18th May

I am going to start with some very good news.

We have had agreement from the Saltdean Lido to sell our vegetables in their car park on Saturday mornings from 30th May onwards. We will be there from 9am to 1pm to give our customers the opportunity to come and choose their own vegetables, and to stop by to have a chat. (It doesn't have to be about crop rotation or soil enrichment 😊)

So we have been busy this week starting to get everything ready, changing our marketing materials, and getting all the equipment needed. Yet more expense! 🤦‍♂️ No turning back now though, we are in too deep!

(Reminds me of the Tottenham fan who was swimming the channel, and three quarters of the way across, he recognised that he was getting too tired, so turned around and swam back to England😁)

This week has seen some strange weather. I was caught out by the frost which wasn't kind to some of the potatoes

Hopefully the damage is superficial and just the leaves are damaged

Worse though were the storms that hit us. I see myself as being like a shepherd to care for and look after the vegetables. However, when this came in, I scarpered and left them to fend for themselves!

Unfortunately some things didn't fare well.....

Again, I believe that it is just damage to the leaves, but the beetroot took a bit of a shredding from the hail

I managed to get a mini polytunnel a few weeks back that was on its last legs but free to collect. I thought it would be good to home some strawberry baskets, and some of Issy's pots. Alas, the wind and weight of the hail brought it to its knees

We did manage to recover most of the plants and planters

The good news is that our lettuce escaped unharmed under their protective netting, and are looking (and tasting) absolutely marvelous!!

We've been busy transplanting seedlings to the field this week. I've put some climbing beans in next to the runner beans, and put up a temporary windbreak to try and help them establish. It's a bit of a mixed bag so far, but I have spares so we can replace any casualties

We've also got some courgettes in the ground

Along with a giant bed of squash (butternut, kuri and patty pan)

Let's end with some good news too. Some of the strawberries are starting to look good.

Well, ok, one of the strawberries is looking good! The plants really are a mixed bag with some looking very promising and others being a bit questionable. This is an experiment as I've no experience of growing fruit.

Mind you, my vegetable CV is as short as Rachel Reeves economics CV but I seem to be getting by 😉