Would you like to be involved in the Sandgate Community Garden? New volunteers are always welcome, and the crops grown are shared by and with the community of gardeners. This is a volunteer project in the Enbrook Park grounds of Saga.
The Community Garden team are also involved in other projects around Sandgate and Folkestone, including “Incredible Edible” planters by the Golden Valley shops, in Fremantle Road Park, along the High Street and Esplanade.
You can follow all the seasons and keep updated with what is happening. Get involved in the community and learn new skills. There is now a new wildlife pond and are pleased to have 2 bee hives on site. Gardening sessions are run twice a week. Get in touch to find out more.
Follow the progress on Instagram and like or get in touch on Facebook.
Updates written by Leonie Wootton.
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 20 October 2019
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 ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 13 October 2019
Bit of a wash out this week with the rain, however I hate to say we do still need it as dig down a bit, and it is still dry! Some people have noticed that there is a mysterious line drawn beyond the plot, and yes, it is true, we are to expand further out into the grass! We are very excited at the prospect, and are looking forward to filling this space too! Thanks to Paul the Head gardener ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 6 October 2019
This week we have waved goodbye to the tomato plants, harvested all the green tomatoes, and are ripening them on window ledges. At last the little chilli plants sown from seed have been potted up and taken indoors, they will be replanted next year, after the risk of frost has passed. The nursery children came along on Wednesday bringing all their fruit peelings for our compost heap, swapping it for a few vines of tomatoes to ripen in their classroom ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 29 September 2019
Watering was certainly not an issue this week, there was plenty of rain for a change….. it managed to hold off for our celebratory picnic for which we were grateful! Many of the ingredients for the food came from the plot, it tasted so good! The strawberry bed has been planted up at last, and the new plants have time to set some roots before the weather gets too cold. Below are two pictures of Amaranth that have appeared totally ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 22 September 2019
It has continued to be very dry in the garden this week, and we have been working flat out to keep up with the watering, in particular new seedlings and the new strawberry plants! The more established plants will reach further down under ground to find their water and are looking fine! The tomato plants are looking naked as all the leaves have been stripped from them so that the tomatoes can ripen. The butternut squashes and carrots have now ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 15 September 2019
It’s all about the brassicas on the plot at the moment! We have some very lush salad leaves, purple and green Pak Choi, towering purple sprouting, red veined chard, and juicy spinach: perfect for blitzing into a smoothie or pesto – or taking pride of place in a colourful salad or stir fry. The Chinese cabbage is starting to draw itself up into a conical shape, ready to make a crispy heart in the centre, and we are looking forward ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 8 September 2019
There is a different feel in the air now, and as the nights are starting to draw in, we are beginning to think of autumn and the changes to the plot…. We have harvested the big blue winter squashes this week, they can finish ripening in a sunny spot anywhere as they have finished growing, and we need to start clearing and reusing the space. The butternut squashes have been exposed, and are next to be harvested. There are plenty ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 1 September 2019
We had an incredible day at the Sandgate Sea and Food Festival last Sunday! So much support from everyone there, and many generous donations! We collected an amazing £102, and the vegetables we brought from the garden disappeared from the stall at speed. Attached are some photos from the day, and we are sporting our T shirts we bought ourselves to advertise what we were representing….we almost looked professional!! It was good to see so many people there we now ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 25 August 2019
Sending out our weekly newsletter Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning this time, as we will be up early setting up our stall at the Sandgate Sea and Food Festival on Sunday morning! We had a great time collecting things from the garden to bring to the Festival to show. It was time well spent with new garden companions, now friends, and treasure hunting for lost beans, tomatoes and courgettes in the undergrowth! The sun and the flower patch brought ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 18 August 2019
If we had been asked at the very start of this project in mid-May, to produce a hamper of food from the garden in just three months, we might have considered it an impossible task, but we did…. For a raffle prize at the Sandgate garden party last Sunday! A proud moment! Spoke too soon about the sunflowers all still being upright after the blast of wind that came through, one of them did fall, however, nothing is wasted; the ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 11 August 2019
I know you were wondering… yes, the garden is still standing, and at last look, even the sunflowers, after the hooley of a storm that came through yesterday. We had to abandon all hope of trying to do much at all, except stand upright. Featuring this week are some lovely carrots and beetroot which seem to have doubled in size in just a week! The Florence fennel is starting to swell. A passing dog was so phased by one of ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 4 August 2019
A very productive week as usual, with both labour, and our rewarding produce! We did all of the jobs on our ‘to do’ list and more, to include laying some shredded wood pathways around some of the boxes, and welcoming the donation of a compost bin from Helen, which is being filled with vegetable peelings, plant material and turf taken by straightening the grass edges. On the menu this week is all that was mentioned last week, plus welcome, somewhat ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 28 July 2019
The trouble with pallets is that some of them look rather useful for other projects, and get re-assigned! So parts of the compost project are still ‘work in progress’….however, the area has been tidied up and is ready and waiting! We also tidied an area for our BOX STORE! A donation from Theresa and Peter’s garden … We had great fun walking the box across the road to the Saga entrance, and into the garden, but we now have a ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 21 July 2019
We managed to ration the water this week with some help from a long awaited downpour Friday night, thanks, we suspect, to Chris perfecting the rain dance. It obviously did the trick! On the menu this week are courgettes, mangetout, spinach, and salad, with the arrival of tomatoes, and a few raspberries! The beans are flowering at last; we have red and lilac flowering varieties, so it will not be long before we will be treated to some beans! The ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 14 July 2019
The plot is looking a real picture, quite literally, as the before and after Instagram posting shows. What an incredible difference a few weeks makes! In the fight to keep most of the crops for human consumption, and not the wildlife, we are checking for eggs laid on the brassicas, and any green or blackfly. No need to feel guilty about moving them on as we have planted sacrificial offerings such as nasturtiums and calendulas for them to feast on! ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 7 July 2019
It has been a warm week, and we have been working hard to water all those thirsty plants, and they have rewarded us with more salad, some courgettes and pak choi . The leeks, kale and purple sprouting got planted, and now here is where the fun begins! As soon as the very warm weather arrived, and the kale and purple sprouting got to a decent size, the first of the cabbage white butterflies started to make an appearance, to ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 30 June 2019
The garden is just starting to fill out, with leaves getting bigger and lusher. Beans are climbing the poles, and the beetroot, tomatoes, and Tokyo turnips starting to swell. The first of the radishes have arrived and taste so delicious that I am thinking we should have sown even more because they are disappearing pretty fast! This week we have been filling three of the raised boxes, sowing more rows of carrots and beetroot, spring onions, and spinach. We have ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 23 June 2019
Well, Wednesday might have been a washout, but Saturday certainly was not! Brilliant sunshine! The fig tree got properly planted in a bigger pot, the next two raised beds got placed in situ and partially filled with the old grass turf, more ground got dug over and weeded, the two last raised beds got another coat of preservative, lettuces and tomatoes were planted, and more salad seeds sown! Many thanks this week to Geoff, one of the Saga gardeners, for ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 16 June 2019
What a difference that rain has made! The carrot seeds have sprouted and things are starting to romp away! We managed to source some bean canes from the Park compost heap, and to demolish a large chunk of courgette cake. Welcome to Sue and Andrew who joined us this week – Thanks Sue for the butternut squash plants, broad bean seeds, and French beans, much appreciated….we also had an anonymous courgette donation, all have been planted, but the broad bean ...
Sandgate Community Garden: Update 9 June 2019
Certainly no need to worry about the watering this week! Some very welcome downpours will help things to establish, and fortunately most things remained planted during the gale force winds! The biggest dilemma of the week was what to do with our first courgette! All things considered, the answer was to make a courgette cake to share with the workers on Saturday. We are now looking forward to thinking about more things that the garden will be giving us, from ...
