SEASONAL Words from the field
ANDY DIBBEN THE COMMUNITY FARM
With a bit more warmth and slightly less rain the crops have been continuing to grow, and the brief sunny interlude put a smile on the faces of the field workers for a while! The cucumber harvest from our polytunnels had been fantastic and our regular volunteers have been tending the plants well, leading to over 400 cucumbers being harvested in one weekend. Unfortunately, the dampness means the weeds have been taking quite a hold and so the main task at the moment is keeping the weeds down allowing the vegetables room to grow. As an update from the last column, our piglets are getting stronger by the day and have now been moved away from Elodie (their mum) to give her a break! On an exciting note we will be
welcoming about thirty chefs to the site RUTH AND
RICHARD KELSEY HALLWOOD FARM SHOP
To say this year’s growing season has been a challenge would be a huge understatement! Both our Farmers’ Market stalls and Farm Shop have become more like advice clinics, with an endless stream of disheartened growers wondering where it all went wrong! The wettest late spring and summer on
record have caused all manner of horticultural problems. The ‘hungry gap’ was extended by about six weeks as low light levels and cooler conditions made for slower growing, with plants stunted by applications of fertiliser being washed away. Certain types of vegetables simply need sunshine and nothing else will do – Runner Beans, Sweetcorn & Squashes are not be helped by fertiliser or foliar feed in these conditions. As our agronomist says: ‘sunshine in a bag’ is the only answer! To maintain a steady supply of vegetables throughout the coming season we must sow and plant to a programme.
As a good example we drill up to twelve successional sowings of carrots, ensuring plants are ready to harvest throughout the growing season. Ideally, with the luxury of a normal (dry) summer, these are sown around the time of the new moon when they establish fastest. Unfortunately, with the conditions this season drilling has usually taken place at high speed in between deluges! Diseases, especially humidity associated ones have been rife, with many gardeners lamenting that they have little or no potato crop due to the dreaded Blight. Every cloud has a silver lining
towards the end of August to try out produce from the field, and we have also appointed a Community Engagement Worker, Claire Rosling. This post has been funded by the Lottery's Village SOS scheme and means we can provide education and training on site, so we will let you know when we have worked out the programme for next year. This is a really exciting development and means we can really work towards reconnecting people with where their food comes from, as well as teaching cooking skills amongst other things. It's not just about the food growing - it's about what you do with it to create good, healthy meals.
Away from the growing we are now looking forward to our main event of the year, our Harvest Celebration. This year we will have activities, farm tours, cooking demonstrations and a talk by Helen Browning, Chief Executive of the Soil Association. We are looking forward to welcoming our members, local residents and FOODLOVERs who want to find out more about the farm, so please come and join us on Saturday 15th September, 11am-5pm at Denny Lane, Chew Magna. For directions and more information visit
www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk
however, and this is that there has been little or no problem with pests such as Aphids, Carrot Fly and Flea Beetles – they have probably been washed out of the skies!
It’s not all doom and gloom though, many of our crops have ‘weathered the weather’, with our Chantenay carrots, parsnips and Brussels sprouts all looking fine & dandy.
Buoyed by the hope of more stable seasonal conditions, there is still work to be done. As the early summer crops are harvested the land must be prepared again for late summer plantings. Deep sub-soiling breaks up any compaction (best done when dry, so fingers crossed), then rotorvating and rolling creates a nice fine firm seedbed. Autumn is now just around the corner. This gives gardeners and vegetable farmers alike a chance to catch their breath as the growing season slows down. There is no such rest for the cooks, as this season provides a plethora of different types of vegetables to keep them busy in the kitchen! Visit
www.hallwoodfreshveg.co.uk or call 01837 811762 for more information.
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