Spring Planting, the Greenhouse, & a Special Walk

Hello Everyone,

What a busy week we have had! Although we have woken to white frost on a number of days this week, the days soon warmed up with the sun, and we have been able to free ourselves of layers of warm and chunky clothing…after all it is now the Spring Season. Hooray!

At both the Farm and Walled Garden, lots has been happening. 

The Walled Garden

As I previously mentioned, the soft fruit bushes had been ordered and were delivered last week. This week it has been brilliant to be able to plant them out into the bed assigned to these bushes. The picture above shows the first of the bushes to be planted; Yellow Gooseberries, Red Gooseberries and Jostaberries, with Bob in a T shirt, surveying the scene. After these the Honeyberries, Blueberries, Black Currants, and Red Currants were planted. Not only was it a good day of gardening in pleasant weather, it was really good to be planting out into the Walled Garden. 

Those beds at the bottom of the garden will be the only areas used for crops until the end of the Summer. The reason being due to the gigantic greenhouse to be erected around about July. The top part of the garden will need to be left vacant of growing beds, to allow the delivery of the greenhouse parts. In the meantime, the base for the greenhouse has been levelled and some prep work for the path and greenhouse wall has been completed. Not until all the construction work is complete will the remaining beds be marked out and filled with compost. Still such a lot to do!

The Farm

Work is still ongoing preparing the beds and paths in the outside growing areas here on the farm. Sometimes the delivery of items can’t keep up with the speed in which we use them. Wood chip is a good example…we are waiting for another delivery to add to the paths. 

The Jerusalem Artichokes have now all been planted out into the Pond Field. They always go in exactly the same place…once they have been placed in a particular area, any left from harvesting will regrow the following year. This year we are adding new artichoke tubers to increase the number of plants. As they are a very tall plant, we are able to ‘use’ the plants as a wind break…we are in a very windy zone. 

The White Strawberries, which also arrived last week, have been planted out into the middle beds of polytunnel three and four. After chats with Bob this week, we are probably going to be buying bees to help with the pollination of the strawberries. We are also considering hanging nets across the tunnel doors to prevent birds entering the tunnels but allow pollinators easy access. We love seeing birds, however, they do enjoy pecking at tomatoes, leaves, cucumbers as well as the strawberries. 

The polytunnels themselves have been having a good wash. No matter how hard one can try, green moss and algae will always cover the outer plastic. We want as much light to pass through the covering, keeping the covering clean is a must.  

The greenhouse has erupted in shades of green. Hundreds of tiny shoots are now popping through. The Broad Beans are well and truly popping up, nothing better than watching tiny seeds become plants. 

The YouTube Channel 

This week sees Bob taking a country lane walk with Ally, the wife of Chef Alex. Ally plays a crucial role in the project. They discuss the Freyja Project in quite a depth. You will be able to hear how the project is coming along. There are many parts to this project and you will discover some from the chat on a bit of a damp day in the Shire.