Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 17th September: Green hop beers created by Docker brewery and Hopfuzz brewery are coming.
It has been an extraordinarily quiet week. There are no seeds to sow for anything that needs to grow outside, and so we are just repotting a few seedlings to bring them on for when there is room to plant them, to include wallflowers for some early spring colour. Much of the plot is full of flowers from the tall spikes of the amaranth, to dahlias, one random gladioli, French marigolds, nasturtiums, and of course all the courgette, squash and cucumber flowers.
There is as usual, the watering of the seedlings to occupy our time, all the establishing plants and of course the celery and celeriac which always demand water, but yet again many things such as the parsnips and leeks will have to take their roots deep underground to find some moisture. Of course there are always plenty of weeds to evict and lots of self-sown tomatoes in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the daylight hours ever decreasing, many of the summer crops are starting to look tired and are slowing down – there is always something to tidy. More of the wood chip paths have been re-laid, with more to follow next week.
On Sunday we picked our hops for the Hythe Hops Scheme, taking them to the collection station to be weighed, checked over and registered. We had 1kg of hops from our plants – our best amount yet and probably due to the wetter summer. Many of the hop growers had issues with blight which turned the hops brown, and meant they cannot be used.
The total hop harvest from the community growers was 125.2kg. Last year it was 130.5kg, so all things considered, not a bad haul. The green hop beers created by Docker brewery and Hopfuzz brewery are in the making. The rest of the hops having been dried and vacuum packed now waiting to be used to make various beers into next year. We are looking forward to hearing where and when they are available.
Last but not least, another mention for a great event happening Saturday 23rd September at Oaklands Park Hythe and Oaklands cafe (See poster below). There is a great seed and plant swap, apple pressing, and of course an opportunity to join in with the Disco Soup crew, helping to make an amazing array of dishes from gleaned and donated food – a great family afternoon not to be missed!
What’s Next?
- Finish off the wood chip paths
- Pick some of the endive
- Clear the duck weed from the pond
- Cut back hedge suckers
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.