Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 11th August: our hops are showing signs of ‘burring’.
The temperature has been going up, and apparently we are in for a warm weekend and early part of the coming week. We have had to water as much as we can during our garden sessions, which make for less time to be able to do other things, and having to prioritise the tasks. Happily most of our jobs got done, except for tidying the hedge which will be on the list again for next week.
We sowed spring onions, onions and spinach. Luckily we did not have to sow any more wallflowers as one of our industrious gardeners, Rita, had collected many wallflower seeds from her garden, and had already nurtured lots of seedlings which we pricked out into individual pots and modules.
Whilst many of our gardeners have already been harvesting plenty of tomatoes from their own gardens, our plants within the community garden are mighty slow in producing ripe fruits. The black tomatoes from our own saved seeds are looking particularly good and we will be collecting yet more seed this year, as well as some of the other varieties.
The butterfly bush behind our tool box is sadly lacking in the way of butterflies this year and we are hoping that this warmer weather might bring them out into the garden. There was only one in evidence for the whole of the session on Saturday.
The Hythe Hops scheme has been asking for evidence of how far along our hop plants are so that they can work out the best harvesting dates for September. At the moment our hops are showing signs of ‘burring’ or just starting to flower – this means that we are on track for the year.
On Saturday 24th August we will not be at the garden for our usual session as we will be busy collecting together all of our plants we have been nurturing for our annual sale at the Sea Festival on Sunday 25th along the seafront. We really hope you will stop, say hello, and hopefully buy something, and/or guess the weight of our food hamper. We are looking forward to seeing you there.
What’s Next?
- Tidy that hedge
- Sow mustards and radish
- Check the progress of the sweet corn
- Take up the last of the onions
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.