Different Seasons in One Day

Hello everyone,

As I write this Journal, it is Saturday, early evening. We woke this morning to a fresh but sunny day with a completely blue sky. Nine hours later and it is a total white out. The big snow is falling like it was Christmas! It is freezing!

I was hoping for a lie-in, this morning….it was a Saturday! However, we both decided on an early start and thankfully we cracked on with some grafting. With the lovely blue sky and a bit of warmth from the sun, Bob and I decided to work in the Pond Field. It felt like a lovely Spring morning and we were actually dressed for such a day, no more bulky jackets, hats and scarves.

Each Spring we top up all of our growing areas with a fresh layer of compost. Compost is an organic material and is one of the main key elements of healthy soil, so it is very important that we get the compost on before the Spring/Summer crops. When I say ‘we’, Graham the Great is doing the vast majority, but we are trying to help as much as possible. The compost arrives in ten ton loads…..ten ton is a huge amount of compost! With luck on our side, the whole growing area will be ready for planting out in the next two weeks.

We are following the ‘no- dig’ principles outside as well as inside the polytunnels. We did put compost down in the Pond Field last season. However, we did make a few errors last year and this year we are correcting said errors. For instance: some parts of the ground did not get a good enough layer of compost and some weeds did grow through, this year we are making the layer thicker; a large area became completely water logged so, drainage was placed in this area over the winter time; we kept a large path right down the middle of the field which we felt was a waste of growing ground, this path is being removed by a thick layer of compost. All the issues are being rectified. The enlarged Pond Field growing area will amount to one third of an acre.

The Greenhouses are bursting with young seedlings. The tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines have all been potted on. (by The lovely Lucy) Space is at a premium here, the cold frames are being used as is one of the large polytunnels to store trays of seedlings, mainly those of the onion and brassica family. They will then be planted out into the tunnels and the freshly layered Pond Field. But this will not be until the threat of more snow has gone!

We are not being provided with the gorgeous weather we had last Spring. This Spring is turning out to be quite a cold season. This can be a worry as the fruit tree blossoms could bloom anytime now. The coldness could kill the blossom, resulting in less, or even worse with no, fruit. I know you all would like warmer weather. We certainly need some less freezing conditions for our growing crops and it would also be great to work in less layers of clothing!

Thank you for placing your orders before midday, Tuesday. A top tip would be to place your orders between Sunday and midday Tuesday as we renew the produce choice on the website on a Saturday evening. Our new website is being built and tested as we speak. We can’t wait for the new design and we hope you enjoy using it.

Take Care,
Ann👩‍🌾