New Year, New Seeds

Yes it’s that time of year again: January means the time to order seeds and do my tax return. Seed ordering is usually my reward for completing the return, so I was glad to file that bugger and then get on with the proper business of choosing what to grow this year.

Speaking of HMRC, they have been sending me ‘helpful’ letters recently, advising me to prepare for the ‘unlikely event of a no-deal Brexit’ – while this could mean almost anything in my line of work, I took it to mean order seeds: lots of seeds, and soon (even though they are mostly from the UK). I’m also going to have another go at growing aubergines this year: and also camomile, as I seem to get through a lot of camomile tea – I rather think this year might call for many cups of calming beverages.

I get the bulk of my seeds from Tamar Organics, and the Seed Co-operative, with a smattering of what I can’t get from there from other companies such as Moles. Most of the seeds arrived within a couple of days, so I’m looking forward to getting on with getting some early bits going in trays, such as lettuces, spinach, spring onions and fennel.

Changing Seasons

Ahh September: the time of lingering summer, chillier nights, and also when you get a bit of a chance to keep on top of all the veg. The courgettes and cucumbers are now starting to slow down; and while they are still producing well, they are giving us a sensible amount of food rather than the crazy gluts of August. The tomatoes however have now taken off instead, and we’re picking around 15-20kg three times a week just to stay on top of them. The peppers and chillies are starting to turn red; and perhaps most excitingly of all, the pumpkins and squashes in the field are turning orange, woohoo! Soon we’ll be having a Pumpkin Picking Party to help bring the harvest in – if you fancy a few hours of picking and moving these beasts to the safety of the snug polytunnels, in return for some tasty lunch and a pumpkin to take home, let us know – more details to follow shortly…

Lettuces and spinach that have done so well are starting to go to seed and are being cut down; they will provide some kind of ground cover over the winter, while mowing ensures the weeds don’t take too much hold. Successional sowing and planting has been key to continued supply of salads and spinach over the summer; and while we had the odd mishap due to slugs hoovering off trays of seedlings at a time, or deer having a good old munch, we’ve done this pretty well this year. The last lot of outdoor spinach and salads went in last week; after that we’ll be relying on tunnel plantings.

Meanwhile Marmalade tunnel’s green manure of Persian clover has done very well (and smelt amazing – also beloved by hundreds of bees), and has now been strimmed and mown down, ready for incorporation into the soil, to give the next lot of salads a great start to life. Sowing winter salads in August and September is always a bit bitter-sweet: it means the craziness of the summer is coming to an end; but the tastiness of mustards and winter salads is on the horizon…

Ready To Grow

Yes, despite the friggin endless wind and still rather chilly evenings, spring definitely feels like it’s arrived on the farm now: the first clue is the perennial herbs that are starting to put leaf on again, or appear from underground in the case of the lovage, sorrel and chives. That means that the soil temperatures are warming up sufficiently for plants to think that it’s spring – so I’m convinced too. In the polytunnels the ground has warmed up more quickly and stays warmer at night too; the drilled carrots have germinated in the battered Vole tunnel (just waiting for a less windy day to take off the ripped plastic and reskin it – if you’re interested in coming along to help out in return for lunch, please let me know and drop me an email!).

I’ve also been transplanting some spring onions, lettuce, peas and spinach sown in February, and drilled a couple more small rows of beetroot in the Baby Elephant tunnel, just to keep us going till the maincrop can be drilled outside in the field once the ground is prepared. A few weeks ago I also planted some redcurrant, blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes (10 of each I think), next to a strip of globe artichokes and few older redcurrant bushes I put in a couple of years ago.

I keep forgetting about this little strip (it’s behind the Vole polytunnel), and the birds take off all the redcurrants before I remember about it in time to net it; so hopefully having a more substantial fruit patch will encourage me to check it more regularly, and get a decent crop off it in a couple of years too. I dug a few strips over, then covered with Mypex and/or mulched with woodchip to help keep the weeds down; there are also a few rhubarb plants there which get munched by rabbits, so I’ve mulched and fleeced that for the time being to see if it helps.