much in the way of sunshine, the strong winds have had a drying effect.  The banana tree was just about to produce a flower pod, but the winds snapped the main stem simply because the weight of the large flower made it top heavy.  We looked inside the broken flower to discover the ‘hand’ of little bananas – such a shame they never got to develop.  There was only 15.3mm of rain in May, which must have happened at the beginning of May as there has been none for weeks. 

We have been busy planting the celery and celeriac, as well as some leeks and a few winter squashes. More winter squashes got planted on as well as the asparagus seedlings, but the cucumber seedlings are still a little too small to be potted on.  Two types of winter kale got pricked out and moved into modules to be left to grow on for a few more weeks. 

We have started to pick some of the broad beans, however it is clear they have suffered, probably due to the windy, cold weather and a lack of pollinators, as many of the pods only contain about two or three beans.

Some of our time has been spent checking the gooseberry plants for the dreaded sawfly which can strip a bush of its leaves in a matter of days if they are not removed.  They do not harm the development of the fruit, and often recover, but all the same having no leaves must stress the plants.

The tomatoes are starting to respond to being out of their restricting pots and in the ground.  They have put on quite a bit of new growth, mostly in the way of side shoots, which means we now start the constant chore of pinching the shoots out so that they cannot develop and the tomato plants continue to grow up instead of out.

Our big news for the week is that we are starting work on completely rebuilding and reconsidering our composting methods and system, since studying the teachings on how to make compost that is full of life and the healthiest it can be for our plants.  It will take some time to get up and running, but it is exciting to know that it will make a difference to the gardens.  We will keep you posted on how we get on, and the changes we have made.  We are most grateful to AW Rail, based in Folkestone, for giving us plenty of wood from their yard, as they are keen to make sure that any materials which they cannot use are offered to community groups and charities rather than sent to be scrapped or possibly sent to landfill.

On 24^th June, some of us will be taking part in the second Disco Soup event in Folkestone.  See the poster below if you are interested in joining in with this community day transforming surplus food into a feast! 

What’s next?

• Sow Bellis Daisy seeds

• Sow spring onions and purple sprouting

• Collect more materials for the composting systems

• Keep checking the tomatoes for side shoots

• Check for any potatoes showing through the soil

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.