Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 9th October: Keeping the garden tidy, a full pond and late growth.
After all the rushing around of the last few weeks, getting all the plants into the ground and settled in as quickly as possible, it has suddenly gone very quiet now in the garden, giving time to catch up with a few things and to actually sit down and spend time having a good chat to volunteers and visitors. There is not much to harvest at the moment. Daylight hours are so much shorter, and this has an impact on the speed of growth, or lack of it, and once something has been raided, it takes that much longer to recover than it might have done in high summer, to be at a point where it can be raided again.
The leaves are now continuing to fall along with bountiful amounts of sycamore seeds which always keep us busy when they start to sprout in the spring, so it will be lots of picking up and constantly tidying from now on. Where leaves cover any seedlings, they cut out the light and the slug and snail population quickly move in. Keeping a tidy garden helps to keep problems at bay. The damper cooler weather has encouraged the fungi to appear all over the plot, and there are some rather large spectacular displays appearing just outside in the grassy areas as pictured below.
The pond is full again at last, something we have not seen for many months. We have been clearing the fallen leaves and duckweed, however looking at the amount of scum on the top of the water; it is evident that many birds and perhaps mammals have been enjoying taking a dip in the deeper water. There is always a kerfuffle and commotion when you first enter the garden as the birds bathing take flight and fly away.
Now is the time for some of the flowers to look their best having got through the drought, stressed and attacked by blackfly, the dahlias and fuchsias are now making a spectacular show and really having a final fling before any frosts finish them off.
The last of the rather large purple sprouting cages were completed this week as the broccoli was straining to burst out of their hooped netting and grow taller and wider. You can sense the relief; looking at those plants released from their confines last week, already seeming larger and healthier for having the space.
One of our garden friends, Rosemary (from the Marsh community garden, and Napier Barracks garden volunteer) got in touch to say she had been collecting many seeds that we could have, as well as an electric garden shredder. We snapped up the seeds, but having no electric power on any of our sites, the shredder was passed on to one of our sister groups, the Incredible Edibles in Cheriton. We know they will be able to make good use of that, thank you Rosemary!
What’s next?
- We still need to cut back the foliage that is growing into the pond.
- Keep on picking up leaves from all over the site
- Weed, weed, weed
- Water the pots and cold frames regularly
- Still plenty of seedlings to pot up and move to other sites.
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.