Tim Prater

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 10th April: Our helpers are unstoppable by weather, lorries and fuel shortages.

The changing weather continued to bring challenges this week.  We had to cancel a working party from the Napier Barracks as the weather was just simply too wet and cold.  The following day we were being joined by a working party from Saga.  Saga are keen for their work force to volunteer to support and work with local groups, so we made plans a couple of weeks ago to organise a compost collection from Hope Farm, and for the Saga volunteers to help us unload.

It was not the weather that caused issues, but the ongoing problems we are experiencing on our roads, affected by the thousands of lorries stuck at the crossings.  Ever optimistic that all would be fine and we could continue with our plans, in reality it was not going to happen. Once it also became clear there was no fuel either locally, it was game over!  In the meantime, our enthusiastic team from Saga had battled their way to the meeting point and raring to go so we changed tack and resorted to plan B.

Plan B happened to be plan A from the soggy day before, so all was not lost.  Thank goodness the weather was fine, sunny but breezy, not too cold.  We started by mulching part of the new orchard at Sandgate Park, then moved on to Fremantle Park where we planted perennial flowering plants and fruit bushes in the orchard and in the sloped flower border on the other side of the park.  We had a most delicious lunch made in the kitchens of Touchbase Care in Tontine Street, which we ate outside at the park making good use of the lovely new picnic benches recently installed there…….. brilliant.  After that outstanding lunch we made our way to the Golden Valley shopping car park to weed all around the planters and in them too.  In the autumn we had planted some bulbs which are now flowering, the most popular being the sweetest and tiniest narcissi ever seen, certainly by all of us.  We are grateful to Saga for their hardworking volunteers, and look forward to working with more of them sometime soon.

Some of our ‘to do’ list from last week did get done, but several other tasks came along which needed tackling.  The first compost bin was full to bursting and needed to be turned into bin number two in order to make some room; however to be able to do that, bin number two had to be turned into bin three.  Another pressing task was the fact that we have many plants waiting to be large enough to be planted out, and needing potting on into larger pots to enable them to be able to get larger.  However we did manage to make a start on sowing the courgettes and summer squashes.  More spring onions got planted as did parsley, and more new rhubarb roots in a new bed.  The carrot seedlings have made an appearance at last but we are still to welcome the parsnips.

What’s next?

• Rebook another compost run

• Make new signs for Fremantle and Golden Valley

• Transfer tomato plants to the cold frames when it is warm and sunny, but keep indoors at night still.

• Sow annual flowers

• Start sowing cucumbers and winter squashes.

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 3rd April: Blasted by hail and snow, but still growing strong

There is never a dull moment when it comes to the subject of the weather in the UK.  We seem to have gone from having to slap on the suntan cream for fear of being burnt in the sunshine, working in T shirts, to having to get the full torrential storm gear on to get blasted by hail stones and snow.

The rainfall for March was just 29.5 mm and most of that probably happened in the last day as we had to get out the watering cans and get watering prior to the change in the weather.   We can get fooled into thinking summer is just around the corner and start buying and planting tender plants already available in the shops, brought on in a lovely heated greenhouse, ending up put outside in horrendous conditions.

Most of our seedlings are sheltered in the cold frames with just protection from the wind and hail, happy with the temperatures.  The tomato plants are still very firmly inside on window ledges and will remain there for some time to come.  They would struggle in a cold frame and fail to thrive until the warmer weather is really here.

Happily the spinach and lettuces just planted outside last week seem perky enough and some have had a fleece coat put over them just for a few days as it seems we may get a frost Sunday morning.

There were seeds sown this week, basil, leeks, globe artichokes, and chard.  All the seeds are kept indoors until they germinate which depending on the seed, can be anything from two days to over two weeks.  The carrots and parsnips sown over the last couple of weeks outside, will not be expected to show themselves for at least three weeks, and have had to be covered to discourage the squirrels or any other animal or bird you may care to mention, from digging in the patch and spoiling the seeds.

The purple sprouting is now in full swing, we have picked most of the crown or head of each plant where a large part of the broccoli is formed, and then the plant sends out side shoots.  The more flowering side shoots it sends out, the more there is to pick, the more there is to come.  However the shoots become smaller and smaller as time goes on until there comes a day when you have to decide enough is enough and the plant is spent or you tire of broccoli (if that is a possibility).  We are still pulling overwintered spring onions, and this week picked the first pea shoots.  A visitor to the garden went away with some of our broccoli and spring onions and sent us a picture of her most amazing looking lunch within hours of it being picked; pictured below.

The lamium or dead-nettle in the flower garden is looking particularly prolific at the moment and is certainly attracting the bees.  The common dead-nettle is so similar to the stinging nettle and relies on the similarity to save it from being pulled up or eaten.  We certainly do not mind making space for it, and also have some more decorative specimens. 

Although it is still too early for the more tender plants, we are aware that the planters we look after in the main street need to look loved, so they had a little make-over this week and to see what has survived the lashings from the seafront and what has given up the ghost.  Some new plants have been added, with more to come as time goes on.

What’s next?

• Serious weeding session in Golden Valley and planting in Fremantle

• Check if the autumn planted rhubarb is ok

• Check on how many hop shoots have appeared and guide up the strings

• Start sowing some of the annual flowers

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.