Tim Prater

Another week has flown by, whilst the wood chip pile at the lower wall continues to gradually diminish, and the wood chip piles within the Community Garden grow ever larger.  We are still wheelbarrowing!   It has been colder this week, and an hour of work is enough before the fingers and toes start to complain – we continue to take it in turns to be there, and appreciate that we have become quite a close knit community, shopping for one of our gardeners with Covid, and passing on information about a multitude of questions on our WhatsApp group. 

There have been some frosts, enough to have to break the ice on the pond a couple of times, and yet another storm flew through so that covers needed retrieving and putting back over plants, and one of our plastic compost bins needing fishing out of the pond.   In spite of all this, the rhubarb is pushing its way above the compost mulch obviously un-phased by challenging weather.

It is now a year that our pond has been in place, this is the best time to establish a new pond or to sort out an old one as the plants will be dormant and the wildlife hunkering down in the mud in the deepest part.  One of our gardeners has an established pond right in the High Street, and has been re-lining it as there was a leak.  Below is a picture of one of the frogs helped to temporarily relocate until the work is done.  A pond is the best thing you can have to attract wildlife to a garden, and how simply fantastic to have such wildlife right by the sea and on a busy High Street – it just goes to show how wildlife can flourish in pockets of space if the right conditions are there.  The Kent Wildlife Trust recorded the earliest sightings of frogspawn in mid-January, so it would just be perfect to see any in our pond this year.

With most of the winter work nearly complete, the beds have a mulch of compost, the paths have a covering of wood chips, and the compost bins all turned, the three main workers of organic matter can get to business.  We follow ‘no dig’ principles which mean that the worms, fungi and bacteria work for us to break down organic materials be they fresh in the compost bins or on the paths.  This year we have seen a delightful range of mushrooms and soil mycelia which some of the gardeners find disconcerting, until reassured that these forms are beneficial for the garden and to be welcomed.  The world is only just beginning to understand the relationship between fungi and plants but it is known that they live to benefit each other to access nutrients, water and carbohydrates.  No dig enables the plant roots to find mycorrhizal fungi in the soil which wrap around the roots to begin the exchange, and to continue this relationship without any soil disturbance which will break the cycle.  Below are a few of the fungi forms both great and small seen recently in the garden, of course we always respect the fact that unless you really know your edible fungi, they should never be eaten.

What’s Next?

• Continue the wood chip migration

• Net the kale as the birds are making a meal of them

• Search for any more seedlings worth potting up

• One asparagus bed needs extra mulch

• Rake up escaping compost

It has been more like weather for frogs and ducks rather than community gardeners this week, but some of us made it to the garden at some point suitably dressed for the occasion in all over wet weather gear and some determination to get a few jobs done.  Last year the wet weather left pools of water on the surface of the soil, and we came away with muddy boots, but this year there is none of that so we can already see that the compost and wood chip paths are helping the structure of the soil.

The Oca got cleared, more beds mulched with compost, wood chips bagged up, sedge grass and brambles removed then composted, and the perimeter hedge trimmed.  On pulling up a parsnip, one of our gardeners was surprised to find that the entire body of the root had been invaded, hollowed out and made into a red ant nest teeming with ants, larvae and eggs.  He managed to grab a few photographs before the inhabitants scurried off with the nest contents to pastures new.  That was an unexpected encounter for both parties.

There are always things to be found in the garden to surprise and interest.  Below is a picture of one of our Romanesco broccoli heads which are now nearly ready to be picked.  It is rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fibre and carotenoids.  More interesting is the fact that it has the most fabulous pattern, and is apparently a natural fractal vegetable representing the Fibonacci or golden logarithmic spiral.  The head is made up of smaller heads which exactly mimic the shape of the larger head, and repeats itself ad infinitum until too small to be seen; it is quite mesmerising, and tastes pretty good too.

Although plant growth at this time of year is slow or even dormant in some cases, the plants we have will be making some good root establishment below the soil, and preparing themselves for the warmer, longer days which will eventually come.  The broad beans can be seen pushing up against the fleece, but need the protection from the icy blasts of the wind.   They also need protecting from the pigeons that have already taken liberties with a few of the purple sprouting leaves sticking out of the netting.  You can tell it is bird beak damage as opposed to slugs or snails as the birds will tear at the softer parts of the leaf around the main stem and ‘veins’ , leaving a skeletal structure – slugs and snails generally just eat the lot!

We share what we have grown as it is harvested and although there is not enough to store over the winter months, some of us have stored a squash or two from our own gardens which if kept cool and dry should keep well into the spring.  Below one of our gardeners has shared a photo of her ‘Prince’ squash picked some three months ago, cut open to show the lovely deep orange flesh which then ended up in a delicious soup.  There is nothing finer on a cold and wet wintery day.

What’s Next?

• Just check that the parsnips are all harvested

• If parsnips all gone then mulch with compost

• Remove all old and tatty leaves from leafy veg

• Check on all the net and fleece coverings

• Start to turn compost bin 2 into bin 3

• Start to turn compost bin 1 into bin 2.