Garden as though you will live forever.

William Kent

From us to you

We want to share our gardening knowledge with you! Our plan for this page is to gradually add some tips, tricks and more substantial pieces to what we hope will become a repository of gardening knowledge for everyone. It is our intention that members will share their expertise in short articles or notes, and we will share them with you here. 

Here are a few basics to get started with. And if you have any great gardening tip that you'd like to share, please email us at santrycommunitygarden@gmail.com and we'll post it here. 

Gardening Tips 

• Keep all your tools clean and sterilized, especially when pruning fruit trees. We use sterile wipes to wipe our cutting tools after pruning every tree so as not to pass on any potential viruses/diseases between the trees. You can also use steel wool to wipe down secaturs and lopers. 

• The best time to prune apple trees is twice a year: winter/early spring pruning will boost healthy growth, while summer pruning helps the tree direct its energy on growing the fruit, not growing more shoots. 

• Start chitting potatoes in the next few weeks to get them ready for planting out in March. Chitting means encouraging seed potatoes to sprout. Place the potato 'eye' side up in a container, in a cool, dry, and bright spot. After a few weeks you should see them sprout. See below our potatoes that we have ready to sprout in our polytunnel. 

• In Spring, watch where you work so you don't disturb bumble bees or solitary bees nesting in the grass. Soft sheltered ground is perfect for their nests and helps keep them safe and warm until the summer.  

• Vetch and clover are great natural fertilisers because they fix nitrogen in the soil. They also work well as cover crops, improving soil health in vegetable beds and orchards. 

• The right plant in the right place - all plants need the correct growing conditions for successful, optimal growth.

• Harvest ripe vegetables regularly - picking produce helps encourage new growth.