Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 26th May: Stake them, tie them in and remove the first of the side shoots.
There has been less of the wet stuff and more of the sunshine this week. Everything in the greenhouses at Pent Farm has suddenly exploded into life and trying to climb out of their pots and so it has been the mission to get as much into the ground as possible, and as soon as possible
We planted the dwarf beans and the summer squashes – well we think they are the summer squashes as yet again we have had trouble with our labelling system so that we are totally unaware of which plants are which out of all the squashes we have sown. The trouble is they pretty much look the same but of course as they grow we will be picking only the summer squashes but leaving the winter squashes to mature until the end of the summer. We will be able to work it out as they grow and produce some fruit, but it would be good to be able to separate them out at planting stage. Oh well we shall be observing them closely and making another mental note to take more time at the labelling stage to prevent such a mix up!
Having already planted the tomato plants, it was our job this week to stake them, tie them in and remove the first of the side shoots. So far so good but as they start to really get growing, the keeping up of this chore is quite challenging.
We have been treated to a show of red and blue damselflies flitting around the pond and laying their eggs into the water. Hopefully it will not be too long before we see the much larger dragonflies emerging.
The very wet conditions seem to have helped out the snail population no end and they are seemingly hiding, or not even trying to hide, all over the plot. One of the Kiwi plants is coming into flower and you can see in the picture below it is full of snails. So it was that we have spent quite some time this week getting to grips with the weeds which are helping the snails to find cover, and remove them at the same time.
The fruit trees have finished flowering some time ago, and now the fruits are beginning to show themselves and swell. Our trees are still very young and small and so we will be taking off some of the fruit very soon so that they only get to grow a few that are of decent size.
What’s next?
- Plant out what we believe to be the winter squashes!
- Keep tackling the bindweed
- Plant out the beetroot
- Keep watering the new plantings regularly if there is no rain
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.