Canadian Geese and other Visitors

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

Hello Everyone, It really has changed to an autumnal fresh feel when you get up in the morning and then have the need to close the curtains in the evening. The time between can be warm and sunny or wet and windy. The pace of life does seem to slow down slightly. We have had the mad panic of Spring and Summer, where we concentrated on planting out, growing, tending and weeding in the long, hot days. Now we think about the vegetables we have been growing, storing and using…a harvest festival no less, while we work with the days of reduced light and heat.  Seasons are not just for plants but also for us. It is Mother Nature’s way of saying ‘hey, you have worked hard, now slow down a little and enjoy what you made, during the lighter months, now during the darker months. Thank goodness someone is advising a slower pace as we would be exhausted if we had to continue with the haste of the Spring/Summer months. A real groundhog life.  The Farm Harvesting on the farm is now a thing. The first and second earlies of potatoes are out of the ground and stored in black boxes in the cool of the garage. (The main crop and festive harvest are still in the ground). The red and white onions, garlic and shallots are now topped and tailed ready for use. These we store in netted sacks. The Winter squash will be coming out of the squash patch in the coming days. These have now been left on the ground to ensure the skin becomes firm to act as a container for the tasty flesh within. Next week they will be carefully placed on the prepared empty racks in the packing area. Any overflow, which I can guarantee there will be, will go into greenhouse number one, to be used first. The large beetroot to be stored, will be placed into our large bags, the same as the leafy produce bags but larger. Then placed into the bottom of the fridges. The pears are individually placed into a brown paper bag and placed into the fridges. The A-Grade apples will be stored just like the pears with the B-Grade ones placed into our large black trays, ready for juicing.  All other produce tends to be harvested when required as the ground is the best storage pantry for them. Alongside the brassicas we also keep the celeriac, parsnips, fennel, kohlrabi, leeks, more beetroots and salsify, to name a few heart warming vegetables, in the ground for safe keeping.  As you can imagine, the farm has stored produce all over the place. This time of the year we have very little free space as all space has boxes, trays, shelves or sacks full of the vegetables we have gathered from the growing beds. This is how we will provide tasty Fresh Local Organic Produce over the coming dark, cold seasons. To ensure the vegetables last, correct storage is essential. As you have read from above, every type of vegetable is stored differently depending on the most efficient method to prevent deterioration. We do our best but please feel free to tell us if we have not been successful.  The Walled Garden The most prolific grower in the soft fruit area has been the Jostaberry. They have gone berserk since being planted just this year. To prune them, we wait till the end of Winter. We will be putting ‘Jostaberry pruning’ on the Winter Task List.  The remaining bushes are looking just grand. The current bushes may need a little trim in February but, generally speaking, the soft fruit area is good to have a tick and left till the end of Winter.  The fruit trees will be harvested from next week…to be added to some storage area at the farm! They have had attention - being staked till they reach the next retaining wire and pruned to allow for productive growth in the Spring of 2026(!!!).  The magnificent greenhouse is now showing signs of earning its keep. The seeds sown a week gone Friday are germinating, peeping upwards. The first signs showed themselves after three days, three days! Tremendous.  The middle section of the greenhouse has now been turned around from a solid mass of ground to a good-looking growing bed. This is another step in the right direction. Here we are going to plant peaches, apricots and nectarines. We are hoping that having a much more controlled environment, a warmer atmosphere, we may reduce the risk of major temperature fluctuations, and the trees will establish, grow and mature in a consistent manner. I am not sure yet, so cannot confirm, but I would like to grow complimentary and colourful flowers under these trees. The reason being, that this middle section of the greenhouse may become a pleasant place to sit, maybe have a cup of tea or a glass of something if dining in the Freyja restaurant…. all for future thoughts. The YouTube Channel  The channel has been concentrating on all things gardening and the Chef’s Box. You may want to take a visit to see some behind the scenes as to how where and when the boxes are prepared. Last week’s video was quite popular and well received…go and watch if you are interested in how the greenhouse came to be. Enjoy.  Not sure what the plan is for this afternoon (shocking!). No doubt I will find something to entice me from the long list of tasks. Whatever you are doing, enjoy. Till next week, take care,  Ann