The Magnificent 7

Hello Everyone, 

Bob and I hope you are well.

Firstly, we want to apologise for last week’s issues with the website. The web development team corrected the problems, but not until Monday. Thank you for being patient with us.

The issues we had, had absolutely nothing to do with the fact Bob and I had a day away from the farm. For our away day we visited a garden show. Our day at Tatton RHS show was quite a wet one. The weather was inclement, but thankfully many tents were dotted around for the crowds to take cover. One tent we visited, to escape the rain, was the ‘Practical Gardening’ tent. Obviously, Bob did ask a question…’what is the remedy for gooseberry saw fly?’. The experts reiterated our view on how to control the saw fly, but it is always great to have our thoughts confirmed.

My favourite place was the twelve or so gardens, which had been designed and planted by school children. There are some very clever ideas out there.

As much as I do not like to be planning and thinking my life away, gardeners always have to be thinking about the seasons ahead. The lovely Lucy has been concentrating on sowing seeds for the Winter season. We need to be able to plant out the winter crops by the end of August to give them the best chance to grow and be able to provide Fresh Local Organic Produce for you, our lovely customers, right through till early spring 2023. Lots of brassicas, onions, leeks, chard, orientals, lettuce, mesclun and much more, need to be sown. Of the thousands of seeds needed, a start has been made.

We are also about to direct sow seeds. We will have more radish soon with more turnips and carrots also on the way.

We are harvesting lots at the moment. The beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and assorted chillies are cropping very nicely. We hope you are enjoying the taste of this produce. Our potatoes are fab, so good with lashings of butter and mint. We are really pleased with our summer brassicas, particularly our cauliflowers and summer cabbages. Our new kohlrabi is still a little small but it will be good to go soon. 

The way our onions have grown and are growing, we may need bigger boxes…some are huge! The leeks are looking great…in fact most crops look great in my eyes.

We are still planting out for the Autumn season. As you can see above, Bob is planting out autumn brassicas. The Great Graham is prepping the beds and Bob is planting in the beds. We have an easy to remember system for each bed prep. 

It is The Magnificent 7;  

1. Remove the last of the crops.
2. Remove any unwanted growth (weeds!).
3. Add a good layer of fresh compost.
4. Sprinkle the ground with rock dust.
5. Plant out crops. 
6. Water well.
7. Protect or cover if necessary.

The Magnificent 7 sounds easy, and it is, it’s just a little back breaking at times. However, the bonus for me is a great tan (more a weathered look) on my back, shoulders and arms. 

Thank you for your continued support and the returned boxes.

Take care,

 Ann👩‍🌾