The sowing begins.....

Hello everyone, 

The winds are back with some of the wet stuff…take care out there.

During the festive break the broad bean seeds were sown and they are coming along very nicely thank you. As it is now February we are now going to begin the sowing of our organic seeds, with spinach being the first to be sown in this new year. The daylight is bright till five pm from this Tuesday coming and will continue to extend the daylight time a further two minutes from that day until the end of March, when we have the hour change. It will also be lighter on the morning that extra two minutes, which should (I did say should) make it easier to jump out of bed!

The sowing and planting schedule will now come into play…We list all the varieties of vegetables we wish to plant and grow. We place the number of seeds to be sown for each crop alongside each variety. The date is given to show the optimum date the vegetable seed should be sown. Then ‘Bob's yer uncle’, we’re off! (well he is my husband really❤️).

Now, I am not intending to place our lovely Lucy into the panic station, but by the end of March we will have sown sixteen thousand, six hundred and fourth five of an assortment of organic seeds. These will include - aubergine, beans, cabbages, red cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, celery, chard, courgette, cucumber, fennel, globe artichoke, kales, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, romanesque, salad leaves, spring onions, tomatoes. Along side these seeds we have the broad bean and spinach seeds already sown and the jerusalem artichokes and shallots to be planted out. Then we have all the heavenly herbs to move or re sow to fill the extra, new, herb garden we have. We will also direct sow radish, salsify, scorzonera, turnip, parsnip and carrots. All our seeds are sourced from organic growers, mainly Tamar Organics.

Now I am exhausted just thinking about the next six weeks. However, one of the best moments being a gardener is visiting the greenhouses each morning to check on the newbies and seeing tiny weeny green shoots showing just above the compost. Brilliant. This is when me and my mug of black coffee go for a wander round each greenhouse, I just look. It is a joy to see new growth, to me that is the sign of a new year and then to be excited about how the crops will take to transplanting and growing.

Each year we learn more and more about the areas we are planting in, as Bob says, “this next year we will be even better”. For instance we now realise where the very wet areas are, the dry areas, and where we have issues with mice or moles and the fact that we have to accommodate and deal with Mother Nature, so do we need to add to the ladybird or bee population within the growing areas on the farm.

The sowing and planting schedule ties in very nicely with the crop plan (remember the white board?). The knowledge we are gaining, from year on year, farming the land also plays its part. Adding the schedules we are producing (pardon the pun) together with the knowledge we are gaining, we have a plan. And we love a plan! 

Off now to crack on with the plan,

Till next week,

 Ann👩‍🌾