Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 12th November: A full pond and shredded banana tree.

The rainy season continues, and nothing got done on the Wednesday morning session due to persistent rain, again!  We were due to go on a compost run that day too, which means co-ordinating the hire of a drop side truck, volunteers to help unload, as well as help from the composting farm to load us up with compost.  In spite of the weather it was decided to forge ahead, however, having taken the hired truck out of the yard it was soon clear there was something seriously wrong with it, making it impossible to drive safely, and it had to be returned.  Undoubtedly it was a case that compost collection was not meant to be happening that day.  We have rescheduled for the following Monday in the hope that the weather will be kind to us, although currently it is not looking too brilliant and it could turn into a massive mud bath.

Thank goodness Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, and we were able to get on with many tasks.  The broad beans were well and truly ready to go into the ground and so became the main priority for the morning, especially as the coming week is also promising yet more rain.  Other tasks included the collecting of fallen leaves and storm debris, harvesting the last of the winter radishes, the Jerusalem artichokes, and quite a few more broccoli side shoots.

Disappointing harvests are the Celeriac, leeks and Chinese cabbages.  We have been hoping for the celeriac and the leeks to be more than just spectacular leaves, and for the Chinese cabbages to have fewer holes and to have ‘hearted up’ by now, but alas, it seems the garden may possibly be too dry for them and they may not be suited to the site.  It is always a gamble when it comes to growing vegetables, but we have never succeeded with celeriac on this site so far!  Luckily, the leaves and stems can be harvested and eaten and so it seems we shall have to make the best of those instead. 

The banana tree had to have a good trim as it was battered by the recent winds, and the poor leaves were shredded to ribbons.  Happily it is continuing to thrive, and has many new stems growing at the base, which if they survive the winter, will be taken out and grown elsewhere, or brought on for our next plant sale.

Many thanks go out to two of our gardeners’ partners – to Stan for fixing new handles on our sad and sorry looking trugs, and to Peter for making some delicious marmalade and cherry jam and bringing some spare jars up to the garden to share.

On a positive note, the fact we have had so much rain, has totally refilled our dwindling pond, there is no need to water, and at Pent Farm the water is being harvested from all the building roof tops to be stored in large tanks in readiness to be used over the next spring and summer – Happy days!

What’s next?

• Repot the cuttings of sage and rosemary

• Get some compost up to the garden

• Raise the fleece up over the broad beans with hoops

• Cut back unruly shrubs

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 5th November: Babet, Ciaran and Debi.

Good grief!  It has to be said that we have had an abundance of interesting weather recently.  The total rainfall for October was 179.5mm, and it would not be at all surprising if we have had as much rain again during the first few days in November.

Since our last newsletter we have been battered by storm Babet, followed by storm Ciaran and now storm Debi.  Needless to say it has been near impossible to get much done in the gardens, and so we turn to taking stock of this year, in preparation for the next.

There is still plenty going on in the main garden at Enbrook Park, with many crops still in the ground either to be harvested soon such as parsnips and leeks, to be overwintered such as the purple sprouting, and the next to be planted broad beans which are currently in the greenhouse at Pent Farm, almost big enough to go in the ground.   Rosie, one of our gardeners, has to take the prize for managing to keep hold of her tomato plants the longest this year.  All the garden tomato plants and most of the homegrown have long since been affected by blight and been removed, but Rosie is still picking tomatoes!

We have been working on preparing any empty beds for the winter by mulching with a good layer of compost.  We have used all of our own made compost and will now have to source a supply to finish the job and take us into the first plantings for next spring. 

Now is the time to consider which seeds we will need for next year and how we are to source them.  We have a preference for small independent seed suppliers, but are gradually starting to save some seeds of our own.  In the last newsletter we mentioned shelling the borlotti bean pods, and the beans have now been dried keeping some for seed and the rest put into jars to be used as and when over the winter months as an addition to soups and stews.  Other seeds saved this year are tomatoes, and a few annual flowers.  Seed saving can be very satisfying, but some are easier to save than others, so you do have to know your stuff to be 100% successful.

We did succeed with taking some cuttings a few weeks ago of rosemary, sage and lemon verbena.  Most of the cuttings have taken although only one of the lemon verbena cuttings remains and has rooted.  We will look forward to trying again next year and making many new plants at no extra cost!

All the squashes have now been taken indoors to store and to share.  As a community group we have been sharing pictures and recipes of tried and tested meals using squash – they certainly are very versatile.

What’s next?

• Compost collection day on Wednesday

• Repot some sage and rosemary cuttings for the greenhouse

• Plant out the broad beans

• Tidy the plot of the last storm debris

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.