Hello Everyone, Are you surviving Storm Amy? We are, just about. Friday night was a bad night for gales. The power at our house was lost for a few hours but thankfully we had put the stove fire on which kept us warm. The big torch was fully charged so the living room was not dark. The phone torches came in handy to show the way to the fruit bowl and treat box. I must admit that I was in bed by eight thirty, roaming through very little on the iPad. Saturday morning and it was still blowing a gale! There has been very little damage…branches down, stuff blown about in the wind and unfortunately the Wisteria has come away from the wall it was growing up against. Fingers crossed this can be reattached to the stays as it is my favourite bloom.  The Farm All is looking grand, here on the farm. The outside growing areas are still full and productive. Those areas which are coming to an end or have ended, for instance the squash and courgettes, will now be tended - weeded, hoed and the path renewed with some of the vast amount of woodchip we were gifted from our neighbour - then covered with weed suppressing fabric. Thankfully we have plenty of wooden pallets to hold down the fabric, especially as we are an area susceptible to high winds. The idea of this preparation is all about the coming seasons. We want to be able to just lift the fabric in the late Spring and plant out on beds prepped and ready immediately. As ever, it is all in the preparation and we are working very hard to be prepared for the coming seasons. As gardeners you always must be way ahead of yourself.  The lovely Lucy surprised me this week with the most amazing large box full of potatoes (which will be in the Chef’s Box next week). We have been working our way through the lines of potatoes which were planted out during the Spring months. We are now up to the later harvesting potatoes, known as the ‘main crop’. I made stuffed jacket potatoes with cheese last Thursday night for Bob on his return from delivering last week’s boxes. They were a very tasty potato and the smell in the kitchen was bonfire night and comfort food.  The rainbow Swiss Chard has now all been cut back to its base. Mainly to renew and refresh the leaves. To harvest we cut each leaf separately and make a bunch or pop them in one of our biodegradable bags. This is a ‘cut and come again’ plant. Recently the leaves have become covered in mildew…a fungal organism…which tends to occur when there is poor air circulation and/or very dry conditions. It has been unseasonably warm and there was a lot of overcrowding between each plant. Cutting back the plant then watering the ground with bicarbonate of soda is our way of reducing the fungus and the leaves should grow back again in the coming weeks.  All the fruit from the trees have now been picked and packed. We knew that the winds were coming, and we did not want to lose apples and pears to the ground and become badly bruised. The bruised fruit will not be lost…juicing will be for these.  The transformation of all the beds continues and I might say, the tunnels are looking amazing. The Crew totally understand my tidy methods of working and I appreciate the lengths they go to make straight lines and balanced beds considering colours and structure when planting out.  The Walled Garden It has been lovely to see our first crops from the greenhouse. There are red radish peeping through which is a delight to see. While these seedlings in the bed to the back of the greenhouse are growing well, it is interesting to note that the seedlings under the shadow of the greenhouse building wall are becoming a little ‘leggy’. They are clearly reaching up towards the light, stretching so far upwards that they are becoming very long and thin. We will watch these little plants very carefully. With any luck they will balance themselves as they become stronger.  The temperature within the greenhouse is, obviously, much higher than outside. But we must also consider the walled garden climate to. This is all an education for us all.  The winds are still blowing outside, so take extra care, Till next week, Ann  

Hello Everyone, Rumour has it that this Autumn is going to look spectacular. The trees have enjoyed beautiful perfect weather to enable the leaves to be full of the good sugar. This brings the most colourful vision of loveliness, so, expect dramatic vistas in the coming weeks. This should get us all through to December. This is why I am delighted to be living in a place which has the four seasons of change. I just do not know which is my favourite? The Farm The lovely Lucy took a break last week, so I was left with the boys who worked to turn around quite a few beds in the polytunnels from Summer to Autumn growing beds. We now have all the orientals, mustards and salad leaves planted out, with only the spinach, celtuce and a few more leaves to be planted. The pepper and three tomato beds are the only remaining Summer crops which need removing. However, we still do have an abundance of lovely produce in these beds. This causes a slight issue…do we take them out now and loose some produce or do we plant around the existing plants? We are going to opt for the later solution which will mean we will have to be extremely careful when we do have to remove the older plants. The tunnels all look fresh, tidy and ready for the coming new produce.  This last week we appreciated a generous offer from a neighbour and a local tradesman. Trees surrounding a neighbours house were removed and chipped. The neighbour did not need or want the wood chip and asked if we would like it…for free as we would be doing them and the arborist a favour. Obviously, we said yes without realising how much woodchip we would be receiving…only about seven mountains full! It will not be going to waste. The paths will all be refreshed, the compost bins will take a good layering up of the chipping. We may spread a lot around the paddock area, which is where the mountains were delivered to. We thank our neighbours.  Everything we do, here on the farm and within the walled garden, we do following organic principles. These principles have been directed to us by the Soil Association as they are our certification board. The Soil Association promote all things organic during the month of September, known as Organic September. Bob and I, when we started our adventure in the Shire, never thought of using any other methods of growing other than Organic methods. I also try and shop for organic butter or organic cheese for instance and also detergents which do less harm to the environment. It is not easy to follow for everything I buy. But every little considered buy helps. I am always thinking ‘Organically’, especially in this month of September.  We have had a big tidy around the fields on the farm. We are going to give everywhere one last grass cut. The hoses and outside watering systems are being stored away. Any unwanted items (rubbish) kept for no good reason has been placed in the area to be attacked and tidied during the winter months. We are getting ourselves ready for the tasks we have listed, the ones which take much time and energy. For instance the guttering around the tunnels or reorganising the soft fruit area, soooo much to do over the coming months. The Walled Garden This week in the glorious September weather, we have planted out the onion sets into one of the greenhouse beds. We are going to see how things grow and take the opportunity to plant out crops which tend to need less attention during the Autumn/Winter growing seasons. We are in the garden most days, however, at this time of year with so much to do we plan to grow produce which will require weekly attention as opposed to daily work to ease the workload.  The greenhouse now has another section full, the East section. When sowing the seeds for this season’s planting, extra trays were sown with  the greenhouse in mind. We are looking forward to seeing shades of the colour green throughout the greenhouse. We are also looking forward to seeing the changing colours beyond the walled garden during this Autumn season. Thank you for all your support and complimentary comments. They are a huge motivation for us all.  Enjoy watching the trees turn to gold, Take care,Ann

Hello Everyone, Well, “Strictly” has started so it must be Autumn. Now is the time for closing the curtains, putting the fire on and hunkering down. Time for the cosy seasons. Also, a time for cramming in more gardening tasks before the daylight fades. We are also converting the polytunnel growing spaces from the fast-growing crops of Summer to the slower ones of the Autumn/Winter seasons. Time for the vegetables to be cosy and ready for the cooler days. The Farm On the farm this week we have concentrated on the polytunnels. We have been removing the final cucumber and bean vines. These beds have been replaced with fresh new plugs of Chinese cabbage, mustards, pak choi and oriental leaves. To be honest it doesn’t seem like two minutes since planting out the Summer vines. Yet here we are, thinking of the leafy goodies which will be ready for the restaurants and boxes over the coming months and, dare I say, into 2026! The Crew are a dab hand at changing the beds from one crop to another. The task is completed fast. The issue we always must contend with is the ‘where do we plant?’. We tend to follow a ‘crop rotation plan’ of sorts. We mainly do not plant one brassica followed by another. We do not put potatoes into a tomato bed or one which previously had potatoes. We are not as strict(ly) with all the rules unless we have a serious problem with say, beetles or root fly or saw fly. We do not find a problem with planting lettuces into a previous lettuce bed as the main issue here would be aphids and caterpillars. However, such leafy plants are not in the ground long enough or they may be a Summer planting and then an Autumn planting. The latter being cooler with less chance of an outbreak of pests. This is us working with the environment we are given. We still have all our tomato vines in situ. These may last till November! However, as I said, we are always wondering where to plant out inside the tunnels and the four, large tomato beds would be ideal for, say, our spinach which is next in line to go into a bed. This is when we become ruthless and begin removing tomato vines to allow said spinach to establish itself. I would like to think that you agree with me that our tomatoes have been a great crop, tasting delicious. As a plant they are now ugly and straggly even though still fruitful. But they will have to be removed shortly to allow the next lot of crops, like the spinach, to establish, providing greens of various flavours throughout Winter. There are still huge amounts of ripening tomatoes, but we will also have green, un-ripened tomatoes shortly. These can ripen on the windowsill or used as a green tomato…still tasty and good for chutneys and sauces. We have been removing apples and pears from the trees. I was wanting all the fruit to be taken from the trees last week, it will, now, be over the coming weeks. This is because the torrential rain stopped play on this task. We want the fruit to come into storage being dry from the trees and last week we did have lots of rain over several days. The coming week seems much more promising with lots of full sun on the forecast app. The squash, on the other hand, did all get harvested. I lived in an orange glow within the greenhouse. While the Crew harvested, I washed and cleaned all the squash. They are now on the shelves drying and curing before going into the cool and dark storage shelves of the packing area. Along with the orange squash we also have a blue variety. Both are delicious, very tasty and in the boxes now. The Walled Garden The fruit from the trees will also be harvested from the walled garden walls. Like everyone this year, we will have an abundance of apples. The remaining growing beds within the greenhouse have all been prepared for planting. They were weeded and then turned with a pickaxe. The ground was solid and very compacted. The weeds and shrubbery were still growing through! But the pickaxe was required to loosen the soil before a good six inches of fresh compost was laid on top. We are going to plant a selection of the leafy goodies which are being planted into the farm polytunnels. The competition is on to see how they all grow. We are going to note which grows better, faster and bigger. Interesting experiment. We have, at long last, bought a very good thermometer for the greenhouse. We will begin to take temperature readings to compare with the outside. I am curious to know if the white back wall retains much extra heat to help with germination and growing. Or if the centre section is warmer than the two outer ones. Another interesting experiment. The builder has said he is going to concentrate on creating the other outside raised beds. Now the greenhouse is complete, and the Gardeners Office is well under way it will be great to complete the groundwork. ETA of the beds is unknown, but we are hoping that the next two months sees great progress. The YouTube Channel There will be more from Bob this week. He will be talking about ‘cut and come again’ vegetables. These are a great choice to have as anyone can grow a leafy green veg and if it is cut and come again, then you do not need a lot of space to be able to enjoy lettuce in a sarnie or kale on your plate or spinach to provide lots of iron. Thank you all for reading and supporting us. We hope you have a great week. Till next week, keeeeeep dancing! Ann