Sandgate Community Garden

July is important for the sowing of new seeds.  Many of the beds have been cleared of one crop, and another has been planted in its place.  Some of the beds will have three plantings this year, and a few may even see four before the year is out.  The days are shortening and every growing day in July is about equivalent to two in August, and a week in October.   The third lettuce sowing of the year was done just this week and they are now ready to be pricked out into individual pots or cells for growing on.  The second lettuce sowings are just starting to give us a few leaves, about four each plant for now, and the next picking a week later until they really get going and will then be picked twice a week for a few weeks until the next plants take over.  That at least is the theory, and timing is critical.  On Wednesday Chinese cabbage and Kaibroc got sown, by Friday they had grown their first two seed leaves which was pretty impressive.  The Kaibroc was moved into a tray of cells to grow on; it is a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale and produces many tender side shoots for harvesting after the main head.  The next seeds to be sown will be Florence fennel, and in a few days’ time the second batch of coriander, dill and chervil.

The very prickly job of picking all the gooseberries got completed, providing many delicious tales of mostly gooseberry crumbles, some of which got mixed with a stick or two of rhubarb – just fabulous.  It is hard to find gooseberries in the shops these days as they are so labour intensive, and ours disappeared in no time at all, as did the few blackcurrants that managed to survive the winds, and seemed to have ripened overnight.    The crowded carrots and parsnips got pulled in some spaces to allow the remaining roots to grow on, and they were just big enough to make something out of them.  The Charlotte potato variety, a second early, got lifted on Saturday and then just as quickly as they came up, disappeared and taken to several households in Sandgate – we only had room for a few plants but they were appreciated. 

Many of the plants in all the community areas will be enjoying the heat and sunshine we have been experiencing, and they will be trying to catch up with where they should be.  It has been noticed that the celeriac, not ready to be harvested until October/November is trying to go to seed and developing a flower head!  This is most unusual, and apparently is caused by a period of cold days which leads them to believe they have been through winter and so start to flower when it warms up!  It is also unusual to see so many fungi in high summer.  Both Enbrook Park and Fremantle Park are sporting several ‘fairy rings’ in the grass, the one below was photographed at Fremantle.  Fairy rings are linked with folklore and often viewed with great suspicion; they can grow up to ten meters in diameter apparently.

The Incredible Edible team will be supporting the grand re-opening of the Community Network in Cheriton High Street on Saturday 24^th July from 12pm until 4pm.  So if you are interested in volunteering or just joining in with the activities that day, then come along!  The Incredible Edible garden at All Souls outside the hall is now planted up with all sorts of flowers, vegetables and herbs, however pictures rarely do justice to the subject at hand and always best to come and see it all yourself!

What’s next?

• Keep watering the new plantings and check the Enviromesh is in place.

• Plant out the second beetroot tray

• Sow coriander, dill and chervil

• Start work if possible on the bed inside top gate

• Finish tidying and clearing daisy area

• Tackle some bind weed and mares tails

For some time now, every week, the Sandgate Parish Council has archived our newsletter and all the pictures.  It has proved to be very useful being able to look back at what we were doing and compare notes with where we are this year.  Here is the link:

Entries for the 5^th and 12^th July 2020 were uncanny!  We were rescuing wind scorched and battered plants as well as sploshing about in plenty of rain, and that is the story of this week too!  The winds that came through the start of the week caused havoc and Saturday morning session was a complete washout with just three of us daring to venture up there.  Surprisingly, the two planters along the seafront although needing to be tidied, still had flowers and parts intact which can be rescued.

This year has been much cooler and wetter – the rainfall for June was 107mm and we have not had to water for some time.  One very big difference is that last year we were observing many cabbage white butterflies flitting about the brassicas, and although they are not a gardeners favourite insect for obvious reasons, there has only been one observed in the garden this year, and that is not good.  The brassica seedlings do have a few bright green caterpillars which are from something else, and we have made sure there are plenty of nasturtiums around for all caterpillars to take advantage of. 

The kale, Romanesco and purple sprouting went immediately in the spaces where the broad beans were.  Even more lettuces got planted, chicory, endive and carrots thinned out to make extra growing space, chard and kaibroc sown.  We will only sow lettuce four times in the year and this week we shall make sowing number three to provide salad leaves for the autumn.  We have a gap of leaves between sowing one and two which has been a lesson on trying harder for that not to happen another time. 

The soft fruit this year has generally done much better for being that year older.  Although the currant bushes got wind battered, they do have some fruit which must be netted if we are to get any.  The gooseberries have given more this year, and there is still some to pick between the showers.  Although the rhubarb is not a fruit, our two original plants have grown well.  The three new roots of rhubarb are also looking good but will not be touched this year to give them a chance to get established.  The autumn raspberries have managed to stand up well to wind and are looking very green and lush with some of them just starting to flower.  In front of them are the goji berries which were sporting an entire colony of climbing snails.  Not too sure why they had taken to climbing precariously over six feet to get where they were, however they have since been relocated to pastures new.

What’s next?

• Still need to take down the sugar snap pea plants and support

• Tie in the sweet pea new growth

• Keep checking for tomato side shoots and remove

• Sow the autumn lettuces

• Take out the finished daisies and compost

• Finish picking the gooseberries and net the currants

The ‘lambs ears’ silver furry planting around the pond is just full of life.  The dragonfly larvae are enjoying climbing it to begin their metamorphosis to their next phase, and bees in all sizes and forms seem to be intoxicated by the flowers and are mostly motionless there whereas they are still busy buzzing around all the other flowers – this plant is drawing them in and keeping them there, obviously the plant of choice, most interesting to see.

A busy week as always but a little different with many of our gardeners away on ‘staycations’ or making the time to visit family and friends; however we have had several new visitors to the garden.  Some come to compare the growth in our garden with their own or the allotment, others come to see what is in season and if we have any spare produce.  The first lettuce plantings have bolted now and the newly planted summer lettuces still lagging behind and probably not ready for another week or two before the first leaves can be taken.  Another bed of summer lettuces got planted as well as swede and beetroot, chicory and endive got sown and a last tray of beetroot.  The broad beans did get pulled up this week and the last pods collected to make room for Kale and Romanesco to be planted next week.  A young chap has been recently visiting the garden keen to try local produce but mentioned he thought the broad beans were somewhat stringy, until we realised he had eaten them pods and all – so it had to be explained that in this case you just eat the beans inside.  It should never be assumed that everyone knows how to prepare all the vegetables!

We were also really pleased to have Carol come and join us.  Carol has lived in Sandgate High Street for over 30 years and has recently volunteered to take on planting up the front and back areas of the flats where she lives, with some of the other residents.  We were delighted that Carol had got in touch to ask about plants, and we had a few extras we could pass on and hopefully more to come later.   We are pleased to help and hope that this new adventure will be bringing the residents together as a community which already seems to be happening. 

The Golden valley shopping planter area got a good weeding and a few more plants added.  Some of the flowers are starting to show at last, and quite a few people have enjoyed picking the pea pods.

What’s next?

• Get the kale and Romanesco into the prepared beds

• Water new plantings if needed

• Take down the sugar snap peas now finished and prepare the bed

• Prick out excess plants of chicory and endive

• Check the gooseberries again!

To continue with the bee news written by Chris and featured in last week’s newsletter, it seems that a new queen bee has been seen in the garden nucleus box.  Named ‘Lilibet’, she is certainly a welcome addition.  Chris came up to the garden Saturday morning with a local bee farmer to help her identify Lilibet, we managed to snap a quick photo of the inspection as we had to maintain our distance whilst the box was open.

An industrious week as ever, more celeriac put in, and a new bed of lettuce planted where the pea shoots had just been removed.  The sugar snap peas and the broad beans are giving up the last of their pods and will likely be removed next week to make way for new plants waiting in line to be planted out.  Compost bins got turned, tomato plant side shoots pinched out, and the coriander removed as it was starting to flower and we need the space.  Kale and cabbage seeds were sown, and more lettuce varieties pricked out.  The first cabbage white butterfly was seen this week, so we know the whole brassica and caterpillar shenanigans are about to begin, but we have a master plan up our sleeve to try this year in the hope of doing better.  We will be writing about it later once we start the battle!  We have been holding our nerve as regards black fly.  You have to suffer an invasion of pests before the cavalry in the form of ladybirds turn up.  It makes sense as they need plenty to feast on before considering moving in.  There has been plenty of evidence of ladybird larvae seen this week, and so they are already at work. 

The rain and warmer weather are contributing to make the whole park continue to look stunning.  Below is a picture of a pyramidal orchid discovered the long grass.  What a treat it is to see so many wild flowers and to observe the insects that rely on them.  We have been trying to improve our planters on the sea front since they were battered and sprayed with salt water in the high winds a few weeks ago.  Below is a picture to show how they have picked up, and many a bee has been seen dropping in to make the most of the floral display, which has been our objective all along as well as trialling plants that can take the strain of being right on the seafront.   It will be a continuing story. 

Our friends in Cheriton, the Incredible Edibles, are busy on a gardening project at All Souls Church.  They have put in a bid for hot composters and large water rain collectors at the church hall where new edible beds have been planted.   Kent County Council will support this project with a pledge of £1,000 towards the target but they must first reach at least 20 backers from the community by the 30^th June pledging as little as £2 each.  If you would like to support this local project by pledging just £2, click on the link below to take you to ‘Spacehive’ which is a crowdfunding platform for projects aimed at improving local civic and community spaces.  Thank you.

https://www.spacehive.com/edible-all-souls-church-and-cheriton/

What’s next?

• Still got chicory to sow and maybe beetroot

• Clear the sugar snap peas and maybe the broad beans.

• Prepare beds for replanting

• Clear borage from overcrowded areas in the herb bed

• Prick out kale and cabbage seedlings

• Check on the Hythe hops growth

• Water all new plantings regularly until established

We have gone from having to water to a deluge of rain in one week.  It is a relief not to have to water right now, and the rain makes such a difference to the whole garden.  On Wednesday evening we got 45.1mm of rain in one go, flattening some of the taller growth in the garden which was simply annoying when the RHS judge turned up  the next afternoon.  We will have to wait and see if he thinks we have improved on our grade last year, but he seemed suitably impressed with the progress so far.

Now we can breathe for a while and continue to get on with the many jobs needing doing.  There was plenty to pick this week, pea shoots, beetroot, spring onions, rhubarb, salad leaves, garlic, broccoli, cabbages, sugar snap peas, the first sweet pea flowers and broad beans.  We had visitors to collect some food, but anything that is left is currently taken to Sandgate High Street to see if there are any takers in town.  We are looking forward to working with the Kent Food Hub to make sure any excess can be usefully distributed.

The lettuce seedlings got pricked out into modules to grow on, as did the purple sprouting, Nero kale and swede.  Just a couple of weeks and they will be planted out, so we need to create more space for them to go to!  The last of the beans got planted as did more spring onions.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that we had seen the yellow female chaser dragonfly but not the blue males.  They are now very much in evidence, and the females have been seen laying eggs in the pond to continue the cycle.

Beekeeping update – June 2021 

Chris, one of our resident bee keepers has written this update below.

‘Ray and I thought we would give you an update on the bee hives at the community garden. We are both trained beekeepers, Ray has more knowledge and experience than me but we both discuss and agree a strategy and then carry it out together.

We have had issues this year with both colonies. One hive contains black stripy bees that Ray rescued from an overturned abandoned hive last year and the other hive contains a colony of orange stripy bees. Both colonies overwintered relatively well, it is normal that numbers are low in early spring but once the weather warms up, the queen starts laying in earnest and the colony quickly builds up in quantity. The issue with both hives has been that the queens have not been laying this year in significant quantities so the size of each colony is shrinking, as the older bees die off they are not being replaced.  We don’t know the age of the black queen (from the previously abandoned hive) and it may just be that she is coming towards the end of her life.  We do however; know the age of the orange queen because she was purchased last year as a mated pedigree young queen.

Having spoken to other beekeepers, the only conclusion we can come to is that she was not properly mated and has run out of fertilized eggs from which the worker bees are produced.  In very simple terms, the virgin queen will fly off to mate with a number of male (drone) bees and then return to the hive to spend the rest of her life laying eggs which in turn become honey bees. The queen’s mating flight is fraught with danger, she may be eaten by a passing bird, she may get lost or injured and be unable to return to the hive or the weather might be inclement meaning she returns to the hive without sufficient sperm to fertilise all her eggs – we think this is the likeliest scenario.

We also have to bear in mind that we have had one of the coldest and wettest springs on record, night after night of frost and then lots and lots of rain. Many colonies do not make it through the winter but this year, many survived the winter only to succumb to the unfavourable spring conditions.

Beekeeping is full of jeopardy but all is not lost…

Ray has managed to capture a large swarm of honey bees and these have been placed in a small hive called a nucleus in the community garden. The plan is to combine the swarm with one of the main hives and begin the process of increasing the size of the colony using the queen from the swarm.  So, there is an outside chance, I repeat outside chance that the community garden may get a small amount of honey after all later in the year.  Beekeeping is never easy. Watch this space for further updates…’

What’s next?

• Sow a few chicory seeds for hearting

• Sow a few more kale seeds

• Sort out the hops, cut back lower growth and cut out any extra shoots

• Plant out more celeriac

• Water new bean plantings if required

• Take out pea shoots to make space for new seedlings

Enbrook Park is looking particularly fabulous at the moment.  The growth is looking very fresh and green, and the birdsong you can hear as you travel through is delightful to hear.   Most stunning is the sheer number of flowers throughout the park which are attracting great numbers of bees and other pollinators.  Paul (the park head gardener) estimates there is around 19,000 square meters of flowering meadow this year, which is the most left uncut in the last three years.  The paths forged through and around frame the effect, and it is well worth looking at all the different wild flowers showing through as well as all the different forms of grass flower too – just beautiful.  The picture below does it no justice whatsoever!   

This week the emphasis has been on watering the new plantings and the fast growing such as the onions trying to swell, and the rapid growth of pea shoots and new lettuce leaves.  It has been hot work by hand, but the rolling sea mists have been a welcome event, and helped to provide a little moisture.  The last of the basil got planted as did the dwarf beans, and the kale which was looking healthy and perfect one day, was decimated and torn to shreds the next by pigeons probably as a result of the gooseberries being covered over – and so these were the next to have to be netted or lose them altogether.  Seeds sown this week were beetroot, Romanesco broccoli, kale and swede.  The lettuce seeds sown last week are emerging, and will soon need ‘pricking out’ or transferring  into more growing space so as not to be competing with other seedlings.

The tree spinach pictured below with its cerise pink new leaves is just starting to take off and show itself which means we will soon be able to pick a few leaves and make a colourful addition to salads.  These particular plants are a miracle in that it was thought that all the seed for this was lost, until just by chance, and after several years of not being seen, two seedlings suddenly popped up in a garden plant pot.  They were allowed to flower and set seed then later collected and sown this spring.  Simply amazing.

Below is a picture of several packets of seeds kindly donated to us by Seed Craft based right here in Folkestone.  For just £8 per month Seed Craft will send you 4 packets of seeds ready to be sown, along with comprehensive growing guides and tips to help you make a success of your growing experience.  This seems such a great idea, helping to support gardeners to grow seasonal food at the right time, which unless meticulously planned throughout the year, can be overwhelming.  If you like the idea of growing your own food but lack the confidence, this could be for you and they can be found on Facebook or Instagram, and they have a website www.seedcraft.co.uk.

What’s next?

• Rampaging Goji berry plants still need tackling and tying in

• Keep watering the new plantings especially the dwarf beans

• Maybe prick out the new lettuce plants

• Tackle any emerging bindweed and mare’s tails

• Keep watering and picking salad leaves

The rainfall for May was 100.3 mm and the sunshine we have had along with Friday’s deluge of more rain is bringing the plants on a treat.  The wind scorched leaves are starting to be overtaken by some new growth and all fingers are crossed that we have some settled weather for just a while. 

The basil got planted as did the cucumbers and a few random tomatoes.  We sowed eight different lettuce varieties, and having noticed that the gooseberries had started swelling, thought it was a good idea to put some netting over them before the birds also discover them.   The onions and garlic are starting to swell, and many of them are throwing out a flower head which must be removed as soon as it appears or else the plant will concentrate all its energy into the flower and the bulb at the base will fail to develop.

We have had just had the delivery of the last two cold frames at Enbrook Park.  As yet they are not in their final resting place but will have to stay just where they are for a while until such time as we get to have a good sort out.

The garden at Fremantle Park is also filling out and looking more interesting.  All the herbs in the Golden Valley community areas are looking particularly good right now, and below is a picture showing six cut bunches (from left to right, top to bottom) – flat leaf parsley, lemon balm, coriander, mint variety 1, mint variety 2, and dill.  The parsley and coriander look so similar we have to keep tasting them to remind ourselves which is which.

There was great excitement during our Saturday morning garden session when we had the sheer delight of witnessing a dragonfly from our pond metamorphose from the larvae into a beautiful dragonfly and finally fly away.  We photographed it drying its wings in the sun where it was perched on the ‘lambs ears’ planted right on the pond edge.  It left behind the incredible empty shell of its old body just sitting on the plant as if it were resting there – simply amazing.  We discovered it was a female Broad-bodied Chaser, being yellow, and that the male is blue.  We shall be paying great attention to the pond area in the hope of seeing more.

What’s next?

• The final bit of spinach needs picking and pulling up

• Some broccoli may be ready

• Remove any bindweed and mares tails creeping in

• Support some of the trailing Goji berries

• Find some open netting for the strawberries

• Sow kale, Romanesco and beetroot

May bank holiday, June is now upon us and at last the weather is starting to improve.  We were sorry to see that a large tree had fallen in Enbrook Park, always a sad sight; however we were assured that the tree had been suffering from Ganoderma  (a fungus) for some years.  We were lucky enough to benefit from some of the logs to make extra seats for the garden, and on the sunny Saturday morning session we spent a happy hour sitting on the logs sowing spring onion seeds and around 240 dwarf beans.

The poor sick looking plants having spent too much time in their pots shivering and being blown about are finally getting into the soil.  The courgettes are all planted as are the squashes and sweetcorn, plus the chard seedlings, a bit of sunshine and warmth should see them romp away.  We have held back from planting the basil and the cucumbers just yet as they are really tender and could do with getting a little bit bigger and stronger.

Whilst pottering about and planting at Enbrook this week, we came across a very interesting insect none of us had ever seen before.  It was photographed (Picture below) so that we could find out if it was a friend or a foe to the garden.  There have been several new insects and invertebrates to watch out for such as the marmorated stink bug, the harlequin ladybird, and the New Zealand flatworm, to name but a few.  Happily, this fellow is a wasp beetle, and a friend, which seems to occupy most of the world except for Ireland and the Americas – most interesting and we shall now know to be pleased if we ever come across another.

We currently have plenty of fresh herbs as well as salad leaves.  Mixing the two together in a variety of combinations makes for the most amazing salads you can imagine.  The leaves range from bright green through to a deep dark red and various shades between, the herbs are parsley, coriander, dill and chervil which lift the leaves to another level.  Add calendula petals, borage, and viola flowers, then you have something extra special which would cost a fortune in a posh restaurant.   This week we also added pea shoots, a real taste of early summer before the peas arrive!  Absolutely delicious!  We are always pleased to share what we can, and often do with visitors to the garden, and we took a batch to the library for distribution too.  However we were delighted to be contacted by the Kent Food Hub keen to work with us and other groups in or close to Folkestone like the Incredible Edibles, on a new project to promote growing seasonal local food and to make fresh food accessible to all.  We are looking forward to doing as much as we can to enable this to happen in the wider community and to make links and work together on common goals and interests. 

In the meantime we have plenty to be getting on with as we have heard that the judge for the RHS ‘It’s your neighbourhood’ scheme is visiting the Enbrook garden on 17^th June, no pressure!  The judge is coming in an advisory capacity, to evaluate our progress, and our Sheila has been working on the most amazing supporting statement to give to the judge as requested, because he only has an hour. The statement sums up our history and achievements so far.   We have laboured hard on this, and Sheila has turned it into a work of art, but it is still early days and we continue to work on our progress. 

What’s next?

• Keep up with the weeding

• Keep watering the new planting for a few days until established

• Pick the salads and herbs

• Pull up the finished coriander to make way for the basil

• Keep removing old and yellowing leaves around all plants

• Start dead heading

• Plant last of the summer bedding we have sown from seed

Now the weather has gone beyond a joke and even we have stopped saying how we really do need the rain!  The wind that rip roared through on Friday has done much damage to the garden and it is interesting to see what has been affected where other plants not so much.  Looking back at the archive of our newsletter on the Parish Council website of a year ago, we were having the very same issues with stormy and cold weather but the plants were much further along than they are now. 

Enough moaning and let us concentrate on the positives.  The filming for our guru of ‘no dig’ organic gardening, Charles Dowding, got done before the garden got a blasting, and it was looking good.  We had up until August to submit our film, however the bare bones and structure are clearer now, and shows how much we have done to improve the soil, and all the pathways that also contribute to the organic matter.  There is no guarantee that our film will be used but Mr Dowding it seems was most impressed with the look of the garden and that is good enough praise indeed for us!  In fact we have had a few messages from friends of the garden to say how well things were growing, so many thanks for all those kind words as it makes a difference. 

Talking of the soil and organic matter, the compost heaps got turned at last which uses much muscle power, and frees up more space.  The compost in bin three looked good enough to eat as it got barrowed to our holding pen, reminiscent of crumbly fruit cake.  The brandling worms had finished their job as the compost was clear of them and this tells you it is ready to use.  The other two bins got turned too, leaving bin one as good as empty to begin the process all over again. 

We are delighted to announce that we have been given a massive £1,500 grant from the Martello fund, to be used to ‘maintain the existing gardens we look after in Sandgate as well as to explore new ones’.  £500 of this money can be put towards a water supply for the garden at Enbrook, which is certainly something we are hoping, might be a possibility for us one day.  This fund means we are on the road to expanding our horizons, and makes things seem all that more likely to actually happen.  If only it could be arranged for there to be more hours in the day…..

The Hythe hops are busy doing their thing climbing up the hairy twine, and we are removing any new shoots to concentrate on a maximum of four shoots per plant now we are in our second year of growing.  We have been given some posh new signs to display with our hops at Enbrook Park and at Fremantle Park so that anybody interested in joining the scheme can easily find the information required.

So it seems there is plenty to celebrate after all, and even when the weather prevents you from getting on with those jobs outside, you can be inspired to write poetry influenced by favourite flavours of Swiss chard and kale, which Alice has shared with us in a picture below.  Alice has made some truly amazing dishes to share with her family over the year; we get to drool over them as they are posted onto the group WhatsApp.  Mmmmmm, now there is another interesting subject – seasonal recipes from the garden.

Regardless of the weather – the Sandgate Society needs us all to get out there on 6^th June for the Safari so make sure that one is in the diary – more information below.

What’s next?

• Must weed the outside wall

• Cut grass edge against fence and hoe

• Continue to remove wind burnt damage from plants

• Maybe plant the sweetcorn and squashes

• Keep picking what needs picking

• Maybe sow the beans at last

We have started to catch up with ourselves this week and it was touch and go if the Saturday session would happen due to heavy rain, but several gardeners put on a brave face and got on with it.  We got wet, but there were a couple of breaks in the cloud and the garden is looking so green and lush, with plenty of new growth, that it made it all worthwhile.  We took off the fleece covers this week as the night time temperatures have improved but have had to replace some of them with netting or enviromesh to protect them from either flea beetles, pigeons, squirrels, foxes or maybe even badgers, depending on what they are currently looking for to eat.

A strange start to the growing season, where the planting of tender annuals, tomatoes, courgettes and squashes have been delayed, however we did decide to be bold and plant out the tomatoes, mostly up against the wall which will give a little extra protection – let us hope it was the right decision.  This rain has been just perfect for the garden, prolonged and heavy enough to penetrate right down into the soil.  All too often it can just wet the surface and run off; not reaching those roots at all.  With all the beds given a good mulch of compost, we are more confident that it will retain more moisture which we have definitely noticed this year after the long dry spell in April. 

It was mentioned last week about the 14 week wait for our new tool box – it suddenly arrived Tuesday evening and the next day was assembled and put into place.  It is a smart green metal box, large enough to accommodate our longer hoes and rakes which we had to leave out before.  We are now just waiting on two more cold frames to be finished and delivered and then we will be up to date with new purchases from our Community Grant with the Kent County Council. 

The supermarket, Morrisons in Folkestone, very kindly gave us two dozen petunia plants which we have put into several planters in the Enbrook garden as well as two of the planters at Golden Valley.

A couple of us finally made it to visit another Community Garden based in East Malling, called Communigrow.  A trip we had been trying to make before the onset of Covid.  This garden is more than two acres, and has salaried full and part time members of staff, but it was interesting to see what they are doing, and they were interested in how we have spread out to other areas in our locality to reach out to different people.  Their head gardener was just starting an experiment with dig and no dig beds as they had a student keen to study the similarities and differences.  We are certainly happy with our no dig methods, and the guru Charles Dowding asked us to make a short video of our garden at Enbrook to show our progress so far and to perhaps be included in one of his YouTube videos.  He currently has 400,000 subscribers to his video channel, so no pressure there! 

Typically, the plentiful rain accelerated the growth of the weeds too, but they are quite easy to hoe and remove by hand, again because of the depth of compost.  Apart from looking neat and tidy for the filming, we are also expecting a visit from the RHS in June or July to give us advice on how we could improve and move forward.  Exciting times!

What’s next?

• Put enviromesh over the carrot bed

• Continue planting out the flowering annuals in the other Sandgate gardens and planters.

• Weed the strip of ground along the outside wall

• Start to turn the compost bins at Enbrook

• More potting up of seedlings

• Sow more spring onions and celery

• Weed Fremantle areas

• Keep picking the salads, herbs and spinach,

• Plant out the kale