1st May : This week we are planting tomatoes in the polytunnels. We’re growing some cherry tomatoes this year, which we haven’t done for a while because as lovely as they are, they take a long time to pick. Anyway, we’re giving them a second chance, choosing larger fruited varieties will de-leaf the plants to make harvesting easier. Hopefully we won’t regret the decision. We’re also sowing squash, sweetcorn, lettuce and French beans and planting lettuce and broccoli in the field and cucumbers and courgettes in the polytunnels.
4th May : This week we are planting peppers in the polytunnels. They are not our most reliable crop, but we keep trying as I know people love them. I’ve read that the key is keeping them consistently warm. This year we’ve kept one of our propagation tunnels as a ‘hot’ tunnel. Partly because it has heated benches but mostly by keeping the doors closed for longer. The plants look great, but the downside is that the warm moist environment has favoured aphids. Normally I would leave this to nature but as the natural predators haven’t got going yet I have used a horticulture soap solution to deal with the pests. To be sure I’ve got them all I have dipped the whole plant in a bucket of the stuff. From now on we will leave it to the natural predators which I know will come. We are doing a whole tunnel of peppers this year. Bell peppers, pointed peppers and also trying a few varieties from Real Seeds. We’ll keep the tunnels closed at night to start with to give them a good start.
12th May : I’ve had a big delivery of irrigation equipment this week. Every year I buy a bit more and this year we should have enough sprinklers to have them permanently on the plot where they are needed rather than moving them around all the time. We have no rain to speak of for a couple of months so there is a lot of watering to do to keep the crops growing! We are also watering our seed bed for carrots, beetroot and parsnips to bring on the weeds, so we can mow them back and make a ‘stale seedbed’ to drill the seeds into. The potatoes are now up and so also in need of a drink – it’s important to keep up with the water to make sure nothing gets too dry.
19th May : We’re now in our hungry gap where veg from the winter stores is running low and the next wave of fresh veg is slow to come on. There will be plenty of veg but smaller portions and lighter shares for a while. This week we are watering potatoes, planting aubergine, basil, lettuce and French beans and sowing more French beans for later in the season. We have our marquee up now and we’re looking forward to our summer events, including more forest school with Green Leaf Forest School and Roots Nature Play, summer cooking workshops for kids and teens with La Bonte Catering and forest school for adults with Full Cup Fire Circle. Details of these TBC but all with be contributing to our Open Day on 7th June if you’d like a taster.
26th May : Taking advantage of the hot weather we are planting heat loving crops: courgettes, sweetcorn, squash, French beans and some outdoor tomatoes. We are irrigating like mad and watching it evaporate within hours but the plants are happy with the warm days and long hours of sunlight and growth is rapid now!