Matthews Blog - When It Rains!

 Over the past month the rooks have started to move away from the cereal fields and are beginning to cause a few problems at Wildfields.
To begin with they were hunting out freshly drilled seed within a day or so of planting. As soon as the wind was calm enough crop covers were applied to try and keep them out. They then started following the drill up the field, removing the sunflower and bean seeds nearly as fast as they were going into the soil. In some places they have even started punching holes in the crop covers to get to the seed.

When they are not feeding they sit in the trees looking at the pea crop like a vulture waiting for its prey to become weak, patiently waiting until the pods are full of succulent peas.


The much needed April showers arrived right on cue, the intermittent showers at the beginning of the month had enough drying time between them to enable most of the backlog of planting, caused by the dry weather in March to be dealt with. Parsnips, broad beans, shallots, parsley, celery, rocket, radish, french beans, cabbage, lettuce, beetroot and calabrese have all made their way into the soil just as the sky darkened, I look back at that busy weekend satisfied that 90% of the planting made it in before the heavy rains came.

Since then the heavy rain has been much more consistent and no planting or drilling has taken place for the past two weeks.

Last week I returned from a sunny few days on the south coast to find that some parts of the farm had been under water as large parts of the county experienced flooding. My celery had been completely covered and now looks a little yellow but I am hopeful it will recover. Roy has been busy digging trenches and pumping water out of the potatoes (a complete role reversal from last year). Once again we have a backlog of planting with more plants due next week.

The two plots of carrots that were drilled in February and March are looking well after a good old-fashioned hand weed to remove the established mayweed and grass, unfortunately because of the weather the third drilling planned for April was missed. As soon as I get chance I will drill two lots and try and stagger them by covering one with fleece.

The runner beans sown in modules have now reached 40cm in height and are in desperate need of transplanting outside, I think I will give it one more week and then hope we don’t get any more frosts.

The early garlic is looking well; with the first harvest of large green garlic expected in early June. I am hopeful that a return to warmer weather at the end of May will help to push the main storage crop on to a decent size.

On the down side the weather has not been kind to the French beans, the first drilling was a bit of a gamble at the end of February and although they germinated well under fleece they have now stood still and are gradually being picked off by slugs. The second drilling has failed to germinate due to the colder wet weather and will probably have to be re-drilled.

The first broad beans are now full of bloom and are regularly visited by bumble bees.

On the harvesting front spring cabbage, leeks and rhubarb are still doing well with the later responding well to the rain.
The beetroot in the polytunnels are nearly ready but were set back slightly as the floodwater moved sideways leaving the soil more like porridge for a couple of days.

The long range forecast is predicting longer spells of dry weather for June so as soon as possible we will be planting and drilling again, making the most of the soil moisture while we have it!!!

Matthew's Blog - Sunshine, Early Crops & Baloons

Temperatures for March were well above average for the time of year and crops that were drilled into moisture are starting to germinate. The extremely tasty new season potatoes that have been wrapped up in fleece and polythene to try and encourage early growth are just starting to push their leaves through the soils surface. Roy informs me that this is the earliest he has ever had the crop showing above ground.

We recorded a total of 20mm of rain during March, below average for the time of year. Visit 'http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/regmapavge.html#eengland' to check out climate information for our region.

I hope you have all been enjoying the white sprouting; it truly is a delicious vegetable.
As Robert has mentioned it is a short season and the first variety White Eye has come and gone, Roy started picking White Star last week and hopefully a return to more seasonal temperatures may just prolong the season. Next season Roy will be adding the variety F1 Burbank to try and lengthen the harvest.

In the polytunnels where it consistently reached 40 oc last week, the early season beetroot are starting to grow; parsley and shallot transplants are ready to be set but are just being held back in anticipation of some welcome rain.

Whilst the sun was shining I took the opportunity to cultivate and hoe between the rows of garlic. The machine disturbs the weeds and buries the smaller ones whilst the bigger ones are left on the soil surface for the sun to shrivel. This process also loosens the top of the soil, which allows rain/irrigation water to find its way down to the plant roots rather then run off the beds that have been compacted over winter.

For one moment last Wednesday I thought I was going to share a champagne breakfast. The weather was warm and there was a light breeze, the hot air balloons were out in force and one looked like it was going to try and land on the farm. Thankfully it landed on a neighbours field and not our crops, I made do with my apple.

Matthews Blog - Seed Drilling & Greedy Pheasants

With water predicted to become a scarcer resource in our part of the country it is important to try and improve the water holding capacity of the soil and recycle the rainwater that falls onto our roofs.

Over the past couple of years I have been embracing the Organic farming idea of using locally sourced green waste compost and growing winter soil management crops to try and help conserve moisture as well as improving the structure and biology of the soil.
I have also started connecting tanks to the down pipes of the farm buildings to try and save as much rainwater as possible.

As I go to check on my garlic crop I notice two cock pheasants, they look at me and almost shrug their shoulders at my presence, then they continue, taking a row each they walk down the recently sown broad beans, flicking out and eating the seed, occasionally they stop, look at each other their heads moving as if they are having a good old gossip then they return to their tea.

Last Friday the second-hand seed drill I have purchased arrived. With carrots and parsnips moving on to a raised bed system this year we needed to improve the existing equipment or look for an alternative. The twelve row folding machine is far bigger than I need it to be but it gives me the option of lots of spare parts (which I recently discovered are very expensive) and once I have split it, a second machine that I can sell on.

Good spring conditions continue and the autumn planted garlic and broad beans are looking really well. Peas, radish, spring onions and spinach have all been sown in the past week with carrots and parsnips to follow. Calabrese, beetroot, lettuce, onion and parsley transplants are due in any day now, hopefully providing lots of tasty treats for the summer.

Matthew's Blog - Bedding Seed & Inadequate Rain

On Sunday the 19th I checked the met office 5 day forecast for our area of East England, it looked good, dry right through with wind and sun, the perfect conditions for getting the good seedbeds I needed. Armed with this information I got the cultivator out Monday morning and run it through the raised beds that I had made in the autumn (this opens the top of the bed and brings some wet soil to the top to help it dry).

Sun and wind duly followed and the ground was drying nicely, I was convinced that I would be drilling by Thursday. I like to check the forecast daily as modern technology seems to make the 5 day forecast less reliable than it used to be, sure enough by Tuesday they were forecasting heavy rain for Wednesday evening.

My initial thought wasn’t printable but after I had calmed down I embraced the idea of some badly needed rain.

Did water butts over fill and reservoirs rejoice as the rain came down?
The rain, light at best lasted for about an hour Wednesday afternoon and with the wind drying it out quicker than it had fallen it was back to the original plan.

The raised beds were remade (see picture) and 6 beds of carrots were drilled Friday afternoon.
With the wind subsiding on Sunday it was possible to lay a nice warm blanket of fleece over the crop to try and bring it on as quickly as possible.

Roy has also made the most of the conditions planting first early potatoes, broad beans and peas.