Ann's Farm Journal

Keep up with all of our updates from the farm including what’s new in season!

Tomato Season

Tomato Season

Hello Everyone, 

Well it is my favourite time of the year…Tomato Season! The weather we had this week has brought them on and they are ripening very nicely. Always a silver lining and the excessive heat on Monday and Tuesday have helped them, but not everything! Our peas and sugar snap just dried up and the strawberries did the same. The gooseberries are also on the way out.. The leaves and lettuces went to seed. No end of watering could rectify the problems the heat caused.

The scientific powers that be say that we will have to accommodate for the world heating up as it is only going to get hotter for longer. They say it is not too late to bring the emissions down so that the temperature degrees do not go up. Are the political powers that be listening? Hexhamshire Organics, like many farmers, lost some crops, lost man hours, used much more water and could not complete daily tasks. However, we did not loose our home, mementoes or livelihood, unlike many people within Europe as a whole.

As to the future, here on the farm, we will be considering our crop plan carefully…for instance, maybe some crops do not need to be in the polytunnels during the summer season. We shall also consider the ground beneath us. We may just soak the ground with our saved water, from the tunnel guttering, when the weather man says ‘it’s going to be a scorcher’. We always have lots of stuff to be considering, the mind is constantly ticking over…welcome to Bob’s World.

My world is back to the tomatoes and the summer season. They are yummy by the way.

We also have a number of varieties of basil to compliment the tomatoes with cucumbers, aubergines, French beans, summer squash, peppers, celery and summer leeks, brassicas and onions during this season. Everything just grows really quickly…sometimes right before your very eyes! We are seeing this in the greenhouses, our propagation centre. The lovely Lucy has been sowing seeds for the next season of crops. (I have to say that it has been far tooooo hot to be inside the greenhouses. A sowing station has been arranged in a little shade outside the greenhouses). Within days the seeds have germinated and the tiny first leaves are showing signs of new growth. As I say, Bob’s mind is always ticking over, right into the next season.

We are switching off a little…like tomorrow for instance and just to confuse you, tomorrow is Sunday and I am composing the journal now, on Saturday night. Tomorrow we are off on a road trip to RHS Tatton. So, we are sort of switching off, but a bit of ‘coals to Newcastle’. I am very excited to be having a day away and having a good look at some beautiful gardens, then dream how mine could be. There has also been quite a lot of vegetable growing, so, that will be really interesting…more on what the show offered us, next week.

Now is a great time to introduce your children or grandchildren to seed sowing. Fun to get a little mucky. Plus the seed sowing promises a fast growing result…try flowers, lettuce or radish and within days you have a plant. During the waiting days the little ones could make a bird bath, bug hotel or create a little pretend doorway, up against a tree, into a fairy land. Our grandchildren love to lift stones and rocks searching for worms and bugs. Just a few ideas to help over this holiday season. 

Well I am now going to bed as it is an even earlier start than usual. The lovely Lucy is coming to care for all the animals tomorrow. This really is a day off!  

Take care, 

The Excited Ann 👩‍🌾