Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 4th August: The Nepalese slipper gourds are clambering away through the cucumbers.
Having just complained last week that there was a distinct lack of summer so far, summer arrived this week, and now it starts to look like we are back to cloudy, windy, showery days with a glimpse of sunshine every now and then. Oh well, as we keep being reminded ‘it is England after all’. The rainfall for July was an impressive 49.9 mm with another 4mm falling during the night as we went into August. However, we must not grumble as it is a doddle to water these days and most of the plants are appreciating a decent frequent downpour.
It has been quite a busy week with more tasks than there was time for, and so it was a question of prioritising what needed to be done first. The coriander got sown, the Chinese cabbages got pricked out into modules, as did the wallflowers. The leeks got planted, pulled out by the birds and replanted again the following gardening session. We had just one dwarf bean plant being plagued by blackfly for some reason, and so we gave it a gentle spray with some soft soap and will have to keep an eye to check that the pesky flies do not try to infest any of the other plants.
The Nepalese slipper gourds are clambering away through the cucumbers and up their climbing frame, they are now flowering and so we are hoping to see how the fruits develop as we have never grown them before.
This year we also experimented with growing onions from sets bought in the autumn and planted in October, and from seeds multi-sown in February, and planted out in March. Sets are more expensive than seed, and it was interesting to note that the onion seeds almost caught up with the onion sets. We have grown onions using both methods but not side by side before. We conducted most of the experiment at Pent Farm where there is more space. It was also interesting to note the difference in growth depending on which bed they were grown in too – the compost used also affects their progress, with some onions being quite large, yet others in another bed were much smaller. There is so much to learn.
Whatever happens we always aim to grow more plants than we need just in case something happens, as often does to vulnerable seedlings, and an annoying space is created when something keels over and dies. So it was that we had at least two dozen decent lettuce plants waiting in the wings with nowhere to go but happily with a little advertising in all the right places, they found homes and are probably nestling down in their new abodes right now.
What’s next?
- Still need to tidy up the hedge
- Have we got time to sow more wallflowers?
- Sow lots of spring onions
- Take up the onions and leave the beetroot to carry on – net them.
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.