31st August

Apologies for the delayed publication this week. It was Issy's birthday yesterday so last evening was not the time to be on the computer!

Let's get straight to the picture that everyone is desperately waiting for!

Yup, that's the progress of the cut back chard clump after just a week.

As a reminder it was here last week

The rest of the bed is also doing well, and I reckon these will be back on sale next week or the week after

We will also be adding leeks at the same time as they are growing beautifully

Hopefully the cos lettuce will also be back in a couple of weeks.

We have plenty of spinach now, and this will increase over the next couple of weeks 👍

On to section 2 of the blog which is the negative news . 😢

I planted two crops of runner beans, both a variety called "Lady Di" which is supposed to be stringless.

We have had to stop selling the first crop as the heatwave caused the stringless beans to become stringy!

🤦‍♂️.

But either way, mother nature has decided that it is time for the support structure to come down anyway....

Those 8ft canes aren't cheap, so this will go down as an epic fail. Lots of work for a negative return 😢😢

I cleared out the three beds of purple sprouting this week which also should have been a profitable crop but whitefly decided that it belonged to them. I think we got about £7 before we had to give up on them.

Having sown the seeds, pricked them out, transplanted them to the field, covered them in expensive netting, it is very depressing to have the next step as pulling them up to put on the compost heap.

I felt like a child who had dropped all their sweets on the floor, and in their anguish had to suffer the humiliation of picking them all up and throwing them away!

The second crop of runners were planted a few weeks later, so hopefully we may get some decent beans from them.

However, yet again mother nature has had her say, and there will be some repair work to do..

I also need to keep an eye on the green beans, and the availability will be reduced as we focus on picking those that are still at their best.

So the message this week is that we are feeling the impact of lost crops at the moment, but please bear with us as we should have an increased offering in a week or two.

Now that I am germinating the microgreens inside the house, I am confident that we should be back to having a regular supply available, so we can ensure that you all continue to get your veggie nutrients!

What is growing really well is creeping thistle. This is a weed that appears in patches and is really hard to get rid of due to an extensive network of roots. It is easy to get each plant up, but pointless unless you get the roots as well.

This was the largest section of root that I managed this week

I was thinking about trying to start a craze of trying to get the largest creeping thistle root, with the tactic of offering people the opportunity of weeding at the field to try and do so 😉😉

(I think my mind must've been working in strange ways whilst I was weeding that day)

A quick glance into the future:

The purple sprouting that will be ready in spring is doing well

The brussels are on track to be ready well before Christmas

And the parsnips even sooner

Back to the present, and its time for me to go and sort those runner beans 😊