Sandgate Community Garden

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 16th July: Keeping your bananas well away from the beehives.

Just as our newsletter went out last Sunday bemoaning the fact the rain was passing us by yet again, it started to pour down.  We have had several substantial showers since. This weekend the winds have arrived with a vengeance. 

Apart from the interesting weather, the main feature of the week has been insects, from the good, the bad, and the (not so) ugly.  For a few weeks now there has been a plethora of ladybirds – always a delight to see, but they seem to be in particularly high numbers at the moment and appearing in all of the gardens. 

We are always interested in identifying what we find locally, and a friend posted a photograph of a delicate looking moth which had caught her eye.  Unfortunately it happened that the moth was the box tree or box hedge moth.  An invasive species from East Asia accidentally introduced to Central Europe a few years ago, it devastates box trees, and many box tree plants in Sandgate have indeed been lost or affected by this particular creature this year. 

Whilst clearing some weeds at Fremantle Park it was interesting to find several caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth.  Looking like it is wearing a brightly coloured yellow/orange and black striped rugby shirt, it is very easy to find although birds know that it is poisonous.  The Cinnabar moth is not rare in the UK, but the adults and caterpillars certainly give a great splash of colour. 

Whilst working at Enbrook Park in the garden this Saturday we were joined by our beekeeper, checking on the main hive to see if the queen was in evidence.  The good news is that she certainly was at home, and the hive has increased greatly in numbers.  Unfortunately they took umbrage at being disturbed (quite understandably) and decided to go for the gardeners by buzzing around their heads to warn them away from the area.  When bees are stuck in your hair and sounding mighty angry it can be a challenge to remain calm, and a certain amount of squealing and running about did not seem to help the situation.  Added to which, once you are stung by a bee, it releases an odour called an alarm pheromone to alert other bees to the danger.  This alarm pheromone apparently smells like bananas and attracts other bees to come to the defence of the hive.  Lessons learnt:

• Do not open a hive on a gardening day.

• Do not eat bananas near a beehive.

If stung, the pheromone stays on your clothing which should then be washed before wearing them again!

This week, Alistair, our composting champion, has been working at Pent Farm for Touchbase Care to sort out the unruly composting heaps.  He has certainly made a terrific difference, by recycling and rethinking the area.  On his return to the farm to check on how the compost was ‘cooking’, he took off the cover to find a rather large and splendid grass snake taking up residence.  The cover was quickly replaced and the snake left, in the hope that it may decide to stay for the rest of the season with any luck.  We shall certainly not be disturbing it.

In spite of all our encounters with wildlife we did manage to get some broccoli planted as well as spring onions; lettuces and chicories were sown and rampaging weeds removed. 

What’s next?

• With luck the purple sprouting can be planted

• Check on the courgettes

• Weed the leek bed

• Remove the bolted lettuces

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 9th July: The Johnson-Su system takes some 400 days for the compost to mature.

The lovely drop or two of rain we had last week made an amazing difference to the plants but now we are back to watering again as it continues to be warm and mostly sunny with thunderstorms passing us by, although we can hear the thunder rumbling around in the distance.

As well as helping our vegetable plants, the weeds have benefitted from the rain showers too and are starting to take over in some places which will have to be tackled next week or they will be robbing the water from the vegetables.

 The courgettes have started to arrive, and it is likely we will pick our first dwarf beans next week, just as the potatoes are finishing.  The spring onions are starting to swell, the first sowings of lettuces are now bolting, and as yet, the badgers have not discovered the beetroot.  An executive decision was made to harvest them small or as soon as they are large enough to make something of, in case they should suddenly disappear!  Our first outdoor tomato arrived from a Sungold plant – always a difficult decision as to who should have the very first of anything that has been grown, however all volunteers know that we will fairly share whatever has been grown between us, and/or with any visitors (including the wildlife which seems to get more than a fair share!)

We are starting to make some progress with our new composting system, although we know it is a learning curve on our quest for the perfect compost, and we are only just starting on this journey.  We have certainly had to dedicate a lot more time and effort to making it, from the collecting of the materials to the mixing, and we know we are missing some ingredients which we need to source.

We are grateful to Alistair, one of our dedicated team, for his DIY skills and determination in the making of our new compost bays, and Johnson-Su style compost bins.  There are four compost bays –

The first bay is for the green waste (food waste, weeds, finished plants, and pruning materials) which will enrich the compost with nitrogen.

There is a bay for brown waste (wood chips, dried grass, shredded paper/card, and dried leaves).  These materials feed the compost with carbon.

There is a bay for manure/compost to include cow manure, spent mushroom compost or green waste composts.  These add nitrogen to our compost mix which we hope will also provide a diverse biology.  We are grateful to Farmer Tom at Pent Farm for the cow manure which has come from the cow sheds where the beef herd have been housed over the worst of the winter months, before being turned out into the fields.

The final bay is for maturing the made compost for several weeks/months until it can be put onto the vegetable beds.  This compost will have been through the Johnson-Su style composting system before being placed into this bay.

The Johnson-Su system was invented by a Dr Johnson and his wife Hui Chun Su.  Their system takes some 400 days for the compost to mature; however by turning the compost several times, it will speed up the process.  The successful outcome depends on the materials being as small as possible which is an issue for us as this relies on the use of shredders and electric power which we do not have at the community garden.  It therefore means we have to manually chop the materials into as small pieces as we can, which is often hard work and takes time.  Our results so far have been mixed.  Sometimes the compost mix is too hot and at other times too cold – we gauge the temperature with a thermometer, and heat is required to kill off any seeds, harmful bacteria, and can apparently break down any herbicides and pesticides 32 times faster than a cold composting system.  Sometimes the compost mix is too dry which then halts the composting process.  One thing which is fascinating is how quickly the mix is infiltrated by all manner of organisms; in as little as three days after putting the compost mix together, there are worms and all manner of minibeasts to be found just under the surface!  Incredible!  As we make new discoveries in this composting world, we will bring them to the newsletter to share with you all.

What’s next?

• Prick out the lettuce seedlings

• Create a space for all the pots and seed trays

• Weed where the weeds are taking over

• Sow some more chicories/endives

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 22nd July: the birds are obviously finding the tayberries irresistible.

How can it be possible that it is July already?  The rainfall for all of June was a mere 24.3 mm; a paltry amount, but welcome all the same.  It meant a little respite from spending so much time having to water for the Saturday session at least.  It is surprising how much more we can get done when watering is off the agenda, although we still have to check that the pots are not too dry.  This coming week looks to be cooler with a possible chance of a little more rain if we are lucky.  Sandgate is up to its usual trick of dodging the rain when the rest of the country is treated to a deluge.

The broad beans are now finished, so all had to be cut back and chopped into smaller pieces before going into one of our composting bays.  The creation of some space has meant we have been able to plant out some purple sprouting plants as well as two types of winter kale.  It seems hard to believe we are sowing and planting for the winter and spring to come.  We have more purple sprouting plants on the way which were pricked out into larger pots; they will be planted out in a couple of weeks.  The cabbage white butterflies can be seen dancing around the brassicas, and so starts the summer long battle with their caterpillars, which if we lose, will be the end of the plants. 

We sowed more trays of spring onions, some radicchio, and a few varieties of lettuce.  This time of the year it is often difficult to grow a decent batch of lettuces as they do not like the heat, so results are often a bit of a disappointment. 

Some of the potato leaves are starting to turn yellow, an indication that the potatoes are ready to harvest.  We have been watering them for the past couple of weeks to help the roots to swell into a decent crop.  We pulled up a few of them, and were pleasantly surprised that they are of a fair size considering how dry it has been.  We also decided to pull a few of the beetroots although they are still quite small, as we know it is only a matter of time before the badgers realize they are there and plunder the crop.  We had a few random beetroot plants dotted about the plot un-netted, which have already been found and eaten.  The tell-tale sign being the leaves and very top of the beetroot are left on the ground.   Talking of wildlife enjoying the fruits of our labours, the birds are obviously finding the tayberries irresistible and in spite of being netted with a fine close knit mesh, the birds have pecked holes into it to extract the fruits!

We are still experimenting with our compost making technique, and have spent some time organising the materials needed and mixing them together in some quantity.  Fortunately, with our association with Pent Farm, we have been able to access cow manure from the cow sheds where the cows were overwintered.  They were turned out into the fields a few weeks ago, and as they are a beef herd and not dairy cows, then the manure is good for our compost making.  The manure was also most useful when filling the second large planter at Folkestone West station this week.  The base was first filled with some cut logs and sheep wool, followed by several bags of the manure and topped with a good layer of compost.  The tomatoes, courgettes, squashes, cucumbers and beans should enjoy getting their roots right down into all that.  The first planter completed just over a week before has already started to flourish and is growing well.  Luckily there are a few volunteers living in a nearby street, happy to water them.

What’s next?

• Weed around the inside of the hedge line

• Turn out the two new compost rings

• Collect more manure

• Are there more seedlings around the plot to be potted up?

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 25th June: An incredibly busy week eating.

What an unbelievably busy week it has been, and most of it seemed to be all about food and lots of it!

It was refugee week, and on Monday we had a large group come down from the barracks to help us move lots of compost from the top end of the garden to the new composting area at the other end.  It was hot, heavy work, but they completed the task in what seemed like no time at all, and were rewarded with lots of tea and amazing cake, which all seemed to go down very well.  The old composting boxes were dismantled, and there will be a write up in a future newsletter all about what is happening with our new composting area, as there is so much to say about it.

On Wednesday evening there was an invite to a meal as part of the refugee week, hosted by the ‘Friends of Napier Barracks’ with food cooked by some of the men at the barracks – it was traditional food from their home countries, and very delicious it all was too.

On Saturday, the Disco Soup event took place, using food which could not be sold by supermarkets, for being ‘too wonky’, damaged, or at sell by date.  With the help of a chef from Folkestone College, and lots of willing hands, the food was prepared and made into all sorts of wonderful dishes, from soup, to risotto, delicious salads and pizza.  Several boxes of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers were donated by Thanet Earth, and what a truly awesome experience it was to collect the food from them in Birchington.  It was a mile from the entrance to the main reception, driving past huge greenhouses where the produce is grown.  It was food production on a massive scale and so very different from our way of food growing, but fascinating to see if only from a distance.

In-between all the feasting, there were plenty of other things going on.  Some of us went along to visit Brockhill School to see how they were getting on with their lovely walled kitchen garden.  They have put up a rabbit fence as it seems that as soon as something was planted, it got eaten.  However something has worked out how to bypass the netting and has attacked the carrots.  It seemed such a familiar story to us!  The school also had one of the beautiful old greenhouses renovated, and it was looking truly splendid.  What a fantastic resource, and how amazing it will be for the children to be able to learn about horticulture as part of their education in such a great setting.

We did actually manage to get quite a few tasks done at the community gardens!  The planters at Golden Valley had a makeover, with some compost and new plants added.  The alley way at Meadowbrook got weeded and flowering plants added.  The hedge at Enbrook Park got another trim, more spring onions and beetroot sown, the bay trees tidied, the cucumbers planted, and any soft fruit we had left was netted.  It seems we are back to watering again, with the refreshing rain we had becoming a distant memory again, oh well, we are now into summer after all.

What’s next?

• Prick out the purple sprouting broccoli
• Plant out some of the kale
• Find space to create a windrow for the newly made compost
• Check on the potatoes

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 18th June: The badgers have had all the carrots.

Quite frankly it seems astonishing that most of the plants in the garden are surviving, the newly planted seedlings in particular, as it has been sweltering all this week from early morning to late evening.  There has been no rain at all in Sandgate for weeks, so most of the garden has not had any water at all for this time.  We have now stopped watering the broad beans as they are coming to an end, and are focussing on the potatoes as they are starting to swell, and could be ready in a couple of weeks perhaps. 

We have been closely observing the weather apps which show a constantly changing situation sometimes promising a possible chance of some rain which then fades to nothing; then all of a sudden during our Saturday morning session we were treated to a surprise shower which sent gardeners scuttling out of the gates to close car windows or take in the washing!   It has made little difference, but the drop in temperature and a cooler breeze will help whilst we study the weather for more of the wet stuff in the next few days.  Parts of the country have been hit by thunderstorms and deluges of rain leading to local flooding, whilst parts of Kent on the verge of a hosepipe ban.  (Overnight, in-between writing this newsletter and sending it out, the weather broke with a good thunderstorm and substantial rain – phew!)

The flowering part of the garden had suddenly become so overgrown it was impossible to get down the path to the bench, so we had to be ruthless and fight our way through the jungle to clear some space.  The pea shoot bed got cleared, the strawberry planter netted, the purple sprouting got sown, and the tomato plants tackled as they have certainly been enjoying the heat and put on lots of growth although not necessarily where you want it.  It seems if you take your eyes off them for a day or two, they have sprouted multiple side shoots and need tying in to the canes yet again as they have shot upwards.  The lower leaves have been removed and the first tomatoes are just starting to form. 

It seems that the wildlife have eyes firmly fixed on the garden, as well as stomachs.  The badgers have removed the mesh netting and completely demolished the carrot bed, and it might not be too long before they realise there are a few beetroot starting to develop which are a firm favourite of theirs.  The blackcurrant bushes were in fine form, and the fruit was just starting to swell and change colour, however before we could net them it seems something quite substantial in size has broken several stems and stripped the fruit which must have been quite sour.  Needless to say we have now covered the tayberries with netting and the honey berries too although as we know, it is little defence against a hungry badger.

With a report of asparagus beetle in the district, we checked on ours which has now mostly gone to flower, which are surprisingly attractive to bees and hoverflies as there were quite a few to be seen trying to negotiate the fine fronds and get to the small flowers. 

After some years of negotiating, the Incredible Edible group in Cheriton have started work on some planters on a platform at Folkestone West railway station.  The planters themselves were made by The Men’s Shed group based at the Marigold Centre, Folkestone, and are very substantial which meant it was going to be a challenge to fill it with enough compost.  In the end the decision was to opt for a form of Hugelkultur bed, where the base of the planters are filled with logs, then a mix of sheep’s wool (these days in use as packing in parcels) and topsoil, finished finally with compost.  One of the planters has so far been completed and planted with herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squashes donated by ourselves.  Hopefully the second planter will be completed soon too.

Just a reminder that the Disco Soup event is coming up this Saturday, 11am to 3pm, at St John’s church hall, Folkestone.  We are also excited the Sandgate Community Garden will be included once again in the Sandgate Sea Festival which it has been announced is happening on the evening of Saturday 26^th August with a firework display, and then on the Sunday 27^th, we will be there on the seafront with our stall on the Sunday.  So get that date in the diary and we will look forward to seeing you there.  Now if ever there was a day when we do not want rain that has to be it!

What’s next?   

• Check on any soft fruit which may need netting

• Start to dismantle the old composting area and tidy up

• Finish the hedge cut

• Tidy up the bay trees

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 11th June: The mole is happily making earth mounds and pushing up seedlings.

The strong winds were still a feature this week, and then the temperature started to climb so that by Saturday it was sweltering.  The weather report keeps talking of thunderstorms in the south east of England; however as is usual with Sandgate, we suspect they will pass by our corner of the country again, with no rain expected at all for as far as the weather experts can see.

As soon as we start one of our gardening sessions, it is out with the watering cans and the water pump although not everything gets watered, just new plants, pots, and anything that looks like it is struggling.  The potatoes had to get on with it but we may have to water them soon or the potato crop will be meagre.  Some of them can be seen just under the surface of the soil and so we have had to apply more compost to prevent them becoming green from the sunlight.  The broad beans are still producing well, and as more bean pods are picked, the amount of beans inside have increased which is interesting as last week we were reporting that there were only two or three in each pod.  We also picked our first Japanese turnips which are versatile as they can be eaten raw, grated into a coleslaw, thrown into a stir fry or roasted – absolutely delicious.

The leeks got planted as did more dwarf beans, and more squashes.  A few lettuce seedlings were pricked out into larger modules, and the Bellis daisy seeds got sown. 

The mole is happily making earth mounds and pushing up seedlings in several of the plots, whilst the shrinking pond is alive with water boatmen.  Aphids seem to be having a great time attacking a few broad bean plants, some of the globe artichokes and the stems of the elder flowers.  There are so many flowers out at the moment, from foxgloves to nasturtiums, borage, violas, strawberries, peas and tomatoes, so that every day there is something new to look at.

Our new composting system is being hard worked on by one of our DIY skilled gardeners.  Using mostly scrap materials from pallets to donated wood, our new composting bays are starting to take shape.  We have several changes to make to our current system, and it will be a while until it is fully up and running, and even longer until we can tell if we are on the right track.  But we will report on how it is going over time.  We also had a donation of a wormery to the garden, which we also hope to be able to set up just as soon as everything else is in place.

What’s next?

• Strip back the pea shoot bed

• Keep checking the tomatoes for new side shoots

• Sow purple sprouting

• Net the strawberry planter

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 4th June: The hand of little bananas and Disco Soup.

Just as we got to the weekend, the first in June, it started to warm up, and the winds have dropped for some parts of the day.  The ground is now very dry as although there has not been much in the way of sunshine, the strong winds have had a drying effect.  The banana tree was just about to produce a flower pod, but the winds snapped the main stem simply because the weight of the large flower made it top heavy.  We looked inside the broken flower to discover the ‘hand’ of little bananas – such a shame they never got to develop.  There was only 15.3mm of rain in May, which must have happened at the beginning of May as there has been none for weeks. 

We have been busy planting the celery and celeriac, as well as some leeks and a few winter squashes. More winter squashes got planted on as well as the asparagus seedlings, but the cucumber seedlings are still a little too small to be potted on.  Two types of winter kale got pricked out and moved into modules to be left to grow on for a few more weeks. 

We have started to pick some of the broad beans, however it is clear they have suffered, probably due to the windy, cold weather and a lack of pollinators, as many of the pods only contain about two or three beans.

Some of our time has been spent checking the gooseberry plants for the dreaded sawfly which can strip a bush of its leaves in a matter of days if they are not removed.  They do not harm the development of the fruit, and often recover, but all the same having no leaves must stress the plants.

The tomatoes are starting to respond to being out of their restricting pots and in the ground.  They have put on quite a bit of new growth, mostly in the way of side shoots, which means we now start the constant chore of pinching the shoots out so that they cannot develop and the tomato plants continue to grow up instead of out.

Our big news for the week is that we are starting work on completely rebuilding and reconsidering our composting methods and system, since studying the teachings on how to make compost that is full of life and the healthiest it can be for our plants.  It will take some time to get up and running, but it is exciting to know that it will make a difference to the gardens.  We will keep you posted on how we get on, and the changes we have made.  We are most grateful to AW Rail, based in Folkestone, for giving us plenty of wood from their yard, as they are keen to make sure that any materials which they cannot use are offered to community groups and charities rather than sent to be scrapped or possibly sent to landfill.

On 24^th June, some of us will be taking part in the second Disco Soup event in Folkestone.  See the poster below if you are interested in joining in with this community day transforming surplus food into a feast! 

What’s next?

• Sow Bellis Daisy seeds

• Sow spring onions and purple sprouting

• Collect more materials for the composting systems

• Keep checking the tomatoes for side shoots

• Check for any potatoes showing through the soil

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 28th May: Seeds are not always what they seem to be, or say they are.

Looking back at this time last year it seems we are about two to three weeks behind with our planting and the physical growth of the plants.  It was also a surprise to be reminded that this time last year we were busy with Jubilee celebrations for the late Queen.  Such a lot has happened both locally and in the world since then. 

We are already hoping for some rain but it seems there is none in the weather forecast for some time and so we have had to get out the water pump, hose and watering cans.  Although to be fair we have managed so far, nearly into June, without having to water much at all.  We can see that the pond is starting to evaporate, which will make life harder for the visiting badgers/foxes that have established a well-worn path from the pond, right through the middle of the broad bean patch, and the potatoes.  It seems they have little regard for formal pathways, and simply aim for where they are going regardless.

We have started to see a few more bumblebees and honey bees in the Sandgate Community Garden, and were treated to the sight of a damselfly and common blue butterfly, plus a few more ladybirds. 

The dwarf beans were planted, and we decided to take a chance and plant a few runner beans.  This is always a big gamble for us as in the past the strong winds have finished them off, ripping them to shreds and burning them with salty sea spray.  However they are tucked up against the hedge and sheltered with any luck by a group of trees – only time will tell if they are to be successful or not in this microclimate.

Below is a picture showing three runner bean roots from last year which have been recently removed from another site in Sandgate to make room for fresh plants.  When runner beans are finished, they are usually cut back down to the ground or simply left to be removed at a later date.  However, if the winter is not too harsh, the roots can survive and re-sprout the following year, so that new seeds need not be sown.  Some growers even dig up the roots and over-winter them in a frost free place until they can be planted out again.

We had a reminder this week that seeds are not always what they seem to be, or say they are.  We had sown a packet of snapdragons which were pricked out and carefully potted up into modules, only to discover that they were not snapdragons at all but poppies, with one or two of what we wanted amongst them.  This was very frustrating as it takes time to nurture some seedlings, and although we like poppies we have plenty happily sowing themselves around the garden, and would never grow them in the way we would snapdragons, which is probably why they look so sick in the picture.  It just goes to show that you are at the mercy of the seed provider unless you save your own seeds.

On Saturday a couple of us went to a fascinating compost course in Hawkhurst on the borders of Kent and East Sussex.  This course was being run by Michael, the founder of the Compost Club in Lewes/Brighton.  We are busy honing our composting skills as we appreciate that the life in your soil is as important as the life in your own gut.  If the balance of bacteria and microorganisms is vital for your health, then in the same way the right bacteria and microorganisms in the soil are vital to the health and well-being of the plants.  We still have much to learn, but feel positive that we are on the right lines, and are moving towards creating the best conditions for our garden soils.

What’s next?

• Inoculate the plots next week if the conditions are right.

• Sow some replacement mange tout

• Repot the cucumbers and squashes if ready as well as seed sown asparagus

• Plant the leeks and maybe celery/celeriac

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 21st May: An oasis right in the middle of a concrete jungle.

It was a particularly busy gardening session on Wednesday.  The nursery school from Saga came to have a look at the plot as well as new visitors there for the first time and some familiar faces from last summer/autumn.  We sowed plenty of outdoor cucumber seeds, and then planted the courgettes and dwarf beans.  It has all become a juggling act to squeeze in as much as possible, allowing the purple sprouting to finish before we can create even more space for yet more plants. 

On Saturday the companion plants of French marigolds were put in place as well as some morning glory vines and cosmos.  The basil seedlings got potted up to grow on some more, as did some asters grown from seed.

Brockhill School got in contact to ask us to have a look at the latest improvements to their walled kitchen garden.  It is such an exciting project, and such a shame that the first growing experiences have been in a difficult year.  The weather has been an issue as well as the fact they have the added difficulty of dealing with rabbits eating everything newly planted.  However a new rabbit proof fence has been put in place now and the first of the fabulous wooden greenhouses has been restored.  What a wonderful resource. 

Talking of new gardens, we were interested in a new initiative in Birmingham, where a community garden is being created right in the centre of the city on top of a multi-storey car park.  It will be an oasis right in the middle of a concrete jungle with raised beds, greenhouses, and even a café.  It goes to show that when space is at a premium, it is all about being creative.

What’s next?

• Has the purple sprouting now finished?

• Plant more flowers

• Are there enough courgettes?

• Sow a few lettuces

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.

Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 13th May: Longer, warmer daylight hours are contributing to a faster rate of growth.

There is not much to be said about the weather this week.  We lurch from one warm sunny day to rain and wind the next; however it seems that our little corner of the world has missed out on torrential downpours just a little further inland. 

The longer, warmer daylight hours are certainly contributing to a fast rate of growth, with many more of the trees out in full leaf and lots of blossom still in evidence.

The planters in Sandgate High Street and along the seafront got a generous topping of compost and a few new plants this week.  Long overdue, but the weather and temperatures were never quite right before now to subject new vulnerable plants to the seafront. 

A few more squash seeds were sown this week as unfortunately pigeons decided to make short work of some of the previously sown squashes when the mistake was made of putting them outside on a balcony to get some direct sunshine.  The frustrating thing is they are not eaten, just pulled up by the roots, however yet another lesson has been learnt.  The purple sprouting broccoli is growing smaller with every new flush of growth which means it will soon be coming to an end and we shall have room to accommodate the squashes and courgettes. 

The zinnia seedlings all got separated out into new modules to grow on and the many tomato plants got sorted.  It does not feel ideal to be putting the tomatoes outside in their beds right now, but they are starting to climb out of the pots and so we took a chance. 

The broad beans are looking particularly good at the moment with plenty of lush growth and flowers and having now removed their growing tips they can concentrate on attracting the pollinators and growing some beans.  Another new line of string was run around the outside of the beans and their posts to help them stand tall and not get blown or flop over.  The hops have all had new strings attached to the growing posts, and only a few shoots are allowed to grow whilst the rest are removed.

What’s next?

• Sow a few more courgettes

• Sort out the spare tomato plants for passing on

• Weed around the bowser end of the plot at Enbrook

• Repot the basil seedlings

This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.