The first part of July was spent optimistically hoping for a decent amount of rain, and then once we finally got enough mid-July, we kept getting more and more and were even hoping for a dry day so we could get some transplanting done. Us growers are never happy with the weather!!
We had a few 6am starts during our two mini heatwaves so that we could get the harvesting done before it got too hot, but back to the normal summer 7am since then. We are now up-to-date with transplanting, with very few trays of plants left now to water until they are big enough to be transplanted into the fields. There’s still plenty of weed control to do though, mechanical, hoeing and hand weeding.
The courgette harvesting keep us busy at this time of year as they need to be picked every couple of days. And the polytunnel crops are in full swing now, with round and cherry tomatoes, two types of bell peppers, three types of chilli pepper, basil and cucumbers to harvest, most of which go to markets or in our box scheme. And the sweetcorn season has just begun, yay!
Our packing shed swallows have successfully reared two broods this year, with the second brood fledging on 7 August. The parents (and possibly another swallow) have been very busy this last week keeping the youngsters fed. It’s been lovely to have their company whilst packing, even if they do get a bit noisy at times!
