A cake, a saw, some planks and pile of shingle

Last Monday’s garden group meeting coincided with my birthday, which just had to be celebrated with cake and bubbly. The lovely folks at Steep Street café had made a fabulous carrot cake – but I forgot to bring a knife. 

 

 

Never mind, we are gardeners, we can solve practical problems - and Anja had brought a brand new saw. Yes, a saw, intended for cutting wood but, we discovered, adapts perfectly to cake. You can spot it on the table. So job done, cake and celebration duly forthcoming. 

 

 

 

 

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, all this mirth and merriment was just a brief prelude to the hard work of the evening. Some of us set to clearing debris large and small from the area of rock and plants that already seems like a natural maritime ‘garden’.

 

 

 

I have dubbed it the Harry Potter garden because it appears like magic behind a door from the old rail platform. Once cleared, the whole thing looked a lot better and will be improved in due course by the addition of more rock outcrops and other features. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, all attention is focused on getting the East Yard area ready for the SALT festival and the talk about the shingle garden.

 

We want to include pieces of timber with the beautiful texture and patina of age, so as darkness was falling there was a parade of volunteers carrying planks and posts into East Yard, Chris and Louella bringing up the rear with a cart laden with metal finds that have decorative potential. 

Mitchell, who works with the Harbour Arm, also made the fabulous discovery of an old lifebouy on a pole. Such a cool accessory for a garden associated with the sea and Folkestone’s maritime links. 

We’re calling it a shingle garden – and yesterday a large pile of beach shingle arrived, so Mitchell and his team got busy. Distributing some around the existing plants that grow wild there, marking out beds and paths and looking at where we might position sculptural upright timbers all meant that our vision for East Yard seemed to take a great leap forward. But there’s still loads to do, so long may the dry, sunny weather last!

 

 

Next Monday’s meeting (26^th September) is at 5pm to get in the maximum work time before dusk. Anyone who has time to help during the following days, especially Thursday, will be gratefully welcomed. It’s all very exciting now. Contact Louella with any questions, either through the SALT shingle garden Facebook page or at louella@folkestonefringe.com