14th September

Let's get straight to the new entries this week

Firstly our latest crop of lettuce is now ready to harvest, and we will be offering this as a loose leaf lettuce product which has proved to be very popular for previous crops

The reintroduction of lettuce has enabled us to add a special offer for this week.

We have created a "salad pack" which is a mix of microgreens, cherry tomatoes and lettuce, and will save you a couple of quid compared to buying them separately (every little helps apparently 😊)

I keep promising that leeks are on the horizon, and I'm delighted to say that these have also been added to our offering today

Green sprouting broccoli joins the line up (apologies for the picture being out of focus 🤦‍♂️)

Our carrot crop was badly affected by the lack of rain over the summer, but I have pulled a couple today, and decided that we should be able to get these back on sale. I've been cautious with volumes available, because you don't know what you are getting until they are out of the ground, so please order soon if you would like some

There may be some strange shapes but they taste good........apparently

The other root vegetable being added this week is parsnip. As with the leeks, some are still small, but we also have some that are racing ahead so I will try and pick the larger ones out first which will in turn allow the others to spread into the gaps that are left

So lots of good news, but I also have some sad news 😢

I planted 6 beds of maincrop potatoes; 3 red and 3 white. I am now down to the last bed of each.

Unfortunately though, these last 2 beds are the lowest yielding that we have ever experienced.

I should be getting about 1.5kg from each plant.

I pulled 40 plants for orders last Friday, and only managed 10kg of potatoes in total, instead of the expected 60kg.

So disheartening, and I expect us to be out of spuds within the next couple of weeks, which is really disappointing 😢

I have told my tale of woe to a few people, and get the response that the potato harvest has been awful across the whole of the UK. Its good to get reassurance that it isn't because of something that I've done wrongly, but it still doesn't help to solve the issue of providing for our valued customers!

(I do have some Charlotte and Bambino potatoes which are growing beautifully, but they won't be ready for a couple of months)

Right, back to the positives, because a lot of our other crops are doing well. the highlights are as follows:

Tomatoes

I spent about 8 hours in the polytunnel this week pruning the tomatoes. I've removed the vast majority of the leaves, cut off any shooters, and chopped their heads off.

From now on, all the energy in the plant will be focused on ripening the remaining fruit

Same for the cherry tomatoes

Growing in abundance!

I also need to spend some time giving the courgettes a serious pruning, but they are not complaining and continue to thrive

Here's an interesting sight (well interesting by my standards anyway). Two courgettes that have fused together!

Also thriving is the spinach

And the chard

And the weeds!!!!

I've got to focus on getting things transplanted into the ground, and the last of this season's seeds sown over the next few days

The weeds will have to wait 😉