Sandgate Community Garden

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 24th September: It can take 12 visits by a bee to pollinate a female flower.

We were glad of the rain this week mixed with some gloriously warm sunshine. The shorter days have certainly made a difference to the growth rates, and with cooler temperatures, things are starting to slow down. The leaves of the squash plants are beginning to die back away from the fruits to allow them to harden off. We have had an abundance of male flowers on our winter squashes this year and that can be for a variety of reasons. For a start male flowers take the plant less energy to produce than a female flower, and are used to lure in the pollinating insects. However it was interesting to read that it can take as many as twelve visits by a bee (for example) to pollinate a female flower, so you do wonder where there are so few insects around, how anything fruits at all. We have not had to resort to pollination by hand just yet, but let us hope we never have to get to that situation.

We managed to get more wood chip paths put down, the endive is now being picked but cutting down the hedge runners will have to be a job for next week. The decision to plant garlic cloves has not been made yet as we never seem to be too successful with that at Enbrook Park, but it is always good to remember that every year can be different and where something fails one year, it can be a real success in another. We did plant a few elephant garlic cloves which were saved from this year, as we had them.

One of our volunteers came equipped with a pair of wellingtons to get into the pond to clear it from some of the growth. Things were going well until they came across the deep bit and the wellingtons were definitely not long enough to keep the feet dry!

Saturday was the day of the Disco Soup event at Hythe alongside the Hythe Environmental plant and seed swap plus apple pressing. There was fresh produce donated by Thanet Earth, as well as gleaned field produce from local farms. All of the food was deemed not good enough to be sold in the supermarkets (wonky, too big, too small, wrong colour etc), and would otherwise have been ploughed back into the fields or composted, so it all went to make a great feast to be enjoyed by many local people, as well as help to create a fantastic community social event.

We provided the herbs to make herbal teas, to add to some of the dishes being made, or just for people to take away. We are now looking forward to the next Disco Soup. We are most proud that our herbs helped in some way on the day, herbs can certainly help lift a dish and are often collected by our volunteers to use at home. Below is a picture of some rosemary smudge sticks made by a volunteer for us all to share.

What’s next?

• Cut back the hedge runners

• Weed outside the hedge along the fence line

• Remove cut debris from Saturday

• Are the salad plants ready to pick?

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 17th September: Green hop beers created by Docker brewery and Hopfuzz brewery are coming.

It has been an extraordinarily quiet week.  There are no seeds to sow for anything that needs to grow outside, and so we are just repotting a few seedlings to bring them on for when there is room to plant them, to include wallflowers for some early spring colour.  Much of the plot is full of flowers from the tall spikes of the amaranth, to dahlias, one random gladioli, French marigolds, nasturtiums, and of course all the courgette, squash and cucumber flowers. 

There is as usual, the watering of the seedlings to occupy our time, all the establishing plants and of course the celery and celeriac which always demand water, but yet again many things such as the parsnips and leeks will have to take their roots deep underground to find some moisture.  Of course there are always plenty of weeds to evict and lots of self-sown tomatoes in the wrong place at the wrong time.  With the daylight hours ever decreasing, many of the summer crops are starting to look tired and are slowing down – there is always something to tidy.  More of the wood chip paths have been re-laid, with more to follow next week.

On Sunday we picked our hops for the Hythe Hops Scheme, taking them to the collection station to be weighed, checked over and registered. We had 1kg of hops from our plants – our best amount yet and probably due to the wetter summer. Many of the hop growers had issues with blight which turned the hops brown, and meant they cannot be used.

The total hop harvest from the community growers was 125.2kg. Last year it was 130.5kg, so all things considered, not a bad haul. The green hop beers created by Docker brewery and Hopfuzz brewery are in the making. The rest of the hops having been dried and vacuum packed now waiting to be used to make various beers into next year. We are looking forward to hearing where and when they are available.

Last but not least, another mention for a great event happening Saturday 23^rd September at Oaklands Park Hythe and Oaklands cafe (See poster below).  There is a great seed and plant swap, apple pressing, and of course an opportunity to join in with the Disco Soup crew, helping to make an amazing array of dishes from gleaned and donated food – a great family afternoon not to be missed!

What’s Next?

• Finish off the wood chip paths

• Pick some of the endive

• Clear the duck weed from the pond

• Cut back hedge suckers

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 10th September: Scorchio.

This week the weather has been scorchio!  It has been far too hot to feel like doing anything much, but no matter what the seedlings, celery and celeriac still need watering.  We decided to work in the garden earlier than we normally do, and finish by 11am in order to be out of the midday sun.

The rest of the tomato plants with blight got removed and composted, and work was started on laying more wood chip paths.  The badgers have been active again this week in the garden, with evidence of disturbed earth and pathways, probably in the search for earthworms.  Sometimes, on arrival there is a need to rake over the paths to make them level again or risk falling into the holes.

Many of the garden plots are now covered in fine netting as the cabbage white butterflies are very active still and so desperate to get at the brassicas that we often find them trapped inside where they have somehow managed to squeeze in, and have to release them. However they need to be careful as the season is turning towards autumn and there is evidence of large garden spiders and their webs strategically placed to catch anything that comes along.  We observed a short fight between a wasp and a spider, but the wasp stood no chance, was wrapped up and carried off to the larder in a flash.

We were proud to notice that our little lemon tree has produced a tiny lemon, and that the banana tree had sprouted two new trees around its roots – brilliant.

On 23^rd September there will be another Disco Soup event, but this time in Hythe in conjunction with the Hythe Environmental Community Group plant, seed and produce swap and community apple pressing.  The venue is the Age UK centre in Stade Street from 2 – 5pm.  So check it out on social media and sign up for a ticket to a great free event for all of the family.

What’s next?

• Continue to put down the wood chips

• Pick the hops

• Continue to tidy up the plot

• Remove the wig-wams and tidy up around the back of the pond

• Continue to water the seedlings if the weather continues to be hot

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 3rd September: A fabulous day and the weather was just perfect.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated plants for the Sea Festival and to everyone who came along on the day to support us either to buy plants/vegetables, or to help out at the stall or with setting up and clearing away – it was a fabulous day and the weather was just perfect too.  It was a great atmosphere, and lovely to be alongside our sister groups the Sandgate Society and  Sandgate Environmental Action.  We raised a massive £414.54; the ‘guess the weight of the hamper’ was popular, featuring a selection of organic vegetables grown by us, it was won by Lesley with a spot on guess, give or take a few grams.   We would like to say many thanks to the Parish Council for giving us a space at the Festival which was very much appreciated.

On the bank holiday Monday a group of volunteers came out from the Napier barracks to help shift lots of wood chips from the lower path in Enbrook Park, right up to the garden where they are needed to replenish the pathways.  They also helped to turn the compost heaps too which was a great help. 

On Tuesday there was an invitation to visit the Lynsted Kitchen Community Garden which was a real treat, followed by a meeting with the Kent Food Partnership.  This group is part of the Good Food Movement which is holding a summit at the University of Kent in early October and will showcase many projects and initiatives in Kent – we will be representing Sandgate there.

On Wednesday Kate Strong came to Folkestone on her bamboo bike as part of a 3,000 mile ride around the circumference of mainland Britain.  During her ride she has visited more than 50 innovative climate projects and schools across the country. It was a privilege to be able to talk to her about her journey, and she was able to help us with information about projects she had seen.  She finished her mission on Saturday in London.

In the meantime there has been sunshine and showers in Sandgate, with the rainfall for August recorded at 77.8mm.  As a result, it was found that the dreaded blight has reached Enbrook Park and so the tomatoes will have to be removed.  We made a start on Saturday, and guess we need to be grateful that it has taken quite so long to get to the park.

The last of the Claytonia got pricked out,  extra water given to the new plantings of radishes, mustards and spring onions, as well as to the celery and celeriac trying to swell and make something of themselves.  Some hoops got found to help keep the netting off the newly planted lettuces and there has been plenty of grumblings about the holes being made in many of the leaves by slugs, snails and caterpillars!

What’s Next?

• Finish removing and composting the tomato plants

• Start to lay wood chips on the paths

• Keep watering the celery and celeriac plus new plants

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 27th August: It is all happening in Sandgate.

Crikey!  It is all happening in Sandgate.  The Sea Festival weekend is upon us at last, yet by the time you read this newsletter it will probably be all finished.  We have been keeping a close eye on the weather, and although there were showers on Saturday, it did not spoil the evening firework show marking the start of the festival.  We now know that our stall will be right on the seafront in front of the car park, alongside our sister groups, Sandgate Environmental Action and the Sandgate Society. 

During the week we have been checking over the plants to make sure they are in fine fettle for the day. The van is full to the brim already and there will have to be several trips made back and forth to get everything in place first thing in the morning.  So pleased to say that we have plenty of volunteers for the day, helping to unload the van and set up the stall – it will be a great day!

The week has been busy.  Some of the claytonia seedlings have been pricked out, along with the cabbages and some red mustard.  There has been a great deal of weeding as the growth is quite lush in the garden and cheeky weeds are hiding in the undergrowth until they find a space and show themselves, only to be found and pulled up.  Some of the cucumber and winter squash plants have grown into the hedge so that their fruits are dangling in the middle of it.  The rosemary plants got a good trim, a few plums got picked and most then eaten, the dwarf bean plants taken out and composted to make way for plantings of Japanese turnips, Chinese cabbages, mustards and winter radishes.  The daylight hours are drawing in, and there is no time left to sow many seeds.  The last will be a few small red radishes and in October, the broad beans, then no more seeds until next February.  It feels like the year is winding down already.

The offshoot of our original banana tree is doing very well, so we said goodbye to the old stem which sadly snapped during high winds, and cut it back.  There is now another new stem and you can see in the picture below that the amaranth in front sets it off quite nicely to give a real ‘jungle’ look.

What’s next?

• Prick out the rest of the claytonia

• Keep checking on the tomatoes for blight

• Keep the new plantings well watered plus the celery and celeriac

• Get some hoops over the lettuces for the netting

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 20th August: The slugs and snails are on the march, and the hunt is still on for hornets.

We had a massive 22.9mm of rain on Friday night, which is more than we usually get for most months.  The thunder and lightning rip-roared about for a few hours which seemed to wake most folk up, but it did mean that there was no need to water the Enbrook Park garden on the Saturday morning, and all the plants looked glad for it.  However the slugs and snails are on the march, and with all our brassicas under netting, they have free reign to romp about as much as they like it seems.  There were also a few cabbage white caterpillars that had escaped our vigilance until they were so big they were blindingly obvious and therefore easy to evict.

The hedge got another trim this week, the claytonia, and spring onion seeds got sown and the Chinese cabbages planted next to the kohl rabi.  We had some wallflower seedlings which got moved into larger pots, and some of the plants for our sale next Sunday at the Sandgate Sea Festival were looked over and pampered to be their best for the day.

Unfortunately the hornet hunters are still very busy hunting the Asian hornets, and some information leaflets were taken to the Parish Council in the hope they can be put on the public information boards locally to give details on what to look for and how to identify them. Seen one? Report an Asian Hornet sighting here.

As for the current situation with the tomatoes, well sadly the dreaded blight is rapidly closing in on us.  There are no signs of it on our plants at Enbrook Park still but it is in the area.  The plants have done particularly well all considered, and are full of tomatoes.  They usually ripen from the bottom truss upwards, and this week as usual we were greeted with large bite marks and half chewed fruits on the plants, whilst others were pulled off and discarded by our usual suspects, the badgers.  We are of the mind to share with them anyway as they were in the park before us but just hope that they do not take to climbing up the cordons to reach further up.  

In general, most of the plants are doing well, even the hops have suddenly started to appear, but perhaps one disappointment so far is that the winter squash plants have very few fruits.  They have plenty of male flowers, but no female flowers.  We understand that this could be due to the fact it has been quite cool this summer with plenty of rain so the plants decide not to produce any female flowers.  We shall have to see if the situation changes, but now time is getting on and before we know it we will be into September!

What’s next?

• Prick out the claytonia seedlings, cabbages and cauliflowers.

• Weed between the asparagus and rosemary plants.

• Trim back the rosemary plants and tidy them up

• Find space for the next plantings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 13th August: Praying for decent weather for the Sea Festival.

We are praying for decent weather at the end of the month for the Sea Festival because if it is anything like it was last weekend with waves crashing over the Sandgate Promenade, it will be a disaster.  However, being optimistic as always and keeping everything as well as our fingers crossed, Sunday 27^th August WILL be a perfect day!

Sandgate-Seafest-Flyer-2023-web

The Animal and Plant Health Agency are still in situ with their welfare van, which was joined by another van, to continue the hunt for the Asian hornets in the area.  Nests were found in Seabrook, and the search is now on at Capel Le Ferne.  We believe they are making progress, but let us hope it is enough, or it could be a continuous battle, time will tell.

The hedge did get a trim this week.  Luckily the wind had died down enough to be able to sow seeds for mustard leaves, turnips, claytonia, spring cabbages and cauliflowers.  A few more plugs of spring onions got planted, and some kohl rabi.  The tomatoes as yet show no signs of blight but the likelihood is that it is only a matter of time before it shows up.  The pond has cheekily been growing lots of duckweed probably in response to having so much water, and so we have been regularly fishing it out from the surface to prevent it smothering the entire pond.

Some of our fruit trees have managed to produce some fruit this year which may actually stay on the trees long enough to ripen – well, you never know! 

On Thursday the brick planters outside the shops at Golden Valley got a tidy, and the weeds around the bases removed.  Often an onerous task, but made bearable with the addition of volunteers from Napier Barracks.  We are always grateful for the extra help.  We then went on to remove brambles from the orchard in Fremantle Park, and spent part of the afternoon eating blackberries fresh from the hedge line – nothing finer on a warm sunny day.

What’s next?

• Trim the inside of the hedge
• Plant out Chinese cabbages
• Keep checking the tomatoes
• Sow more claytonia

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 6th August: Finding where the Asian hornets are nesting, destroying them.

There are times when you wonder if you should be careful what you wish for, having spent so long over the past few years going on about how little rain we have here in Sandgate.  We now seem to have a plentiful amount and the hope is that the sunshine will be returning anytime soon!  The rainfall for July was a massive 90 mm, and we certainly do not remember recording that much for a summer month before.  There has now been 27.9 mm of rain in the initial days of August!  It is the first time we have ever seen the pond full during the summer, or so much fungi around in the beds. 

We are keeping a very close eye on the tomato plants as blight creeps nearer to us.  Just this week we heard from Steve, the community gardener at Napier Barracks, that blight has appeared there, and so we will be removing lots of the lower leaves next week to try and get the air circulating around the plants in an attempt to keep it at bay.

The Wednesday gardening session was fine, but the wind was blowing hard, making seed sowing an interesting affair, involving huddling behind taller plants or anything that made a wind break, to prevent the seeds from blowing away.   The Saturday session was a complete washout.  Just a couple of us braved the elements to pick a few items, as many things during the summer benefit from being picked regularly (for example the beans) and will then respond by producing even more. The more you pick, the more they grow!  Not so for the tomatoes, the concern being to pick ripe fruits before the slugs get to them, or the birds, or the badgers.  Fortunately only the gardeners appreciate the prickly cucumbers, and we picked the first three this week.

Last week we had planted two beds of late flowering purple sprouting broccoli which we covered with lovely new horticultural netting.  However this week we find that something has been making holes and tears in the netting, which must have been quite hard work, so we can only assume that the badgers are responsible.  We did manage to harvest a pot of chokeberries, or Aronia berries from our two plants this week before they did, and very good they were too.  It has to be said it is the first time we have managed to pick them in a ripe state and still on the bush.  They are sweeter the riper they are, and do not ripen at the same time so the race is on to see who gets the next batch, wildlife, or gardeners. 

You may have noticed a ‘welfare unit’ in the car park near the garden all this week.  At 9am on Monday morning, a team arrived from APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency).  They are an ‘executive agency’ sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government.  They are here in response to our beekeepers sightings of the Asian Hornet in Sandgate.  Their focus is on finding where the Asian hornets are nesting and to destroy them.  They have to catch a hornet, mark it and observe which direction they fly in and how long it takes them to return, and so work out where the nest is, or indeed nests.  It is encouraging to know that the sightings are being taken so seriously, however the fact they have been here all week must mean there is much work to do.  A successful Asian hornet nest can have up to 6,000 individuals, producing 350 queens and 900 males.  If they were allowed to take hold in the area, it would be the end of honey bees.  So be vigilant and acquaint yourself with what they look like, and the differences between them and our native hornet species.

Another thing to acquaint you with is the date for the Sea Festival.  We are really looking forward to seeing you there on Sunday 27^th August.  We will have amongst other things, a whole range of plants.  This is a major fundraising event for us, so bring sunshine and a whole lot of cash and the willingness to part with it all for a good cause.  If you have any plants going spare, then please do get in touch.

What’s Next?

• Still need to cut the hedge

• Still need to prick out seedlings and sow more seeds

• Still need to bring woodchips up to the garden

• Cut off more of the lower leaves on the tomato plants

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 30th July: Watching carefully for signs of tomato blight.

It was surely tempting fate to mention the dreaded tomato blight in the newsletter last week, as the following day it was found in a group of tomato plants at Pent Farm.  The tomatoes there are planted indoors as well as out, and in several locations.  The affected plants were close together and in bush form, whereas the others are cordons with space around them.  So far these are the only infected plants we have found, and they have been quickly removed, but we will keep a close eye on all the others. 

It has to be said that the tomato plants at Enbrook Park are looking particularly splendid, and you can see from the picture below that they are taller than most of the gardeners and as they have plenty of trusses as well as outgrown their supports, we have started to pinch out the tops to prevent any more growth upwards.  The suspicion is that some of our wildlife is sampling some of the lower fruits as we often find half chewed and unripe morsels scattered about the plot. 

During the week we unsurprisingly had little watering to do except for new plantings of spring onions and purple sprouting and a few potted plants.  More lettuces and endives got sown, and weeds cleared in the brassica beds.  The butterfly bush or buddleia behind our tool box was truly living up to its name this week as it has been smothered in butterflies.  Interestingly, all the butterflies were red admirals, and it was great just to stop working for a while to watch them enjoying the flowers. 

The chokeberries or aronias got netted in anticipation of them being eaten by the wildlife as they did last year.  They are rich in antioxidants and ‘essential nutrients that promote healthy growth of cells and protect tissues from damage’.  They have a sharp, sour taste which may not be popular with everybody, however just a few added to cereal or porridge will be beneficial.

The pond has certainly improved due to the rainfall, and of course the duckweed has made an appearance once more which we are keeping in check by spending some time fishing it out with a net.

It has been a task this year to get hold of woodchips.  We use wood chips to create paths on the plot and to mix with other materials to make our compost.  Through a chance encounter, Alistair, our compost champion, met a tree surgeon willing to drop us a truckload of chips for a small charge.  So happily we now have a great pile of the stuff and can stop scratching around trying to scrape up the last bits we had left!

What’s next?

• Lots of seeds need sowing this week!

• Cut back the hedge

• Bring up some of the wood chips to the composting area

• Prick out some of the new seedlings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 23rd July: Dwarf beans, blackcurrants, tomatoes, fungi and flowers.

Considering the fact that many parts of the world including Europe are experiencing extreme heatwaves, it has to be said that cooler showery/windy weather has to be preferable, although not everybody would agree with that.  The showers are so localised, that it can be raining hard at Pent Farm and Cheriton High Street, even at the top of Enbrook Valley, with the rain literally bouncing back off the pavement, yet the rest of Sandgate can be absolutely bone dry!  Fortunately Sandgate did get plenty of showers, meaning no, or little watering, and most of the plants are responding well to plentiful water. 

Of course, not all plants this time of year will be enjoying the wet, thinking of tomatoes in particular, and already many gardeners are on the lookout for the dreaded blight, as these are perfect conditions for it to turn up out of the blue.  We are being vigilant, ready to act should it come our way anytime soon.  We have already had some ripe tomatoes from our outdoor plants.  The first to appear were the Sungold variety, followed by the black Indigo Cherry Drops, and the Yellow Submarines.  After that, the small cherry tomatoes are starting to appear, but the larger varieties are some way behind. 

The dwarf beans have been cropping well this year and also seem to have plenty of flowers to continue on.  Last year they struggled in the heat and lack of water, later falling victim to blackfly.

The broccoli has also done quite well, and this year we have tried the type which keeps producing side shoots similar to purple sprouting, rather than just producing one large head.  This means that you get a longer cropping harvest and not just a load of broccoli all at once.  We had hoped to be able to plant the late flowering purple sprouting for next spring; however it is proving to be a little reluctant and is well behind the growth of the earlier varieties.  It may have to wait another week or so. 

Many of our blackcurrant bushes fared well this year too, mainly because they are a year old and therefore larger.  We lost our crop at Enbrook to the badgers, but the bushes at Fremantle Park and the alleyway at Meadowbrook produced some lovely currants which hopefully got picked by local foragers.

Last but not least we have been rewarded with plenty of fungi in the compost bins too; a great sign which means that the compost is doing just what we want it to.

What’s next?

• Sow more wallflowers, lettuce, endive, winter radish

• Finish weeding the brassica beds under the netting

• Net the Aronia bushes before the birds/badgers get them

• Check on the honey berries

• Cut back the inside of the hedge

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.