Tim Prater

At last the cold stuff has arrived at the very end of November, and you can begin to think that the festive season really is around the corner.  Plenty more leaves have fallen from the trees although some are still in place, however a good blast of wind probably due to come along any time now will do the trick, and the leaf clearing will soon be over.  We have managed to fill our leaf bin full to the brim, and have squashed leaves into every available gap to make space for more.  We cleared some of the herbs that had bolted, although the flower heads, such as the Dill, are full of flavour and good to mix into salad leaves.  We had a few last onion sets to plant in any spaces where nocturnal animal visitors or birds had pulled them up and given them a taste!  Fortunately none of the raiders seem to like onions and either spit them out half chewed or simply drop them on the path. 

We had a most welcome message from ‘Seed Craft’ during the week, offering us a box of garlic for which we were most grateful.  Still time to plant onions and garlic if you have not done so already.

More compost got bagged up to use at the alleyway and Golden Valley.as part of the great annual compost mulch for all ‘no dig’ enthusiasts.  This is the time to dress as many of the beds as possible with a layer of new compost, and there certainly is plenty to do there. Paul, the Grounds Manager of Enbrook Park, took great pity on us having to barrow the newly acquired compost uphill to the garden from where it had to be delivered, and using some machinery, got it up to the garden for us!  Not sure quite how, but one day it was down the hill outside the garden, and the next day, up the hill and in the garden…..happy days, thank you Paul!  Now we can mulch away to our hearts content!  Saturday was to have been the day to make a start, but we had to dodge the heavy showers mixed with hail, and just about managed to get the broad bean beds covered with fleece in preparation for promised frosts.on Sunday and Monday.

The greatest news of the week is that the fruit and nut trees at Sandgate and Fremantle Parks got planted at last after the initial hiccup in arranging planting days which did not then happen.  There were twenty five trees in total.  Apples, pears, plums, cherry and cob nut trees.  There were twenty four bought and paid for, but we found a cheeky interloper hidden amongst them and thought we had better plant it anyway.  We are most grateful to all those who came along to do the hard work, and there is now a small orchard in each park which we will all be watching over and helping to take care of. 

There are future plans to develop the areas under and around the trees, and we understand there will be official ceremonies to welcome the trees in June 2022, as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and organised by the Sandgate Parish Council.  Thank you Parish Council for thinking of providing fruit and nut trees, giving flower and fruit for wildlife and local fellow humans to enjoy for many years to come.  We understand that it is possible to sponsor one of the trees for £100 by contacting the Sandgate Parish Clerk Gaye Thomas at clerk@sandgatepc.org.uk or by calling 01303 248563.  The trees are semi-dwarfing varieties and will therefore not grow to be enormous!

What’s next?

• Start on that mulching at Enbrook

• Fill in any broad bean gaps

• Plant some pea shoot boxes for the cold frames

• Still more leaves to collect, the final push? Put fleece over the spinach and check on the brassica netting

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It continues to be mild, and the garden is still confused.  There are many things that would have been cleared or finished by now in the depths of November with Christmas being advertised as just around the corner; but the cosmos, nasturtium.and marigolds are still in flower, being visited by many bumble bees.  We have been pulling leeks and black radishes, and there are still salad leaves, kaibroc and plenty of chard and spinach if you do not mind the holes!

The mustards we planted in boxes in the cold frames are proving most tasty but can only harvest a couple of leaves from each plant per week as the short daylight hours restrict the growth rate, and it takes time for them to replenish themselves.  The autumn leaves continue to fall and we have quite a full leaf compost bin already,  Unfortunately whilst fishing fallen leaves from the pond, our net got broken having been well used, so we will need to invest in another before all the leaves have eventually fallen to try and keep the pond clear. 

Although there are no new seeds to sow or seedlings to plant for a while, there are plenty of tasks needing to be done to maintain the structure of the plot, and since our amazing gift of green waste compost, we will soon begin on the mulching of many of the beds and permanent plantings.  We bagged up some of the new compost,  several bags were used to mulch the alleyway between Chichester Road and Meadowbrook, and the rest is to be taken to Sandgate Park and Fremantle Park for the great fruit tree planting on Sunday 21^st. 

Later we will start to replenish the paths at Enbrook with our store of woodchips too.  The paths are just as important as the beds as many of the plants send their roots into the paths where they can still find moisture and space to grow.  The quieter months are a time to think about getting organised for next year, and our fabulous tool box got a proper sprucing and sort out.  It now looks so good we are a little afraid to use it and risk making a mess.  Other jobs included cutting down the finished hops, weeding and keeping all the brassica plants free from yellowing and trailing leaves which encourage slugs and snails to hide amongst them.

On Saturday the ‘Disco Soup’ event in Radnor Park happened.  Morrisons donated large crates of root vegetables and leeks – ideal soup making ingredients for such an occasion.  The Hythe gleaners brought potatoes, squashes and apples, then with plenty of herbs, plus lots of pairs of willing hands, some amazing tasty soups, stews, crumbles and jars of pickles were created all with a party atmosphere helped along by the DJ adding the disco sounds.  It was a fabulous day, good food and great company, what more could you want?

What’s next?

• Get those trees planted in the parks and start process of creating mulched bases

• Keep clearing and composting the fallen leaves

• Clear the bolted herbs

• Bag up more compost

• Few more onions to plant?

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After the great excitement of announcing the big plant up of several fruit trees in the Sandgate and Fremantle Parks, the bad news is we got let down on the readiness of the trees for this weekend, and so the planting had to be cancelled.  Apparently they should be ready this coming week and so we are hoping to plant the trees in Sandgate Park on Sunday morning at 10.30 am, and in Fremantle Park on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm.  Here is one of the pitfalls of buying bare rooted trees in that they have to be planted soon after collection or risk drying out the root system.  Let us hope there are no problems this week! 

Get in touch if you would like to help, through our Instagram or Facebook pages, via this email, or text Leonie on 07840138308.

The good news is that we have COMPOST from Hope Farm in Hawkinge!  You may recall we had a setback in being able to receive the compost as the tractors on the farm are simply too large to be able to access the dropping off site, so we had to hire a drop side truck for the day and go and collect it ourselves.  It was incredibly interesting at the farm especially if you are a compost nerd, and appreciate the processes required in the making.  Hope Farm takes in all the green waste from several council re-cycling centres, and processes the waste themselves into compost; 50% is spread on their own farm, and the rest is taken to several farms around Kent.  None of the compost is sold commercially; it only goes to Kent farms.

Hope Farm have been most kind in agreeing to support the garden and allow us to have compost free of charge, and we are indeed most grateful as although we make as much of our own compost as we can, we cannot make enough for our needs and have to buy supplies which have been spiralling in price over the past year or so.

The compost making farm is constantly busy, with huge trucks delivering garden waste where it starts the conversion process by being taken into a huge shed with a conveyor belt and large stones, plastics and metals are removed – basically everything that is not going to break down.  Large bits of wood are shredded, and the material, now made smaller, is laid out in a massive yard in long, mountainous lines where it gets turned by machinery, and the moisture content monitored.  It was a cool day when we visited the farm, and the heat given off by the compost could be seen in large plumes over the top of the buildings.  The finished product takes eight weeks, but it is still too active for our garden.  When we went to move and bag up some of the compost on Saturday morning, following collection, it felt very warm in the middle of the pile, and when bagged up, the bags were very warm to the touch.  We can use some of the compost now on older or mature plants, but not for young plants or seedlings.  We will need to leave the compost to mature over the winter and early spring in a pile, just to let it finish the natural chemical reaction of decomposition, and allow the bacteria and minibeasts to multiply there.

The drop side truck we hired for the day had a 1.5 ton limit, and so the farm workers had to calculate how much compost to drop into the back from a gigantic bulldozer.  Our truck was weighed on a weighing bridge before and after the collection to make sure we were not overloaded, and we were issued with a ticket, a requirement so that we can prove our load has been monitored.  We were able to make three collections until we ran out of muscle power back at Enbrook Park.  All very easy to collect the stuff, but back at the park it was a case of having to shovel and push the stuff off our truck.  There were six of us in total to help with this task, but special thanks go to Greg, Antony and Ed who answered the SOS from the Sandgate Society to lend a hand, which was very much appreciated.  We are now the proud owners of a rather large pile of lovely compost which will be put to use already this coming week for a couple of jobs!

All that only took a day to complete, but other things did get done too this week.  The alleyway between Chichester Road and Meadowbrook got cleared, more bulbs planted, particularly at Golden Valley; the last of the broad bean seedlings found themselves in a comfy bed, and just a few more sown in case of any casualties.  The last of the garlic and onions got planted, lots and lots of fallen leaves picked up and composted.   Weeds got weeded although this will be ongoing as now the hops and raspberries have diminished, those cheeky weeds hiding amongst their stems are suddenly in view and larger than life so will have to go before they take over!

Remember, plenty going on next weekend, 20^th and 21^st November – Disco Soup at the Bowls Club at Radnor Park, a great day out for all the family, and a fabulous, community orientated way to use excess food which might have ended up as landfill.  On Sunday we hope to be planting fruit trees subject to them being ready, get in touch if you are interested so we can keep you informed.

What’s next?

• Mulch the alleyway where the ground has now been cleared

• Bag up more compost for tree planting

• Few more bulbs to plant

• Cut back the hops and mulch

• Keep weeding and tidying

• Tree planting on Sunday..?

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