Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 30th June: Regenerative farming today, from the politics, to the science, to the everyday practicalities.
The longest day has gone and we are hurtling into July, but luckily it has begun to feel like summer and at last the summer plantings are starting to respond to the warmth and sunshine. We have stepped up the watering, and so the sweet corn, beans and squashes are putting on new growth fast. The netting previously put over the beans to protect them when newly planted has now been removed as the flowers are just starting to appear and the insects will need to get to them.
The broad beans have now been stripped and removed, then a thin layer of compost added to the surface of the now empty plots in preparation for replanting as soon as possible. We planted a few more dwarf beans, spring onions, kale and a few lettuces. The intention was to plant out the slipper gourds too but we ran out of time and that task will have to be put forward to next week.
On Monday a couple of us were invited to see a flagship composting site in Cambridgeshire run by Envar Composting Ltd. We thought that Hope farm composting set up was huge enough but this was something else again! We were grateful to some of the staff tasked with showing us around the site telling us about everything they compost there. It is so very interesting to be able to see how waste is dealt with on such a scale compared to anything we compost.
Groundswell, the regenerative farming festival, took place this week in Hitchin. There were two whole days of innovative, fascinating talks on the up to date situation with regenerative farming today, from the politics, to the science, to the everyday practicalities. It can be difficult to imagine how farming at scale can be compared with our tiny gardens, however it was entirely relevant in so many ways, and in fact there were many of our garden friends we have met along our gardening journey there too such as the farmers from Pent Farm, Rupert from Shelvin farm where we got our last delivery of compost, Rebel Farmer Ed, and plenty of other compost nerds we have made friends with. There are now many new ideas to investigate and consider trying.
One of our gardeners, Theresa, has been working extremely hard on a project to bring a festival of theatre and comedy to Folkestone. There are 33 shows with actors and stand up comics throughout the weekend of 12th-14th July at the Quarterhouse theatre and Grand Burstin Hotel. Check out www.folkestonelive.com for more information and to buy tickets. Hope to see you there!
What’s next?
- Really must plant the slipper gourds
- Plant out more Siberian kale
- Prick out the purple sprouting
- Sow more purple sprouting
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.