We all hope you had a great Christmas however you managed to spend it under the circumstances of tier four. It has not been quite how we envisaged this Christmas but it was possibly better than being stuck in the cab of a lorry over the holiday period. One of our gardeners volunteered to spend much of her time collecting gifts and food from Sandgate and delivering to some of the drivers. It was a drop in the ocean, but at least a few got to appreciate that others were thinking of them, well done and thank you Theresa.
The continuing story of the autumn was the roll of fleece ordered months ago being delayed and delayed. A further message arrived saying the fleece would now not arrive until mid-March, way too late to protect the plants over the winter months, and then as if by special Santa post it arrived on the doorstep just a couple of days before Christmas. Incredible! The broad beans and peas are now tucked up under the fleece blanket ready for any cold and windy weather coming their way.
We had a donation of a few Cerinthe seedlings which have been planted, and a very kind person in Enbrook Road had obviously been clearing their garden and splitting up large clumps of plants, and instead of composting them, had kindly left plants in their driveway for anybody to take and make use of. This was most appreciated and we had some for a section of the garden we are developing near the bench, of perennial flowering plants for bee and insect life. If you are considering clearing parts of your garden before the spring, please bear us in mind for any unwanted plants; if we cannot use them in the garden they could be very useful for one of our other projects such as Incredible Edible.
The Incredible Edible alleyway off Chichester Road in Sandgate got a weeding and general tidy up. Not much going on here for a while but there are herbs and a few swede plants. Now we are past the shortest day, it will not be too long before we can start planting and sowing seeds again.
Looking back to this time last year it seems that we were busy making the pond and putting the liners in place, it has come a long way since then. We were also busy wheelbarrowing wood chips to the garden then as we are now, and discussing how much we were looking forward to the arrival of the bees. What a difference a year has made. We all wish you a happy New Year, and look forward to seeing how next year will compare with this.
What’s next?
- Review any damage from Storm Bella
- Continue to barrow wood chips up to the garden to store
- Start sorting out the seeds for next year
- Start work on tidying the wheelbarrow area
Winter Salad 
Incredible Edible alleyway being cleared New blackcurrant bush shoots appearing New autumn raspberry plants appearing
