April has given us plenty of dry, sunny weather, with a mini heatwave towards the end of the month and just enough rain to enable field work and transplanting. But the ground is now very dry and we're optimistically hoping for some more rain very soon. Growing on 3 rented sites with no access to a reservoir means we rely on rain-fed growing most of the time with very limited irrigation options.
We're harvesting the first of the new season's crops now, green garlic, annual spinach, salad leaves and a small amount of kale from the fields as well as lettuce from the glasshouse. The seeding glasshouse and hardening off areas are full of baby plants as well as some trays just sown waiting to germinate. And we have more lettuce, winter cabbages and kalettes and winter squash to sow in early May. Small areas of tomatoes, cucumbers and basil have been planted in the polytunnels, with peppers and chillies ready to go in next.
In the fields Martin's weed control with tractor mounted implements has been successful but we still have to do some hoeing as well as hand-weeding carrots and beetroot.
We've started putting out supplementary seed for turtle doves under an initative with the RSPB and although we have yet to hear or see one in our Crundale fields this year, a local birdwatcher has seen one in the fields at Wye. This is great news as it's been a few years since we've had any there, although there is great feeding and nesting habitat there.
And the swallows are back nesting in the packing shed and keeping us entertained with their lovely chattering.
