Nearly Spring Time

Hello Everyone,

We hope you are all very well, we are all good.

As you can see above, our tunnels are beginning to look full and luscious. You can see Spring Cauliflowers on the left, Onions in the middle and Spring Greens on the right. More Onions, Chard, Spinach, Rocket, Kale, Cavolonero, Lettuce, Orientals and Salad Leaves fill the beds of the other tunnels. They have been ‘over wintering’ and now are ready (or will be ready in the Spring), for you, our lovely customers. Enjoy.

The Lovely Lucy has been sowing more seeds this week. It is important to sow certain crops really early because they take such a long time to germinate. Peppers, Chillies, Aubergines and Tomatoes are such crops. They all take time, they need a consistent temperature of around eighteen degrees to aid germination. To enable this we have heated mats and covers and heated propagators. The seedlings are now popping through nicely. 

The Broad Bean seedlings are now not seedlings anymore. They are now small plants and will, in the next few weeks, be planted out into two large beds of the polytunnels. Then we will really be into the Spring of 2024.

Many of our outside beds are covered with tarpaulin. This is to keep the ground warm and to prevent the growth of plants we do not want. On removal of the tarp, these beds will be ready for outside planting in the Spring. 

The outside over wintering beds, with crops in, are also coming alive. Cabbages are still available and Purple Sprouting Broccoli, for instance, are looking grand. It was also noticed this week that the Globe Artichokes are coming alive and starting to grow…all exciting.

New Course

Hope you read this last week…Bob and I now feel that, after ten whole years of Hexhamshire Organics and growing, planting and harvesting delicious fruits and vegetables, we are ready to share our knowledge. We have decided to offer a day course where you can learn how we carry out our daily and seasonal duties, on the farm, from seed to harvest. We have made all the mistakes, we have learned, now we want to spread the word. The course we offer is now available to book on our website. Go on…give it a whirl for yourself or give it as a gift to someone who would be delighted to learn…We were delighted that we had quite a few people who have booked places already. Thank you.

Next Friday is the start of Spring. Hooray!!! Warmer, lighter days with plants able to grow quicker.

Till Spring, have a great week,

 Ann👩🏻‍🌾