Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 4th September: Oh, you’re going to rain NOW, are you?
We are delighted to report that the Sea Festival was a great success for us and we managed to raise a massive £422.27 profit. We are very grateful to everyone who came along to the stall to spend some cash. We sold practically all of the plants we are glad to say, and 26 jars of Sandgate honey!
Trying to guess the weight of the fruit and vegetable hamper was a popular activity, and we could have sold the bundle of runner beans in the hamper dozens of times.
Being obsessed with the rain situation, or lack of it; the only day we were praying for none of the wet stuff was Festival day, and with none scheduled to arrive, imagine the surprise and curses when it actually did rain, just as we were trying to get our stall set up in the morning. Unbelievable. However it was a great day all round, and lovely to see so many friends of the garden all at once.
Having recovered from the Festival, the rest of the week went by reasonably uneventfully, and yet again no rain to help us along so every session starts with watering and more watering. Apparently the rainfall for the month of August was 33.3mm which probably fell on Sandgate the day that one of our gardener’s High Street residence got flooded and he lost many belongings. It will surely take some time for the ground to become saturated again, and in the meantime any rain that does fall will continue to run off and away.
Now we are into September already and the days are certainly starting to become noticeably shorter. The seeds we are sowing are becoming fewer, and once most of the winter salads are on the way, that only leaves the hardy broad beans, onions and garlic to make room for once the tomatoes, courgettes and squashes are finished. We cut back many of the tomato leaves, just leaving a few at the top of the plant, making space around the last of the tomatoes to ripen and allow air to circulate. The dill got planted as did some of the first winter mustards. More spring onions got sown along with some winter lettuces. Now is a great time to think about what to sow and grow next year as many of the shops are selling off seasonal items to include this year’s seed packets. Most seeds will be absolutely fine to buy and keep for next year, and with discounts of 70% and more, being able to get hold of seeds at 10 – 15 pence a packet is a real bargain. We have managed to get much of what we need for next year already, and in late November will review what we still need and buy more then.
Now that the school holiday period is over we will be starting to settle into the season of the coming autumn, and more familiar faces will swing by the garden, where the visitors have returned home. We were treated to our own very special guest of a fabulous hummingbird moth paying attention to one of our salvias in full flower. Up to now we only dreamt of seeing one in our garden but knew they were around in other gardens in the vicinity. It certainly made our morning, although unfortunately any photographs we took did it little justice.
What’s next?
- Still not planted the coriander
- Still not pricked out the pak choi
- Is there somewhere to plant the above?
- Cut back growth around bases of the trees and back of the compost area
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.