Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 27th February: Lettuces, compost, pruning and facility envy.
Luckily, Covid had decided to move on by the end of this week, just leaving the usual after-effects, and appreciation that it could have been much worse. Regardless, the seeds sown over the last week have popped up and many have been ‘pricked out’ into individual modules to continue growing. Now starts the juggling with the available space and watching the temperatures, weather conditions and pesky slugs.
Paul, the Saga grounds manager, has very kindly brought the water bowser back to the garden, as it had spent the winter parked up in his yard until planting time came around once more. He was just in the nick of time as we think we should be planting the pea shoots and radishes, the fastest growing vegetables, this coming Wednesday, just seventeen days after they were sown, incredible.
You may recall that just before Christmas we were tantalised by a call from Waitrose in Hythe with the wonderful news that they had decided to give us some funds; however before we could hold the cheque in our grubby hands it got whisked away back to head office because it was written incorrectly. The good news is we do now have it in our grubby hands and most grateful we are for £333.00 which will be going towards all the plans we have for this coming year – thank you Waitrose!
The Incredible Edibles have had a busy week making a brilliant start on the dismantling and rebuilding of the big composting area at the back of All Souls churchyard. No small task as it involves pulling out all the compost in the bins, but it will be fabulous to have a system which is large enough to cope with all the plant matter being generated, from grass cuttings to leaves and weeds.
On Saturday, some of our community gardeners were involved in helping to prune an orchard of some 70 fruit trees, mainly cherry, a few plum and pear trees owned by the community farm ‘Muddy Wellies’ just outside Ashford on the A20. This community space is part of a series of gardens under Brogdale CIC, serving six college sites across Kent providing horticultural education for disabled young people. The event was organised by the Hythe Environmental Group, and we had guidance and instruction from a professional commercial orchard manager.
The trees had not been pruned for several years, and so will take a good three years to get them back into good shape. The weather was just beautiful which was important on the day as well as settled weather thereafter, so this weekend was perfect. The day was amazing, once we got over the facility envy of polytunnels, kitchen, indoor working spaces and even two toilets!
A great time was had by all, excellent company and such a worthwhile project. We are hoping to stay in touch and with any luck get involved with the pruning next year as it will be interesting to be able to follow the project through.
What’s next?
- Keep seed sowing
- Plant the pea shoots and radishes – cover
- Is the pond clear of the storm debris?
- Water the plants in the cold frames
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.