Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 23rd June: The potatoes not eaten by the badgers, and the figs are swelling.
Well, it looks like we might have finally turned some sort of weather corner, and can finally look forward to a spell of decent sunshine and warmer temperatures. Of course that always means that we have to get out the watering cans so it is a mixed blessing.
On Monday there was quite a gathering at the garden when we had a large visitation from the Napier barracks to celebrate volunteer week. Luckily the ‘Friends of Napier’ brought with them oodles of lovely cake, so by the time the lads had managed to empty our two newly delivered ton bags of compost and barrow it all up the hill into the garden, the cake was out and waiting for them to finish. It must have only taken them about an hour if that! Thank goodness too as it would have taken us ages to have done, and it means we can start to empty some of the plots and put down new compost before the next crop goes in.
Apparently the badgers in the park are very active at the moment. One of our gardeners living close by has had a badger getting into her compost bin, probably after anything edible plus the worms. Badgers have also been visiting us and decided to have a go at the potato crop. They crashed about in the foliage digging up several spuds, chewed up lots and left a proper mess. So it was we decided it might be wise to take up the entire potato crop because no barrier will be enough to keep out a badger if their mind is set to get in there and make a meal of something. Many of the crop were quite small and could have done with some more time to grow but it was either harvest now or possibly lose the lot.
We were delighted to notice that the fig tree is showing a good amount of fruit which is starting to swell. We shall look forward to trying to beat the birds to them later on in the season.
We got some more beetroot planted and the first of the kale is in and netted from the cabbage white butterflies, not that there have been any to notice. In fact many folk are saying that there is a distinct lack of insects, even worse than last year.
Thinking of the state of nature, it was reassuring to see so many folk from Folkestone boarding the train on Saturday morning to go up to central London to take part in a huge demonstration called ‘restore nature now’. With an election just around the corner, it will be interesting to see if come 5th July when it is all over, if any of the protests have been heard.
What’s next?
- Clear the broad bean beds and refresh with compost
- Plant out more kale varieties
- Plant out the slipper gourds
- Weed the tomato bed – be careful of the basil in there!
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.