Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 26th March: Time ticks on.
Crikey! The clocks have moved forward an hour, how did we get to that point already? The winds have been an issue this week with yet more downpours of rain; we had to cancel the Wednesday session following on from the previous cancelled Saturday session, which meant we had a fair bit to catch up with on Saturday.
We sowed more onion seeds, and a tray of spinach, mainly to replace the trays of seedlings we lost when one of our anchored and weighted mini greenhouses took off in high winds and spilt all the seedling trays inside. Oh well, we just sow more and luckily we still have the time for the new seedlings to catch up.
Most of the potatoes got planted, as did around one hundred plugs of spring onions. We potted up four donated bay trees from a local garden just before the heavens opened again and we all had to run for cover – we finished early with all things considered.
On Tuesday some of us went over to a Lyminge Gardeners’ Society talk which was all about looking at soil at a microscopic level. It was fascinating to see slides showing many of the tiny creatures living right under our noses yet invisible to the naked eye. We have so much to learn about fostering the conditions to keep and nurture the right sort of microscopic beasties. Definitely work in progress!
Although the weather was diabolical, we had a visit from the manager of the Muddy Wellies Community Garden, just outside Ashford. We went on something of a magical mystery tour to all of the sites to show that we also have a fair amount of space to take care of; however it just happens to be spread about in lots of different places. She was able to see how the spring flowers particularly in the Golden Valley are looking beautiful right now. The hyacinths outside the shops smell amazing, and all the little daffodils are looking beautiful in Fremantle Park.
On Saturday afternoon, the vegetable plots in Fremantle Park got a makeover, weeded and new wood chip paths put down, whilst the orchard area was weeded and tidied up. Again we had to dive for cover when a rain cloud came over, but it soon passed and we could continue. It was good to see that the pomegranate tree seems to still be alive in spite of the very cold spells we had this winter, and many of the flowering plants had sown seeds around the plot. We still have lots of planting to finish in the two recreation parks, but they should look good this year.
The next meeting of the Sandgate Environmental Action Group will be held in the Old Fire Station, Sandgate Road, at 7.00 pm Thursday 30th March – all are welcome.
What’s next?
- Finish planting the potatoes
- Finish weeding Fremantle Park
- Sow peas for pods
- Prick out the tomatoes, cabbages and thyme seedlings
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.