Tim Prater

This week we have waved goodbye to the tomato plants, harvested all the green tomatoes, and are ripening them on window ledges.

At last the little chilli plants sown from seed have been potted up and taken indoors, they will be replanted next year, after the risk of frost has passed.

The nursery children came along on Wednesday bringing all their fruit peelings for our compost heap, swapping it for a few vines of tomatoes to ripen in their classroom.  We spent some time rummaging around in the heaps to see what there was in there, and identifying all the wildlife!  We had help collecting more leaves, and have finished the leaf mulch bin and now have a mission to fill it up!

On Saturday afternoon we took some potted up cuttings and collected seeds to barter at the Hythe seed and plant swap!  We came away with a variety of different seeds and plants we can use in the garden and not a single penny had to change hands!  It is such a good idea, and the Hythe Environmental group were also pressing apples in the square from donated apples….. the resulting juice was quite delicious!  As you can imagine, we need lots of seeds for next year, however luckily we were able to get 96 packets of seeds at a garden centre seed sale for 50p a packet!  They should keep us going for a while!

What’s next?

• Collect leaves, leaves, and more leaves!

• We need to sort out two more compost heaps

• Keep tidying, weeding and turning over the ground as it is emptied

• Start to empty the herb boxes – save any plants that can be saved

Watering was certainly not an issue this week, there was plenty of rain for a change….. it managed to hold off for our celebratory picnic for which we were grateful!  Many of the ingredients for the food came from the plot, it tasted so good!

The strawberry bed has been planted up at last, and the new plants have time to set some roots before the weather gets too cold.

Below are two pictures of Amaranth that have appeared totally unexpected in the flower area.  Amaranth is a superfood, used as a grain or made into oil; in fact the entire plant is edible and has medicinal benefits.  It is often used as a bedding plant because it is so colourful and comes in many different forms.  However, check out the colours of the rainbow chard…just stunning!

What’s next?

• Continue to clear and tidy the plot

• Ooops! Still not potted up those chillies or cut back tree base growth!

• Start putting in support posts

It has continued to be very dry in the garden this week, and we have been working flat out to keep up with the watering, in particular new seedlings and the new strawberry plants!  The more established plants will reach further down under ground to find their water and are looking fine!  The tomato plants are looking naked as all the leaves have been stripped from them so that the tomatoes can ripen.  The butternut squashes and carrots have now all been harvested, and we are starting to see the earth again in preparation for a new phase of planting to come in the autumn.

The nursery children made their way to the garden this week, and spent some time grazing on tomatoes and salad leaves….. it was lovely to have them there, and we will be spending some time helping them in their garden, and they will be collecting their daily fruit peelings to bring to our compost heap!

Some of us made our way to the Climate Change march in Folkestone on Friday…. We are always aware of the influence of the weather on the garden, and weather extremes can mean that crops fail.  We are keen to understand and monitor how the garden is affected in the Sandgate microclimate…. This will be an ongoing process.  Talking of climate; just as we look forward to our first garden picnic to celebrate a successful first season, it seems the heavens are going to open and drench us with some long awaited rain!  How typical is that!!

What’s next?

• Monitor watering situation

• Keep picking

• Forgot to pot up the chilli plants!

• Keep collecting the leaves

• Dig over the newly exposed beds and remove any weeds

• Cut back new growth around the base of trees and any newly sprouted shrub roots in the wrong place!