The Sanctuary Garden

Rather than not expecting anyone to arrive, I was concerned we would be swamped. Turns out there were 10 of us, so under the covid limitation and about the right size. Any more would have been too many, particularly if the rain had stay on.

We covered pot sizes, potting up tiny, medium and large seedlings, potting up a tomato and flat parsley from ASDA. Watering, under and overwatering was discussed and demystified. Seedlings and pots were distributed along with high tech planting tools (teaspoons) and everyone had a go.

My small collection of mint was outside and everyone was invited to pinch off a leaf and enjoy the different aromas. I’ll need to propagate them tomorrow. The chocolate spearmint was popular.

We did a bit of a walk around and I knocked out a pot of Ratte potatoes. They are still wee but it was interesting to see them. It allowed me to talk about overfeeding; nutrient burn, and feeding plant in general.

With trays of seedlings, the gardeners left The Sanctuary Garden. It had achieved one of it’s main goals, lifting spirits. Education although important is not the main goal. My spirits were lifted too, thanks to a wonderful group of people. If you attended today, please would you book your place in next week’s workshop.

Some of the comments included

• I’ve learned more tonight that I have in the past four years
• We had fun
• My plants are still alive

This is 3′ square, knocked together quickly with oiled wood and took three wheel barrow loads of compost to fill. I like using a bucket of water to soak the compost before planting and they I water each of the plants after planting. It’s close to the road so I may lose more strawberries to walkers than birds

The jerrycans need to go to the dump. I wanted to make them into little cupboards by cutting around the edge and attach a hinge and snib and then lining it to house a bottle of whisky and a few glasses

The plants are just exploding in the poly tunnel and the seedlings are all needing to be potted up and planted out. I don’t have any more space so I’m using the lawn outside.

Potted up are swedes and cabbages ready for when the early potatoes are pulled up.

Tomatoes for Africa at the moment. Everywhere you look they are growing and blooming. Tomatoes are due shortly. The broad beans are tall and full of flowers and I’ve noticed more flying insects so I’m hoping they are being pollinated.

There was a small section of the potato bed that I’ve used to plant out Pak Choi, hopefully it won’t bolt too quickly.

The wind managed to knock over a seed tray of onions forcing me to make an onion raised bed. They are looking a little sad but should recover quite quickly

A mixture of relief and delight washed over me when two people arrived for the workshop. Both known plant killers, brown thumbs and unsure about even being at the event.

We went through watering, how to water, when plants need water, watering seedlings and why they die so easily. Then did little on seed size and how to handle them differently. Rootbound pots, what causes it, and how to untangle and pot up the plants. We covered splitting plants, supermarket plants specifically. Briefly covered vermiculite, perlite and compost. I also covered garden tools, and how few you really need.

By then end of the hours discussion, they both left with plants for their garden and windowsills. There was no pressure to ensure they lived, rather just to have a go.

They both seemed to have enjoyed it and learned something new. I enjoyed it too.

My initial plan was to use pallet wood to make beds, however time pressure meant I used what I had at hand. My beds have all been built with bricks and blocks. Until today.

Wood rots, and I did not want to use a manufactured preservative that would typically contain unsavory chemicals that I did not want plants I would eat, taking up. I decided on vegetable oil, it’s cheap and would offer some protection. One post recommended using vinegar with it so I did.

The wood was donated from furniture plus, it’s scrap bed slats. This limited the size of the bed to a bed size but it’s worked out well.

Much has happened and the temps in the poly tunnel are rising and the vegetables are responding. The potatoes are now poking their noses above the soil.

A new chilli bed in the poly tunnel. I’ll be able to interplant with lettuce or some other quick growing veg. Thanks to Lynda for donating the blocks.

The only word I can think of to describe nettle tea, where nettles are added to water and left for weeks, is latrine. This FPJ on the other hand smells like molasses and sweet ferment. They both do the same job. about a ‘house measure’ of black syrup is added to a watering can, and leafy plants are watered this nitrogen rich feed. They literally take off.

The process is simple. Collect nettles and doc leaves, using as much protection as possible. Welding gauntlets are advised as is a long sleeved shirt and wellies. When the barrow is full, use a sharp spade and much like the Zulu women of old who pounded maize in a mortar and pestle, cut up the nettles and dock leaves. It does not require huge amounts of force or you’ll probably damage the wheel barrow. After about five minutes, when it’s starting to look chopped up, add the brown sugar, I added 2kg, about 4 lbs. Mix and chop and change the orientation of the blade from time to time. After another five minutes it’s going to look bruised, dark green and the sugar will be well mixed in.

Add it to a 5 gallon bucket and gently compress it with the spade. Those buckets split in a heartbeat. Use an ordinary bucket filled with soil or rocks to weight everything down. Give it a mix every a few times over the next two weeks.

You will have a delicious, effective, organic nitrogen feed that cost £3.10 (sugar from Lidl) and you know what has gone into it. I’d not worry about shelf life because you’ll use it up pretty quickly.

For Scotland, it’s warming up. An early start planting out the new bed meant it was not too unpleasant. So I grew up in Zimbabwe, I should be used to the heat; that’s sounds plausible but I’ve been in the UK longer than I’ve been in Africa so I’ve acclimatised, besides my head meds also give me the sweats.

In the bed is some tobacco, Virginia and some Cuban cigar wrappers, lucky dip cauliflowers, chinese cabbage, and some drumhead cabbage. I was barely out with the seedlings and the cabbage whites were fluttering around. The hope is that by using upturned plastic pots to keep the fleece off the seedlings, the fleece will keep pests away and give them an advantageous micro-climate. The buckets of potatoes, onion and garlic have also been moved outside, which means I have space for another poly tunnel bed. More bricks…..

Using pallet wood, rather than buy a cage, I built a frame for the water butt. Without the frame, the water butt turned into football and because the base was not level, rolled off and emptied itself. My first job was to level the base. The pallets were placed onto to blocks and level.

The frames were held together with corner brackets and screws, used an angle grinder to smooth off the protruding screws. Vertical timbers kept the hoops in position and it was filled to about half. The tap ordered on ebay, arrived and was fitted on the IBC tank. I’ll let the chlorine dissipate overnight. It will make watering the poly tunnel so much easier.