Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 11th December: We’ve got chills – they’re multiplying…
At last the first real hard frost has arrived which still seems to have caught us unawares with a flurry of searching for enough lengths of fleece to cover the broad beans which are the only plants that need it. Being warmer here than it is inland, we are holding our breath that it stays that way and the beans can survive minus three degrees, but probably not much less than that for a prolonged period. Such is the gamble that you have to take.
During the morning the garden is sagging and bowed over with cold, but as the sun begins to warm, the plants unfurl and stand upright once more. Of course most are used to winter temperatures, and have their own form of antifreeze to prevent them turning to a mush when the frost sets in. Sadly lacking in antifreeze was the ladybird pictured below, which should have been hibernating already and got caught out.
The first half of the week was milder, and we were able to carry on with business as usual in the community garden, but the end of the week, the colder snap appeared and put a stop to planting anything, and putting down any compost mulches. Luckily some volunteers from the Napier Barracks came out earlier in the week to bag up more compost from our compost reserves, as well as wood chips, to transport to the alleyway garden off Meadowbrook. The space was cleared of the summer debris, and mulched with fourteen bags of compost and six bags of wood chips. We had a few spring bulbs remaining which were planted, along with some primroses. Once finished, we moved on to the planters outside the shops in the Golden Valley, mulched the last of the planters outside the Beauty Boutique, and planted more of the primroses. The remaining time, or until it gets too dark to see was spent weeding all around the outside edges of the brick planters, where all the plant debris gets collected and composted at Enbrook park.
Coming back to the subject of primroses, these we planted this week were given to us through a friend of a friend of a friend. All donations of any gardening kind are always gratefully received, but it goes to show that it is about who you know in this instance.
Looking at the forecast, this freezing weather is due to remain with us into this coming week and so it is unsure if we will be able to do very much until there is a thaw. Christmas is on the horizon, and with it falling at the weekend, and the New Year the weekend after, we will not be meeting from 24th December until January 4th 2023. We shall be celebrating with our now customary mince pies and mulled wine on Saturday 17th and Wednesday 21st December. There will be a newsletter next Sunday 18th, with the next instalment not due until 8th January!
What’s next?
- Finish planting the last of the donated primroses
- Finish potting up the last of the artichokes
- Check compost bin three for turning out in the New Year
- If not frozen, mulch hop area and rhubarb patch
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.