Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 5th November: Babet, Ciaran and Debi.
Good grief! It has to be said that we have had an abundance of interesting weather recently. The total rainfall for October was 179.5mm, and it would not be at all surprising if we have had as much rain again during the first few days in November.
Since our last newsletter we have been battered by storm Babet, followed by storm Ciaran and now storm Debi. Needless to say it has been near impossible to get much done in the gardens, and so we turn to taking stock of this year, in preparation for the next.
There is still plenty going on in the main garden at Enbrook Park, with many crops still in the ground either to be harvested soon such as parsnips and leeks, to be overwintered such as the purple sprouting, and the next to be planted broad beans which are currently in the greenhouse at Pent Farm, almost big enough to go in the ground. Rosie, one of our gardeners, has to take the prize for managing to keep hold of her tomato plants the longest this year. All the garden tomato plants and most of the homegrown have long since been affected by blight and been removed, but Rosie is still picking tomatoes!
We have been working on preparing any empty beds for the winter by mulching with a good layer of compost. We have used all of our own made compost and will now have to source a supply to finish the job and take us into the first plantings for next spring.
Now is the time to consider which seeds we will need for next year and how we are to source them. We have a preference for small independent seed suppliers, but are gradually starting to save some seeds of our own. In the last newsletter we mentioned shelling the borlotti bean pods, and the beans have now been dried keeping some for seed and the rest put into jars to be used as and when over the winter months as an addition to soups and stews. Other seeds saved this year are tomatoes, and a few annual flowers. Seed saving can be very satisfying, but some are easier to save than others, so you do have to know your stuff to be 100% successful.
We did succeed with taking some cuttings a few weeks ago of rosemary, sage and lemon verbena. Most of the cuttings have taken although only one of the lemon verbena cuttings remains and has rooted. We will look forward to trying again next year and making many new plants at no extra cost!
All the squashes have now been taken indoors to store and to share. As a community group we have been sharing pictures and recipes of tried and tested meals using squash – they certainly are very versatile.
What’s next?
- Compost collection day on Wednesday
- Repot some sage and rosemary cuttings for the greenhouse
- Plant out the broad beans
- Tidy the plot of the last storm debris
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.