Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 26th February: Seasonality, and the mole in our midst.

No, we do not have any tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries or bell peppers growing in the garden at the moment, and it seems the supermarkets do not have any either.  The global market has told us that we can have any fruit or vegetable we want at any time of the year, and so we have come to expect that.  When the far away countries that grow those things to be brought here suffer the effects of bad weather and the crops fail, the fact we cannot get such things creates some panic as happened this week across the country.  We will and can grow such crops, but not until late summer will we be able to eat them, for a time of maybe between two and ten weeks if we are lucky; and what a treat that will be – something to look forward to.  What a pity it is that many of us no longer know what is in season in the UK and are probably buying whatever is on the supermarket shelf little realising that these foods have travelled halfway across the globe to get there.  What a cost to the planet, what a cost to our own UK food production and the loss of many untried seasonal and local dishes.

We have been sowing more seeds this week, and many have now germinated, and are being put outside to shiver in this winter sunshine under the protection of cold frames.  The increased daylight hours are all important, the sunshine is a bonus, but the protection from the cold blasts of wind is what saves them.  Probably the most frustrating conundrum is trying to find a suitable seed and general compost that is fit for purpose.  It is almost impossible to recommend or stick with any one brand as the content varies all the time and basically you never know what you are going to get or even if it is any good – sometimes they can be so diabolical that nothing wants to thrive in them.  It continues to be a constant problem and guessing game.  However, so far, so good, and most of our seeds are growing. 

Talking of compost – a couple of us went all the way to Horsham in West Sussex by invitation of the head gardener of a huge spa and hotel, boasting three restaurants, serving fruit and vegetables from the walled garden and extensive grounds.  In the garden there is a ‘Tidy Planet Rocket aerobic composter’ which is capable of composting all food scraps, peelings and general food waste from the premises; producing a fine compost within a matter of two weeks which is later put back on the gardens to grow even more food.  Our mission was to see this composting beast in the flesh as up to now we had only read about it, and wanted to speak to somebody who actually has and uses the thing.  It was most interesting, the machine does do what it says it can do, and we had a great time seeing the kitchen garden and talking to the head gardener about all things to do with compost and vegetables – in particular the trials and tribulations of working with demanding chefs with little notion of the job of the gardeners, together with some of the amazing dishes they can produce that most of us will never see the like of at £90 and upwards per head! 

The February meeting of the Sandgate Environmental Action group was held this week in the Old Fire Station.  There was a talk from Nikki Gammans of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which was absolutely fascinating.  There is nothing that Nikki cannot tell you about bumblebees, and we are hoping that the trust will come out to Pent Farm where some of us are volunteers, to record the bees in residence there. 

Wildlife was something we were concerned with during the week when one of our volunteers spent some time removing more leaves from our pond.  We always make sure the leaves are left at the side of the pond so that any creatures can crawl back into the water.  We were pleased to see that there were many interesting creatures amongst the leaves, and helped some of them to get back to their home.  One of them is pictured below.

The Sandgate Park in Military Road also has a new addition to the wildlife population – a mole; in fact it seems a rather massive mole as you can see from the picture below, the mole hills are rather spectacular in size and are in evidence around the newly planted trees as part of the ‘Queen’s Green Canopy’ and now making their way right across the park.  Cheeky!

What’s next?

• Prick out the other half of the lettuces

• Put down some more wood chips

• Keep picking the kale sprouting flowers

• Weed around the asparagus beds

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 19th February: The strange case of the out of place Hume’s Warbler.

The snowdrops are out, as are the first of the daffodils and the primroses; all of which can be seen in their glory from the walking paths around Enbrook Park.  The weather has continued to be predominately dry, and although chilly it really feels like spring is on the way at last.  On walking through the park this week it was interesting to see so many people with cameras on tripods and binoculars, all looking to see if they can catch a rare sighting of a Hume’s warbler.  This bird seems to be way off course as apparently it should be spending winter in India, and breeds in the mountains of inner Asia. It certainly caused a kerfuffle for several days as it flitted amongst the trees by the brook.

Our tool box got a good spring cleaning during one of the sessions this week and is now looking spectacularly tidy – woe betide anyone who messes it up any time soon.

With the passing of St Valentine’s Day, it is time to sow the very first seeds of the season to be grown outdoors.  Still too cold to sow directly outdoors, seeds are allowed to germinate indoors, then spend their first day or two on a sunny windowsill before being put into a cold frame until the plants are strong enough to be able to cope outside.  We have sown sweet peas, peas for pea shoots, spring onions, beetroot, spinach, radishes, early cabbages, cauliflowers, kohlrabi, calabrese, coriander, flat and curled parsley, plus about ten different varieties of lettuce, some French marigolds and thyme.  The beds are waiting for them as soon as they are ready!

We had to start watering things already.  Not anything planted in the ground, but the various pots we have around the garden, plants in waiting, as pots dry out before you know it as soon as the sun starts to shine.

We continue to monitor what grows well in the garden and what struggles.  We have not had much success with our autumn raspberries, so decided to take up one of the beds and move them to other places to see how they fare there.  We are disappointed with the goji berries performance so far, and decided to cut them right back to see what they make of that.  We have also cut back much of the rosemary and a bit of the fig tree, but will be leaving some plants to start sending out some new shoots before we cut back much else.  One plant which has coped well despite the heavy frost has been the Claytonia or winter purslane.  With such little leaves, it is hard to believe it grows so well in the cold, and there have been some welcome green salad leaves.  Another winter salad leaf, lambs lettuce, is just starting to be big enough to pick but has also managed to survive.

What’s next?

• More seeds to be sown

• Might need to repot some things

• Sort out some of the things in the cold frames

• Keep checking the brassicas for any pigeon damage

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 12th February: The huge Saga quandary.

It was with great sadness that we heard this week that Saga is to close their office and children’s nursery at Enbrook Park with effect from 17^th March.  With our main garden being on site, it meant that we were in a quandary as to what this would mean for us and the Community Garden – do we bother to sow any seeds from now on?  Do we need to take up some of the plants straight away, as right now would be the best time to move them.  It left us with many questions, let alone the thought of how much work we had put into the garden over the years, to have to leave it behind us.

Later that day we had a message from Saga:

“As you have already seen, today we announced to colleagues that we have taken the decision to close Enbrook Park, our head office. The building will be mothballed while we consider options for the site, which will be closed from 17^th March.

“I would like to reassure you and the rest of the community garden volunteers that the grounds will remain open and maintained as usual and we will continue to keep you updated with developments as they progress.”

So it was that we decided as a group to carry on and grow as normal for the spring, and sow seeds for the summer.  With no fixed date in sight, we shall have to take a gamble and see what happens.  Not an ideal scenario, but also to remember that some people will be losing their jobs with this decision.

As for the public access to the grounds, as long as Saga owns the property, we can all still enjoy the wooded area, the various paths and lawns.  After that we do not know.  Who or what sort of company would be able to buy such a site in a prime location there in Sandgate?  It has to be said that Sandgate’s green areas are rapidly disappearing to accommodate more housing.  Just this week there was an invitation from a housing company to view the proposal to build eight houses on an open space in the Golden Valley area.  The Government is telling us that we need our green spaces, but how does that fit with the pressure of building yet more and more homes?  Just how big will that green space be that is left?  It will probably not be big enough for a community garden.

What’s next? 

• Start to sow the very first seeds of the season

• Water the pots now that warmer weather has appeared

• Cut back the goji berries

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.