Sandgate Community Garden

It has gone from being wet to just snow, bitterly cold and more snow.  Nothing got done at the garden this week, but it has been visited often to break the ice on the pond.   It has always been said that you should break the ice on a frozen pond to release any gases from dead leaves and silt at the bottom, but now experts are telling us that it may not be necessary to do so unless you have fish.  Always a contradiction to be found on many a subject!  However Wildlife rely on the water being available too.

The plants are now looking very sad as you can see in the pictures below, and it will be interesting to see if they perk up once the temperatures rise.  Our plastic cold frames were the only coverings to keep the snow away from the plants.  It was possible to track all the garden visitors from human footprints to dog or fox paw prints and birds feet leaving long trails.

Being stuck indoors gives the ideal opportunity to catch up with orders such as new plants and seeds.  Last year we had to make do with donated seeds and plants or buy at out of season sales or attend seed swaps.  This year, and as a result of our plant sales last year, we are in the delightful situation of being able to order the seeds and varieties we want, such a luxury.  We have a large selection of seeds from at least seven different companies, and they can come in quantities of just half a dozen, to thousands.  If you know what you are doing, it is possible to grow and collect your own seeds; however we do not have the space to be able to do this successfully.  We are hoping to be able to sow and grow even more than we did last year.  We will be advertising when the tomato or squash plants are available so keep a look out for that – the plan is also to have other plants available too. 

Now that the daylight hours are longer, the first seed sowings of spring onions, lettuce, spinach, coriander, early cabbage, broccoli, broad beans, peas for shoots and parsley can be made.  It is far too cold outside for the seeds to germinate successfully, so they will have to be kept indoors, and as soon as they germinate, put outside with protection in a greenhouse or cold frame.  If you have the luxury of a greenhouse or polytunnel , now is the time to be sowing aubergines, peppers and chillies.   Later on in the week we will be sowing radishes and beetroot. 

The subject of seeds is absolutely vast believe it or not – there are so many considerations if you really get into the subject.  One of the biggest issues was that seed companies never had to tell you when the seeds were harvested, just the year in which they were packed for selling, and so it was impossible to know how old seeds were.  One bonus of Brexit and Covid has been that seed companies sold out of seed in 2020, something unheard of, so it is likely that seeds this year will be fresh.  It has certainly been a learning curve for many horticultural companies with an unprecedented leap in the amount of households now growing much more at home, or growing for the first time ever.

Always glad to give any advice on sowing, growing and looking after your plants at home, get in touch if you have any questions, or chat to us over the fence at Enbrook Park on Wednesday or Saturday mornings – unless of course it is lashing with rain or snow, or freezing cold!

What’s next?

• Sow the seeds as mentioned above

• Check on any mushy plants needing removing at Enbrook

• Check on Fremantle Park plot and if wood chip paths can be added.

• If not slushy or freezing, there is still wood chips and compost to be collected and moved!

• Pot up two fruit trees

The weather continues to impact on progress this week, but not that surprising for early February.  It was too wet to work at the garden on Wednesday as it was last Saturday, but happily there was a break in the clouds for this Saturday morning and a scramble to book an hour session. 

The figures for January rainfall were 152.1mm, which is rather a lot and certainly explains why the grass at Fremantle and Enbrook is so saturated and slippery. 

In spite of the fact the snowdrops are out in full flower and now the wild primroses at Enbrook, we are in for a tough week to come with snow and the freezing cold out to test the vegetables we have been nurturing and covering in the past few months – it will be a difficult time for them.  Many of these winter hardy plants have their own inbuilt anti-freeze, and are not therefore reduced to a mush when a hard frost happens, however, they do have their limits.

No sooner had our newsletter gone out last week mentioning the need to order some wild flower seeds for a bare earth patch, one of our gardeners, and font of knowledge about such things, had been on the case and got the seeds already.  We are to look forward to a wildflower mix of 16 flower species, known as a ‘moths and butterflies’ garden mix – sounds fabulous.  These days there are a multitude of wild flower mixes available for every garden situation you can imagine, the choice is mind boggling.

The seed potatoes are now available to buy.  Too early to plant out as they suffer from the frost, so they are being ‘chitted’, the process of allowing them to put out a few shoots whilst sitting on an indoor window ledge, just waiting for that time in early April when they will be planted.  We have just one variety called ‘Charlotte’, and we may get others, but space is tight and they take up rather a lot, so you have to be selective.

A few weeks ago I mentioned a kind local who instead of getting rid of, or composting spare plants from the garden, had put them out on their drive for anybody passing to take.  We had another opportunity to acquire more flowering perennials being removed from a garden, and so planted some in Enbrook garden, as well as potted up many more to be planted in any of our other sites.  Day lilies, geraniums, crocosmias, and irises, will all make a lovely display to benefit us, and of course the visiting insects.  It looks as if there will be lots of things to look forward to in the garden this year.  A picture of a vase of sweet peas has been added to the photos below to remind you of what is around the corner.

What’s next?

• If the frosts are severe it would be best to just keep checking all the covers and nets are in place

• Make sure the pond is not frozen solid – make a hole in the ice

• First seed sowings will be in mid – February, so check out plant trays and compost in preparation.

This newsletter is all about saying thank you to the people who are helping us to get things done, there are times when it can seem the task is too great, or will cost too much, but more often than not we manage to find ways to progress.

Two things needed sorting out at Enbrook – Our tool box has been broken for some time now, and we have to raise seedlings or keep plants at various houses.  Fortunately Councillor Rory Love of Kent County Council has awarded us a grant through the Combined Member Grant Scheme to enable us to replace that tool box and keep seedlings cosy in some cold frames until ready to be planted out.  We realise how fortunate we are when such help comes along and it makes a big difference to how we function.

This week some of us have been concentrating on work at Fremantle Park, Sandgate.  The Parish Council are kindly allowing us to take on some growing space there, and we reported last year on three large wooden containers that were set up and planted with vegetables and herbs which have been watered and looked after by locals living nearby.   The plan is to turn some of the grass into a growing area for vegetables and fruit, plus some bee attracting flowers. 

The ‘no dig’ methods we follow meant covering the area in a double layer of cardboard topped with a good thick layer of compost.  The card smothers the grass and gradually gets broken down and drawn into the soil, the compost gives the fruit and veg a great start and can be planted into straight away.  The only problem is that compost of any type is incredibly expensive, especially in such large quantities; however the horticultural department of the Folkestone and Hythe District Council came to the rescue bringing us two large trailers full of their own compost created in their yard from their work all around the area.  Unfortunately the ground within the park has been saturated by all the recent rain making it impossible to tip the compost straight onto the plot so it had to be dumped on the verge and we took turns to work on barrowing the whole lot to where it was required.  It will take some days to dry out and to make it workable enough to rake into all the right places, but at least a start has been made and we can begin planting soon.

Whilst working there, so many people have walked by, or popped out from their houses to say how great it is to see things going on and how much they appreciate the park in the first place.  The space we are working is very visible to many of the residents as houses and flats overlook the entire park, so we hope to be able to make an interesting and colourful display.

At Enbrook Park our gardeners took turns to check on the plants and cover some of the brassicas being attacked by pigeons, cut back and tidy plants around the pond and spread more compost on one of the asparagus beds where the roots keep being exposed, probably by digging squirrels!  The Saturday session was called off as it has continued to rain, however in spite of the wet, Chris, one of our bee keepers noticed her bees have been busy bringing lots of off-white pollen back to the hive which is thought to have come from hazel catkins.  Flowers in the midst of winter are proving their worth to the colony.

What’s next?

• If it is drier, begin to put down more wood chip pathways at Fremantle Park

• Do not mention the barrowing of chips and/or compost up to the Enbrook garden!

• There are still some seedlings to pot up

• Check on pruning required to trees and shrubs.

• Order seeds for small wild flower area.

Another week has flown by, whilst the wood chip pile at the lower wall continues to gradually diminish, and the wood chip piles within the Community Garden grow ever larger.  We are still wheelbarrowing!   It has been colder this week, and an hour of work is enough before the fingers and toes start to complain – we continue to take it in turns to be there, and appreciate that we have become quite a close knit community, shopping for one of our gardeners with Covid, and passing on information about a multitude of questions on our WhatsApp group. 

There have been some frosts, enough to have to break the ice on the pond a couple of times, and yet another storm flew through so that covers needed retrieving and putting back over plants, and one of our plastic compost bins needing fishing out of the pond.   In spite of all this, the rhubarb is pushing its way above the compost mulch obviously un-phased by challenging weather.

It is now a year that our pond has been in place, this is the best time to establish a new pond or to sort out an old one as the plants will be dormant and the wildlife hunkering down in the mud in the deepest part.  One of our gardeners has an established pond right in the High Street, and has been re-lining it as there was a leak.  Below is a picture of one of the frogs helped to temporarily relocate until the work is done.  A pond is the best thing you can have to attract wildlife to a garden, and how simply fantastic to have such wildlife right by the sea and on a busy High Street – it just goes to show how wildlife can flourish in pockets of space if the right conditions are there.  The Kent Wildlife Trust recorded the earliest sightings of frogspawn in mid-January, so it would just be perfect to see any in our pond this year.

With most of the winter work nearly complete, the beds have a mulch of compost, the paths have a covering of wood chips, and the compost bins all turned, the three main workers of organic matter can get to business.  We follow ‘no dig’ principles which mean that the worms, fungi and bacteria work for us to break down organic materials be they fresh in the compost bins or on the paths.  This year we have seen a delightful range of mushrooms and soil mycelia which some of the gardeners find disconcerting, until reassured that these forms are beneficial for the garden and to be welcomed.  The world is only just beginning to understand the relationship between fungi and plants but it is known that they live to benefit each other to access nutrients, water and carbohydrates.  No dig enables the plant roots to find mycorrhizal fungi in the soil which wrap around the roots to begin the exchange, and to continue this relationship without any soil disturbance which will break the cycle.  Below are a few of the fungi forms both great and small seen recently in the garden, of course we always respect the fact that unless you really know your edible fungi, they should never be eaten.

What’s Next?

• Continue the wood chip migration

• Net the kale as the birds are making a meal of them

• Search for any more seedlings worth potting up

• One asparagus bed needs extra mulch

• Rake up escaping compost

It has been more like weather for frogs and ducks rather than community gardeners this week, but some of us made it to the garden at some point suitably dressed for the occasion in all over wet weather gear and some determination to get a few jobs done.  Last year the wet weather left pools of water on the surface of the soil, and we came away with muddy boots, but this year there is none of that so we can already see that the compost and wood chip paths are helping the structure of the soil.

The Oca got cleared, more beds mulched with compost, wood chips bagged up, sedge grass and brambles removed then composted, and the perimeter hedge trimmed.  On pulling up a parsnip, one of our gardeners was surprised to find that the entire body of the root had been invaded, hollowed out and made into a red ant nest teeming with ants, larvae and eggs.  He managed to grab a few photographs before the inhabitants scurried off with the nest contents to pastures new.  That was an unexpected encounter for both parties.

There are always things to be found in the garden to surprise and interest.  Below is a picture of one of our Romanesco broccoli heads which are now nearly ready to be picked.  It is rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fibre and carotenoids.  More interesting is the fact that it has the most fabulous pattern, and is apparently a natural fractal vegetable representing the Fibonacci or golden logarithmic spiral.  The head is made up of smaller heads which exactly mimic the shape of the larger head, and repeats itself ad infinitum until too small to be seen; it is quite mesmerising, and tastes pretty good too.

Although plant growth at this time of year is slow or even dormant in some cases, the plants we have will be making some good root establishment below the soil, and preparing themselves for the warmer, longer days which will eventually come.  The broad beans can be seen pushing up against the fleece, but need the protection from the icy blasts of the wind.   They also need protecting from the pigeons that have already taken liberties with a few of the purple sprouting leaves sticking out of the netting.  You can tell it is bird beak damage as opposed to slugs or snails as the birds will tear at the softer parts of the leaf around the main stem and ‘veins’ , leaving a skeletal structure – slugs and snails generally just eat the lot!

We share what we have grown as it is harvested and although there is not enough to store over the winter months, some of us have stored a squash or two from our own gardens which if kept cool and dry should keep well into the spring.  Below one of our gardeners has shared a photo of her ‘Prince’ squash picked some three months ago, cut open to show the lovely deep orange flesh which then ended up in a delicious soup.  There is nothing finer on a cold and wet wintery day.

What’s Next?

• Just check that the parsnips are all harvested

• If parsnips all gone then mulch with compost

• Remove all old and tatty leaves from leafy veg

• Check on all the net and fleece coverings

• Start to turn compost bin 2 into bin 3

• Start to turn compost bin 1 into bin 2.

Looking back at the list of things to do last week, there are still many of the jobs unfinished.  A combination of a seriously cold and soggy start to the week, and the fact we cannot meet in numbers is slowing us down.  We are taking it in turns to visit the garden to carry out tasks, and others are doing what they can if they take their exercise there. 

Some of the parsnips were pulled up, and they did not seem too bad considering!  The outside of the perimeter fence has been tidied, and yet more wood chips moved.  Two large pots of mint have been divided to make several new plants – always satisfying to make many plants from the one parent, and they will all be used for various projects this year.   The Goji berry plants got staked and tied in and the kale covered in netting again, as something had obviously discovered it and had been having a great time tearing some of the leaves off!

In complete contrast, the planters at Fremantle Park are full of brassicas, with no netting, and are looking incredibly good.  Always interesting to grow the same things in different situations and contemplate the results.

We practice ‘no dig’ gardening, and our modern day guru is Charles Dowding.  The principles of ‘no dig’ have been around for longer than gardens have existed, and Charles has a sensible, no fuss approach which is easy to follow and apply to any garden.  He has recently developed a new type of seed tray or growing modules which are perfect for our needs.   Like him, we constantly struggle to find plant trays that will keep their shape and allow you to take the plants out easily without breaking; deep enough to grow most things, and with sixty cells per tray, plenty of plants can be brought on at a time.  After only a few days online, the trays were all sold out, and we emailed to tell Charles how disappointed we were, but took the opportunity to tell him about the garden and include a few pictures.  Lo and behold he swiftly replied, offering to pay for all the trays we wanted when the next batch is manufactured, and £250 for any future project!  How amazing and kind; he has gone up even further in our estimation.  It was also intimated that some of our pictures may be used, with our agreement, on his web site – fame at last.

Talking of fame and being on web sites, the Sandgate Parish Council now has all of our weekly newsletters since the garden began, documenting our progress, on their web site, to be found under the Community section on the main menu.  Tim Prater, our Parish Council Chairman, has spent many an hour patiently going through each letter and putting them down for posterity.  How proud and chuffed we are, thank you Tim!

What’s Next?

Much of the same as per last week:

• Clear the Oca and parsnips

• Mulch the uncovered beds

• Cut back the sedge grass and brambles from the bee hive path

• Start to trim back the perimeter hedge.

• Still got wood chips and compost to sort out

Happy New Year!

Fortunately we did not suffer much in the way of damage following Storm Bella last week, just a snapped sign and a few covers escaped – it could have been much worse.  Neither have we experienced much in the way of frost compared with much of the country.  The pond had a thin covering of ice, but it quickly melted.  However it is being hinted that we are to experience much colder weather in the weeks to come. 

The rainfall for December was 123.7mm locally, which seems quite a lot, although not as wet as October with 230.4mm.  The driest month last year seems to be April with just 13.5mm of rain.

We are still keeping an eye on the pond, and removing any debris that falls or gets blown in, as this can affect the water quality.  Now a year old, we are starting to see the fruits of our labours as regards pond wildlife, and we have seen plenty of water snails as well as dragonfly larvae this week whilst fishing for leaves.  Dragonfly larvae can live in the pond for up to five years, depending on their type, until they emerge and fly away; such an incredible metamorphosis.  We shall continue to monitor what appears in the pond with great interest.

Apart from observing the pond wildlife, we occasionally put up the outdoor camera to check on the nocturnal visitors to the garden.  During December we were visited by various foxes, identifiable by their different tail shapes.  There was no evidence of any badgers which we did see in the warmer months.  On investigation it seems that the badgers are preferring to stay tucked up underground during December, although not hibernating, whilst the foxes are out and about marking out territories and generally making lots of noise as mating season approaches.   As well as foxes, we saw a few unidentified flying objects, which could have been anything, and a couple of locals bringing their veg peelings up to our compost bins!

The compost bins have now been labelled 1, 2 and 3 to help identify which bin is doing what, and so gardeners and locals know where to put garden pruning or kitchen fruit and veg waste.  There are some photographs below showing the system.  Bin number 1 is always the current active bin for fresh additions, and you can see it has identifiable leaves and peelings.  The next picture shows the top of bin 2, with probably about three to four months old compost inside and brandling worms in evidence, still working on it.  Bin number 3 has previously been turned out from bin 2, and is ready for use.  To recap – always put any fresh additions in bin number 1.  Our healthy compost is vital to the garden and it now seems that the RHS is in agreement; Chelsea Flower Show gardeners will now also be judged on the health of their soil, at last the importance of good soil structure is starting to be recognised, but there is still much to be done on that subject in the UK.

It might seem that there is little to do this time of year but that can depend like most things on how much depth you wish to go to, or how long that piece of string is, there are always things to be done. 

What’s next?

• Clear the last of the oca

• Clear the last of the parsnips

• Mulch where the oca and endives were

• Keep bringing the wood chips up from the lower wall.

• Hoe along outside edge of the fence line and the outside wall

• Cut back sedge grass and bramble on bee hive path

We all hope you had a great Christmas however you managed to spend it under the circumstances of tier four.  It has not been quite how we envisaged this Christmas but it was possibly better than being stuck in the cab of a lorry over the holiday period.   One of our gardeners volunteered to spend much of her time collecting gifts and food from Sandgate and delivering to some of the drivers.  It was a drop in the ocean, but at least a few got to appreciate that others were thinking of them, well done and thank you Theresa.

The continuing story of the autumn was the roll of fleece ordered months ago being delayed and delayed.  A further message arrived saying the fleece would now not arrive until mid-March, way too late to protect the plants over the winter months, and then as if by special Santa post it arrived on the doorstep just a couple of days before Christmas.  Incredible!  The broad beans and peas are now tucked up under the fleece blanket ready for any cold and windy weather coming their way.

We had a donation of a few Cerinthe seedlings which have been planted, and a very kind person in Enbrook Road had obviously been clearing their garden and splitting up large clumps of plants, and instead of composting them, had kindly left plants in their driveway for anybody to take and make use of.  This was most appreciated and we had some for a section of the garden we are developing near the bench, of perennial flowering plants for bee and insect life.  If you are considering clearing parts of your garden before the spring, please bear us in mind for any unwanted plants; if we cannot use them in the garden they could be very useful for one of our other projects such as Incredible Edible.

The Incredible Edible alleyway off Chichester Road in Sandgate got a weeding and general tidy up.  Not much going on here for a while but there are herbs and a few swede plants.  Now we are past the shortest day, it will not be too long before we can start planting and sowing seeds again.

Looking back to this time last year it seems that we were busy making the pond and putting the liners in place, it has come a long way since then.  We were also busy wheelbarrowing wood chips to the garden then as we are now, and discussing how much we were looking forward to the arrival of the bees.  What a difference a year has made.  We all wish you a happy New Year, and look forward to seeing how next year will compare with this.

What’s next?

• Review any damage from Storm Bella

• Continue to barrow wood chips up to the garden to store

• Start sorting out the seeds for next year

• Start work on tidying the wheelbarrow area

The Sandgate Community Garden bee hives at Christmas

Christmas Greetings from Ray and Chris, your friendly beekeepers. 

You may be thinking that this is the time of the year when we are sitting by the fire in our Christmas onesies with a box of chocolates and a glass of fine wine… Well that may be the case but we want to assure you that we are still working hard to ensure our bee colonies remain safe and healthy during the cold, damp winter months.  We now have an opportunity to scour bee books, magazines and catalogues to research ways to improve our techniques and equipment ready for the spring. 

The worker bees (all female) will now have foraged the last of the pollen, mainly Ivy, Rosebay Willowherb and Himalayan Balsam and this has been packed away in the hive to provide a source of protein.   All the male bees (drones) have been expelled from the hive to die, this is because the drones serve no purpose during the winter and are voracious eaters of the precious stores.

The queen has stopped laying eggs and her last brood will live for six months (rather than the usual six weeks) and take the colony through the winter.  In order to do this they have to be well-nourished and free from disease.  The colony should have garnered about 20 kilograms of honey during the late summer for the bees to live on.  All our colonies have been checked and supplemented with a sugar syrup to make doubly sure they have plenty of food.

It may surprise many of you to learn that honey bees do not go into hibernation but remain very busy within the hive.  They will have clustered into a ball around the queen, their duty being to keep her fed, warm and healthy.  Warmth is generated by the presence of the bees themselves but it can be increased by the bees shivering to produce heat.  The bees will each move around from the centre to the outside of the cluster and back again to keep each other warm and to regulate the temperature within the cluster so that the queen is neither too hot nor too cold.

Although it may seem strange, colonies of bees survive better and use less food if the winter temperature stays very cold, between +5 and -18 degrees Celsius.  At higher temperatures the cluster of bees breaks up and their increased activity means the consumption of more stores so the bees need to work harder outside the cluster to keep their temperature above +7 degrees Celsius.  Sometimes the bees will not have enough honey stores or perhaps during an unsettled winter they will become too cold and weak to access their nearby supplies and the colony will unfortunately perish.

It is very important at this time of year not to open the hive unnecessarily so a procedure known as ‘hefting’ is used to estimate the amount of stores inside.  Many beekeepers on Christmas Day quickly open the hive to add extra food, regardless of the hefting process, so that our bees share in our festival of goodwill and also enhance their chances of survival.  The food of choice is called fondant and Ray and I have made our own, not because we are tight fisted but because we can be assured of the purity and integrity of the ingredients.  The resulting fondant is pushed into an open container and placed either directly onto the frames or above the crown board.  The fondant is firmer than honey and is simpler and quicker for them to digest.

Ray and I are still visiting the hives on a more than weekly basis to identify any issues.  This involves checking for damage caused by wild animals (woodpeckers in particular) or damage caused by the weather.  We are also checking for any signs of activity, disease or distress.  On a warm winter’s day, we would expect to see some of the bees flying outside but near to the hive.  They will be busy removing any dead or diseased bees, collecting water or doing what is politely called a ‘cleansing flight.’

Wishing all the Sandgate Community Gardeners a Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Safe New Year.  With love from Ray and Chris xxx

The flat wheelbarrow tyre got fixed with a new inner tube and is up and running again, able to trundle yet more wood chips and compost around the garden.  We still have mulching to do in various places, and by Christmas with any luck, the whole of the garden will have been covered in some sort of mulch.   The squirrels have been making their own mulch from spent acorns from the small oak tree within the garden.  Having eaten the acorn, they drop the debris all over the place, or carry off the acorns and dig holes to bury them in.  They never find all of their buried treasure so no doubt we will be in for a few saplings coming through in the spring.

The snapped tree was very efficiently cut down by the kind Saga gardeners/groundsmen with a chainsaw, and all the debris removed.  We managed to find some of the larger pieces to put around the edge of the pond giving the wildlife some extra cover and hiding places. 

This week we made a start on harvesting some of the Oca, or New Zealand yam.  The Oca was planted way back in April and put in spaces around some new Aronia bushes and just left to get on with it; so a great crop for filling in spare spaces.  The tubers begin to swell from early October and can be harvested from mid-November – ideal for a mild area, as they suffer from hard frosts, but can be grown in pots which can be sheltered.  It will be interesting to find out from the volunteers if they feel the crop is tasty enough to be grown again from spare tubers next year.  It can be eaten raw or cooked like a potato.

The wild garlic patch has appeared again and ready for some harvesting.  During the summer when it retreats underground, the space was overgrown with summer squashes, but now it is back and claiming the space, absolutely brilliant made into a pesto. 

The Park is looking very beautiful with all the lights in some of the trees for the Christmas period and not wishing to be left out we have been having a go at making a few decorations of our own to hang on one of the gates and the oak tree.  The shortest day or winter solstice is just over a week away now, and the garden is dozing, 

What’s next?

• Will the fleece ever arrive?

• Continue with the wood chips and mulch

• Continue to remove old and rotting leaves from around the base of plants

• Weed spinach tunnel

• Plant spare lavender