Happy New year to all of you and many thanks for your good wishes, cards and presents, much appreciated.
The first week back in the New Year has given us plenty of weather to cope with, sub zero temperatures and then today (9 Jan) gusty winds and sleet showers. Although, of course it could be much worse! Being in the South East of England means we usually escape the worst of the winter extreme weather.
The sub zero temperatures have left little time in the day to harvest fresh produce as well as more damage to spinach, chard and salad leaves. Leeks have often been frozen when harvested and had time in the squash store to de-frost before we could peel them! Green curly kale is a winter staple though, still growing in cold temperatures and much less affected by the cold than the spinach and chard.
Despite the cold, we still got excited at the sight of a snow flurry on Tuesday afternoon!
Just before Christmas we managed to plant up a polytunnel with the claytonia plants that were well ready to spread their roots (although they are actually very shallow rooted, and you have to be careful when harvesting, not to pull up the plant). And another tunnel was sown with brassica salad leaves. We just need some milder temperatures now for them to grow.
