Spring Flowers, Soap Making and Easter Eggs

April has arrived, and our Garden Gate Project community garden is bursting with life! Right now, the garden is a sea of golden daffodils, glowing in the spring sunlight, with more beautifully coloured tulips opening by the day and bluebells just around the corner. It’s a truly magical time of year, with new growth emerging everywhere.

Our bed of pussy willow is in full bloom, one of the earliest sources of pollen for insects. Watching the first plump bumblebees of the season buzz busily between blooms is a reminder of nature’s delicate balance and the importance of these little pollinators in keeping our ecosystem thriving.

Excitingly, the tadpoles have hatched in record time this year, thanks to the recent warm spell. Our pond is now full of tiny swimmers, a sure sign that spring is well underway.

Over in the crafting area, our community has been busy too. A group of us recently dried some flowers and made soap using fragrant plant oils distilled from our very own garden, with the help of Broadstairs Botanicals. Meanwhile, in the arts and crafts hut, our creative members have been crafting papier-mâché Easter eggs, layering strips of newspaper over balloons before decorating them with vibrant paints and patterns.

In the vegetable beds, trays of pricked-out kohlrabi seedlings are ready to be planted. This versatile brassica, best harvested when the bulbs are around the size of a tennis ball, is delicious roasted, grated into salads, or used in stir-fries. When planting kohlrabi, ensure they have plenty of space—about six inches apart—to allow for good growth.

We also have plenty of tomato plants ready to go into the polytunnels and outdoor beds, with extra available for sale if you’d like to grow your own. For the best results, plant tomatoes in a sunny, sheltered spot, and pinch out the side shoots to encourage fruit production.

If you want to add some fresh flavour in your kitchen, we have some zesty mint plants available. To add a splash of colour to a sunny corner of your garden, we have stunning orange hemerocallis daylilies, which will flower beautifully in July.

If you’d like to visit, our garden is open to visitors Monday to Friday from 10 am until 3 pm.

Don’t forget to join us for our Spring Open Day on Saturday, 17th May, from 12 to 3 pm! We’ll be serving teas, coffees, cakes, pizzas, and soup, plus there will be a plant stall and a selection of handmade arts and crafts from our talented team.

We hope to see you soon—until then, happy gardening!