23rd February

• I spent a pleasant afternoon on Tuesday with the inspector from the Soil Association to validate that Organic standards are being followed. Spent about an hour over the field and then a couple of hours going through paperwork. The inspector would pick vegetables at random, and I would then have to show the number of seeds sown, the number of seedlings transplanted, and then the associated sales. I would also need to show receipts for anything used in the process such as compost and seeds. I'm delighted to confirm that we are on track to be able to use the magic "ORGANIC" label from December this year 😊

  
  

• The first of our seed potatoes will be in the ground at the end of March so I started the chitting process this week to encourage them to develop shoots. We've got 300 Charlotte, and 300 Colleen new potatoes laid out in egg trays in the shed at home and all around the house !

• As always, microgreen seeds were sown on Wednesday. Depending on the variety, they either take just over a week, just over two weeks, or three weeks. So every week I'm sowing for the following Friday, the Friday after that, and the Friday after that!!

  
  

The picture below shows the Radish and Broccoli for next Friday

Red Amaranth takes a couple of weeks but is a pleasure to see growing in my opinion

Cabbage is another example that takes a couple of weeks, and is shown on the left here next to the China Rose Radish which was planted at the same time

• Given the wet weather, my main focus this week has been on seedlings in the polytunnel at home

The early tomatoes have been promoted into pots, and are doing nicely

I've sown Radish in clumps of 2-3 seeds. These were sown 10 days ago, and if all goes to plan they will be transplanted in two weeks and be ready to harvest at the end of March (one of the easiest veg to grow I'm told)

I've pricked out the Cauliflower seedlings that were sown on 1st February. The lower photo shows the same seedlings two weeks earlier

Last year I made the mistake (amongst many others!!) of sowing all the summer cauliflowers at the same time. This meant that some went to waste as they grew too big before we could sell them. This year I am sowing a quarter of the seeds every two weeks so hopefully their readiness will be spread over a couple of months and therefore be better aligned with demand. The seedlings in the picture below were sown on Wednesday, and kept in the dark on a heat mat to germinate, hence the yellowish appearance. Won't be long until they green up

• Looks like we may get some sun this week. In the next blog I'll show the progress of the overwintering vegetables