Sandgate Community Garden

Wow!  It is August already and nobody is quite sure how that happened so quickly.  On Saturday morning it was great to be able to go along to the grand reopening of the Sandgate Society Fire Station, have a glass of bubbly and/or a coffee and to see people again.  There seemed to be quite a few new members recently moved into the area, and lots of conversations about growing things in the garden and how different vegetables had fared this year.

There was a question about why radishes were not successful this summer.  We only grow radishes in the cooler weather, early spring and from August onwards as they bolt and go to seed in the warm weather.  We are just starting to sow autumn and winter radishes from this week, such as the Asian Daikon or mooli radish and the large watermelon radish which can overwinter.   The next opportunity for more garden conversations will be at the Sandgate Sea and Food Festival on 29^th August – we will be there with a stall so please find us and say hello.

The garden is always a great conversation starter, from what to grow when, through to the sharing of recipes and pictures of some amazing meals made using Community Garden produce on Instagram, Facebook and our very active WhatsApp group.  Currently popular and in season are courgette recipes and various vases of sweet peas.  At the garden we have plenty of courgettes, sweet peas, salad leaves, chard, spring onions and some kale.  The new chard plants, Chinese cabbages, and Kaibroc got planted in the hope they will grow fast enough before the keel slugs can overwhelm them.  We remove slugs if we find them but keel slugs are more evasive and can disappear into the soil only to reappear at night and do their damage in the perfect damp and warm conditions we have right now.  Last week we were hoping for some rain, and happily it did happen, and continues to do so on and off which means that little hand watering is required. 

The planter outside the ship seems to be well frequented, with herbs, lettuce and chard being taken, which is as we hoped it would be used.  It is a shame that the alley at the end of Meadowbrook is so far from the High Street as that is bursting full of flower and herbs but has fewer visitors!   All our planters are for the community to share but we ask that the growing plots are left for us to pick and make available as we have certain picking methods and know what is ready and what needs to be left alone.

Finally, there is a picture below of some grape vine cuttings given to us by a kind local in the spring.  They are being kept in pots for now and starting to be trained as the hope is to plant them in the garden next spring to create our own small vineyard as a companion to the Hythe hops – very exciting!

What’s next?

• Still need to finish tidying the hedge

• Sow some radishes for winter

• Replace any lost plants

• Still need to clear and sort bed by the second gate

• Prick out the Nero kale plants

• Consider where the Endive will go!

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Tales from friends and relations of torrential rain and terrific thunderstorms in other parts led us all to think that our hand watering days would be over and we would be able to spend that time doing something else that needed tackling.  However so far, despite looking promising, it was not to be, and the usual Sandgate rain dodge happened all over again.  There is still the hope that by the time you are reading this newsletter, our prayers will have been answered, however it seems we should be careful what we wish for as some of the rain has been of epic proportions!

This year we are trying harder to have more in the way of leafy vegetables, lettuces, chard, kale, and spinach, we are getting there but it is always a juggle to make sure we have finished a crop in time to plant the next thing which will already be a few weeks old and desperate to get out of the modules they have been sown and grown in.  The second sowings of lettuce and chard are being picked every week, along with courgettes, spring onions, and more recently, plenty of sweet peas.  The dwarf beans are now in flower, as are the autumn raspberries which will soon be fruiting hopefully well into late autumn.  The second tray of beetroot got planted as did a first of new chard plants.  The dill, chervil and two varieties of coriander got sown. 

The cabbage white butterflies have started to arrive in force, attracted by the smell of the brassica plants covered in a fine mesh netting, they constantly dance with frustration, and unable to find a way in to lay their eggs, have to go elsewhere, unless of course they manage to find an opening.  All the brassica seedlings waiting to be planted and yet tiny in their growing modules have already been visited, and any hatching caterpillar will make short work of them so we need to be vigilant.  This year we have a master plan to use organic bacteria against the caterpillars, a highly selective biological insecticide, gives them a stomach ache and they drop off the plants after just a day or two of happy munching.  Totally ineffective against people, pets, birds, and pollinators, this bacteria known as Bacillus thuringiensis is easy to use when made into a spray.   We always ensure we have plants and flowers to encourage as much wildlife as possible, and we do have alternatives for the caterpillars to go to, but the misery of caterpillar infested brassicas is something that all veg growers know about.  The horror of finding boiled or steamed victims in the saucepan in spite of diligent searching is very unpleasant indeed.  The alternative is to use a spray that affects all insects which to us is unacceptable, and try as you might to keep the plants clean of eggs and constantly covered in fine netting is still never good enough.  We are keen to see for ourselves if this will be the answer we have been waiting for, and will let you know.

Morrisons the supermarket, are still happy to be supporting us, and have recently provided some herbs shared with the Incredible Edibles, and for us, a pack of most unusual seed packets of wild flowers.  It never quite ceases to amaze the ways and means thought of to entice us humans into growing things when perhaps we may have tired of more conventional means provided by a mere packet of wild flower seeds.  Pictured below, you simply poke the card tabs, pointed end down into the soil up to the marker, and apparently ‘hey presto’ the collection of seeds stuck there are good to grow.  Unbelievable, and what more can be said about the time and energy that went into producing those – however if it floats your boat then crack on and try it!  With time and any luck the final effect might look as good as the fine display currently in flower outside St. Paul’s Church near the path of the front entrance, and pictured below.  Absolutely delightful and a real picture to see so have a look if you are going that way, or even if you are not, give your eyes and brain a treat.

What’s next?

• Finish clipping the perimeter hedge plants

• Plant chard tray number two

• Plant Chinese cabbages and Kaibroc if ready

• Keep watering new and speedily growing plants including celery

• Continue to side shoot the tomatoes

• Maybe start on that bed inside the top gate

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July is important for the sowing of new seeds.  Many of the beds have been cleared of one crop, and another has been planted in its place.  Some of the beds will have three plantings this year, and a few may even see four before the year is out.  The days are shortening and every growing day in July is about equivalent to two in August, and a week in October.   The third lettuce sowing of the year was done just this week and they are now ready to be pricked out into individual pots or cells for growing on.  The second lettuce sowings are just starting to give us a few leaves, about four each plant for now, and the next picking a week later until they really get going and will then be picked twice a week for a few weeks until the next plants take over.  That at least is the theory, and timing is critical.  On Wednesday Chinese cabbage and Kaibroc got sown, by Friday they had grown their first two seed leaves which was pretty impressive.  The Kaibroc was moved into a tray of cells to grow on; it is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale and produces many tender side shoots for harvesting after the main head.  The next seeds to be sown will be Florence fennel, and in a few days’ time the second batch of coriander, dill and chervil.

The very prickly job of picking all the gooseberries got completed, providing many delicious tales of mostly gooseberry crumbles, some of which got mixed with a stick or two of rhubarb – just fabulous.  It is hard to find gooseberries in the shops these days as they are so labour intensive, and ours disappeared in no time at all, as did the few blackcurrants that managed to survive the winds, and seemed to have ripened overnight.    The crowded carrots and parsnips got pulled in some spaces to allow the remaining roots to grow on, and they were just big enough to make something out of them.  The Charlotte potato variety, a second early, got lifted on Saturday and then just as quickly as they came up, disappeared and taken to several households in Sandgate – we only had room for a few plants but they were appreciated. 

Many of the plants in all the community areas will be enjoying the heat and sunshine we have been experiencing, and they will be trying to catch up with where they should be.  It has been noticed that the celeriac, not ready to be harvested until October/November is trying to go to seed and developing a flower head!  This is most unusual, and apparently is caused by a period of cold days which leads them to believe they have been through winter and so start to flower when it warms up!  It is also unusual to see so many fungi in high summer.  Both Enbrook Park and Fremantle Park are sporting several ‘fairy rings’ in the grass, the one below was photographed at Fremantle.  Fairy rings are linked with folklore and often viewed with great suspicion; they can grow up to ten meters in diameter apparently.

The Incredible Edible team will be supporting the grand re-opening of the Community Network in Cheriton High Street on Saturday 24^th July from 12pm until 4pm.  So if you are interested in volunteering or just joining in with the activities that day, then come along!  The Incredible Edible garden at All Souls outside the hall is now planted up with all sorts of flowers, vegetables and herbs, however pictures rarely do justice to the subject at hand and always best to come and see it all yourself!

What’s next?

• Keep watering the new plantings and check the Enviromesh is in place.

• Plant out the second beetroot tray

• Sow coriander, dill and chervil

• Start work if possible on the bed inside top gate

• Finish tidying and clearing daisy area

• Tackle some bind weed and mares tails

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For some time now, every week, the Sandgate Parish Council has archived our newsletter and all the pictures.  It has proved to be very useful being able to look back at what we were doing and compare notes with where we are this year.  Here is the link:

Sandgate Community Garden

Entries for the 5^th and 12^th July 2020 were uncanny!  We were rescuing wind scorched and battered plants as well as sploshing about in plenty of rain, and that is the story of this week too!  The winds that came through the start of the week caused havoc and Saturday morning session was a complete washout with just three of us daring to venture up there.  Surprisingly, the two planters along the seafront although needing to be tidied, still had flowers and parts intact which can be rescued.

This year has been much cooler and wetter – the rainfall for June was 107mm and we have not had to water for some time.  One very big difference is that last year we were observing many cabbage white butterflies flitting about the brassicas, and although they are not a gardeners favourite insect for obvious reasons, there has only been one observed in the garden this year, and that is not good.  The brassica seedlings do have a few bright green caterpillars which are from something else, and we have made sure there are plenty of nasturtiums around for all caterpillars to take advantage of. 

The kale, Romanesco and purple sprouting went immediately in the spaces where the broad beans were.  Even more lettuces got planted, chicory, endive and carrots thinned out to make extra growing space, chard and kaibroc sown.  We will only sow lettuce four times in the year and this week we shall make sowing number three to provide salad leaves for the autumn.  We have a gap of leaves between sowing one and two which has been a lesson on trying harder for that not to happen another time. 

The soft fruit this year has generally done much better for being that year older.  Although the currant bushes got wind battered, they do have some fruit which must be netted if we are to get any.  The gooseberries have given more this year, and there is still some to pick between the showers.  Although the rhubarb is not a fruit, our two original plants have grown well.  The three new roots of rhubarb are also looking good but will not be touched this year to give them a chance to get established.  The autumn raspberries have managed to stand up well to wind and are looking very green and lush with some of them just starting to flower.  In front of them are the goji berries which were sporting an entire colony of climbing snails.  Not too sure why they had taken to climbing precariously over six feet to get where they were, however they have since been relocated to pastures new.

What’s next?

• Still need to take down the sugar snap pea plants and support

• Tie in the sweet pea new growth

• Keep checking for tomato side shoots and remove

• Sow the autumn lettuces

• Take out the finished daisies and compost

• Finish picking the gooseberries and net the currants

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The ‘lambs ears’ silver furry planting around the pond is just full of life.  The dragonfly larvae are enjoying climbing it to begin their metamorphosis to their next phase, and bees in all sizes and forms seem to be intoxicated by the flowers and are mostly motionless there whereas they are still busy buzzing around all the other flowers – this plant is drawing them in and keeping them there, obviously the plant of choice, most interesting to see.

A busy week as always but a little different with many of our gardeners away on ‘staycations’ or making the time to visit family and friends; however we have had several new visitors to the garden.  Some come to compare the growth in our garden with their own or the allotment, others come to see what is in season and if we have any spare produce.  The first lettuce plantings have bolted now and the newly planted summer lettuces still lagging behind and probably not ready for another week or two before the first leaves can be taken.  Another bed of summer lettuces got planted as well as swede and beetroot, chicory and endive got sown and a last tray of beetroot.  The broad beans did get pulled up this week and the last pods collected to make room for Kale and Romanesco to be planted next week.  A young chap has been recently visiting the garden keen to try local produce but mentioned he thought the broad beans were somewhat stringy, until we realised he had eaten them pods and all – so it had to be explained that in this case you just eat the beans inside.  It should never be assumed that everyone knows how to prepare all the vegetables!

We were also really pleased to have Carol come and join us.  Carol has lived in Sandgate High Street for over 30 years and has recently volunteered to take on planting up the front and back areas of the flats where she lives, with some of the other residents.  We were delighted that Carol had got in touch to ask about plants, and we had a few extras we could pass on and hopefully more to come later.   We are pleased to help and hope that this new adventure will be bringing the residents together as a community which already seems to be happening. 

The Golden valley shopping planter area got a good weeding and a few more plants added.  Some of the flowers are starting to show at last, and quite a few people have enjoyed picking the pea pods.

What’s next?

• Get the kale and Romanesco into the prepared beds

• Water new plantings if needed

• Take down the sugar snap peas now finished and prepare the bed

• Prick out excess plants of chicory and endive

• Check the gooseberries again!

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To continue with the bee news written by Chris and featured in last week’s newsletter, it seems that a new queen bee has been seen in the garden nucleus box.  Named ‘Lilibet’, she is certainly a welcome addition.  Chris came up to the garden Saturday morning with a local bee farmer to help her identify Lilibet, we managed to snap a quick photo of the inspection as we had to maintain our distance whilst the box was open.

An industrious week as ever, more celeriac put in, and a new bed of lettuce planted where the pea shoots had just been removed.  The sugar snap peas and the broad beans are giving up the last of their pods and will likely be removed next week to make way for new plants waiting in line to be planted out.  Compost bins got turned, tomato plant side shoots pinched out, and the coriander removed as it was starting to flower and we need the space.  Kale and cabbage seeds were sown, and more lettuce varieties pricked out.  The first cabbage white butterfly was seen this week, so we know the whole brassica and caterpillar shenanigans are about to begin, but we have a master plan up our sleeve to try this year in the hope of doing better.  We will be writing about it later once we start the battle!  We have been holding our nerve as regards black fly.  You have to suffer an invasion of pests before the cavalry in the form of ladybirds turn up.  It makes sense as they need plenty to feast on before considering moving in.  There has been plenty of evidence of ladybird larvae seen this week, and so they are already at work. 

The rain and warmer weather are contributing to make the whole park continue to look stunning.  Below is a picture of a pyramidal orchid discovered the long grass.  What a treat it is to see so many wild flowers and to observe the insects that rely on them.  We have been trying to improve our planters on the sea front since they were battered and sprayed with salt water in the high winds a few weeks ago.  Below is a picture to show how they have picked up, and many a bee has been seen dropping in to make the most of the floral display, which has been our objective all along as well as trialling plants that can take the strain of being right on the seafront.   It will be a continuing story. 

Our friends in Cheriton, the Incredible Edibles, are busy on a gardening project at All Souls Church.  They have put in a bid for hot composters and large water rain collectors at the church hall where new edible beds have been planted.   Kent County Council will support this project with a pledge of £1,000 towards the target but they must first reach at least 20 backers from the community by the 30^th June pledging as little as £2 each.  If you would like to support this local project by pledging just £2, click on the link below to take you to ‘Spacehive’ which is a crowdfunding platform for projects aimed at improving local civic and community spaces.  Thank you.

https://www.spacehive.com/edible-all-souls-church-and-cheriton/

What’s next?

• Still got chicory to sow and maybe beetroot

• Clear the sugar snap peas and maybe the broad beans.

• Prepare beds for replanting

• Clear borage from overcrowded areas in the herb bed

• Prick out kale and cabbage seedlings

• Check on the Hythe hops growth

• Water all new plantings regularly until established

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We have gone from having to water to a deluge of rain in one week.  It is a relief not to have to water right now, and the rain makes such a difference to the whole garden.  On Wednesday evening we got 45.1mm of rain in one go, flattening some of the taller growth in the garden which was simply annoying when the RHS judge turned up  the next afternoon.  We will have to wait and see if he thinks we have improved on our grade last year, but he seemed suitably impressed with the progress so far.

Now we can breathe for a while and continue to get on with the many jobs needing doing.  There was plenty to pick this week, pea shoots, beetroot, spring onions, rhubarb, salad leaves, garlic, broccoli, cabbages, sugar snap peas, the first sweet pea flowers and broad beans.  We had visitors to collect some food, but anything that is left is currently taken to Sandgate High Street to see if there are any takers in town.  We are looking forward to working with the Kent Food Hub to make sure any excess can be usefully distributed.

The lettuce seedlings got pricked out into modules to grow on, as did the purple sprouting, Nero kale and swede.  Just a couple of weeks and they will be planted out, so we need to create more space for them to go to!  The last of the beans got planted as did more spring onions.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that we had seen the yellow female chaser dragonfly but not the blue males.  They are now very much in evidence, and the females have been seen laying eggs in the pond to continue the cycle.

Beekeeping update – June 2021 

Chris, one of our resident bee keepers has written this update below.

‘Ray and I thought we would give you an update on the bee hives at the community garden. We are both trained beekeepers, Ray has more knowledge and experience than me but we both discuss and agree a strategy and then carry it out together.

We have had issues this year with both colonies. One hive contains black stripy bees that Ray rescued from an overturned abandoned hive last year and the other hive contains a colony of orange stripy bees. Both colonies overwintered relatively well, it is normal that numbers are low in early spring but once the weather warms up, the queen starts laying in earnest and the colony quickly builds up in quantity. The issue with both hives has been that the queens have not been laying this year in significant quantities so the size of each colony is shrinking, as the older bees die off they are not being replaced.  We don’t know the age of the black queen (from the previously abandoned hive) and it may just be that she is coming towards the end of her life.  We do however; know the age of the orange queen because she was purchased last year as a mated pedigree young queen.

Having spoken to other beekeepers, the only conclusion we can come to is that she was not properly mated and has run out of fertilized eggs from which the worker bees are produced.  In very simple terms, the virgin queen will fly off to mate with a number of male (drone) bees and then return to the hive to spend the rest of her life laying eggs which in turn become honey bees. The queen’s mating flight is fraught with danger, she may be eaten by a passing bird, she may get lost or injured and be unable to return to the hive or the weather might be inclement meaning she returns to the hive without sufficient sperm to fertilise all her eggs – we think this is the likeliest scenario.

We also have to bear in mind that we have had one of the coldest and wettest springs on record, night after night of frost and then lots and lots of rain. Many colonies do not make it through the winter but this year, many survived the winter only to succumb to the unfavourable spring conditions.

Beekeeping is full of jeopardy but all is not lost…

Ray has managed to capture a large swarm of honey bees and these have been placed in a small hive called a nucleus in the community garden. The plan is to combine the swarm with one of the main hives and begin the process of increasing the size of the colony using the queen from the swarm.  So, there is an outside chance, I repeat outside chance that the community garden may get a small amount of honey after all later in the year.  Beekeeping is never easy. Watch this space for further updates…’

What’s next?

• Sow a few chicory seeds for hearting

• Sow a few more kale seeds

• Sort out the hops, cut back lower growth and cut out any extra shoots

• Plant out more celeriac

• Water new bean plantings if required

• Take out pea shoots to make space for new seedlings

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Enbrook Park is looking particularly fabulous at the moment.  The growth is looking very fresh and green, and the birdsong you can hear as you travel through is delightful to hear.   Most stunning is the sheer number of flowers throughout the park which are attracting great numbers of bees and other pollinators.  Paul (the park head gardener) estimates there is around 19,000 square meters of flowering meadow this year, which is the most left uncut in the last three years.  The paths forged through and around frame the effect, and it is well worth looking at all the different wild flowers showing through as well as all the different forms of grass flower too – just beautiful.  The picture below does it no justice whatsoever!   

This week the emphasis has been on watering the new plantings and the fast growing such as the onions trying to swell, and the rapid growth of pea shoots and new lettuce leaves.  It has been hot work by hand, but the rolling sea mists have been a welcome event, and helped to provide a little moisture.  The last of the basil got planted as did the dwarf beans, and the kale which was looking healthy and perfect one day, was decimated and torn to shreds the next by pigeons probably as a result of the gooseberries being covered over – and so these were the next to have to be netted or lose them altogether.  Seeds sown this week were beetroot, Romanesco broccoli, kale and swede.  The lettuce seeds sown last week are emerging, and will soon need ‘pricking out’ or transferring  into more growing space so as not to be competing with other seedlings.

The tree spinach pictured below with its cerise pink new leaves is just starting to take off and show itself which means we will soon be able to pick a few leaves and make a colourful addition to salads.  These particular plants are a miracle in that it was thought that all the seed for this was lost, until just by chance, and after several years of not being seen, two seedlings suddenly popped up in a garden plant pot.  They were allowed to flower and set seed then later collected and sown this spring.  Simply amazing.

Below is a picture of several packets of seeds kindly donated to us by Seed Craft based right here in Folkestone.  For just £8 per month Seed Craft will send you 4 packets of seeds ready to be sown, along with comprehensive growing guides and tips to help you make a success of your growing experience.  This seems such a great idea, helping to support gardeners to grow seasonal food at the right time, which unless meticulously planned throughout the year, can be overwhelming.  If you like the idea of growing your own food but lack the confidence, this could be for you and they can be found on Facebook or Instagram, and they have a website www.seedcraft.co.uk.

What’s next?

• Rampaging Goji berry plants still need tackling and tying in

• Keep watering the new plantings especially the dwarf beans

• Maybe prick out the new lettuce plants

• Tackle any emerging bindweed and mare’s tails

• Keep watering and picking salad leaves

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The rainfall for May was 100.3 mm and the sunshine we have had along with Friday’s deluge of more rain is bringing the plants on a treat.  The wind scorched leaves are starting to be overtaken by some new growth and all fingers are crossed that we have some settled weather for just a while. 

The basil got planted as did the cucumbers and a few random tomatoes.  We sowed eight different lettuce varieties, and having noticed that the gooseberries had started swelling, thought it was a good idea to put some netting over them before the birds also discover them.   The onions and garlic are starting to swell, and many of them are throwing out a flower head which must be removed as soon as it appears or else the plant will concentrate all its energy into the flower and the bulb at the base will fail to develop.

We have had just had the delivery of the last two cold frames at Enbrook Park.  As yet they are not in their final resting place but will have to stay just where they are for a while until such time as we get to have a good sort out.

The garden at Fremantle Park is also filling out and looking more interesting.  All the herbs in the Golden Valley community areas are looking particularly good right now, and below is a picture showing six cut bunches (from left to right, top to bottom) – flat leaf parsley, lemon balm, coriander, mint variety 1, mint variety 2, and dill.  The parsley and coriander look so similar we have to keep tasting them to remind ourselves which is which.

There was great excitement during our Saturday morning garden session when we had the sheer delight of witnessing a dragonfly from our pond metamorphose from the larvae into a beautiful dragonfly and finally fly away.  We photographed it drying its wings in the sun where it was perched on the ‘lambs ears’ planted right on the pond edge.  It left behind the incredible empty shell of its old body just sitting on the plant as if it were resting there – simply amazing.  We discovered it was a female Broad-bodied Chaser, being yellow, and that the male is blue.  We shall be paying great attention to the pond area in the hope of seeing more.

What’s next?

• The final bit of spinach needs picking and pulling up

• Some broccoli may be ready

• Remove any bindweed and mares tails creeping in

• Support some of the trailing Goji berries

• Find some open netting for the strawberries

• Sow kale, Romanesco and beetroot

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May bank holiday, June is now upon us and at last the weather is starting to improve.  We were sorry to see that a large tree had fallen in Enbrook Park, always a sad sight; however we were assured that the tree had been suffering from Ganoderma  (a fungus) for some years.  We were lucky enough to benefit from some of the logs to make extra seats for the garden, and on the sunny Saturday morning session we spent a happy hour sitting on the logs sowing spring onion seeds and around 240 dwarf beans.

The poor sick looking plants having spent too much time in their pots shivering and being blown about are finally getting into the soil.  The courgettes are all planted as are the squashes and sweetcorn, plus the chard seedlings, a bit of sunshine and warmth should see them romp away.  We have held back from planting the basil and the cucumbers just yet as they are really tender and could do with getting a little bit bigger and stronger.

Whilst pottering about and planting at Enbrook this week, we came across a very interesting insect none of us had ever seen before.  It was photographed (Picture below) so that we could find out if it was a friend or a foe to the garden.  There have been several new insects and invertebrates to watch out for such as the marmorated stink bug, the harlequin ladybird, and the New Zealand flatworm, to name but a few.  Happily, this fellow is a wasp beetle, and a friend, which seems to occupy most of the world except for Ireland and the Americas – most interesting and we shall now know to be pleased if we ever come across another.

We currently have plenty of fresh herbs as well as salad leaves.  Mixing the two together in a variety of combinations makes for the most amazing salads you can imagine.  The leaves range from bright green through to a deep dark red and various shades between, the herbs are parsley, coriander, dill and chervil which lift the leaves to another level.  Add calendula petals, borage, and viola flowers, then you have something extra special which would cost a fortune in a posh restaurant.   This week we also added pea shoots, a real taste of early summer before the peas arrive!  Absolutely delicious!  We are always pleased to share what we can, and often do with visitors to the garden, and we took a batch to the library for distribution too.  However we were delighted to be contacted by the Kent Food Hub keen to work with us and other groups in or close to Folkestone like the Incredible Edibles, on a new project to promote growing seasonal local food and to make fresh food accessible to all.  We are looking forward to doing as much as we can to enable this to happen in the wider community and to make links and work together on common goals and interests. 

In the meantime we have plenty to be getting on with as we have heard that the judge for the RHS ‘It’s your neighbourhood’ scheme is visiting the Enbrook garden on 17^th June, no pressure!  The judge is coming in an advisory capacity, to evaluate our progress, and our Sheila has been working on the most amazing supporting statement to give to the judge as requested, because he only has an hour. The statement sums up our history and achievements so far.   We have laboured hard on this, and Sheila has turned it into a work of art, but it is still early days and we continue to work on our progress. 

What’s next?

• Keep up with the weeding

• Keep watering the new planting for a few days until established

• Pick the salads and herbs

• Pull up the finished coriander to make way for the basil

• Keep removing old and yellowing leaves around all plants

• Start dead heading

• Plant last of the summer bedding we have sown from seed

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