Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 23rd October: Planning forward and planting for 2023.
We are just coming up to the ideal time to be preparing the ground for next year and to be thinking about cutting back old growth and getting the gardens tidy. However the warm weather continues, pushing back the dormant time for plants. In the Meadowbrook alley garden, the globe artichokes had been cut right back at the end of summer, but the new shoots for next year have already grown tall and are producing artichokes – in October.
We have been keeping up the routine of fishing leaves and duckweed out of the pond, picking up the fallen sycamore seeds and leaves, and remembering to water the various pots around the plot. We now add the task of checking the cold frames each and every session to check for slugs. They seem to have made a direct pilgrimage to the cold frames where they can spend uninterrupted and safe time feasting on the lettuces. They are safe until we search them out, remove, and relocate them to pastures new. In the meantime the lettuces are disappearing fast, and it will be a miracle if the rest survive much longer.
We did start to tackle the list of tasks for this week, but this period of clearing and weeding will probably be with us for some time to come, and so the list continues into next week for sure. We have started work on making some new plant labels for the plots, and are continuing to pot up lots of new strawberry plants that keep popping up in some of the paths. They will be useful to relocate to some of the other gardens.
Our bird watching, visiting couple came by the garden again this week to let us know their house purchase is close to completion and they will be moving away from Sandgate. We will miss the informative discussions on local wildlife. This week we heard about the sighting of a raven (although we never knew they were a rare thing here) and three firecrests. The firecrest is a tiny, brightly coloured bird, which apparently was once only a visitor to the south but is now starting to breed here.
On Friday we completed the mulching of the Queen’s Jubilee Orchard in Fremantle Park. In the spring this year, we only had enough time and compost to spread between half of the trees, which we then planted in late spring/summer with fruit bushes, rhubarb, herbs and flowers. We organised a day to collect four truckloads of compost from our friends at Hope Farm in Capel who kindly allow us to take it. The compost they produce is used on local farms and not sold commercially, but their generosity has meant that we have been able to get on with various tasks that would otherwise have used much of our funding – compost is an expensive commodity. It has also meant that we can practice the ‘no dig’ method, and take care of the soil first, which will then take care of the plants. We used two truckloads of compost on the lower end of the orchard, with a little left over to replenish some of the soil on the opposite slope we are developing, as well as some parts of the orchard where the compost has worn thin. The plan is that in the spring we will plant the newly mulched area with more fruit bushes, herbs and flowers. In-between truckloads, the volunteers started planting spring bulbs, and we will continue to plant more around Sandgate in the next few weeks.
In the afternoon of the compost run, we delivered two truckloads to Enbrook Park for use on the community garden plus of course the alleyways and various planters, not forgetting the other orchard area at Sandgate Park. We are grateful for help from Saga volunteers that day plus volunteers from the Napier Barracks. It would have been an impossible task without them, and we certainly would not have managed to complete as much as we did.
What’s next?
- Water all pots, plus cold frames, check for slugs, clear leaves on plot and in pond
- Continue to make new plant labels
- Continue to pot up strawberry runners
- Sort out the bay tree planters
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.