Summer’s here!

Even though the sun is still only making the odd appearance, we’re now officially into the summer season and it’s been busy as usual for all the volunteers at the garden.

Thank yous

June started with the digging of a trench for a water pipe that involved a bunch of volunteers on a Saturday morning helping Martin with this scary looking machine… but then a few days later, we had this lovely tap to show for all the hard work.

The funding for all the work came from the local masons at Graystone Lodge, Whitstable, so a big thank you to them!

And whilst we’re thanking our friends, we were donated a new gazebo and sail from Marilyn which will offer a bit of welcome shade to the hard working volunteers and visitors to the garden. Thanks Marilyn!

Volunteers, gardening and produce

In the garden, the veg has been coming on well; we’ve had a good crop of broadbeans, spring onions, chard, lettuce and salad leaves. We’ve been earthing up the potatoes and the cucumbers and tomatoes are looking good in the polytunnel. The lovely photo above shows our team of harvesters who start each Thursday morning picking our fresh, organic produce to sell on the stall at the garden gate which is proving increasingly popular.

We also had one of our regular mini workshops about cuttings in June where Jules talked us through the best time, and right way to take softwood cuttings. And the plant sales continue to do well every Thursday.

We’ve also got a regular number of volunteers now joining for a quieter gardening session on a Monday afternoon from 1pm but we’d love to welcome more, so if you fancy it, just come along and introduce yourself or if you want to find out more, get in touch admin@streamwalkgarden.com.

Groups

Our work with Brightshadow’s Zest Group started in June and so far we’ve enjoyed working with the team in a dyeing workshop and in a South American themed session that involved percussion instruments. You can find out more about Brightshadow here.

Little Green Fingers’ children got to taste artichokes (from a jar) after having a look at the garden’s lovely plants, and the loganberries behind the greenhouse are regularly harvested by our regulars who know to pick the deep red ones, and we also welcomed a visitor to one of our sessions. This is Andrea with a slow worm.

Andrea has also been busy beginning to empty the LGF raised bed in order to get it properly fixed and lined ready for planting.

And our sessions with Whitstable Youth group started on June 24th and the next one will be on July 8th from 5-7pm.

Looking ahead

We’ve got a number of activities planned for the Wild About Whitstable Week which will be from 12th-17th August. It’s our third year participating in the local event to promote nature and at the garden we’ll have a Bio Blitz – where we get to monitor all the wildlife we find, some nature-inspired poetry and a wild medicine walk. More details can be found here.

Back again next month!