13th July

 Away back in February this year, I had the auld Fergie 135 up and running with a brand-new engine and clutch, I had a new bonnet and mudguards to fit on to.

But they were getting sprayed then we went into lockdown.

But last Monday they arrived at the farm nice and shiny.

So over last weekend me and Calum fitted them.

Now the Fergie is looking brand new, with working lights front and rear.

But it needing a good power wash, as the rest of the tractor is dirty with being out in the rain over the last few weeks.

And our new wee compact Siroma tractor, has been working away, and last week I had at long last, one tunnel fully harvested, And the thought I had, when buying the compact tractor was that, because it was much narrower than the Fergie, I would be able to get a extra bed in each tunnel.

Luckily my measurements were correct, when I was looking into buying it, and yes, we can now get 5 beds of plants in each tunnel, rather than the four we used to get when preparing the tunnel with the Fergie.

So we will now get an extra one thousand plants in each of the four 50-meter tunnels, and an extra one thousand eight hundred plants extra in each of the two bigger 90-meter tunnels.

I haven’t had a chance yet to rotovate the whole of the larger tunnels yet with the new compact tractor, but I might even manage to get six rows in these.

So with getting the extra beds in each tunnel, it is almost like having an extra one and a half tunnels, this will make a huge difference in the extra produce we can grow in the tunnels.

Out in the fields, we started harvesting the black kale, which is looking fantastic, it is a bit of a pain, as we have to take of the nett before we can harvest, then we have to put it back on, there seems to be more pigeons this year than there has been in previous years, and they are watching us take the fleece of, rubbing their bellies saying dinners up.

The Courgettes and Cucumbers haven’t speeded up in producing much since last weeks newsletter, but last week wasn’t very warm, and these two crops do like the heat, hopefully they aren’t far away before we are harvesting them for everyone.

Framers markets are starting now, and we will be at Glasgow market on the 25th July and Perth market on the 1st of August, unless things change.