Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 16th April: Quickly planting the turnips and lettuces before the next downpour.
Crikey! Just when you are beginning to think that the weather could not possibly get worse, what with below average temperatures and copious amounts of rain – it really does! Storm Noa rip roared through this week with gale force winds followed by rather impressive hailstones and yet more and more rain.
Our Wednesday gardening session at Enbrook Park was a case of quickly planting the turnips and lettuces before the next downpour. We left early as apart from the rain it was simply cold. The Saturday morning session was cancelled completely when rain which was not featured on the weather Apps suddenly materialised and put a stop to any catching up there was to be done.
This was the week to sow the courgette seeds, so they will have to wait a while, along with the leeks, although they will most likely appreciate some warmer temperatures anyway to be fair. It has been decided to stop trying to bring on seedlings in mini greenhouses on the patio as they are simply too flimsy, and having lost so many of them in high winds, it was decided to take all seedlings to the greenhouse at Pent farm instead. This is a much safer environment but means they are further away.
This was a week of courses for me (Leonie). The most mind blowing of all was a course looking at soil on a microscopic level with Eddie at Rhizophyllia in Wootton Bassett. Eddie explains that unfortunately the principles of ‘no dig’ gardening are only half of the solution to good healthy living soil, and that basically we need to reproduce the right conditions in our compost for the beneficial microscopic life to thrive and take care of our plants. The lack of this life is why plants are prone to being attacked by pests and disease, and as a result the nutritional value of our fruit and vegetables is compromised. So now it is that as gardeners we will be disappearing down another rabbit hole to understand how to remedy the situation – it will take some time.
On Saturday there was a delightful course held by the Sandgate Environmental Action Group with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. This course was a beginner’s guide to identifying bees, starting with the most common to be found here in Kent. Of course the practical is usually harder than the theory, and a picture below shows a sample of five deceased bumblebees which we had to identify. Fortunately they were easier to deal with than live samples which were unlikely to be making an appearance anyway in this weather. However as some were missing legs, antennae or sometimes even heads, it proved something of a challenge to work out if they were male or female at times! It was a most enjoyable session, and we are looking forward to going out on future walks with the Trust soon. The Trust will be taking a trip out to Pent farm next week to carry out a survey of the bees there which will be really interesting.
Talking of bees, the community garden beekeepers were deep in discussion this week following a report from the British Beekeepers Association that an Asian hornet has been discovered in Folkestone. This arrival can spell disaster for beekeepers, and so there is a need to consider how to best protect the hives.
On Friday, I (Leonie) had the absolute privilege of being invited to the Nepalese New Year celebrations. It was a real joy to have been included, to share some amazing Nepalese food and meet even more of the Nepalese community. It was such a colourful, happy occasion and I was made to feel so welcome. The Nepalese follow a lunar calendar and so it seems we are now in 2080. Happy New Year!
What’s Next?
- Sow the courgette and squash seeds
- Sow the leek seeds
- Plant the mange tout and put up the net frame for them
- Dismantle the compost compound
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.