Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 7th July: Parts of the garden are starting to take on a jungle appearance.
The rainfall for June was 17.5 mm. We are now into July and most of us have given up trying to predict what the weather is going to do as it swings from being chilly and windy to bucketing down with rain to glorious sunshine. It is a proper rollercoaster.
Most things in the garden are coping well, and currently the weeds are coping far too well, popping up all over the place. In fact parts of the garden are starting to take on a jungle appearance. The pond has nearly disappeared, surrounded by growth, and where the herb garden is we can no longer see the bench although we know it is there somewhere!
The slipper gourds got planted with the cucumbers; the Siberian kale, cabbages and Romanesco cauliflowers also got planted out. The purple sprouting got pricked out into modules, and more got sown. The tomatoes have been throwing out loads of side shoots which had to be removed apart from the Roma variety which never seems to like to conform to being a cordon tomato and insists on doing its own thing. The chives collected for seed sowing, got sown into modules, with plenty left to carry on into next year. Swiss chard, more coriander and parsley got sown.
The sweet corn is growing well amongst the winter squashes and is currently of no interest to the badgers until they develop their cobs. However the badgers have been in the beetroot patch and chomped the roots, neatly leaving the stalks and leaves in a pile where they were growing. We are not going to let them know that the cabbages this year are so delicious and sweet, and luckily they have never taken any notice of the spring onions – thank goodness!
What’s Next?
- Sow some radicchio
- Clear the beetroot bed and pea bed – prepare for replanting
- Repot some of the pot plants
- Clear some of the Quaker grass from around the pond
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.