Neil Young wrote “Rust never sleeps”.  Swap “A garden” for “rust” and it sums up nicely the situation in June. We have started harvesting Jerusalem Artichokes. kale, carrots and yams and will be preparing for the Winter Market day on June 23rd with lots of punnets of pea plants and broad bean plants ready for sale. There will also be kale and silver beet seedlings as well as lots of flowering perennials and bulbs such as jonquils and mixed daffodils. Come along and have a look around. 10am until 2.00pm

Jerusalem artichokes do not store well and are best left in the ground if you don’t intend to use them immediately. They can be pickled and are crunchy and delicious when the pickling is done with fresh tubers. They also make a great soup (look out for our recipe for JA and potato soup – coming soon).

Volunteer Darren and Alan have started re-aligning the edges of the garden beds to create better manoeuvrability for the lawn mower and this will continue through the month. They are also taking the opportunity to have a general tidy up. It’s a good time to see the structure of a garden  which means it’s also a good time to attend to the hard landscaping.

Our new plant display stand is nearing completion and will replace the old one this month. If you have visited the garden recently you will have noticed that the existing stand has reached its “end of life” stage.

There will be no let up in the green waste recycling programme during the Winter, although the lower temperatures mean the compost heaps need less turning than they do in warmer weather. If you have no physical space to dispose of your kitchen scraps by making your own compost or perhaps burying them, we would love you to use this service. One estimate has each household generating an average of 5kg of kitchen waste per week, and putting them into the red bin is a waste of a valuable resource. The green bin option means either a small fraction of the bin’s capacity is used each week or accumulating a bin full of putrefying, smelly scraps. Our service is free and easy to use. If you do have some space and want to set up your own composting system, but are unsure how to go about it, come along on a Saturday and get some free advice.

The new cycle way along Antigua St has opened and whether by coincidence or not (we suspect not ) our takings have suffered a big drop. It’s more difficult to park near us now and the effect has been quite dramatic. All you cyclists (of which I am one), take the opportunity to pick up some fresh produce as you cruise by. You can pick your own, although we’d like you to ask a volunteer if you’re after some root crops.

Apple tree pruning has been completed, dahlias have been cut back and potted up and pumpkins have all been harvested. At our St Martins site tyre stacks will be constructed and filled with compost this month in readiness for new potato planting in July. There will be lots of work done at the Beckenham site ; weeding, cutting back, edge tidying etc.  Volunteers are always welcome.

It’s not long until the shortest day, so stay warm and good gardening.