Tim Prater

This week seems to have been all about ‘almost’, ‘not quite’ and ‘maybe’.

It is difficult to pinpoint, but along with the changing of the weather and the season, there is a shift in how our volunteers are having to arrange their free time to fit in with a change in work patterns, trying to grab a holiday before winter sets in, visiting or being visited by friends and family.  There has been a sprinkling of ill health, medical procedures, and various ‘jabs’ of one sort or another topped with a bit of COVID ‘pinging’ just to add to the mix.  We have had some new faces too, which is refreshing, and always interesting to know why people seek us out and want to come along.  The good news is we are a friendly bunch!   

We have been in talks for some time to try to get access to a supply of good compost.  We established contact with a farm just outside Folkestone where they actually make compost to put on their own fields and sell the remainder to other farms in Kent.  The farm owners are keen to support us by bringing a large trailer load of the ‘black gold’, however, at the last leg we got scuppered by the fact that their enormous tractor is too large to gain access to the tipping site.  Not knowing anybody in the locality with a spare smaller tractor or transport happy or able enough to help us out, we find ourselves back to square one until we can find a solution to the dilemma. Oh well!

We have managed to complete the ‘what’s next?’ list – the onion sets and garlic all got planted, the remaining mustard plants were nestled into some mushroom crates and housed in the cold frames, and will now be spending their time under cover until the spring returns.  The flowering plants and seeds are being looked after with the view that they will be planted or sown and in place for next year, wherever that may be, in Sandgate.  The tree leaves are starting to fall in greater numbers now, mostly bypassing the autumnal riot of colour and simply dropping.  So begins the prolonged clear up, not forgetting that they are a useful resource and go straight to the compost bin as lying around on top of some of the leafy growing crops like spinach or chard can make them start to rot and encourage slugs or snails which we have in plentiful supply as it is.  In fact the appearance of many a hole in the various crops verifies just how warm and wet it continues to be.  It all goes to show how organic we are though, and accepting that you have to share your food with insects, wild animals and molluscs, although it is never good to find something sharing at the same time!

Talking of sharing, we are sharing our words of wisdom and experiences in the garden with Explore Kent.  Their website can be found here Get Out and Explore Kent – Explore Kent and we were asked to send some pictures of the garden and contribute autumnal and wintery ‘blogs’ on what we are up to and all that  can be done in the garden.  There is always plenty to be done during the colder months and quite amusing when the assumption is that we will be ‘shutting down’ for the winter to then re-open again in the spring. 

What’s next?.

• Plenty of leaves to pick up and compost

• Plenty of weeding to be done along the wall and behind the posts

• Plenty of compost to shift from one place to another

• Still plenty of crops to be picked after sharing with the wildlife

• Can we fit in some onions between the fennel bulbs?

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Have you ever wondered what happens to the town’s bedding plants when the season is finished?  We certainly have, and made some enquiries with Folkestone and Hythe horticultural department that carry out all the summer and winter floral displays all around the area from the parks to the street planters.

Most of the plants are annuals, which means after their display, they are literally exhausted and finished, fit only to be composted.  Some of the plants are perennials and can survive all year and come back to flower once again.  These were the plants we were interested in, as there were quite a few of them from dahlias to verbenas, gazanias and salvias.  It seems that most of the plants are removed from the beds and reused which is good news.  We were concerned that these plants might also end up on the compost heap and were keen to rescue them if that were indeed the case, and put them to good use in some of the areas we are looking after.

However, having removed all the plants the council decided that they did indeed have a few too many perennials left and offered them to us.  Always keen to save valuable resources, we jumped at the opportunity, and liberated several plants which we shared with the Incredible Edible team.  Many thanks to Folkestone and Hythe Council for thinking of us for these spare plants, and you never know, after planting out the winter bedding, there might be the possibility of a leftover plant or two – you never know!  The great thing about gardening is that nature is the master of recycling, and nothing is wasted.  Plants give their all by flowering or providing fruit/vegetables, and even when finished make the best compost, and the cycle continues. 

Talking of compost, our compost heaps all got turned this week, which was warm work!  Bin 3 which contains the finished compost got turned out and put onto empty beds, whilst bin 2 was turned into the now empty bin 3.  Bin 1 was full to bursting with all the new waste from veg peelings to finished plants, and got turned into bin 2, leaving an empty bin 1.  By Saturday, bin 1 was half full again, but you can be sure that by the time we return for our garden session on Wednesday the compost will have started to rot down and make some more room!  Turning the compost gives an opportunity to mix the ingredients together for a perfect end result – too wet, then add some brown or dry ingredients, too dry then mix with green (wet) ingredients.  Always interesting to see the compost wildlife, especially the worms, hard at work.

As well as flexing some muscles turning the compost, the onion sets and garlic got planted, and hundreds of broad beans sown in anticipation of an early crop next year.  Planting or sowing into modules has given us time to empty some of the beds over the next month or so and cover them with a new layer of compost to benefit all the plants in that bed for the next year. 

As the days are starting to shorten, the garden is entering a new phase in preparation for the winter to come.  The dominant summer planting making way for the hardy autumn and winter crops.  Leafy chard, spinach, cabbage, kale and sprouting broccoli alongside the roots of swede, celeriac, and parsnips.  Their time is about to come, and some first pickings have been made.  These plants enjoy a slower pace unlike their summer predecessors, often maturing at different rates with an ability to be left in the ground or on the plant until required.  A useful state in a family allotment, but probably not appreciated in a community garden where the demands on fresh vegetables is at a premium – no time for storing or biding time, unless the destination is a jar of chutney or frozen meal of course!

What’s next?

• Search out more planting boxes for the cold frames

• Finish planting last of the onion sets

• Check on seeds needing sowing in the autumn for flower beds/herbs

• Start clearing fallen leaves

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The return of some warmer and drier weather was certainly a welcome relief, and on Saturday the garden was alive with butterflies, bees and dragonflies, as well as gardeners and visitors all making the most of it.  Such a contrast to the previous Saturday, with lashing rain and high winds,  After the garden session, there was a migration to the harbour to at last sample the green Hythe Hop beer and very good it was too. 

Here is some information from Hythe Hops about where you can sample the green ale from Docker and HopFuzz but you will have to be quick as it will not last long.

“Official launch of 2021 Docker and HopFuzz Green Hop Ales made using our hops takes place at Docktoberfest at Folkestone Harbour (East Yard) from 12 noon Saturday (9th October).

“The same Green Hop Ales (Red Green Hop Ale and HopBuzz) are to be/have been distributed to the following local pubs:

Beer Shop – Folkestone

Docker Tap Room – East Yard, Folkestone Harbour

The Goods Shed – Canterbury

Unit 1 – West Hythe

Bouverie Tap – Folkestone

Broken Drum – London

Duke William – Ickham

Freed Man – Deal/Walmer

Hidden Treasure – Dymchurch

Inn Doors – Sandgate

Larkins Alehouse – Cranbrook

Lighthouse – Deal

Smugglers – New Romney

Tankerton Arms – Tankerton

Three Mariners – Hythe

Unit 1 – West Hythe

Waterworks – Rye

“We cannot guarantee precisely where and when beers will become available or sell out so if you’re planning to make a special trip to any please check with the pub first.”

Very busy as usual in the garden.  Some spare plants, seeds onion and garlic sets were handed over to the nursery children at Saga so that they can get planting and sowing.  We always look forward to seeing what they are growing in their playground.  We took down the last of the tomato plants, cleared the ransacked beetroot bed where the badgers had helped themselves, and removed the dwarf beans.  We now need to get the cleared beds prepared for new plantings, and make space for the compost heaps to be turned as our current bin is really full to bursting.

On Wednesday after the garden session, some of us made our way to the Folkestone Fringe event ‘Re-Rooting’ to set up our planter and plants.  The planter will be there until the 30^th October.  We enjoyed setting it up and being able to take part in something different, and hope that visitors will enjoy seeing what is looking good in October.

Below is a picture showing some of the fungi that has suddenly appeared on the plot and in some of the beds.  Fungi is a welcome sight and we just let it be to do its thing as it does no harm.  So much to understand still about the role of fungi in the garden, but as an organic ‘no dig’ garden it certainly encourages plenty of it.

What’s next?

• Plant some of the mustards still in seed trays

• Plant more mustards in mushroom trays for the cold frames

• Check on the Re-Rooting planter for water levels and condition of the plants

• Sow broad beans in large modules

• Plant garlic and onion sets in large modules

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Well, it has definitely all changed for wetter and cooler weather!  The rainfall for September was at 3.9 mm for most of the month until the very endo when it surged to 40.5 mm.  It has probably rained more than that in the first couple of days of October. 

Docker brewery had to postpone the launch of the green Hythe hop new brew until Saturday 9^th October for fear of losing their gazebo on the harbour to the high winds, let alone the lashing rain.  We were only thinking how fabulous the banana tree was looking in the Enbrook garden with a full set of leaves, and took a photo before it was tattered to bits.

Unfortunately the leeks added to the plant confusion as to which season we were in and also started to flower, which is totally unheard of in October.  With any luck the trend will be over and it will be clear we are now in autumn. 

Arms full of herbs got collected this week and sent to a ‘wild remedy workshop’.  Whilst collecting some rosemary it was interesting to see that there were several metallic looking beetles amongst the leaves which after research turned out to be the Chrysolina Americana or rosemary beetle becoming established in the 1990s apparently, and originating from southern Europe.  Luckily it does not do much harm to the plants and seems to have scarpered since the rain started anyway.  However the weather has not deterred the badgers from demolishing the entire beetroot crop in one fell swoop,  another reminder that it can be a BIG mistake to remove netting sometimes.

Sections of the netting around the garden have been damaged by our nocturnal animals, and one of the pictures below shows the holes created.  The squirrels (or is it the foxes?) have worked out how to get under some of the netting and have great fun digging about in the soil.  Not to be left out, a mole has worked its way from the other side of the garden wall and is happily pushing up the soil all around the tool box and compost heaps where we hope it will stay!  The badgers seem to have turned their noses up at the winter radishes so far which we have just started to pull up, and very tasty they are too.  Much larger than the spring varieties, they can get as big as a turnip and withstand winter temperatures although it is doubted they will last that long.  The cheeky late sowing of winter lettuces had been safely tucked away in a cold frame making plenty of growth until the wetter weather encouraged just one snail to find them and make a meal of all but six – it only takes one snail.

The nursery children at Saga are keen to be planting up their pots and planters in their playground now that the summer is over, and we will be supplying them with a few cloves of garlic and onion sets to plant, along with a few broad beans and mustard plants.  They have visited the garden to see what is growing there as part of their educational walks around the park grounds.

This coming week we are pleased to have been asked to take part in an exhibition as part of the Folkestone Fringe, called ‘Re-Rooting’.  We will be installing a large planter in the window of the venue at the Shakespeare Centre in Sandgate Road, full of plants with information on their medicinal uses and any associated folklore.  Six volunteers from the garden have stepped up to the plate to get the job set up and eventually dismantled.  The exhibition will run from 8^th to 30^th October (Thursday – Sunday 11am to 4pm) just incase you happen to find yourself in that vicinity and feel in need of a cultural experience as apparently there will be four artists exhibiting their work at the event too.

What’s next?

• Take down the tomatoes left standing at Enbrook and distribute green fruits

• Remove the beans and prep the ground for replanting

• Any wood chips left?

• Clear the demolished beetroot bed and add compost for replanting

• Take plants and seed to the nursery for the children to plant

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