After one of the wettest springs in memory, the relative dry spell of the last month or so has enabled us to get well underway with planting out our field crops. The endless rain encouraged slug activity to the point where our entire squash crop was under serious threat, with a potentially huge financial impact on The Farm. Luckily, our growing team was able to act quickly and resow just in time for the crop to establish out in the fields.
The Farm is sat on wonderful sandy soil which dries out quickly so, despite all the rain, our focus of late has been on managing our irrigation system, ensuring that our fields are adequately watered, but it's not been plain sailing... Back in May we discovered a potentially catastrophic leak in the irrigation tank - so our ability to water the crops has become a bit of a headache, as we try to conserve water in the tank. It's brought into sharp focus the need for building more resilience into the way we manage water on The Farm and some exciting plans to begin harvesting rainwater from our warehouse and polytunnels are being discussed for the next season.
Our new polytunnel is full of tomato plants (with the first being harvested this week!) whilst our first year of sugar snap peas has proved to be a big success, far exceeding our expectations. Elsewhere, the aubergines are coming on wonderfully, as are the cucumbers. The fields are awash with multicoloured vegetables in satisfyingly straight lines. Nearly 30,000 leeks have been planted by hand by our wonderfully hard working volunteers, and there's still a few more beds to put in over the next couple of weeks.
Everything that's grown here at The Farm, as well as other fresh produce highlights, make their way into the Seasonal Treats collection on the website, so do check that page regularly for the latest availability.
With barely a moment to catch our breath, we will soon hit the (organised) chaos of peak harvest time, an incredibly rewarding time, but one that can feel relentless too. An unbelievable amount of hard work goes into growing organic veg, and I'm so proud of our small and inspiring team for being able to deliver such fantastic produce on such an impressive scale.
