Tim Prater

Such a contrast to the weather in the last few newsletters, this week we have had some beautiful sunny and warm weather, encouraging more gardeners to get to the garden and make the most of it, especially as we are now in another lockdown.  However this one is very different to the first where we could only work on our own – this time we can follow community garden rules for food gardens, which explain in detail how we can work in the space.  We certainly feel glad that we can carry on as long as we are careful, and we know of the benefits the garden brings to mental and physical health.  How timely that we should receive yet another certificate from the RHS Britain in Bloom, in recognition of how important community gardens are, and how valuable our work is in such difficult times as we have experienced this year.  Always glad to receive a certificate and we shall have to consider where it could be displayed!

Just as we are being given such an accolade, we are then contacted by a Social Prescribing Service for West Kent.  We are being asked to be part of a support service to help people reduce social isolation and loneliness and improve health and wellbeing.  We will be very glad to register.

In the meantime, there is still much to be done.  The first of the fleece covers have been put down and more has been ordered, to protect any vegetables overwintering, to shelter from the wind and frost.  It takes a while to get to know your fleece and what should be avoided.  For this garden there is no point buying a lightweight fleece of less than 30g m2 as it will tear and be useless in no time at all.  It is also wise to make sure the fleece has good UV tolerance as the sunlight makes the fleece turn to dust and simply disintegrate in less than a season.  Who would have thought that fleece can create such a minefield of issues.

All the wooden boxes got their final coats of wood treatment for the year, and the compost area is nearing completion.  Two more packets of broad bean seeds have been sown as have the last of the autumn peas.  They have been quick to germinate and we will soon be planting them out once we have put down more compost on the beds.  The leaf compost bin is nearly full already but leaves fished out from the pond are not added until any wildlife has had the chance to escape back to the water.  

Now is a chance to look at the bare bones of the garden and review how the permanent plants are growing.  Last autumn we planted the smallest of twigs claiming to be gooseberry plants – they had been decimated by sawfly and looked very sorry for themselves, so we got them for pennies, a real bargain as they now resemble good sturdy plants and should be cropping next summer.

You really would have thought that the brassicas would have been given a break from caterpillars by now in November, but unfortunately they are still enjoying making holes in the leaves – even in the vegetation of the High Street planter!   Unbelievable!

What’s next?

• We need to consider a wild flower seed bomb for behind the compost area

• Continue to spread compost

• Continue to collect leaves from the ground and in the pond

• Put the fleece down if it has arrived in the post

• Clear some of the spent salad areas

• Clear some of the finished flowers and compost

• Put a thick layer of compost on the hops.

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As we are heading into November & with shorter and cooler days now our bees are safely beginning to cluster for warmth in their hives.  We have been seeing the last of the Ivy flowers and with temperatures now below 18 DegC the start of the winter formation ensues with a loose cluster of bees which gets tighter as the temps drop further. They behave like penguins in the Antarctic & switch positions to ensure that the outside layer of bees do not get too cold. 

Bees use their indirect flight muscles to generate heat in the depth of winter and so the reliance in available food stores to survive.  The average colony can consume over 20kG of honey stores during the winter and so Chris & I have been checking on the colonies and supplying syrup for the bees to convert into their winter larder.  Lifting the corner of the hive to gauge the weight is called hefting and to assess the available internal honey stores and the need to feed. If any more food is needed, then baker’s fondant or wetted sugar can be placed for the Dec/Jan period.

The beekeeper will not open the hives for routine inspections right around to March next year and so to preserve the heat within the hive. 

The brood in the colony will be decreasing as the queen reduces her egg-laying to the point whereby there will be no brood to be fed by the end of November.  The curve below is a useful reference to the volume of adult bees throughout the year in comparison to available brood which can be seen to drop off at the end of November leaving the winter workforce to live through the winter period until the next March, when the first of the new season bees will be hatched.

The hives are also prepared externally for potential green woodpecker attacks through the hive wall and with reduced entrances with mouse guards to avoid the temptation of mice looking for a winter home!  They must also be well anchored from the Channel gales that we are likely to endure.

The winter period is a time for the beekeeper to look ahead to training needs & the participation in several Zoom Beekeeping informative sessions, cleaning and also the preparation of equipment & hardware in readiness for the 2021 season & hopefully a happy & safe one at that.

With thanks & regards from Chris & Ray – The SAGA Beekeeping Team.

How very timely that we should receive news from Kent County Council about Kent’s Plan Bee with an invitation to the official launch online.  This is a virtual summit to discuss the council’s action plan for pollinators to reverse ‘serious declines in forage and habitat which harms them and us’.  Please take a look at the information on the poster shown below in the photographs, for information on how you can register for this important, free summit.

Not much movement from the bees in the garden this week, and not much from the gardeners either, thwarted by wind and rain.  According to a local rain gauge, we have had 230.4 mm of rain in October; apparently the average rainfall for this month is around 60mm.  We usually complain about the lack of water, but certainly not this month as it seems we have had more than our fair share!

What’s next?

• Tidy the space around the new composting area

• If it stops raining, finish wood treatment on compost bins

• Sow last of the broad beans and few last peas

• Continue to fish leaves out of the pond and leave on the side for wildlife to get back in pond!

• Continue to tidy space ready for the big compost spread.

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