Next crop to grow for the veggie boxes – rice!
What a washout of a summer! Although we have managed to produce a considerable amount of veggies, salad and herbs this year for the boxes, we have lost lots of crops, and those that have come have certainly not been as productive and quick growing as usual. We have discovered the benefits of fleece (for the crops, not us), and have been very grateful for our polytunnels, although even crops in these have struggled due to lack of heat and sunlight. We know that we aren’t alone in this – other growers we have visited and spoken to have lost much more than we have this year. A Pembrokeshire holding that we went to was a scene of absolute devastation – not a pea or bean in sight, and 1000s of brassicas left unplanted because the fields had been too wet to take the machinery on.
Regretfully we have decided cancel both the open days that we had planned for this year - we feel that it wouldn’t be worth people coming for a day out, because frankly there is so little to see in comparison with previous years. As most of the early field crops have failed at Pwllyn I will be sowing a lot of green manures this year, and experimenting with some overwintered crops in the tunnel for early pickings next year – so it may be that we try to hold a ‘Spring Celebration’ at the farm next April instead of our customary Harvest one this year.
This Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) will see us at the Visitors’ Centre on Mynydd Illtyd Common (just along the track from our farm) where we will be selling some veggies, hoping to recruit some new customers for the box scheme, and generally chatting to folk about food and growing. We will also be at Llangynidr show on the Sunday – supporting Alan’s local show, and sponsoring the ‘Best Scarecrow’ competition!
We were lucky enough to have a Wwoofer, Phillip, from Australia,
with us for about 10 days this month, which helped enormously with the fencing and various other jobs. He managed to reach to top of Pen-y-fan from the Storey Arms car park in about 40 minutes – then came back down the long way, returned to the farm and carried on working until 9pm! Two more Wwoofers are due in September, one English, one American, and we hope that they will help to clear the crops from the garden beds, and muck and cover them for the winter. There will also be the remaining potatoes to lift before the winter really sets in, and we also have to get our hay harvested to feed the animals through the winter.
We have bought two pieces of equipment this year – a steering hoe, and a flame weeder, which will make weeding the field a much easier job next year, and finally got our module planter up and working. A major project we have planned for next year is to vastly increase the amount of compost we produce to go back on the field – we probably need to be producing around 25 tonnes a year (!) – I am also on a steep learning curve of soil analysis, rotations and green manures.
Finally – proof that every cloud has a silver lining – the ducks have REALLY enjoyed the wet summer!
What a washout of a summer! Although we have managed to produce a considerable amount of veggies, salad and herbs this year for the boxes, we have lost lots of crops, and those that have come have certainly not been as productive and quick growing as usual. We have discovered the benefits of fleece (for the crops, not us), and have been very grateful for our polytunnels, although even crops in these have struggled due to lack of heat and sunlight. We know that we aren’t alone in this – other growers we have visited and spoken to have lost much more than we have this year. A Pembrokeshire holding that we went to was a scene of absolute devastation – not a pea or bean in sight, and 1000s of brassicas left unplanted because the fields had been too wet to take the machinery on.
Regretfully we have decided cancel both the open days that we had planned for this year - we feel that it wouldn’t be worth people coming for a day out, because frankly there is so little to see in comparison with previous years. As most of the early field crops have failed at Pwllyn I will be sowing a lot of green manures this year, and experimenting with some overwintered crops in the tunnel for early pickings next year – so it may be that we try to hold a ‘Spring Celebration’ at the farm next April instead of our customary Harvest one this year.
This Bank Holiday Weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) will see us at the Visitors’ Centre on Mynydd Illtyd Common (just along the track from our farm) where we will be selling some veggies, hoping to recruit some new customers for the box scheme, and generally chatting to folk about food and growing. We will also be at Llangynidr show on the Sunday – supporting Alan’s local show, and sponsoring the ‘Best Scarecrow’ competition!
We were lucky enough to have a Wwoofer, Phillip, from Australia,
with us for about 10 days this month, which helped enormously with the fencing and various other jobs. He managed to reach to top of Pen-y-fan from the Storey Arms car park in about 40 minutes – then came back down the long way, returned to the farm and carried on working until 9pm! Two more Wwoofers are due in September, one English, one American, and we hope that they will help to clear the crops from the garden beds, and muck and cover them for the winter. There will also be the remaining potatoes to lift before the winter really sets in, and we also have to get our hay harvested to feed the animals through the winter.
We have bought two pieces of equipment this year – a steering hoe, and a flame weeder, which will make weeding the field a much easier job next year, and finally got our module planter up and working. A major project we have planned for next year is to vastly increase the amount of compost we produce to go back on the field – we probably need to be producing around 25 tonnes a year (!) – I am also on a steep learning curve of soil analysis, rotations and green manures.
Finally – proof that every cloud has a silver lining – the ducks have REALLY enjoyed the wet summer!
