Sandgate Community Garden

The pond site is in the process of having straight sides cut into it to create a shelf for water plants to sit on once the liner has been laid.  The bottom of the pond has been trawled for any more sharp rubble and was starting to resemble the Somme.  The continuing rain is making progress more of a challenge and it is probably just as well that it starts to coincide with a holiday period!  We saw the Saga gardeners shredding a pile of hedge cuttings, and once finished, we moved in quickly to start putting the chippings down to make some paths.  Fresh wood chippings should not be used as mulch around plants as they can affect the soil pH and the soil nitrogen levels which means that plants can struggle to grow.  It needs to be composted first or used for making paths.

The bird boxes have been prepared, ready to be put up in the trees nearby the garden.  This will need to be done soon to allow the birds time to check them over and decide if they would like to move in and make a nest when the time comes.  Since our last newsletter, it now seems we have secured a good supply of cardboard for the ‘no dig’ plans.

Saturday was so wet we decided to meet up at the farmers market to indulge in mulled wine and mince pies, and there were even more mulled wine and mince pies to be had at the Fire Station with the Sandgate Society.  It was disappointing not to be at the garden, but it is all about the people involved, and community at the end of the day.   Some of us are, and will be on holiday now for a short while.  Our Theresa has been busy playing the part of Dolly, the love interest of Mike Nolan in the Tower Theatre production of Jack and the Beanstalk, and very good she is too…. Well done Theresa.

Discussions around live honey bees being sited at the garden continue to go well, and there seems to be a great deal of interest in the possibility already.  It would be a wonderful thing if a Sandgate bee community develops over this coming new year.  We wait and watch with interest.

What’s next?

No arrangements have been made to meet up on Christmas Day strangely enough; however one or two of us might feel like a bit of a workout on the Saturday, moving a few more wood chippings and some of those mince pies off the waistline! 

Merry Christmas to you from the Sandgate Community Gardeners.

• 

• 

• 

Continuing to be busy this week.  A couple of us were at the Sandgate Parish Council meeting to talk about, and promote the garden.  We hobnobbed to the best of our abilities, and think we have created enough of an impression to keep the garden in the minds of many of the movers and shakers of Sandgate!  We took a small hamper of winter salad, leeks, purple sprouting and Chinese cabbage.  Then since discovered that the leeks, growing in our very sandy, silty soil have captured that grittiness in their layers and need to be well washed or shredded to get rid of it.  Let us hope that the introduction of compost will help to stop that, and apologies if it was you that got to take the leeks home!  We learn something new every day…..

The broad beans got their string protection from the pigeons, which will double up as a support as they continue to grow taller.  The pond site got a rummage to find as much rubble as possible lurking there so as not to puncture the lining once it gets put in place.  We need to get this done next so that the pond can start to fill with rain water over the wetter months of the year, it would have been full by now if that had been lined just a couple of weeks ago!

The autumn raspberry plants arrived in the post and got planted on Saturday.  An autumn fruiting variety was chosen instead of summer fruiting, so as to extend the soft fruit season right into the end of October.  A small trench was lined with our own made compost for the new plants to nestle into, and it was awesome to be wrestling with what seemed like gigantic worms lurking in the compost bin.  Provide the environment and the wildlife just appears as if from nowhere! 

We continue to collect sturdy cardboard for the ‘no dig’ treatment of some of the weeds and paths and are amazed at how much plastic tape or metal staples need to be used to make a package, and how long it takes to remove it all before being used on the garden.

What’s next?

• Bird boxes?

• Cosmos has finally given up the ghost and can be removed and composted

• Get some sand to begin lining the pond area

• Work on pond area

• Mince pies and mulled wine on Saturday!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The fencing is nearly finished, and the wind break mesh is in place, they give the new hedge the chance to take hold.

The donated bench hitched a ride to the garden, and is now in place, so we shall have to decide where we will be taking a break with a flask of coffee and a biscuit, or this month, a mulled wine and mince pie!  Thanks to Paul for arranging the transport.

We would prefer to use the ‘no dig’ method in the garden, for a variety of reasons, and this week we have started to use a cardboard mulch to cover the ground, topped with whatever we can find to start the process of enriching the soil and getting rid of any unwanted growth.  By the time the spring comes around, these newly mulched areas should be workable and ready for planting.  Regular visits to collect well-rotted horse manure which spread on the ground, will also have time to be drawn down into the soil by worms, and weathered.

Discussions are being had with a very local and experienced bee keeper, and all going to plan, there should be some announcements in the near future about bee hives having a home in the garden….exciting times indeed!

What’s next?

• Paint the bird boxes

• Continue to put down paths and mulch the hedge

• Protect the broad beans with stick and string supports.

• Maybe start clearing the pond site of any rubble.

• 

• 

• 

This was a week of absolute contrast.  On Wednesday it was lashing down with rain, but troops turned out for the morning session and we planted most of the hedge until soaked through to the skin and covered in mud; such dedication.  Not only were we there, but so was Paul the Saga Head gardener, putting up the new fence alongside the site of the pond.  The fence is a requirement as the pond is in a public place, and we are very grateful to Paul and Saga for it, and very smart it looks too.

On Saturday we managed to finish the rest of the hedge in glorious sunshine, and even got the posts for the windbreak in place, with a little time left to collect more leaves to set out some new pathways from a gateway entrance, to the compost heap.  As soon as we turn up at the garden to do something, the resident robin makes itself heard, following our every move and making a dash for anything edible that gets unearthed.  It sits on the wall or in the trees and bushes and sings its heart out.

This week the garlic and the broad beans have started to show through the ground, the pea shoots grow longer and start to unfurl. We pulled a couple of leeks for the first time, just to see how they are doing.  There are not many of them this year, but this time next year……..

Apart from our usual sessions on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, there are always other things to be done.  Some of us went to the Hythe hops meeting to find out about this great community project.  We have bought four hop plants which will arrive sometime in March, and paid £5 for our yearly subscription to the scheme.  This is the second year for the Hythe hops, which now has over a hundred members, from New Romney to Folkestone, all growing just one or two hop plants in their garden or allotment in order to share the harvest and then later the beer after a couple of microbreweries have done their magic.  So we are dreaming of supping our own beer at our garden picnic next year!

What’s next?

• Paint the bird boxes

• Put up the windbreak mesh

• Continue to put down the paths

• Spot hoe identifiable weeds

• Make a start on the pond!!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We are on standby waiting for the raspberry plants to arrive.  The hedge plants arrived Saturday afternoon, they will need planting this week.  The weeds are still growing, and so we are still weeding!  The leaves continue to fall, and we continue to collect them!  When the nursery children came along this week to bring their compost, we had a good look at how the leaf compost was doing.  Just under the surface, steam can be seen rising from the pile, and it is almost hot to the touch, great for warming up cold hands! 

So many people came by the garden on Wednesday morning to say hello, I think we spent most of the time chatting, which is great!  More and more are bringing their veg peelings for our compost bins which is a good thing, and we ask that it goes in any of the plastic bins, not the wooden ones.

We are on the lookout for any pieces of spare marine plywood, minimum 60cm square so that Eddie can repair the herb boxes that are currently in a sad state.  Please get in touch via this address if you can source some.

On Saturday we planted the two Heritage apple trees bought at Brogdale in October.  Freddie kindly bought the trees for the garden, and came along with her sister, to help plant them.  The trees are in memory of their mother, and all the apple pies she used to make for picnics on the beach.  Let us hope we can carry on the tradition.

On Sunday, some of us are off to a hop growing course…… more about that next week!

What’s next?

• Get the hedge plants in ASAP!

• Begin to put in the wind shelter posts.

• General weeding of identifiable weeds

• Paint the bird boxes

• Collect leaves

• 

• 

• 

• 

We are ready for the hedge plants to arrive, as soon as they come, they can be planted.  The pea shoots are starting to appear, and are now under some fleece protection.  Luckily the birds have so far not bothered with the newly planted onion and garlic so once they establish some roots we will not have to worry about them being dislodged from place.  We even have a rose in flower.  It seems incredible how things will still grow at this time of year.  We have plenty of winter salad leaves, but not many people feel like eating salad when the weather is colder! 

The broad beans the nursery children planted are now showing well above the soil, and they have been visited, probably by a fox, that has been digging looking for worms to eat.   They have had to protect the area with a criss cross of strings and sticks.

Worms in the soil are an indication of the good health of the soil.  We have noticed more worms since the wetter weather, and having added compost.  Stinging nettles also show rich soil, and we seem to have plenty of them springing up!  Many people have commented that the vegetables grown on the plot have such a rich flavour, and this is due to the fact that that they are far more nutritious than commercially grown food on an intensive farm system.  After the war, as farms became larger, using herbicides and pesticides, and depleting the soil; the fruit and vegetables produced are becoming poorer in nutritional value, so today we would have to eat six times the amount of fruit and veg to get the same amount of vitamins and minerals that our ancestors had.  Unless of course you are lucky enough to be able to buy or grow organic……. food for thought.

• 

• 

• 

Luck was on our side this week and the sun was shining at all the right times!  Hundreds of garlic cloves and onion sets have been planted by dedicated planters on their hands and knees…. Even more leaves collected, paths laid, compost heaps turned, and a smoke tree planted near the banana.

The elephant garlic planted by the nursery children has started to sprout.  Growing these will be an interesting experiment as the bulbs have been in suspended animation since last year, with nowhere at the time to grow; they should have been planted or eaten by this time last year, but spent the winter, spring and summer in the fridge to see if they would hang on until now to burst into life.  We shall see around June next year if they have succeeded with their mission!

This is such a good time of the year for things to establish themselves before the winter sets in, and we are awaiting a big delivery of hedge plants and raspberry plants.  Without warning they will arrive in bulk on the doorstep and it will be action stations to get them in the ground before they dry out, as they will arrive bare root, no pots, no soil, but dormant and cheaper!  Although the leaves are gone, the roots will get a chance to cosy down into the soil ready to explode into growth in the spring – that is the theory.

The autumn sunshine enables seeds to sprout, and they have to take their chances.  They are up against the frost, being stood on, or dislodged by the gardeners hoe.  Many seeds have come from the last season’s crops and flowers, they are a free bonus as they can be brought on and established for the next season.  The thing is being able to work out what is an unwanted pesky weed and what is not…. That is a skill, and so we shall have to see what will try to establish itself and if we can manage to, at times, refrain from hoeing everything in sight and allow them to come through!  Picture below shows just how many seedlings are popping through at any one time!

The woolly blankets have been made and drawn over the more tender established plants for winter cropping, and prevents the birds from taking an easy meal.  Protection can be down to minus five degrees, so let us hope we will not have to test that!

What’s next?

• Set out exactly where that hedge is going to go

• Keep collecting fallen leaves

• Protect the sown pea shoots

• Check for any dislodged onion or garlic sets as birds can pull them up

• Check all covered crops for mildew – remove any rotting leaves and weeds.

• Weed the weeds!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Wednesday session was busy, leaves got collected, the newly dug area raked over, and some new paths created with wood chips.  The plan is to keep to the pathways, trying not to compact the soil by treading on it, therefore keeping it workable.  We emptied a compost bin onto the plot to be used for legumes (peas and beans), these are the hungriest of the vegetables, and this was our first home made compost!  It seemed like a lot inside the bin, but spread out, it goes nowhere at all, and it will be at least three months until the next of the compost is ready to use.  Luckily we have now been directed towards a possible local supply of horse manure, and if regularly collected and added to our compost bins, will make the dream of a ‘no dig’ policy come true!  Simply add a layer of compost as a mulch, and let nature do all the work, it is magic!

The broad beans got planted, some peas to harvest as pea shoots, and sweet peas for an early flowering crop, but the garlic and onion sets are having to wait for the weather to improve!  Saturday was a complete washout and mainly involved replanting violas that got ripped out of their planting holes by the wind! 

We still have food that can be harvested and has not as yet been eaten by the wildlife.  The sawfly disappeared from the Chinese cabbages as quickly as they came and have left the hearts to mature.  The kale has been giving us leaves for a couple of months now, and an excellent kale lasagne has been made and the recipe shared.  The purple sprouting is starting to show the first broccoli heads which is very exciting, reward for the months of fastidiously removing cabbage white butterfly eggs and caterpillars!

Fingers crossed for a break in the weather next week, so much still to do.  A couple of pictures of the nursery playground have been added below to show how much work the children have done…….looking colourful! 

What’s next?

• Any more wood chips available for the paths?

• Collect leaves for the leaf compost bin

• Plant the onion and garlic sets if the weather allows!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Things are moving really fast now, the plot has been dug by Paul with the digger, a pond shape created, hedging and more soft fruit plants on order, the windbreak mesh has arrived as well as winter fleece to protect from the worst of the weather to come.  We have started to work on the turned soil removing clumps of grass, big roots and stones, then raking to a finer tithe, all in advance of a big plant up just as soon as all the preparation has been done.  Last week’s list of jobs had to be put on hold as we were overtaken by the event of the big dig, but it was most welcome and we are all chuffed to bits!  We now need to set out the new planting areas together with pathways as a priority, as we have to tramp across the newly dug area to get to the established plot.  The clocks have gone back an hour this weekend, yet another reminder that we are fast approaching the winter months and need to get things planted just in case there should be a freeze over……you never know, and it is always good to be prepared!

The onion and garlic sets are on standby to be planted first, and we know that it is certainly not a competition; however, the garlic and onion sets planted with the nursery have already started to romp away, with big shoots already showing!  They have had an unfair advantage of time and mild weather……not that it is a race or anything!  Garlic and soft fruit bushes or plants like to be frozen for at least a couple of weeks during the winter months, and are all the better for it.

The nursery children have planted spring bulbs by making a layer cake with them.  With some soil in a large pot, the biggest bulbs such as tulips and hyacinths are planted first, then more soil, a layer of miniature daffodil bulbs, more soil, a layer of grape hyacinths, soil and a topping of violas, pansies and primroses!   Lots of mess and grubby hands, but plenty of surprise and interest in the tasks, as well as discovering worms and all manner of minibeasts, and that’s just the nursery staff!  Afterwards, children and staff took a bucket of fruit peelings to contribute towards the compost heap,  check out the larger plot, and to peer into the hole of the soon to be pond……… who knows, they could be pond dipping by next summer!

What’s next?

• Continue to collect leaves

• Finish raking the soil

• Set out the plots and paths

• 

• 

• 

• 

Well, we really have had enough rain now, and had little chance of doing much on the plot this week…however, there has been plenty going on behind the scenes!

It has been a truly amazing week of donations.  Put out the call that something is needed, and the Sandgate Community rallies round and provides, just brilliant!  We now have the offer of a sturdy bench to sit on…… we just have to work out how to get it there….thank you to Hilary and Eddie for that.  Thanks go out also to Lewis as we now have a wheelbarrow at last……. Such luxury!

Jill donated two cloches, already put to work protecting some winter spinach, a compost bin from Joanne,  and another from Sal…they really will be put to good use as we have filled one up already and are starting on the other.  The impending expansion has meant a good think and look at what we need to do over the winter in preparation for spring. 

As we are so close to the sea, the wind whips across the plot and brings salt which has an impact on how and what we grow.  A windbreak should be the answer – the best form being a hedge that can slow the wind down and, take some of the force over the top and away from the crops.  So once the new area has been dug over, we will be planting a mixed coastal wildlife hedge to include plants that can take the strain, with an emphasis on Sea Buckthorn which has berries that also happen to be a superfood.  To help the hedge along, as well as to protect the crops until the hedge is mature, we will need to put in temporary net fencing around part of the plot.  The hedge, once mature, will also be a great wildlife haven.  To encourage even more wildlife, we also hope to be able to provide a small shallow wildlife pond and are working on plans to do this.  Of course, all this costs money, and again we have been fortunate enough just this week to have been donated £200 from the Sandgate Society as well as £200 from the Parish Council.  This money means we can now achieve these plans, and more….details to follow at another time.  Thank you!!

We have a follower and well-wisher by the name of Freddie who had expressed an interest in buying two apple trees for the garden.  Brogdale apple festival in Faversham seemed to be the best place to find these trees as they have over 2,000 varieties to choose from (see photos attached)!  A member of their staff recommended an eating and a cooking variety, perfect for the site, and we now have two Heritage apple trees!  Thank you Freddie!

Wow!  What a lot has happened in one week, and although we did not manage to get much done on the plot, there has been a start made working with the Saga Nursery children outside their classroom with the planting of some onion and garlic sets, plus some broad beans.  We sowed some sweetpea seeds, planted some winter hardy plants plus some bellis daisies and winter pansies for a bit of winter and spring colour.  Next week the children will be helped to plant some spring bulbs.  Oh, and Chris gave them a pineapple plant to grow inside their classroom…our fingers are crossed for that one!

What’s next?

• There are plants and trees to be planted

• Posts to be put in the ground and wires to be attached

• Banana tree needs to be wrapped

• Leaves to be composted

• More tidying hoeing and digging!

• 

• 

•